Love Never Fails Page 6

  “Baby you know I’ll keep an eye on him. I’ll be damn if he gets near you.”

  “Oh quit it. That’s the past.”

  “Is it awkward for you that I hired him?”

  Monica shakes her head, placing her hand on her hips. “No. Why would it be?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just making sure you’re alright with it.”

  “I’m ok with it if you are.”

  There’s silence as Jake hugs Monica. Together they watch their kids and guests. Everything is going great. Monica shouldn’t have worried about anything. Things always work out for the best. The way Ella and Luke interact reminds her parents of how they were when they were teenagers. They we so much in love and nothing could break them apart.

  “I just wished my baby girl stays a baby forever.”

  Jake pulls her even closer to him, burying his face into Monica’s neck. Eric runs up to them and tries to get in the action. Ella asks her dad if Eric can go in the pool with her. She helps her dad put Eric’s arm floats on. Luke then asks his brother if he too wants to get in. Slipping his brother’s floats on his arm, Ella and him watch Eric and Zach play in the pool.

  Jake and Monica sits on the lounge taking notice of how great Ella and Luke are watching their siblings. They have no worries when it comes to Ella watching her brother. That’s one of the good things about Ella. She loves her brother so much, that she will protect him with everything she has. Her parents can always count on her to make sure nothing bad happens to him. And from the look of things, Luke seems to be the same way about his brother.

  While Monica grabs another case of beer from the fridge, Patricia is in there cleaning. Monica stops her immediately. She’s supposed to be here enjoying herself not cleaning after them. She is so kind to Patricia and her family. Patricia holds Monica’s hand, smiles, and walks back outside with her family.

  Jake blasts the radio to country music. Jake being a southern Texas boy, he loves his good ole country music. When a familiar song comes on, Ella and Lisa sing out loud to the music.

  Ella would tell Luke to sing along, “Come on baby you know the words.”

  Luke looks at Jake, then at Ella, shaking his head no. Ella knows he is more reserve since her dad is there watching him. He would usually sing with her and joke around, but she understands and doesn’t push him to do something he is not comfortable with.

  Jake and Monica decide it is time to sing happy birthday, do the cake and presents. Everyone gets out of the pool and Eric jumps up and down excited he can finally dig in the cake. He’s more thrilled about the cake then he is about the presents.

  “Everyone please sing along to wish a wonderful big boy a happy birthday.”

  Sarah gets the cake from the kitchen, and sets it on the table outside. She lights up one candle, and Eric sits on Jake’s lap while everyone starts singing to him.

  “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Eric. Happy Birthday to you.”

  His face is gleaming with joy, and he is taking in the moment and all the attention. When they are done singing, he tries to blow the candle. With the candle still burning, he asks his daddy to help. After blowing it together, every cheer loudly scaring Eric. Monica starts slicing the cake, while Ella puts a slice on the plates. She gives Eric the first slice, and he devours it, and asks for another slice. Since it’s his day, Monica gives him one more and tells him that is the last one. He grabs the four dinosaurs from the cake, and holds on to them.

  After everyone is done eating their cake, Monica sits Eric on a chair, so he can start unwrapping the presents. Eric waves at his dad, asking him to sit with him, and when his dad sits on the chair, Eric jumps on his lap. Monica hands one present at a time, and after Jake or Eric opens each present, Ella writes what the gift is and from whom on a notepad. When they finish opening the presents from the guest, Monica and Jake invites everyone to go to the garage. Jake carries Eric, and when they open the garage, Eric tries to squirm off daddy to get to his gift.

  “My car and dad-e car.” His daddy’s hummer is parked next to his toy hummer.

  He gets in his car, and bumps into his dad’s car as he’s trying to drive it out of the garage. Everyone laughs at how cute he looks in the car. He drives for a couple of minutes, and Monica tells him he can drive it again once everyone leaves. He looks so disappointed, but she promises him he can drive again later. People head back to the backyard, and some people start to eat again, while others get in the pool. Eric watches his dad close the garage making sure he doesn’t mess up his car. Holding out his hand, Eric grabs his finger, and they walk back to the party. Ella takes Eric from her dad, and she lays him on his belly on the lounge float. She can tell he was getting tired, and he falls asleep within seconds of lying down. Ella slowly lifts him off the float, and hands him to her mom.

  Monica lays him on his bed, turns on the baby monitor, and closes the door as she leaves his room. It’s already six in the evening, and the party lasted about another hour, and then everyone started leaving. The house does not look so messy, especially since they just had a party. Ella grabs the house phone, goes in her room, and calls Luke. She is pleased on how well her dad acted with Luke.

  Even though Jake wanted some, he was too tired to function. Doing a little work on his laptop, he lays by Monica as she reads her book. They can hear Eric snoring on the baby monitor. He had a long day today, and even though she promised he can ride his car once everybody left, there was no way he would wake up anytime soon. Monica turns the bedroom light off and she falls asleep. Jake’s starting to get tired to the point where he couldn’t concentrate. He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at on the laptop. Putting it aside, he watches Monica sleep. What did he do right to be blessed with Monica? He thinks she deserves so much better, but she gave him that opportunity. She believed in their love even though he has hurt her. Not many women would be strong enough to do what she did. She didn’t give up on him or on their family. Monica tells him all the time that Eric saved them, but Jake feels Monica had something to do with it. Curling with his lovely wife, he falls asleep.

  In the middle of night Monica rushes to bathroom. Opening the toilet seat, she hurls. She’s so glad her throwing up didn’t wake Jake up. She feels bad at times when he loses sleep at night. First with Eric waking up numerous times at night and now with her constantly throwing up.

  She hopes drinking hot tea will help. After making a cup, she sits outside their bedroom patio. She sits on the swing, sipping on her tea. Whistling noises echoes from left to right. Steam rises from the bay since it’s so muggy. She hears the crickets chirping, leaves rustling, and owls hooting. As she rocks back and forth on the swing, the past continues to haunt her. It was hard to deal. It was just a domino effect. One thing happened and everything just started to fall apart. She misses her daddy so much. The thought of him makes her eyes water, and instead of trying to hold it back, she lets it out and cries hysterically. Her mother always said crying doesn’t make a person weak. It just means that person has been strong for too long. Women might think she’s weak for what she did, but she knows she’s endured a lot. Stuff that women couldn’t handle, but she’s a survivor and that’s all that matters. When she sees the bottom of her cup, she decides it’s time to go back to bed. It’s time for her to lay by the love of her life.

  7

  In a fetal position, Monica lies in bed watching the news. The weather man forecasted today to be in the upper thirties with a hundred percent change of rain, and strong winds. The fog will make it difficult to see, so he advises everyone to stay in their homes if possible. Monica is home alone, curled in bed. She pulls the trash can by the nightstand closer to her. She has been feeling really horrible these last couple days. She tries to eat, but can’t hold anything down. With her constantly throwing up, she feels weak. She just wants to sleep all day. Her phone keeps ringing, but she doesn’t have the energy to talk to anyone, so she doesn’t answer. She leans over and silences her phone
.

  Kelly is home watching Eric, and even though she has some experience with babysitting Ella, it still feels all new to her. She changes Eric’s diaper, and puts him in warm clothes. He has been really fussy, and she doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. She calls Monica, but she doesn’t answer. She tries to call Jake, but he too doesn’t answer. Kelly doesn’t know what to do to make Eric stop crying. She’s given him his bottle, she tries to rock him back and forth, and she checked his diaper again making sure he isn’t wet, but it is not helping. Her eyes start to water, but she knows if she starts crying, it will just make matters worse. What good would that do she thought? She tries to call Jake again, but no answer, so she decides to leave a message on his voicemail.

  “Hey it’s me. I’m going to leave here in a few minutes to drop Eric off. Please call me back. He has been really fussy, and I don’t know what to do.”

  She decides to drop him off at his office. Kelly grabs his diaper bag, puts his coat and beanie on, locks her apartment, and heads to her car. She buckles him in his car seat, kisses his head, and starts to drive off. Eric is still crying, and with this weather, it makes it harder for Kelly to concentrate. She tries to call Monica again, and still no answer, so she leaves a message. As she’s fixing to hang up, the fog and rain makes it difficult for her to see the red light, and she doesn’t stop. A truck hits the side of her car with forty miles of pressure. Since the roads are slick with the ice and rain, and with the strong winds and hard impact, her car flips in the air five times before it lands on its top. The wheels are still spinning in the air.

  Other people get out of their cars to help, while others call an ambulance. One woman sees Eric, tries to open the door, but it is jammed. Both Eric and Kelly are unconscious. Two guys try to pry the doors open, but no luck, it is really jammed. As the sirens are getting louder, Kelly awakens, and is in shock. Her head is seeping blood all down her face. She screams, looking for Eric, but she can’t move. The steering wheel is pushing against her legs, making it impossible for her to get out. The woman tells her to calm down, but she’s still screaming for Eric. The woman sees Eric in the car seat, but he is still unconscious, and doesn’t tell Kelly. She thinks if she tells Kelly, she might stress out more than she is right now. The cops arrive first, and they try to pull on the doors, but it won’t budge. They keep trying, and trying, and finally two of the firemen instruct the cops to move out of the way, as they each are holding a chainsaw. One of them starts on Eric’s side of the car, while the other is working on Kelly’s side. The one by Eric, cuts the door, pulls the car seat, and the paramedics step in. The fireman finally cuts Kelly’s door off, but now has to start cutting the steering wheel. One paramedic takes Eric out of the car seat, and then checks his pulse, but there’s no heartbeat. He has to resuscitate Eric immediately. He lays him on the ground, tilts his head back, closes his nose, and blows two breathes into Eric’s mouth. He then puts two fingers over Eric’s chest, just below the nipple, and starts pressing down. He gives him thirty compressions, checks his pulse, and still nothing. As he is repeating the process, Kelly’s head gets wrapped with a bandage, put on the gurney, and is loaded into the ambulance, to be taken to the hospital. Kelly sees Eric on the ground life-less and starts to cry, screaming.

  “NOOOOOOO!”

  The paramedics close the ambulance door, and drives off. They did not want Kelly’s heart rate to go up. After the third cycle of doing the CPR, there is finally a pulse, and Eric starts to cry. They rush him to the same hospital where Kelly was taken. When Kelly arrives at the hospital, they ask if there is any one they can call for her. She looks at the physician with a blank stare, and then passes out. The doctor checks her pulse, and it’s faint at first, then it stops.

  “She’s going into cardiac arrest.” The doctor yells.

  The doctor pulls her shirt open, and starts to do CPR but it doesn’t work. After a couple times trying, they pull out the defibrillator to shock her heart. There’s still no pulse. They do this multiple times, and she still has no heartbeat. The doctor doesn’t give up, and keeps trying. He tries, and tries, and tries but still no pulse. He does not want to lose her, so he continues to try, until another doctor tells him to stop. She is gone. The doctor puts his head down in disbelieve. That is the worse feeling ever, when a doctor loses a patient that depended on them. One of the nurses pronounces her death at three twenty seven p.m.

  When Eric arrives at the hospital, he is rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. He is crying non-stop, and the doctors does not know if it because he is hurting somewhere or if it’s because he’s in an unfamiliar territory. They start his intravenous therapy, and since he is conscious, they take him to the x-ray room, to check if he has any broken bones, or if he’s bleeding internally. While they are waiting for the results, they contact Jake, since he is one of the emergency contacts from Eric’s medical records.

  Concentrating on the paperwork in front of him, he answers, annoyed he is being bothered. “Hello. This is Jake Harris.”

  “Mr. Harris, this is Dr. Wade from Memorial City Hospital. Your son Eric was in a car accident, and we need you to come right away. And we”

  Before the doctor can finish, Jake interrupts crying nervously.

  “Is my son ok? I’m on my way. I’m leaving right now. Jessica I’m leaving. Please try to get a hold of my family for me and have them call me right away. Sorry about that. I’m on my way.”

  Without thinking, Jake hangs up, and rushes to the hospital. He is stuck in traffic, due to the weather, and people just getting off work. The anticipation is making him sick. When he arrives at the hospital, he heads to the emergency room.

  “My son Eric Harris was just admitted from a car accident.”

  The nurse checks on the computer. “Yes sir, he’s in the NICU department. It’s on the third floor.”

  As he’s running to the elevator, he starts to cry again. What happened to his son? Will he be ok? When he gets to the third floor, the neurosurgeon is waiting for him at the front desk and approaches him. Why is a neurosurgeon waiting for him he thought? His heart drops, when the doctor starts talking.

  “Hello.”

  “Ella this is Jessica, from your dad’s office. He told me to get a hold of you, and for you to call him immediately. Your brother was in a car accident. He’s at Memorial City Hospital in Houston.”

  “What? Do you know if he’s ok? Is my dad up there already? I’ll call him right now. Thank you.”

  She calls her dad, but he doesn’t answer, so she tries again, and again, and again. Why isn’t he answering his phone she thought? Did something bad happen to her brother where he can’t answer his phone? Is he talking to doctors? Is her mom up there too? She tries to call her mom, but she doesn’t answer. Does no one answer their phones? She is getting mixed emotions. Ella’s feeling worried and sad for her brother and aggravated at her parents for not answering their phones. Knowing her mom wasn’t feeling well, her mom is probably still in bed. She heads to their house first, since it is closer to her. When she enters the house, all the lights are off. She heads upstairs, calling for her mom.

  “What is it baby?” Monica is barely awake, trying to focus on Ella’s face.

  “Eric has been in a car accident. Dad’s over there right now.”

  “What!” Monica jumps up, looks for her purse, and heads to the car. “Do you know which hospital?”

  “Yeah, I’ll drive you over there, since you can’t drive.”

  Ella and Monica sit in the car in silence. Shocked from what they just heard.

  “I’ve tried calling you and dad numerous times. And you guys won’t answer.”

  “I had it on silent. I don’t think I have it on me right now.” Monica checks to see if she brought her phone with her. “No I left it at home.”

  What usually takes a forty-five minute drive took them twenty-five minutes to drive from Baytown to Houston. Ella was flooring the accelerator, but somehow the drive still felt like it took an eternit
y. Everything was moving in slow motion. Ella hands her their keys with the valet and they run to the emergency room. Monica is still in her pajamas and house slippers. They ask for Eric, and they are told the same information as Jake. When they finally get to the third floor, Jake is in the waiting room with his parents and Lauren. Seeing them there together crying, gave Monica an awful feeling in her stomach. She gets lightheaded and is fixing to faint. Jake grabs her by the arm, and helps her to a seat.

  “Where is he, I want to see him.” Monica yells.

  “He’s still in surgery.” Jake responds, trying to hold back from crying.

  “Surgery? What do you mean surgery? What happened? Surgery?” Monica has a hurt, confused look on her face. She was hoping this was all just a bad dream. Any minute now she’ll wake up and Eric will be ok. But this isn’t a bad dream. This is all real. Her family is really crying. A kid shouldn’t have to suffer. Monica asks him what happened, and their parents’ starts to cry harder, as Jake starts the story. He tries to compose himself, and refrains from crying again. Monica and Ella look at them, and start to cry.

  “Eric and Kelly were in a horrible accident. The car flipped in the air and landed on its top. When the paramedics arrived, they tried to resuscitate him, because he wasn’t breathing, and he didn’t have a pulse.”

  And before Jake can say thing more, Monica tightens her mouth together with her hands, and runs for the trash can. She vomits, and Jake walks over rubbing her back while she finishes. Jake wants to ask her if she’s alright, but he already knows the answer, so he just keeps rubbing her back. Ella hands her a tissue, and they walk back to their seats. Jake takes a deep breath and continues.

  “The paramedic gave him CPR a couple of times, and then he started to cry. The doctor said he seemed fine on the outside. But he wanted to make sure Eric wasn’t hurt inside, so they did all kinds of x-rays. When they got the results, it showed he had a brain trauma. The doctor believes his head kept hitting the car seat, each time it flipped, causing for it to bleed inside. When I got here, the doctor told me what happened, and he couldn’t give me much more details, because he said they needed to start an emergency surgery to stop the bleeding. And I haven’t heard anything since. I’ve just been waiting here.”