“We just talked to her on the phone the other night. She said that you were fine. Did she lie?”
“No, she didn’t lie. I was fine.”
But he wasn’t now.
Heven’s suitcase moved in front of me and I snagged it, dropping it in front of me. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear whatever he was going to say. This was Heven’s mother we were talking about. Her family.
“Sam? I really missed you.”
I turned my head to look at my little brother. He looked scared and confused. I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him in for a hug. “I missed you too, bud.”
We stood there a minute and he made no move to pull away. “Whatever is going on, it’s okay. Everything will be fine.”
My giant duffle bag rolled around and I snagged it too.
“Come on,” I said, hefting one bag in each hand. “Let’s go. Heven’s going to want to get right to the hospital. We’ll talk then.”
Logan nodded. He seemed a little calmer now. Maybe things weren’t as bad as I thought. Maybe he was the one who found Heven’s mom and was shaken up. Poor kid. Would he ever catch a break?
We hurried out of the airport toward Gran’s car at the curb and I tossed the bags into the trunk and hurried to climb in. Heven was in the front seat, staring out the windshield, and I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes before she slid on her sunglasses and looked at me.
There wasn’t anything I could say to make this better, so I gave her a reassuring smile and hoped that her mom would be okay. Logan was quiet on the ride to the hospital and I didn’t dare try and talk to him in the car.
“You don’t know anything about what happened?”
Gran shook her head. “Not much of anything. Poor Logan found her.”
So I was right. He was upset because he found her.
Heven turned in her seat to look at Logan. “You found my mother?”
He nodded, fear creeping into his eyes.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he said and looked at me. I nodded, wanting him to continue. “I came downstairs to get some water, it was late… she was lying on the floor in the kitchen. There was blood…” He looked down at his hands as his voice trailed away.
“Then what happened?” Heven asked, desperate for answers. I wanted to tell her to ease up, but she wasn’t really being too harsh, she just wanted to know.
“I called 9-1-1 and the ambulance came. I went with her to the hospital and Gran came.”
“Did she fall?” Heven pressed.
“I don’t know,” he said again. “I didn’t see. There was water on the floor, like it was spilled. Maybe she slipped and hit her head.”
Heven bit her lip and turned back around in her seat. Logan looked at me and I smiled, trying to tell him that everything was okay.
But the way he was talking… the way he looked. I’d seen that look in his eye before. Right after he trashed the second-hand store below my apartment.
* * *
The hospital was barren and quiet compared to the loud, busy airport we just came from. The walls were sterile white and the smell of antiseptic burned my nose. Beside me, Heven walked woodenly, solemnly. It made me angry because she had already been through so much and this was something that I couldn’t protect her from. I knew that things between her and her mother weren’t very good, but lately, it had all been changing. Their relationship was growing strong again. I felt comfortable enough to leave Logan in her care and now I was wondering if that had been a mistake.
My fingers were wrapped around Heven’s, ice cold and trembling. I released her hand to put my arm around her shoulders and pull her into my side as we made our way off the elevator and down yet another sterile hallway.
“Any change?” Gran asked, grabbing a nurse by the arm on her way down the hall.
“No, ma’am. Is this her daughter?” the woman asked, regarding Heven with kind eyes.
“Yes, this is Heven and her boyfriend Sam and you know Logan.”
The nurse nodded. “Your mother is stable. There’s some slight swelling in her brain and the doctor believes that when it goes down, she will wake up.”
“Swelling in her brain?” Heven asked, alarmed. I took my arm from her shoulders and slid it around her waist for support.
“She had quite a fall, hit her head pretty hard,” the nurse responded.
Heven made a small sound in the back of her throat.
“It’s not so bad. She’s going to be fine,” the nurse assured her. “One visitor at a time. Immediate family only until she wakes up.” The nurse looked at me and Logan as she spoke.
“Of course,” Gran agreed.
Gran moved on down the hall and we followed, stopping in front of a closed wooden door. “Go on in. We’ll wait out here,” she said to Heven.
Heven pulled away from me and looked up. I’ll be right here. I told her, wishing I had more to offer.
Without another word, she opened the door and disappeared inside.
Gran stood there a moment, then turned to Logan and me. “It’s been a very long day and I’m going to go get a cup of coffee. Would either of you care for anything?”
We both declined as she moved off down the hall. When she turned the corner I looked at Logan. “Start talking.”
His shoulders slumped and I thought he might cry. I grabbed his arm and led him to a room two doors down that was empty and I pulled him inside and pushed the door around.
“At first, everything was okay,” Logan said. “Heven’s mom, she’s really nice. She cooked a lot and most of it was pretty good, except for the chicken. It was kind of like being back home.”
“Then what happened?” I asked patiently.
“He started hanging around.” His words tightened.
“Who? Henry?”
Logan nodded. “He was nice at first, too. But then one night he took me to the movies and for pizza. He said things…”
“What things?”
“That if you really cared about me you wouldn’t have left me here and went to Italy. He said that you only cared about Heven.” His voice broke.
“Logan, that isn’t true,” I said, reaching for him, but he backed away and continued to talk.
“He said that you didn’t understand what was happening to me, but he did. He said he could fix me. I told him that he was lying and that you would help me and he got mad. He drove us to this empty lot, a field of grass and he made me get out of the car.”