Loving Wives, Loving Husbands 002

Jayla - 002

A few minutes before the plane landed in Sacramento, Jayla texted her oldest son Robert, Jr.

Landing now. Where should I come?

He had replied almost immediately

I'll pick you up in about 30 minutes.

She hurried through the terminal with her bag and purse to the waiting area under the portico of the airport. As promised, almost 30 minutes exactly, she saw Robert's BMW SUV pull up to the curb. He jumped out almost before the car had stopped. He grabbed her in his arms. Jayle nearly lost it again. His looks and his mannerisms were so much like his father's it was almost as if Bob were standing there. She choked back tears.

"How is your dad?"

"He is holding his own. It was touch and go in the operating room. The surgeon said that he coded twice but they got him back. He is in the recovery room now."

"Is he alone?"

"No. Rachel is with him."

Rachel was Robert's wife, Jayla's daughter in law.:

"Where are the kids?"

"We dropped them off with Rachel's Mom and Dad. They are fine."

Jayla sobbed again.

"Come on. Let's get you to Dad."

The trip to the hospital took a little over 45 minutes with traffic. Robert, Jr parked the car and they walked, hand in hand to the hospital. Jayla learned that the cardiac unit was on the fourth floor. As they walked into the waiting room, Rachel came running toward Jayla and hugged her silently. Jayla clasped her daughter in law to her tightly. She loved Rachel like she was her own daughter.

"Rachel. How is Bob?"

She looked at Jayla and tried to smile.

"The nurse was here a few minutes ago. He is still heavily sedated. She said it may be tomorrow morning before he starts to come out of the anesthesia."

"I want to see him now."

Rachel nodded and went to the phone on a nearby credenza. She punched a couple of buttons and spoke quietly. In only a few seconds a nurse appeared in scrubs.

"Mrs. Spencer. Come this way."

Jayla followed the nurse down a corridor, through several sets of automatic double doors and then into a dimly lit room. Jayla saw the form on the bed almost obscured by the wires and tubes. Bob lay on the bed. He was ashen in color and he looked years older than his 60. He looked wasted and emaciated, not at all like the robust and vigorous man she knew. Jayla looked at the nurse.

"Can I touch him?"

"Of course. Just be careful of the IV's and the tubes. He is still on the ventilator. He can't breathe for himself just yet. He also has three chest tubes for drainage and a catheter. Hold his hand. Talk to him. Let him know you are here. He may seem like he is totally unresponsive but we have patients who swear they hear people when they are talked to. If you need anything, just press that button. We will be here a lot, checking on him."

Jayla approached cautiously. She saw the bandages over the massive incision that started just below his neckline and ended just below his sternum. It continued to seep liquid. She tentatively took his hand and looked at him trying to compose herself enough to speak.

"Bob. It's Jayla. I am here with you my love. I will be here. If you can hear me, you are going to be ok. You and me. We will get through this together. Oh GOD, Bob. I love you so much. Please, please, please. Don't leave me. I don't think I could stand it."

For the next 8 hours, she sat next to the bed and held his hand. She talked to him almost constantly. She talked about the kids, memories from their life together and what they planned to do when he retired. At some point the nurse came back in and checked all the machines. She brought Jaya a soda and touched her gently on the shoulder.

"He is going to get through this. I have a feeling. You are going to have him for a long time to come."

Jayla had smiled and sipped the cola. Several hours later, Robert Jr. appeared in the doorway.

"Mom. You need to go with the nurse. Rachel is ready to go get you something to eat. You need a break. Sarah will be here just after lunch. Connor got his emergency leave but it will take a couple of days for him to get back. If anything changes I'll call you."

She started to protest, but she saw the look in Robert's eyes. She recognized that look and knew, from years of experience, that it was useless to try and do anything other than what he was suggesting. She got up and leaned over to kiss Bob on the lips.

Rachel was waiting outside. She took Jayla by the arm and they walked out to the parking lot. At the SUV, Rachel looked at Jayla.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Anything is fine."

Rachel didn't argue or make suggestions. She simply drove to the nearest restaurants she had seen on the way in. It was a Denny's. They got out and headed inside. After having something to eat. They got back in the car. Rachels phone chimed. Rachel red the text and she looked at Jayla

"Sarah is at the airport."

Jayla sat silently, thinking about Bob as Rachel drove to the airport. Sarah was waiting outside the terminal when they pulled up. Jayla and Rachel go out as Sarah ran to her mother and hugged her tightly. Sarah was sobbing lightly. Jayla held her for a long time standing on the sidewalk. Rachel loaded Sarah's bags.

"Get in. We are holding up traffic."

Sarah and Jayla sat in the back seat, holding hands and talking quietly. Rachel looked at them in the back seat using the rearview mirror.

"Robert found an Airbnb near the hospital. We dumped out stuff there on the way in. I think we should go there. Jayla, you look worn out. You can shower and take a nap. That will give me a chance to catch up with Sarah and she can talk to Robert."

Jayla nodded. She was spent and was ready to do almost anything the girls thought best. At the Airbnb, a nice two-story house that Jayla would learn had 4 bedrooms and was completely furnished. It would be a place they could use as a base. They arrived at the house and Rachel and Sarah brought Sarah's luggage in putting it in one of the bedrooms. Rachel saw Jayla looking a bit lost.

"Robert and I think you should take the Master suite. Our stuff is in the front bedroom."

Jayla nodded and turned into the large master bedroom. She saw the bathroom and left her suitcase sitting in the middle of the floor. Heading directly to the bathroom Jayla began dropping clothing on the floor. She turned on the shower and stepped into the steaming water. As she stood with the water pouring over her, she closed her eyes and was again wracked by a wave of body heaving sobs.

Later, Sarah came upstairs and found her mom deeply asleep in the huge bed. Sarah lovingly tucked her mom in, thinking how many times Jayla had done the same thing to her, making sure the coverings were over her securely. She went to the bathroom and picked up the discarded clothing and folded it and put it on the top of the dresser. Sarah then set the suitcase on a chair and opened it, intending to put her mother's things away.

Sarah began removing the quickly folded clothing and was confused. What she found didn't look like what she would expect someone to pack who was planning on a long stay in a faraway place. She found two very sexy cocktail dresses. Sarah unpacked a couple of skirts and blouses that seemed more what she would expect her mother to pack. As she pulled the lingerie from the suitcase her brow furrowed.

Why would her mom pack lingerie that looked more like she was dressing for a weekend alone with Dad, than someone going to sit vigil at a hospital? And stockings? Sarah was confused. She put the things away and headed downstairs. She needed to think.

&&&&&

Jayla heard something and roused sleepily as Rachel came into the room.

"Mom.... MOM.... Dad is waking up. We need to get to the hospital."

Jayla jumped out of bed, still stark naked. She jerked the covers back over herself.

"Sorry. I forgot I just collapsed into the bed."

"Never mind. Just get dressed and let's go."

Rachel left and Jayla hurried to get the clothing laying on the dresser. She was soon dressed, grabbed her purse and headed downstairs. Everyone was waiting and the three were soon on their way to the hospital.

The nurse was waiting on Jayla. She led them both to the cubicle where Bob was still hooked up to the machines. However, his eyes were open. The ventilator tube was still in his mouth. Jayla saw him and gasped. She saw him look at her and his eyes seemed to gather more life and energy. He weakly held up his hand toward her. Jayla rushed forward and grabbed his hand, kissing it over and over again.

She leaned over and kissed his forehead and then looked into his eyes.

"BOB. Oh Gud. I have been so worried. I love you."

She saw his eyes crinkle as he smiled then winced. She looked at the nurse quickly.

"Not to worry. He is going to have a lot of pain for the next three or four days. That is to be expected. Remember, the doc basically laid his chest wide open, took out his sternum and then wired it all back together again."

Jayla winced at the description. She looked back at Bob. The pain had passed and he was looking at her with adoration. She squeezed his hand and whispered.

"I'm here, baby. I'm not going anywhere."

Later that afternoon, the doc came by and spoke to them.

"He is in stable condition. He will be here for at least 6 days if everything goes just right. When that is done we will release him to home. Where is home, by the way?"

"Towson, Maryland. It's a small suburb of Baltimore."

The doc frowned.

"He can't fly for at least 6 weeks. Can you make arrangements to stay here?"

Robert, Jr was the one that spoke.

"When can we move him to San Diego? We live there."

"In a couple of weeks but not before. Even then you will have to take it easy."

"We can manage that."

The doc left with instructions to the nurse to remove the breathing tubes and get him stabilized and ready to move to a regular room. After he left, the nurse looked at them.

"This is going to take some time. His room won't be ready for a couple of hours. Getting him ready won't take as long, but I don't think you want to be here when we start removing the breathing tube."

Robert looked at the others.

"I think we are politely being told to get the hell out so these ladies can get to work."

The nurse smiled. They decided to go back to the house and wait.

Back at the house, Rachel and Robert volunteered to go to the market and stock up on groceries. Sarah and Jayla stayed behind. As soon as Rachel and Robert had left, Jayla and Sarah were sitting at the kitchen table sipping on sodas they had bought at a nearby convenience store. Sarah came to the point quickly.

"Mom. What were you thinking when you packed? Two cocktail dresses, a couple of casual blouses and sweaters. And that lingerie. It looks more like an ad from one of those sex boutiques than what I would expect you to wear. The heels too. I can't believe it. Stockings. You brought stockings? What did you think was going on?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking. I was in too much shock. I was just stuffing things into a suitcase to get away as quickly as I could."

Sarah had looked at her with questions still in her eyes.

"I still can't figure out why I couldn't get a hold of you. I can sort of understand the cell phone. But I tried the landline at the house and dads privat phone in his office. Your cell phone never said it was offline or unavailable. It just rang and rang until it went to voicemail."

"I was probably outside working in the garden. I can't hear the phones in the house while I am outside."

Sarah wasn't convinced but she didn't want to push it any further.

Jayla tried to be casual. He hadn't expected questions like this from Sarah. Frankly, she hadn't expected any questions at all. They continued until Rachel and Robert came back and then everyone got up helping to haul in the groceries. Everyone helped put away while Rachel began preparing a huge pot of spaghetti. The others hung out around the table talking.

"Do any of you know what happened?"

Bob had a few things to add.

"I talked to the director of the office here. He said they were just about to finish up their staff meeting. Dad was sitting at the head of the table. Nobody noticed much until they saw Dad tense and reach for his throat. He then apparently spasmed hard backward in the chair and it tipped over sideways. One of the men present is a volunteer firefighter and immediately knew what was going on. He grabbed the AED from the breakroom. He put it on Dad but the machine never went off. Dad apparently had a stable enough cardiac rhythm that the machine didn't function. EMS was here in about 5 minutes. They took him directly to the hospital. One of the trauma nurses said that he did regain consciousness just before he was taken up to surgery. She said that the only thing he said was Mom's name. Several times."

Jayla was sitting listening. A deep slow sob came from her and she leaned over on the table, her face buried in her arms. Sarah leaned over her and put an arm around her.

"It's ok mom."

"No. No it's not. He asked me to come with him on this trip. I know he was disappointed when I wouldn't come. I could have been here. I could have been with him this whole time."

All three of her children gathered around here. Bob consoled her

"He didn't care, Mom. He was thinking of you. That's what mattered. He knew you would get here as quickly as you could."

Jayla was almost inconsolable.

"I should have been here. I should have been with him."

Not long after that, the hospital called to tell them that Robert was in his room resting comfortably. They could come and visit for a while but couldn't stay. They wanted him to rest.

At the hospital, they found Bob with the head of the bed raised slightly propped up on pillows. He still had tubes and wires all over the place and the constant beep of the monitors was annoying. But, to their amazement, he was actually smiling.

Jayla saw him and rushed forward. She stopped just before she jumped onto the bed and looked alarmed. He looked at her and chuckled.

"You're afraid I might come unplugged. If you don't hug me, I will get up and grab you myself."

She piled onto him and then realized her mistake. She heard him groan and when she looked, his face was wracked with pain.

"Oh Bob. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean too... "

"He gasped. I know.. I know. I forget myself sometimes and move wrong."

She held onto his hand, clutching it tightly. The kids gathered around and were asking questions right and left. The nurse let them carry on for a few minutes then got their attention.

"Folks. I'm afraid that I need all of you to leave until morning. It's been a long day. Everyone needs to rest, not just Bob. One of you can stay the night. We will bring in a recliner and some blankets."

There was no question that Jayla would stay. The kids kissed their mom and dad goodnight and headed back to the house. The recliner came and Jayla curled up in it. Bob had fallen asleep again as soon as the kids left. Jayla held his hand, laying in the recliner, her eyes never leaving him. Just the sound of his easy deep breathing was comforting.

&&&&&

Back at the house, Robert, Rachel, and Sarah were eating spaghetti and talking. Rachel looked at Bob.

"Did you ever find out why your Mom didn't answer the phone all morning?"

Sarah answered.

"She said that she left her phone off the charger last night and didn't realize it was dead until she plugged it back in."

"What about the phone in your dad's office and the home line?"

Again Sarah recounted what her mother had said.

"She said she spent most of the morning outside working in the flower garden and she can't hear the other phones from out there."

Rachel got up to get another helping of spaghetti. When she returned she sat down. Bob was pushing spaghetti around on his plate aimlessly. He looked up.

"Something doesn't add up. When I called mom, her phone rang about a half dozen times and then went to voicemail."

Sarah nodded.

"Yeah. Mine did the same thing."

"If you dial a phone that is not connected to a tower, the phone goes to voicemail immediately. It doesn't ring. If her phone was dead, it should have gone immediately to voicemail but it didn't."

Sarah thought for a moment and then looked at Bob

"Not that I think about it, mine did the same thing;"

"So her phone was on all the time. She just wasn't answering."

They all sat for a moment trying to figure out a possible plausible explanation. Then Sarah spoke softly."

"I unpacked mom's bag. I thought it was strange then and it is even stranger now."

Bob looked at her.

"How so?"

"She had her carryon bag and that's all. Inside I found a couple of skirts and some sweaters."

"So. What's so strange about that?"

"She also had two cocktail dresses. And they aren't what I would expect mom to wear anyway. But why did she bring cocktail dresses when she knew dad was in such bad shape. And the lingerie she brought. It looks like some of that stuff you see on the erotic and fetish websites on the internet."

Bob chuckled.

"How would you know what is on those websites, sis?"

She threw a piece of garlic bread at him.

"Be serious. Why did she put that in her suitcase and a pair of at least 5 inch stiletto heels, and stockings? Seamed lace top stockings."

Bob looked up and then looked at Rachel. He jerked out his cell phone and started punching buttons. He read something and then rapidly punched more buttons. He sat his phone down and rested his forehead in his hands. Rachel looked at him concerned.

"Robert. What is it? What's wrong?"

"Mom sent me the flight number she was on. That flight came into Sacrement from Dallas."

"So what. She probably had a connecting flight."

"No, it was a direct flight, From Atlanta."

Sarah and Rachel both exclaimed at the same time.

"Atlanta?"

Bob nodded.

The flight she was on originated from Atlanta a few hours after Sarah talked to her. I know the time because Sarah called me to tell me she had finally talked to mom. That was a direct flight to Sacramento with a stopover in Dallas. She had to have been in Atlanta when Sarah talked to her.

Sarah looked at the other two.

"I'm confused. What does this all mean?"

Bob looked up. He was a computer analyst. Logic was his fortee. He looked at Sarah with pain in his eyes.

"Mom was in Atlanta. I don't know why. She has obviously been trying to cover it up."

Sarah listened and then she seethed.

"Do you think she is having an affair and was there to meet someone?"

Bob looked up and held up his hands.

"I can't answer that and neither can you. All we can know for sure is that she was in Atlanta. I am pretty sure Dad didn't know she was in Atlanta. She hasn't chosen to confide in any of us that she was in Atlanta much less why? It could have been totally innocent. She could have gone to some kind of conference. Dad has told me several times that she often goes to a conference or convention about quilting or crafting when he is out of town."

Sarah was still building steam.

"Bullshit. Have you ever known mom to care enough about something like quilting to spend the time or money to go someplace like that."

Bob had to admit. It didn't fit well with what he knew about his mom. She was more likely to stay home and work in her flower garden or just hang out doing crafting or quilting.

Rachel, trying to bring things down a notch, started gathering the dishes.

"What do you intend to do?"

Robert thought for a minute.

"I'm not sure. It would take a ton of time and money to find out where she was and what she was doing. I'm not sure it is worth it. Dad needs her now more than anything. If we make an issue of this and she takes off, it would kill him. We can't take a chance on that."