Respect Ch. 02

The hospital was a nightmare of chaos. All the victims of the attack on the Hotel Fantasia were being brought here. It took at least fifteen minutes to find someone willing to talk to me that spoke English. Finally, we were guided to a waiting room on the surgical floor. Still, no one would tell me anything.

The waiting was horrible. Every time the door opened, I was on my feet with my heart in my throat. Then I'd plummet into despair when they were just new visitors. Finally, after almost three hours, a surgeon appeared still in his scrubs.

"Mrs. Spencer?" the doctor asked with a heavy Hispanic accent.

"Yes," I jumped to my feet. "How is my husband?"

"Please, let's go to the conference room over here," he indicated to where there was a small room with a table and six chairs.

I left my children sitting outside and followed the doctor. After we were seated, I immediately asked again, "Is my husband going to be alright?"

"I don't know," the doctor answered gravely. "His wounds are very serious, and he's lost a large amount of blood. Even if he recovers from his wounds, I don't know if there will be any brain damage. Also, a fragment from one of the bullets lodged itself next to his spine. We were able to remove it, but we don't know if he will suffer any paralysis."

Tears began to flood down my face. "He is going to live, isn't he?

The doctor shrugged. "We'll know more in twenty-four hours. Right now, all we can do is wait and monitor his condition. He's in God's hands right now."

"Can I see him?" I asked through my tears.

"He's unconscious, but if you follow me, I let you see him for a few minutes."

After telling the children that I was going to see their father and that I wanted them to wait there, I followed the doctor.

My legs almost gave out on me when I was ushered into the intensive care unit. Andy had IVs in both arms, a tube down his throat, and a battery of monitoring equipment around him. He looked so pale and so vulnerable. How could I ever have treated him so badly? My heart ached.

I tried to reassure the kids that their father was resting comfortably. Kevin's eyes lit up, and he demanded that he be allowed to see his father. He got angry when I told him I was the only one allowed in. Kevin told me it wasn't fair because I didn't even like his father. That hurt almost as much as the thought of losing Andy. I broke down in sobs. Kevin mumbled that he was sorry and moved to the other side of the waiting room.

As the hours ticked on by, I kept going back to what my son had said. It tore me up that my disrespect of their father had been so obvious. If Andy died, I didn't know how I'd ever be able to repair the relationship with my children.

About two in the morning, I finally drifted off. I don't know how long I slept, but I was awakened by a gentle shaking of my shoulder. It was the doctor. My heart seemed to stop.

"Mrs. Spencer, your husband is bleeding internally. We are going to have to go back in. He's very weak; I don't know if he can survive another surgery."

Andy

I was standing in the front yard of my parent's house. They were sitting on the porch smiling at me. But that didn't make any sense; my parents had been dead for some years now. However, I was so tired, and it looked so peaceful where my parents were sitting that I tried to go up the porch stairs. My father shook his head and pointed to the street. Then he said, "It's not your time." Then everything was gone.

I opened my eyes with great difficulty and immediately felt like I was choking. I began to panic and tried to remove the obstruction from my throat. An alarm went off, and a nurse stepped up to one of my IVs. I saw her take a hypodermic and plunge it into something attached to the tubing. Moments later, I drifted off.

When next I awoke, it was nighttime, but at least I no longer felt the choking sensation. Whatever had been inserted in my throat was gone, but my throat was raw now. It seemed like everything hurt, my face, my arms, my chest, my legs, and of course, my throat. I felt someone holding my hand, but my eyes wouldn't focus. All that I knew was that it was a woman.

"Hurt," was all I could croak out.

I don't know if she understood what I said, but the sight of me sweating and grimacing certainly told her I was in pain. The woman left, and moments later, a nurse appeared. After the shot, my eyes closed, and I have no idea how long I was out. When I awoke the third time, I felt my bed moving. Then I lost consciousness.

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Spencer," I heard a voice and felt someone shaking me. It felt like I was underwater, clawing to get to the surface. Finally, I was able to open my eyes and grunt.

"Mr. Spence," the voice said, "It's time for you to wake up."

I stayed awake for about ten minutes before I fell back asleep. They kept waking me and asking me questions. At first, I couldn't understand what they were saying and talking was difficult. Finally, I was able to clear the fog out of my head and talk with some difficulty.

When they woke me up again, they began sticking needles in my legs and feet. They told me that they wanted to see if I was suffering any paralysis. I wasn't; every prick hurt.

The next day, I understood that they wanted to do a cognitive test on me. It was so hard to stay awake. In the last three days, I was maybe awake for an hour total. Anyway, this time, The doctor began by asking me what my name and birth date was. Then he ran through a series of questions about random things like who the President of the United States was, and a host of other silly things. But when he asked me my wife's name, it all came rushing back in. Even though it was all jumbled, I remembered the vacation to Mexico City, the Fox assignment, Maria Shivers, the cartel gunmen, and Ted Walker.

"I must admit that I did not expect you to be recovering as rapidly as you are," the doctor said. "You've been in a medically induced coma for ten days."

I lay in my bed, running over everything I could remember. Then it struck me that I had no idea what had happened to my family. All I could think about was that my marriage was over, and Cassie was leaving me.

"Is my family alright?" I struggled to ask with tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Oh yes, they're all well," the doctor said with a smile. "You'll see them soon."

Surely Cassie couldn't still be here, nor the kids. Cassie had to get back to work and the kids to school. Maybe I misunderstood the doctor, and he was talking about when I would go home.

"It may seem that I'm rushing things, but we believe that patients heal quicker the sooner we can get them out of bed. In fact, I'm going to have the nurses get you out of bed today. You need to start using your muscles again. Your leg may be a little sore, and if we need to, we'll get you crutches or a walker."

About an hour later, I tossed the remote down in disgust. The television appeared to be broken, or maybe it was the remote. I'd have to ask someone to fix it. However, when I looked up, all thoughts about watching TV evaporated as Kevin and Sally raced into the room.

"Daddy!" Sally cried as she raced forward and hugged me. Kevin was less demonstrative, but his lips were trembling as he finally hugged me also. From over his shoulder, I saw a third figure. It was Cassie, and she seemed fearful and uncertain about entering the room.

When the kids finally stepped back, Cassie moved forward quickly. She kissed me on the lips and began to sob. "I thought we were going to lose you. Andy, I love you so much."

I was stunned. Could it be true that Cassie still loved me? At that moment, all I wanted to do was hold on to her. Finally, she lifted her head and kissed me once again. Then she stepped back with a loving smile.

"I thought you would be back in Austin," I stammered, my voice still a little rough and weak.

"I know why you would think that," she said as pain flashed across her eyes. "But we've been here with you the whole time. Wild horses couldn't have dragged us away."

"What about your job, and what about the kid's school?" I questioned.

Cassie shook her head and looked at Sally and then Kevin, and both nodded at her.

Sally spoke at this moment. "Dad, there is no way Kevin or I or mom were going to leave you alone. The thought that you were going to die," Sally choked up at that point, and her lips began to tremble.

Kevin picked up his sister's thoughts when he saw her struggling. "Dad, how could you ever think that we would leave you? We'll make up the work at school; that's not a problem. We just want you to get better so we can go home together."

"The kids are right," Cassie said softly. "We'll worry about all that when we get home. Right now, you just have to concentrate on getting better." She paused and looked down for a second before settling onto the side of my bed. "I don't know how to ever tell you how sorry I am for the way I've treated you," she said with a slight tremor in her voice. "I've told the kids everything that has gone on between us the past six months, or rather more like the last couple of years. I told them about Ted Walker and what almost happened. They've forgiven me. Now I'm begging you to forgive me also. I want you to know in no uncertain terms that I love you and only you."

Up until that moment, darkness had hung over me. Yes, I was mostly consumed with getting better, but I believed that I was going back to a world without Cassie. Now, for the first time, the darkness seemed to be parting, or at least I hoped so. But I would have to hear what Cassie had to say.

Taking my hand, Cassie began. "That night, when you saw me in the hall, I thought I had destroyed our family. Please believe me, nothing happened between Ted and me. I was a fool to believe that he wanted to help me become a Partner. All he wanted to do was to help me into his bed. When you saw me in the hallway, Ted had tried to make his move. At that moment, it became crystal clear what his intentions were, and I forced my way out. I realized that night that he is nothing more than a weasel, but the look on your face crushed me. When they put that reservation for your return to Austin under the door, I was devastated."

It was like a dream come true. Hearing Cassie tell me that she finally saw Ted for what he really is was music to my ears.

"I am so ashamed that I ever considered him a better man than you," Cassie continued. Her cheeks had gone red, and she was shaking slightly. "Ted Walker uses his looks and charm to get what he wants. But the truth is, he is nothing but a coward."

"But he's heading up the committee that will award the next Junior Partnership," I pointed out. "Won't he ruin your chances?"

"No, because I resigned."

I was absolutely stunned by Cassie's declaration. Cassie's ambition, ever since we first met, was to become a Partner for major accounting firm. Now she had thrown that away.

"But why?" It was the only question I could muster.

Cassie leaned over and kissed me on the lips. It was a long sensuous kiss. There was a twinkle in her eyes that I usually saw when she wanted to have sex. Of course, I couldn't accommodate right now, but it was something that had been missing for too long a time.

Cassie stroked my face and continued to explain. "Most of my life, I've been chasing a dream that was never really mine. When I was growing up, I knew that my father worked his backside off to become a Partner. He talked about it to our family all the time. It was almost an obsession, but he died before he realized his dream. Eventually, without me truly realizing it, his ambition became my ambition. But when I thought I would lose you, I realized what a fool I had been. When I looked hard at my position with the firm, it was very clear I would never make Partner. I'm just not Partner material. And if I stayed on my current track, I would fail like my father, and I'd lose my family. So, I faxed my resignation the day after the attack. I told them I needed to be with you. I also told them that there was no way that I could ever work with Ted Walker again."

"What did Mr. Bracken say?" I was beyond shocked by Cassie's decision. However, I was extremely happy if this was true, and she would carry through with it.

"He hasn't accepted my resignation," Cassie admitted. "He wants to talk to me when I return to Austin. From now on, my family needs have to come first. However, without my income, we can't keep that house. I've put it on the market already. I hope it will sell quickly because we can't afford to make the mortgage payments."

"So, you're telling me that we're poor," I chuckled a little.

Cassie laughed. "Maybe we'll struggle at first, but my husband is going to be a great writer."

I laughed, and my side hurt a bit, but I didn't care. "Well, maybe not a great writer, but hopefully a good one."

"Andy, can you ever forgive me for questioning you and believing that you weren't good enough. I love you with all my heart. I don't want anyone else but you."

"All I've ever wanted is to love you and have you love me." I pulled her into a tight hug even though it hurt. I never wanted to let her go, but after a few seconds, the pain was too much.

Cassie kissed me again and stood up. "What can I get for you?"

"How about telling me what happened after I was shot," I responded. "Nobody around here speaks enough English to explain. My TV doesn't work, and all the papers they've brought me are in Spanish."

"Are you sure you really want to talk about that?" Cassie asked with concern.

I nodded.

"I can't remember the exact numbers," Cassie began. "You can look them up if you want to when we get home, but as near as I remember, about a dozen of President Sanchez's security men were killed. Another six or seven were wounded., including Captain Lopez. I do remember Twenty-six guests were shot, and seven died. Forty or fifty gunmen were killed in the hotel, and roughly the same amount was captured. Scores more were arrested or killed in Mexico City and in Northern Mexico."

"Peter and Billy?"

"They got out okay. Of course, Pete was wounded, but it wasn't serious. He'll have to wear a sling for a few weeks."

"What about the people from your office?"

"No one from my office was hurt. But it could have been much worse. They found a large amount of explosives. The gunmen were going to escape by helicopter and then blow up the hotel after killing the President. The army intercepted those helicopters and forced them down."

"My God," was all I could say.

"Do you know what really disrupted the cartel's plans?"

I shook my head.

"The Police Chief's Conference," Cassie said with a laugh. "Even though they weren't supposed to bring any weapons into Mexico, just about every American Police Chief was armed. The chiefs caught the gunmen from behind in the stairway. It disrupted everything."

I smiled and chuckled. "You gotta love Americans and their guns."

After a week, they released me from the hospital, and we went home. I'd be lying if I said everything was "peaches and cream" from then on. There were still a lot of rough patches that we had to work through. One of the biggest was that Cassie went back to work for her old firm, supposedly part-time. But after a few months, she was back on the treadmill.

It all came to a head the night before Kevin's soccer team was to play in the Regional Finals. Cassie tried to beg off because she had a client that wanted to meet with her. I didn't get angry; I just got sad.

"Cassie, can we talk about this, please?" I almost begged.

"Andy, this is an important client. I can't blow him off," she protested.

"Cassie, you're going to do what you want to do, but just think about one thing. You only get so many special moments with your kids. Do you really want to get to the point when they've gone out on their own, and you've missed most of those moments? If you decide that your job is more important, you may wake up one day and find that your kids are gone, and they don't want to spend any time with you."

Cassie continued to argue that this particular client accounted for twelve percent of the firm's billings. I told her that I had said all I would say on the matter, and she'd never hear another word from me. I was sad that Cassie was slipping back into her old ways, and there was nothing I could do. I was convinced that Cassie had no illusions about making Partner, and I knew she loved me. But if she continued on her old track, eventually, the kids and I would drift away from her.

On the day of Kevin's game, I swung by Cassie's office to see if she might have changed her mind. However, her administrative assistant told me that she had gone to see the client. I headed home, picked up the kids, and headed to the field.

The sky was overcast, and it was chilly. It would be almost perfect weather to play the game. I was watching Kevin's team warm up when someone sat down next to me. When I looked over, it was Cassie. She reached over and kissed me. "You were right."

That day was one of those perfect ones that come along so infrequently. Cassie had called the client and explained about her son's game. They were happy to reschedule. Kevin's team won the game five to three, and Kevin scored one of the goals. We went out to celebrate after, and in bed, that night, Cassie and I made love until the wee hours of the morning.

Epilog:

The day before they released me from the hospital, I had a surprise visitor. Cassie and the kids were busy packing for our return trip when a man appeared in my doorway. It was President Sanchez. And there was another surprise visitor, Captain Lopez. I was relieved to see that the Captain seemed reasonably, alright. Of course, he had a nasty scar on his cheek and a fair-sized bandage on his left hand.

"Mr. Spencer," the President said as I stood and extended my hand. Instead of taking my hand, he grabbed me into a gentle hug. "I am so pleased to see you up and about. I was afraid we were going to lose you for a while. And this world cannot afford to lose any good men. Please, let's sit. I have something I wish to say to you."

I sat on one of the two chairs with the President opposite me. We talked about how each of us was doing after the attack. The President told me that he went on television that day to assure the Mexican people that the cartels would be broken. Captain Lopez stood by the door and looked out into the hallway; always the faithful security man.

"Mr. Spencer, I really am very happy to see you recovering so quickly," the President said as he patted my leg. "I stopped by today, not only to express my personal gratitude, but also the gratitude of the Mexican people."

"That's very kind of you, Mr. President, but in truth, I was just protecting my family."

"I know, but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that you helped us defeat the cartels in that battle," the President paused and looked back at Captain Lopez. "I wanted to make this presentation on national television, but Captain Lopez has convinced me that to do so would make you and your family a target."

The Captain stepped forward and pulled a box from his coat pocket. From it, The President extracted an elegant medal. I looked at it and saw an eagle holding a snake in its beak. I had no idea what the medal was for.

"Would you please stand?" the President asked me. Once we were both standing, President Sanchez put the ribbon holding the medal over my head. "On behalf of the people of Mexico, it is my honor to award you the Order of the Aztec Eagle for your assistance in helping win the first battle in the new war against the drug cartels."

The President kissed me on both cheeks and then shook my hand. Captain Lopez stepped forward smiling and gave me a light hug with one arm.