Matthew cleared his throat and tried to keep his eyes from focusing on containers that had some blood in them.
"I love you. I need you to know that I love you more than anything. You get better for me. When you get out of here—when you come home, I'll—" What kind of promises could he make to her? What made him think that she'd even want him near her again? "I'm always going to be here for you, Chloe. I'm so sorry."
Matthew walked out of the room when his time was up. When Lois saw his face, she reached for his hand and held it for a while.
"She's a fighter, Matthew, don't you worry."
An officer walked in the room and asked to speak with Becky Lockhart.
"I'm Becky. Is this about Chloe Burlington's accident?"
"Yes, it is. I'm Detective Giles. How's she doing?"
"She's critical and we're very worried."
"You better keep the bastard behind bars," Matthew blurted out.
"It was a seventy-nine-year-old man. They think he had a heart attack before the accident. He was pronounced dead at the scene. I can understand your anger, sir."
"I'm sorry about my comment."
"It's expected in situations such as these. It's not easy to see your loved one suffer due to the hands of another. Becky, did you see anything? The officer at the scene got your name and the victim's identity, but you left before he could ask you any questions."
"I didn't see anything besides the mangled vehicles. It was horrible." Becky couldn't get the images from her mind no matter how hard she tried.
"Here's my card if you need to contact me. On the back is the case number for insurance purposes."
Becky thanked him and took the card. Insurance. Like insurance can fix this.
Matthew went downstairs to get some coffee for everyone. On the way to the elevator he saw John approach him in the lobby. Matthew set the coffee on a chair and shared an embrace with his best friend.
"Thank you so much for coming here. I needed to see my brother's face. And thanks for checking in on pops and handling the work crew. I owe ya big time."
"You have your hands full here, Matt. Don't worry about anything else. How is she?"
"You wouldn't recognize her. I think that tells the full story. She's on life support and they want to get her a little more stable to do some more surgeries. She's got a lot of broken bones and deep cuts. Her spleen was ruptured so they got that out when she came in. The bleeding in her brain has lessened so they might pull the tubes out of her head soon. Her lung was punctured too. Those old cars don't have air bags, so Chloe hit the steering wheel and, as bad as her face is injured, probably the windshield."
"She'll pull out of this, bro. Keep the faith. Are you taking care of yourself?"
"I have Becky and Lois here with me. Lois just left to go home, but we try to take care of each other. It's funny how after this happened, my world stopped. Nothing else seems to matter. Even though we weren't speaking at the apartment, I knew she was there. If I wasn't such an ass, she wouldn't be here. Did you know she was going to the store for stuff to make me and pops dinner when she was hit? She was hoping I'd give her the opportunity to explain why she lied to me. Had I of given her that chance when I first found out who she really was, she wouldn't be fighting for her life."
"You can't think that way, understand? Beating yourself up isn't helping anything. Stay strong, Matt. She'll come back."
"When she first came to our neighborhood, I told her it wasn't safe for her to be out at night. You know how rough it can get, especially for a female. So there she was, out in broad daylight, and nearly lost her life on the way to the grocery store."
John wanted to stay longer with Matthew but he had to hurry back to work. The crew wasn't complaining a bit about their boss being gone. They knew what was happening and were willing to pitch in any way they could.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Four days later, they took Chloe back into surgery to repair a small nick in her liver. The injury was so small they didn't see it at first, but her daily lab work and exhibiting symptoms made the doctors more than aware she was bleeding, and they got her right in. An orthopedic surgeon came in the operating room to help put Chloe's bones back together in her hand and internally align the broken bone in her leg so they could both heal without permanent disabilities. They would go back and repair some of the facial fractures when she was out of the woods, but she was a long way from that. Some of her other fractures would heal on their own, but the degree of pain she would suffer if they took her out of the medically induced coma would be too much to bear. The bleeding in her brain resolved itself without them having to open up her skull. Only time would tell of the quality of life Chloe would have, providing she lived long enough to find out.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Sylvia and Earl Burlington sat on their third flight back home to Michigan without saying a word to each other. Earl hadn't spoken to her in days, ever since the phone call from Lois. He'd been aware of his wife's snobby behavior since the day their daughter was born. But she was sweet and delicate when he first met Sylvia Desmond at a luncheon.
The restaurant he owned was a very lucrative business, catering to the wealthy in Chicago. Sylvia stayed after the gathering had ended and chatted with Earl. They continued speaking after Sylvia went back to Michigan, but their talks went from once every week or two, to daily calls. It didn't take long for the two to fall in love. Earl was the 'take charge' kind of guy, and she was a woman with a horrible, sad life. Her father's company, Desmond Enterprises, was very successful, but began to fail after Sylvia was born.
Samuel Desmond loved his daughter Sylvia when she was an infant, but couldn't handle his wife's mood swings and the constant crying from the baby. He began to drink, and the business, started by Samuel's father, began to crash. Jackie, Samuel's devoted wife, was overly used to the finer things in life. It didn't take her long to blame everything that was upside down in her world, her marriage and failing financial situation, on Sylvia. To help prevent Samuel from leaving her, she sent Sylvia to a strict, harsh boarding school, where she worked and lived until she turned eighteen.
She hadn't spoken to her parents since she was dropped off in Sister Gilbert's office. On her seventeenth birthday, the old nun coldly informed Sylvia of the news that her mother had passed away in her sleep. Samuel kept the business above water, but barely, and only sent the minimal amount to pay for Sylvia's stay. She had no memories of her father when she left the boarding school, and never grieved over the death of her mother. Both of her parents existed on paper only.