Climbing into bed for an afternoon nap with a nice full cheesy stomach was one of the nicest things Rebekah had ever done. She fell asleep almost immediately, and when she woke up, she felt as though she’d actually gotten some good restorative rest. She picked up the phone and called Jeremy, just like he’d asked her to do, and they agreed that they’d leave for San Antonio in an hour.
Rebekah called Tracy and asked her to pass the word along to all the sisters that she was doing all right, and then she stood in front of her closet and tried to figure out what to wear. She’d only been taken home to meet the parents one other time, and that was the year after nursing school when she thought she’d been madly in love. His parents had turned their noses up at her because she was from a tiny little town called Bagley, and nothing good could ever come from a place like that. She refrained from telling them that she was part of the richest family in the whole region—if they didn’t like her on her own terms, she didn’t like them either. Within a week, she and her boyfriend had broken up, and she’d never regretted the decision, even though it stung.
This was different, though. She wasn’t fresh out of school—she was older now, and more experienced. And Jeremy wasn’t like any other guy she’d ever met. He knew something potentially frightening about her, and yet he’d shown her nothing but kindness and respect. In fact, he admired what she did, but he wasn’t intimidated by it, and that gave her even more reason to like him. Well, to love him. She grinned at the thought.
She finally settled on a denim skirt and a white ruffled blouse. It was a little dressy while also being a little casual, and she hoped his mother would like it. She knew that mothers judged their sons’ girlfriends by the way they dressed and if they showed enough respect for the event they were attending.
“Should I bring anything?” she asked Jeremy when he picked her up. “A cake? A bottle of wine? Help me out here—I want to impress your parents.”
He laughed. “They’ll be impressed by you, not by anything you bring. And I haven’t told them about your gift. I didn’t want to get their hopes up—you don’t know for sure if you can help Greg, and I thought it would be better this way.”
“Thank you—I meant to ask you about that, but forgot. I’d much prefer it if they never knew. There’s a lot of pressure that’s involved with the whole thing, and I’d like to bring as few people as possible into the inner circle.”
“Agreed.”
As they drove toward San Antonio, Rebekah said, “I’m not sure if this is the best time for us to have this conversation, but I need to tell you a couple of things.”
“You have a captive audience right now, so you might as well go for it.”
“True. Do you remember my telling you that I was thinking about going to medical school?”
“Sure do. That was the day we met, and I’m never going to forget that day because it was so incredible. You were so incredible.”
It would be easy to let herself get distracted by the way he was looking at her, but she pushed that aside. “What I didn’t tell you was that I’ve already put in my application. I find out in September if I’ve been accepted.”
“What? You’ve already applied? That’s great! What school?”
“UT San Antonio.”
“That’s quite a coincidence. We’re going to San Antonio right now.” He gave her an exaggeratedly comical face, and she shook her head with a smile.
“They’ve got a great program, and they’re close enough to home that I can bring my laundry for my mother to do, just like she does for Marti,” Rebekah said, not meaning a word of it. “I’m really hoping I get in, but there’s a fly in the ointment.”
“Well, that’s disgusting. Get it out!”
“I’d love to, but I’m not sure how. Dr. Hunsaker talked to me earlier about accepting a position as head nurse instead of going to medical school.”
“Really? Wow.” Jeremy shook his head. “Do you have any idea what you want to do?”
“I don’t. On one hand, being the head nurse is an incredible opportunity, something I think every nurse dreams about at least once or twice in her life. Dr. Hunsaker respects my opinion, and I think I’d be able to do a lot of good. On the other hand, though, becoming a doctor . . . that would be amazing.”
“Is Dr. Hunsaker going to wait to see if you get accepted, or do you have to give him your answer sooner than that?” Jeremy asked.
“Sooner. Lots sooner. And that makes it all the harder to know what to choose. With Dr. Hunsaker, I’m promised a job. With medical school, I have no promises whatsoever. I know I wrote a good essay for my application, and I know that my references are spot on and that I passed all the preliminary stuff, but if the other applicants did a better job, there’s no medical school for me. I like having security, but I also want to brave something new. You really have no idea how confused I’ve been.”
“And there’s another element to add to this decision,” Jeremy said. “Where will you live, and with who?”
“I thought I’d figure that out when I reached that point,” she replied.
“In most circumstances, that’s what you should do—get the job before you rent the condo next door and that sort of thing. But in this case, a few decisions have to be made ahead of time.” He looked over at her. “Where do I fit into your plans?”
“To be honest, two weeks ago, I didn’t even know you existed,” she replied. “I had every intention of moving to the dorms and concentrating completely on school. But then you showed up, and you knocked everything on its ear.”
“That’s what I do,” Jeremy said cheerfully. “I’m an ear knocker.”
“I noticed.” She squeezed his hand.
He didn’t say anything else until he’d taken the first exit into San Antonio and drove the car through the streets until they reached a pretty little neighborhood park. He got out, then came around and opened the door for her.
“Come here,” he said, motioning toward the swings. “Let’s have a little fun in the middle of this very tense conversation.”
“Is it tense? I didn’t realize it was tense.”
“Yes, it’s tense, but it’s understandable—we’re dealing with lifestyles and goals and dreams. Those things are always bound to be tense. At least we get to explore those options together.”
“True.”
They each took a swing, and Rebekah pumped higher and higher until she felt like her feet were about to touch the sky. They never did, of course, but it was a lovely thing to think about and to pretend.
“You asked how you fit in my plans,” she called out when they passed each other.
“And? What’s your answer?”
“My answer is that I plan to see you as often as you’ll let me. We’re not going to let something like this pull us apart.”
Jeremy hopped off his swing, and a moment later, she did as well. “I want to marry you,” he said. “I’ve wanted to marry you almost from the first moment I saw you. You want to see me as often as I’ll let you—well, I want to wake up to you every morning and fall asleep to you at night. Is there room in your life for that?”
She reached her arms around his waist and stepped closer, laying her head on his shoulder. She could hear his heart beating against her ear. “Yes,” she replied. “Does that mean no medical school?”
“What? Why would it mean that?” He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes. “Did you think I would make you choose between me and school?”
“I wasn’t sure,” she replied. “I just wasn’t seeing a way to give us all what we wanted at the same time.”
“Well, here’s the thing,” he said. “If you decide you want to go to school, awesome—I’ll marry you and you’ll go to school. If you want to take the promotion in Bagley, fantastic—I’ll marry you and you’ll run the nursing staff. The key here is that we’re married. I don’t care where we live as long as I’m living with you.”
She couldn’t help the tears that welled up in her eyes. “You mean that?”
“Absolutely. You’re the woman I’ve always dreamed of finding, and now that you’re standing here in front of me, I’m not going to risk losing you.”
“Well, all right then. That makes my decision a little harder and a little easier at the same time. Now I just need to decide what I want instead of choosing for both of us.”
“I’m with you all the way, babe.” He looked up at the sky. “I think we’re about to get some rain. You ready to go?”
“Yeah. Thanks for the swings.”
“You’re welcome. I thought they looked like fun.”
As they drew nearer to the Burtons’ house, Rebekah felt her nerves multiply. Not only was she still trying to decide what she wanted to do, but now she was about to meet her future in-laws—and see if she could give their son a better prognosis than the one he currently had. No pressure there.
“Something I should tell you before we get there,” Jeremy said as he turned the corner and continued east. “Things at my house are a little complicated. Greg’s in a wheelchair, and my mom works herself overtime to take care of him—she feels guilty because of what happened. And my dad . . . well, he blames me.”
“Why? What did happen?”
Jeremy didn’t answer for a minute, and she wondered if he was going to. Then he spoke. “It was Greg’s senior year in college, and he and his friends were celebrating their last football win of the season. They didn’t place in any championships, but they’d done all right for themselves, and they decided to go out to an all-night pizza place and hang out for a while. My dad asked me to drive by this place on my way home from work that night and make sure everything was on the up-and-up. Well, I was tired—I was working swing shift at a factory, and I forgot to stop by.”
He slowed the car and made a right-hand turn. “Greg and his friends rolled out of there around four in the morning, and they got hit by a drunk driver. They all survived, but they suffered various injuries, Greg’s the worst of all. My dad thinks that if I’d been there, it never would have happened, but how can we say that for sure? I mean, yes, maybe it wouldn’t have happened, but it still could have all the same. Greg and his friends weren’t drinking, so it’s not like I could have influenced them in that. And how was I supposed to stop someone else from plowing into them?”
Rebekah’s heart hurt for him. She could hear the anguish in his voice and wondered if he blamed himself too.
“So, in our own ways, we’re all trying to make up for what happened, but in reality, there is no way to make up for it. It’s the past, it’s over and done, and we’ve got to find a way to move forward. If you’re able to come up with a solution for Greg, that’s fantastic, but I want you to know that I completely understand if there’s nothing you can do. It’s been a long time, he’s been treated by several doctors, and my love for you isn’t dependent on whether you can fix my brother.”
She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thank you for that. And thank you for letting me into your heart and your life—the more I get to know you, the more I realize just how lucky I am. Oh, by the way, Heather approves.”
“She does? She’s never met me.”
“True, but she approves. So that obviously means this whole getting married thing is a go.”
He grinned. “Well then, I approve of Heather, too.”
They pulled up in front of a modest white clapboard house, and Jeremy took Rebekah’s hand as they climbed the stairs. A young man in a motorized wheelchair answered the door, and Jeremy introduced him as Greg.
“So, you must be the girl from the hospital,” Greg said, reaching out to shake Rebekah’s hand. “My mom hasn’t been able to stop talking about you—her curiosity’s been eating her alive.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her too.” Rebekah took the hand he offered, and she concentrated as the familiar warmth and vibration began, telling her where to look. Her attention was immediately pulled to his spinal cord, and she saw layers of scar tissue there. She also saw that his spinal cord had been severely damaged, but that his body had miraculously stitched itself back together, allowing him to have more movement than he would otherwise. She saw all this in a split second as she held his hand, and as he broke contact to move back and welcome them inside, her insight ended.
Greg moved farther back into the house to let his parents know they were there, and Jeremy looked at Rebekah with a question on his face.
“I needed a little more time,” she replied softly. “I have a good idea of the extent of his spine injury, but I need to figure out what can be done about it.”
“Do you need to touch him again?”
“I’m afraid I do, but that’s kind of weird. I mean, how many people want their brother’s fiancées to sit there and hold their hand?”
Jeremy chuckled. “Not a ton, but we’ll think of something. Let’s go meet my parents.”
Hannah Burton was everything Jeremy had said—warm and welcoming, and also wrapped up in a big ball of guilt. Thomas was also welcoming, yet reserved. The only member of the family who seemed to be completely at ease in the situation was Greg.
“Should we tell them?” Jeremy whispered when his mother stepped away from the table to grab dessert.
Rebekah had planned to tell her parents first, but she realized that wasn’t exactly fair, and this family needed something positive to lift their spirits. “Go ahead,” she whispered back.
When Hannah returned to the table, Jeremy said, “So, Mom, with all this cake baking you do, have you ever made a wedding cake?”
“Oh, once or twice. It’s been several years, though.”
“Do you think you could get into the groove again, or should we start shopping around for a baker?”
Her eyes flew open, and she looked from one to the other. “You’re getting married? Oh, Jeremy, that’s wonderful! When? Where?”
“That’s still up in the air,” Rebekah replied. “He only asked me on the way here.”
“Well, whenever it is, I couldn’t be happier.” Hannah grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped her eyes. “I need a hug.” Jeremy and Rebekah both came around the table and hugged her, and Thomas shook Rebekah’s hand.
Rebekah saw her opportunity and turned to Greg. “Are you a hugger?”
He held out his arms. “Come here, new sister.”
She laughed and bent down to hug him. As she did, the rest of the knowledge she needed flooded into her mind, and she stood back up with a big smile on her face. She couldn’t wait to talk to Jeremy, but that would have to wait. For now, she gave him a nod, hoping he’d understand what she meant to tell him.
The rest of their evening was pleasant, but Rebekah could see what Jeremy meant about his relationship with his father. Thomas just didn’t seem to interact with Jeremy the way he did with everyone else. She observed it as they batted around some wedding ideas, and she saw it again when she was telling the Burtons about her parents and encouraged them to come for a visit so they could all get to know each other.
Finally, she decided to talk to Hannah about it. She could continue to wonder about it and worry about Jeremy, or she could see what she could do to bring it out in the open. She offered to help Hannah clean up the kitchen, and while the sink was filling with water, she said, “I hope I’m not overstepping, but I noticed that Thomas and Jeremy seem a little distant with each other.”
Hannah sighed and leaned against the counter. “The last few years have been difficult,” she said. “All the men in this family are headstrong and independent, and they take things personally as well. When Greg . . .” She blinked rapidly. “When Greg had his accident, Thomas blamed himself, and he’s never moved past it.”
“Thomas blames himself? But Jeremy thinks he blames him,” Rebekah said, confused.
Hannah began clearing the dishes off the table as she spoke. “Thomas was supposed to get the brakes on Greg’s car checked that day while Greg was finishing up exams, but he got busy at work and it didn’t happen. When the drunk driver hit Greg’s car, it was from the side, and having better brakes wouldn’t have done much to help, but Thomas still held on to that guilt. It’s affected everything in his life, including his relationships.”
“So it has nothing to do with Jeremy at all, then.”
“No, it doesn’t. He’s changed with all of us. I wish I’d known Jeremy thought it was him—he didn’t need to carry that around with him all this time.”
Rebekah smiled. “It’s not too late to mend things.”
“I don’t know if Thomas wants to have a touchy-feely conversation. That was never his thing, even before the accident.”
“It might be the very thing he needs the most,” Rebekah said gently. She couldn’t march in here and start dictating how this family communicated—that wasn’t her place. But she could encourage them.
Hannah nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe enough time has gone by that he’ll be ready to talk about it now.”
They finished up the kitchen, then said their goodbyes. Rebekah told Hannah that she’d have her mother call as soon as they told the McClains the good news—she had a feeling that Barbara’s friendship would go a long way toward helping Hannah find the balance she needed. It was all Rebekah could do to leave it at that, but as soon as they were in the car with the door closed, she turned to Jeremy.
“There’s a way to help Greg.”
“There is?”
“Yes. His body formed scar tissue around the site of his injury, and that tissue helped protect his spinal cord. It’s also compressing the cord, so it’s hurting it while it’s helping it. If a skilled surgeon were to go in there and remove fifty percent of that scar tissue, taking out the bits that are causing the pressure but leaving the bits that are protecting the cord, it would reduce Greg’s pain, and it might give him back the ability to walk.” She held up a hand. “I’m not making any promises. I have no way of knowing for sure what the outcome will be. I just saw the possibilities, and I also saw potential risks—it could paralyze him completely.”
“Did you see any possibilities of death?”
She shook her head. “No, but remember, I don’t know everything. Greg will need to have a consult with the surgeon to find out all the ins and outs. What I’ll do is talk to Dr. Hunsaker tomorrow, and I’ll ask him to recommend a surgeon. He’s skilled, but I think we need a specialist. Once we have a name, you can tell your parents that I got curious and asked you some questions, and that I recommended this particular doctor.”
“How do we know the spine surgeon will be willing to listen to the idea?”
“We don’t, but I’m going to get Dr. Hunsaker on my side, and that will increase our odds.”
“I really don’t know how to thank you,” Jeremy said. “All this time, we thought things would never get any better for Greg, and now there’s this chance.”
“It’s just a chance,” she replied. “Nothing definite.”
“I’ll take whatever I can get,” he said. “You’re a blessing in my life no matter how this plays out. Never forget that.”