Curtis had driven as fast as he could from Chicago, and now he hurried toward the automatic double doors of the emergency room and walked inside.
Curtina immediately rushed toward him, crying uncontrollably and hugging him around his waist. “Daddy, it’s all my fault. I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it. I don’t hate Mom, Daddy, and I don’t want her to die.”
Curtis had no idea what she was talking about, but whatever it was, he knew it wasn’t good. “Honey, try and calm down. And why do you think this is your fault?”
“It just is, and I’m so sorry, Daddy. I really messed up this time. But I didn’t mean it.”
Curtis took her by both her arms. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to pull it together so I can go see what’s going on with your mom.”
Curtina still wailed loudly, but he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her over to where their friends and family were sitting and standing. Curtis spoke to everyone, and many of them got up and hugged him.
Alicia stood next to Curtis. “We’re still waiting to hear something, Daddy. But they’ve had Charlotte in there for almost two hours.”
“What happened?” Curtis asked.
Alicia’s eyes turned sad, and everyone got quiet: Matthew, Stacey, Dillon, Porsha, Levi, Janine, Carl, Bethany, a few of the elders of the church, Sonya from the women’s ministry, and a few other friends and members of the church.
“Tell me,” Curtis said.
There were other families in the waiting area, so Alicia took him by his arm, and they walked back over near the entrance. “You see those policemen down the hallway?”
Curtis looked to the left and nodded.
“Well, they’re waiting to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Charlotte.”
“What about her?”
“Daddy, try not to get mad. Please.”
“Just tell me. What is it?”
“They think she was driving under the influence.”
Curtis’s heart beat faster. “Please don’t tell me she was drinking.”
“They asked Matt, Dillon, and me if we thought she might have been, but we told them no.”
“I really hope she wasn’t.”
“I do, too. And I hope she’s going to be okay.”
“Was Curtina in the car with her?”
“No.”
“Then why is she so upset and saying it’s all her fault?”
“I don’t know, Daddy. She told me the same thing, but when I asked her why, she just hugged me and started crying again.”
“Who brought her to the hospital?”
“Once we all got here, we wondered where she was, so I called her and then went to pick her up from home.”
“Something bad must have happened, but right now, I’m just going to focus on what the doctors have to say about Charlotte,” Curtis said, and saw the two police officers coming toward them.
“Pastor Black,” the older one said, “I’m Officer Dean, and we’re sorry to have to bother you right now, but can we have a word?”
“Sure,” he said, walking with them back in the direction they’d come from.
The other officer, who looked to be no more than twenty-five, said, “I’m Officer Conroy, and we’re really sorry about your wife’s accident.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“We just wanted to ask you a few questions,” Officer Dean said.
“Okay.”
“Were you aware that your wife was drinking and driving?”
“No, not at all. I wasn’t aware that she was drinking, period.”
“Well, when we searched her vehicle, we found a bottle of vodka with a broken seal. It was lying on the floor of the passenger side, but wasn’t completely empty.”
Curtis was hurt, angry, and embarrassed. “I guess I don’t know what to say.”
“I understand,” Officer Dean said. “We don’t know if she drank some of the vodka today or another day. We’re waiting on her blood alcohol results now, but even if she wasn’t drinking, we’ll still have to charge her with an open container violation.”
Curtis sighed deeply.
“And if it turns out that her blood alcohol level exceeds the maximum, she’ll be charged with reckless driving and a DUI. My hope is that this won’t be the case. But we still needed to inform you about what we know so far.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
Officer Dean pulled out a card with his name and number on it and gave it to Curtis. “If you think of anything at all or if we can be of help in some kind of way, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.”
“I will.”
“And again,” Officer Conroy said, “we’re very sorry about your wife’s accident.”
“Thank you.”
The officers walked away, but all Curtis could do was think about the fact that he hadn’t followed up on his suspicions. He so regretted not confronting Charlotte to see if she was drinking again, and now she’d had a terrible accident. He also had a feeling that her blood alcohol results were going to return sky high, and that she would be arrested on all three of the charges the officer had mentioned.
Before walking back toward the family waiting area, Curtis pulled out his phone and called his in-laws. When Alicia had called him about Charlotte, he’d jumped in his car, heading back to Mitchell, but he’d also contacted Joe and Noreen to let them know what was going on. He’d then promised to call them with an update.
“Curtis, how is she?” Noreen asked right away.
“We still don’t know anything.”
“After all this time?”
“Yes, but I’m sure she’s going to be fine, and I prayed all the way here.”
“Well, we’re praying as well, but now I hate that we didn’t ride back with you.”
“I know you want to be here, but I also think you did the right thing by staying. Joe doesn’t need to be here, getting himself all worked up, and as soon as I find out anything, I’ll call you.”
“Please take care of our baby, Curtis. But I know you will.”
“Yes, and please try not to worry.”
“We love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Curtis slipped his phone into his jeans, but when he looked up, he saw a doctor walking toward the waiting area.
“I’m looking for the Black family.”
Curtis moved closer to the doctor. “I’m Pastor Black, Charlotte’s husband.”
The man shook Curtis’s hand. “I’m Dr. Tisdale.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“If you want to come with me, I’ll give you an update on your wife. Your children are welcome to come also.”
Alicia, Dillon, and Matthew stood and walked over, but Curtina stayed seated.
Curtis looked at her. “Honey, are you coming?”
She shook her head, and Curtis wondered again what had happened between Curtina and her mother. Curtis could tell she was afraid, but what he couldn’t understand was why she thought her mother’s accident was all her fault. And why she’d told Charlotte that she hated her.
When they entered the conference room and took their seats, Dr. Tisdale spoke.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why it took us so long to come talk to you, but for a while, we had a very hard time getting your wife’s bleeding under control. She has some pretty deep lacerations, and she lost a lot of blood. She also kept going in and out because of low blood pressure. But we finally got everything under control.”
Curtis had never felt so relieved. “So she’s going to be okay?”
“Yes, for the most part.”
“Praise God,” Curtis said.
“She’s not completely out of the woods, though,” Dr. Tisdale continued, “because in addition to her lacerations, she has a concussion and two fractured ribs.”
“Oh my,” Alicia said.
Matthew sat back in his chair. “Gosh.”
“Will she need to stay in the hospital long?” Dillon asked.
“No, but we are going to keep her overnight. Then, if all looks okay tomorrow, she’ll be released.”
“That’s good to hear,” Curtis said.
“You’ll also be able to see her very soon, but do you have any other questions?” Dr. Tisdale asked.
Curtis dreaded bringing up the alcohol issue, but he had a feeling that this was the reason they’d had a tough time with her bleeding. “Did she have alcohol in her system?”
“She did. And it was after we received her blood alcohol results that we understood why her blood was so thin. And why it wasn’t clotting properly.”
Curtis wasn’t surprised, and neither of his children looked too shocked, either. They all knew Charlotte’s history with drinking. Curtis had told her a long time ago that she was an alcoholic who needed inpatient treatment. But when she’d gone years without drinking anything, he’d thought maybe she would be okay. Now he knew that she still needed professional help. Curtis wouldn’t try to force her to do something she didn’t want to do, though—not this time. So all he could hope was that her injuries and DUI-related charges would be enough to wake her up. Curtis loved Charlotte with all his heart, and he wanted to be there for her, but only if she surrendered. He couldn’t ride this vicious cycle with her again. Not when life was way too short to be miserable. So bottom line, he wasn’t willing to compete with alcohol. Not on any day he could think of. Not ever.