Chapter 1
Marcel waited patiently for the doctors to do what they could for her. His mother was getting older and this was the second bout she had had with her heart. It didn’t look so good this time. There was damage from the previous time and Marcel was sure that something bad was going to happen. It was the feeling deep in his gut that told him that everything was about to change.
The bench was hard underneath him and he checked his phone for the third time. He had sent a message out to all of his siblings, yet no one was answering and Marcel worried that something would happen and no one would be there. They had already lost their father on a private plane crash while he was surveying land to buy. No one had been able to say goodbye then either.
He got up from the bench and started to pace. Marcel hated hospitals, but it was not the first time and he had learned that moving around seemed to help. It wasn’t helping in that instance, but he did it more out of a need to do something.
“Marcel, I got your message.” He smiled at his sister in law and asked about his brother Chris.
“No he is off shore for the next couple of weeks and he won’t be back until then. I can try to get transport, but I don’t know if they will go for it.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think it will be okay. But if I am wrong, I don’t know. Let’s see what the doctor says first.”
The brunette moved to hug Marcel. He was the oldest and held guilt and the responsibility on his family from a young age. Now to even think of losing his mother, Marcel was doing a very poor job of hiding his emotions, something that he was known for. In that moment he just sighed heavily and for just a few seconds, was able to slump against her and not be so strong.
“It will be okay. Elna is strong and she will get through this. Just calm down. Have you talked to anyone else?”
He shook his head that he hadn’t. Everyone was too busy with their own lives and Scott and Paul didn’t even have cell phones. They were out running the cattle and wouldn’t be back in till nightfall to check their answering machine. “You know Paul and Scott won’t be in till the sun goes down and Henri is off in South America. I don’t know what Gemma is doing.”
Leanna pulled away. “I will call Gemma and see where she is at. Just sit down Marcel. You are making everyone nervous.”
Marcel looked around and then noticed the looks he was getting from the other people in the small waiting room. He took up a lot of space and was quite large, only making the room smaller. Pausing with indecision even though his body wanted to move, he finally sat back down and tried not to twitch. After a few moments he went and talked to the nurse station. She was in surgery and wouldn’t be out for at least an hour.
Instead of staying inside to worry, he went down to the entrance and went for a short walk. Leanna had been on the phone when he had gotten back from talking to the nurse and if anyone could rally the people there, it was her. The space helped clear his mind and he found himself praying, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. It wasn’t like him to be so agitated, but the city always did that to him. It was where the good doctors were, but there was just far too much concrete and not enough green to suit him. What he wouldn’t give to change the morning’s events and be back on the ranch where they were supposed to be.
Marcel had walked about two miles before he turned around and started back. He was feeling better, some of the excess energy gone from troubling him, but he still wanted her to be okay. When he got back in the waiting room and seen his sister, he knew that it was going to be okay. Gemma had a way about her. Just being in her presence was enough to make him feel better about it all. “She is going to be fine bro. Mom will be fine, she always is.”
***
The doctor came out and he had an unreadable face. He should have played poker, Marcel thought to himself. Now he wanted assurances, not that not grim, expressionless face. Standing up, Marcel walked up to him as he waited to hear news on his mom. What he hoped for was to hear it said that she was going to be okay. Marcel had to check the reactions of his sister and sister-in-law, just to make sure that he had heard it correctly.
Sighing, he thanked the man. “She is going to have a rough road ahead of her, but I know Elna and I know that she is going to pull through just fine. She is made from sturdy stock.”
“Can we see her?”
He nodded, “But she is going to be resting for a while. She came out from the operation fine, but Elna is going to be foggy for the rest of the day.”
Marcel was already moving towards the double doors where the man had just come from ICU. He had to see her, make sure she was okay with his own eyes and then he could breathe finally. When Gemma followed him, he took strength from her being there next to him.
When they moved into her room, Marcel stood over her for a moment and was a bit surprised when her eyes opened. “I’m not dead yet.”
He leaned back, standing up. “Mom, this is not funny. You just had a heart attack.”
Elna smiled and he pushed the brown hair back from her forehead. “I know Marcel. I am feeling my age today.” She looked around and saw Gemma and Leanna, but he knew that she was looking for the rest of her boys. “Where are your brothers?”
“You know Paul and Scott are running cattle, Henri and Chris are out of the area right now.” He was worried that she was confused, but she sighed.
“I know. I have something to say and I wish all of you were here, but I guess you will have to bring them back home when you can. You will give them the message won’t you?”
Her speak was worrying to her son. She sounded like she was giving up or wanting to say good bye. “Don’t talk like that. You are going to be fine.”
“No, not like that, I’ve just been thinking.”
Marcel sat down next to her. “Okay, what were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that I need to pass the company on now. I can’t keep working there, at least not for a time while I am recovering.”
He tried to stop her. It wasn’t the time. She had just gotten out of surgery and the last thing she should be worried about was the business. “I will take care of it, don’t worry.”
“Good, that’s what I had in mind. You are going to have to take over for a while, but my assistant will help you out. She knows what and where and who for everything.”
“Okay mom, really this is something we can talk about later.”
“Yes, there is something else. Gemma, you too.”
She moved closer and like Marcel, didn’t like the finality in how she was talking. Elna was talking like a woman that had things on her mind that she wanted settled. “I have been thinking.”
“Mom, you have only been here for a couple of hours.”
Elna smiled. “It seemed like longer. I realize now that I don’t want to go without my children settled.”
Marcel sat back and took in her face, grinning. “Are you really going to use your heart attack to push that again?”
Her smile broadened. “I will if I have to. It is sad that I have had to go so long without grandchildren. Only Chris is married and I have five other children that I want to see settled. I don’t have forever to wait and this just reminds me that time is short.”
Marcel was pulled between the moment and the fifty other ones where she had tried unsuccessfully to get him married off. He always told her that he would find the right one, one day, but it didn’t seem a sufficient answer anymore. “I will do my best ma. I am sure that it’s about time.”
She seemed to accept the answer, relaxing some as she laid back. Gemma didn’t answer the call to comment. Her love life was a mess and there were no prospects on the horizon. The only thing left to do was go out to bars or start online dating. Neither one sounded good to her, so she looked away to avoid her mother’s eyes.
The four people talked for a little while longer until they were ushered out of there so Elna could get some rest. It was just like her, in the middle of a tragedy, she was trying more than anything to bring everyone together. Marcel worried that without her there, the family would fall apart.
He wanted to stay, but he had some work to do at the ranch. His brothers would have taken care of most of it, but there was also the fact that they didn’t know what was going on and Marcel didn’t want them to find out from the hurried voice message that he had left earlier. The circumstances were different and their mother wasn’t on the brink as he had feared. She was going to be okay and Marcel just wanted to get home before they got there and heard the message.
It was almost dark before he got back, but they were still out in the field. Going into the main house, Marcel went to the messenger and erased the blinking message. He went out to the stables and checked on the horses, his own needing food and water. Marcel pulled him out of the barn for a quick run in the fading light, just needing a moment of quiet and freedom that only the vast empty grazing land could offer him.