Chapter 27

© Copyright 2013 by Elizabeth Delayne



It was Jessica that came to find him hours later. She appeared at the edge of the waiting room, motioned for him.

He looked at Jamie, looked down at how her fingers were linked with his. As they'd gotten her warm, and as the shock had run out, she'd strengthened. There was still a haunting in her eyes, something more than sadness, but she was present and in control now. Whatever it was that called to her, that made her a good nurse in the O.R. came to the forefront. During moments where they had been alone in the waiting room, she'd told him of the first patient she'd lost in the OR, of the moment the doctor had called the time of death.

But she held his hand.

“I’ll be right back, okay?”

She looked up at him, but the only sign of acknowledgment was a week nod of her head.

He got up, left her there, and walked out of the waiting room to join Jessica.

“What is it?”

“Surgery’s not done yet?” Jessica asked.

“No. We’re expecting news soon.”

“She needs sleep, Tyler.”

“She’s not going to budge. Not until she knows.”

“We got someone coming for her.”

“Grandmother?”

“I'm not sure. I think it might be her mother. It wasn't my call to make,” she glanced back into the room. “We’re arranging to give them a couple of days. Apparently it will get her back into form. When one of our psychologists spoke to the contact, they said she handles it fine, has been through some stuff before, but she’ll lock it back—even over several days of work—until she can step away from stress. Since we're the stress in her life right now, we're going to help her step back from us and the show. We're going to give her room to get over this without anything to do with documenting it. We’re smart enough to acknowledge that.”

“Thank you.”

“Tyler—We’ll do what we can for her ... I don't know if you see what we see, but I know she means something to you. I’ve seen you with a lot of people, and I know. I’d like to think we’re friends, and that you can trust me when I say this. I can promise you, we’re not going to push her forward if she’s not ready. Contract or no contract.”

He sighed, saw the wary look in her eyes. “What is it?”

“News picked up on our connection to the wreck. It didn’t take them long to find out about Jamie. They’ve already called us wanting Jamie to make a statement.”

“She’s not ready. She’s just making time until she can get out of here and shut down.”

“No ... but you need to be prepared. They haven’t yet, as far as we can tell, connected her to this hospital, but they know she got onto one of the ambulances. They know she went with one of the patients to a hospital. Some soul caught her climbing on with their cell phone—had photos of you guys and the bus—sold it all to the media sources. Apparently they matched it with the profiles of the website–along with pictures of the two of you from this morning.”

He managed a short laugh. “That was fast, I guess. But the show’s beginning next week.”

“Commercials and profiles have been running for weeks.”

“We’re not a secret.”

“And you’re our hot ticket, baby. The promos are already out there. And ... FYI ... after those photos from this morning, everyone’s already talking about the two of you. Thereby Jamie’s already in the center.”

She waited for his reaction, patted his arm when he scowled—not so much for himself, but he knew it made Jamie wary. “Anyway, my job is to get you guys out of here, back to the hotel and to help her get some sleep without anyone noticing anything. It’s going to take some time for everything else to fall into place.”



The pediatrician she had worked with that morning came and found her and told her the surgery went extremely well. They expected the girl to make a full recovery.

In light of the fact that she had lost her sister.

Jessica and Tyler took her to a hotel where everyone else was staying, took her to a room of her very own where her bags had already been delivered. They both offered to stay with her, but she wanted to be alone.

No ... where she needed to be was at home, with her mother, in that little apartment in Chicago with the sounds of her family around her.

Home … it wasn't with her grandmother.

She couldn’t sleep. She tried laying down, but was too restless. She got up, started to pace and ended up leaving the room before dawn.

Tyler found her pacing in the lobby.

“You haven’t slept,” he said gently when he walked over to her, two coffee cups in hand.

“I can’t,” she held a hand out and took her coffee, but she wouldn’t drink it. She didn’t need caffeine to make her more jittery.

Then she set it down, rubbed her hands over her face. “You don’t know how bad I want to clean something right now. If I was at home I would have turned the house upside down overnight cleaning. It’s probably some pathological need to establish order when my world goes a bit crazy.”

“We can always set you up in the R.V.”

She managed a laugh and saw the relief in his eyes.

“I would have been out there already if it wasn’t for the cameras.”

“They’re not filming you, Jamie. They're not really filming anything. I haven't seen a cameraman since we got back from the hospital. Even the lights in the RV are off. Right now, we’re just on hold, waiting.”

She studied his eyes. “Thank you.”

“We could head out to the RV now, if you want.”

“You just want your investment cleaned.”

“Well, now that I know ...”

She held up a hand and managed another laugh. “Only in the darkest of times.”



They both turned when they heard Felicity call them. She didn’t look like she’d gotten much sleep either. While she was dressed in a neatly pressed pair of shorts and t-shirt, her hair pulled up into a neat pony tail, and her makeup already applied, she still seemed somewhat rumpled.

Tyler watched as Jamie pulled the anxiety and grief in. She smiled for Felicity, and he almost, if he couldn’t have seen the flatness of her eyes, would have believed she’d finally let it go.

“You okay?”

“Fine. We were worried when you disappeared,” Felicity said. “But you’re smart. Getting in touch with your grandmother worked. I don’t know that I would have thought of that.”

“I had a lot of time to think once they took the girl into surgery.”

“How is she?”

“She’s going to make it.”

“Good. I’m sorry about ... the rest.”

Jamie swallowed. “How’s Thessa?”

Felicity looked first to Tyler. “She took it rough and she didn’t sleep to well last night. Bad dreams about the car wreck she’d been in, I think.”

“I’m sorry she had to experience that.”

“We all just wanted to help. It was bad,” Felicity rubbed her eyes. “Have you gone through something like that before?”

“Something. Not on site.”

They were soon joined by George and Cameron. Everyone sat down with food, except for Jamie, who still seemed to be on edge. While she kept of a sense of normality, responded at times to the conversation, she held back. Said very little. She’d let him see her struggle, perhaps needed him to share it with her, while she presented a more normal front for the others.

The only sign of her inner tension was the way her hand stayed locked with his.

No one was really eating.

And Jamie really needed some sleep.

Tyler spotted one of their production staff when he came into the hotel, but he didn’t recognize the woman with them until she said Jamie’s name. Jamie looked over, her eyes flashed. “Mama.”

Then she moved. She crossed the lobby in an instance, wrapped herself into her mother’s arms. Their embrace was so easy and natural, it surprised Tyler. Since she'd lived with her grandmother, he just hadn't realized how close she was to her mother.

And it dawned on him … she lived with her grandmother because of this relationship and closeness with her mother.

Tyler got up, walked over slowly. Jamie’s mother was a little smaller, her hair the same as Jamie’s but speckled with grey, and pulled up into a loose bun. He could see the resemblance around the eyes, in the shape of the face.

Jamie finally stepped back, her eyes finding his. “Everyone,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “This is my mama. Rebecca Malcolm.”

Tyler stepped forward, held out his hand to hers, and found himself under a steady eye.

“It’s nice to meet you, Tyler,” she said, without introduction. “My own mother has told me a lot about you.”


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