Chapter 12
Jan
stood with her back against the closed door. She allowed her gaze to travel
about the room and saw all 5 of her boys sleeping in various areas of the room.
JC and Justin were directly ahead of her in their hospital beds. She quietly
walked past JC’s bed for the moment over to Justin’s side. He looked so
peaceful…so much like her sister…how was Lynn going to handle this when she
finds out…Jan took a deep breath at the thought. She picked up Justin’s right
hand and reached up to stroke his curls. He stirred in his sleep, leaning into
her touch and gripped her hand at the same time. Jan bent over close to his
head and began whispering to him.
“Hey
there J. Aunt Jan’s here…why don’t you wake up for a minute and let me see
those baby blues of yours, sweetie.”
Jan
noticed how Justin moved his head slightly and mumbled her name.
“Yeah,
I’m here honey…open those eyes,” Jan whispered in encouragement to her nephew.
Justin’s
eyelids fluttered open and he turned his head to face Jan. His eyes lit up
briefly before filling with tears as he mouthed her name almost inaudibly.
“Here
honey, let me get you something to drink…” Jan reached over and picked up the
cup of water that was resting on the nearby nightstand. She then held the straw
in front of Justin’s lips and he greedily sipped some of the water before Jan
stopped him from drinking too much.
“Hold on
J. I don’t want you to get sick.”
Justin
released the straw as his head fell back against the pillow.
“When
did you get here Jan?” asked Justin wearily.
Jan
placed the cup back on the nightstand and turned again to Justin gripping his
hand again.
“Just
about 15 or 20 minutes ago. I was able to see Dr. Shannon and he told me that
you and JC are doing just fine and you both might be able to come home sometime
this evening if everything still looks good.”
Justin looked over at JC and breathed a sigh. Very quietly, he began speaking.
“You
know…I dared him to make that dive…I did it even when I knew that he wasn’t
able to really do it…”
“JC is
old enough that he could have said no…he made the decision to try the dive…you
didn’t force him to do it.”
“I know
Jan…I’ll just never forget the sound of his head hitting the board,” whispered
Justin as his eyes began brimming with tears.
Jan
wiped away the tears and then came up with an idea that would probably help
Justin’s feelings, but she would need help.
“Justin,
I want to check on JC and the others for a few minutes…why don’t you close your
eyes and rest while I do that. I’ll come back to you in a bit.”
“You
won’t leave the room will you Jan,” asked Justin with pleading eyes.
“Oh no
baby…you’re stuck with Aunt Jan until you’re home and doing great,” said Jan
with a smile.
“Have
you talked to mom yet?” Justin’s voice broke when he said the word mom and Jan
quickly picked up his hand again.
“No…you
know she’s down in the bottom of the Grand Canyon right now with Joey’s family.
It’ll be at least 5 or 6 more days until we can get ahead of her.”
“What
about JC’s parents?”
“No…not
yet with them either. We should be hearing from them at about the same time as
Lynn and the Fatones.”
“They
will never go anywhere again…” muttered Justin.
Jan
suppressed a chuckle at the frustrated tone of Justin’s voice.
“No…they
probably won’t or they’ll call me and have me baby-sit ya’ll.”
“You think so?” asked Justin,
hopefully as he attempted to duck Jan’s hand as it ruffled his curls.
“I’m going to check on the others…
why don’t you rest, okay.”
Justin nodded his head and closed
his eyes.
“Thanks Aunt Jan for coming…I love
you.”
“I love you too J.”
Jan stood a moment longer at
Justin’s side before turning around to face JC’s bed.