Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy)

chapter Eleven

Nora sat by her Father’s bedside holding his hand with tears streamed down her face. When Nora arrived Laura sat in the chair by the bed with her head lying on the bed asleep. She had begged Laura to go the waiting room to get some rest. She assured her that she would not leave his side.

Nora had received the call from the hospital in Tulsa from her mother that he had been transported by ambulance. She was sitting in her Anatomy class when there was a knock on the classroom door. The messenger called her from the room and explained that an emergency call came that her Father had been admitted.

After calling the number she had been given, she learned from Laura that he apparently had a heart attack. The doctors were still deciding what the next step should be because he was so weak.

Thankful that she had been able to buy a second hand car with the money her father had given her, she drove the two hours to his bedside as quickly as she could.

Nora had never seen her father so vulnerable, in spite of his lengthy heart condition. Tubes, IV’s, and monitors seemed attached everywhere. She admired him so much and now, he was down to this. She could remember him as a child when he hefted the heavy milk pails as if they were next to nothing. Then she remembered her anger at him as he gradually left more and more of the work to her mother and her. If I had only known she thought. I would never have felt that teenage rebellion and anger that I did.

Again she wept about what was and could have been. Now the land was gone which he had inherited from his father and generations before him. If I had been a boy, maybe I could have saved the farm.

She felt his hand move. She wiped her tears so she could see him, but he seemed to be asleep. She watched the monitors, her work as a nurse’s aide at the Pryor hospital gave her considerable insight into what they meant. Everything seemed to be stable at the moment.

He whispered with his eyes still closed, “Hi, little girl, how are you?”

Blinking back tears, “Hi, Daddy, I’m fine. How are you?”

“Tired. So very tired,” he spoke barely above a whisper.

She kissed his cheek, “I love you, Daddy. I’ll be right here if you want to rest.”

“I wanted to see you become a doctor,” he mumbled.

She strained to understand what he said.

“You still can,” she assured him.

She could barely perceive the shake of his head. “You rest now,” she told him rubbing his hand. “We’ll talk later.”

She laid her head on the bed beside his hand much like her mother had and prayed that the doctors could save him.

That’s the way her mother Laura found them a short time later. Laura went to the other side of the bed and began humming favorite old hymns that she knew John liked.

Later Nora roused and noticed Laura there. “Did you get some sleep?” she said trying to twist and rub out some of the kinks in her neck and back.

“I did. I was surprised. I didn’t expect I could sleep at all.”

“Good. You’ve been through a lot.”

“He started complaining two days ago with indigestion. He didn’t think it was important, but this morning he was unable to get out of bed so I called the ambulance to take him to the hospital. Then the doctor in the emergency room sent him here. I’ll be interested in what these doctors decide.”

“How is Danny taking this? Who’s taking care of him?” Nora inquired.

“Do you remember that little boy, Aaron that Danny plays with so much? He lives just up the street. We have gotten well acquainted with him and his parents, Harold and Mary Roberts, since you left for college. I thought it would be better for Danny to be with his friend than stuck here at the hospital with me. Mary said she would see to him for now, and not to worry.”

Laura rubbed her forehead and leaned forward, “As for Danny, he was really shook up this morning before school. I called Mary over and she took Danny with her. I promised to call them every time there was news.”

“Poor thing, he must be really worried,” Nora commented. “I’ll go call him to let him know I’m here.”

Laura tried to get Nora to go rest somewhere as night descended upon them. Nora refused, “I wouldn’t get one wink of sleep away from this room. I’ll be fine right here.”

They sat there all night, dozing and talking, waiting for John to wake up. They hoped that when he opened his eyes he would be just fine.

At six the next morning, two doctors walked in the room and checked his statistics on his monitors. One of them wrote on his chart, afterwards he asked them to step out the door into the hall.

“John is very weak. If he were stronger he might be a candidate for open heart surgery. At this point, I don’t think he could survive the surgery.”

Laura put her hands over her face and turned away trying to hold back the sobs. Nora put her arms around her to comfort her holding back her own tears.

The doctor continued, “We’ll keep him under observation a few days and see how he does. It might be possible for him to get stronger and have the surgery then. I don’t want to give you false hope, but there is a window of opportunity that he could rally and get better.”

“Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate your being candid with us.”

The doctor nodded and went on his way.

Laura went back to the room. Nora went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast to bring back considering they hadn’t eaten since yesterday sometime.

After they had eaten, John stirred. They both stood up on each side of him. He tried to smile and weakly said, “Both of my girls.”

They quickly glanced at each other acknowledging one of his sayings.

“What have the doctors said,” he asked.

“They said that soon you will have enough strength to have surgery,” Nora told him thinking her little fib would give him hope.

He shook his head, “No surgery.”

“But Daddy, if it could make you well…”

He held up his hand to interrupt her, “No surgery. I don’t want to be cut open. I’m too tired.”

“Of course, John, we understand,” Laura soothed him. “You rest.”

Nora stepped out the door. She needed a little time. She went to the waiting room to get herself back together. She knew that if he refused surgery, there was no hope. It would be only a matter of time, and she feared that would be soon.

At two twenty-seven in the wee hours of the morning, John breathed his last breath.

They had so much to do, go to the funeral home, plan the funeral. Thankfully there was already a space in the family plot, so they set it up for Laura to be buried beside him.

Saturday morning, Jeremy rushed to Nora’s house. “I came as soon as my mom called that the funeral was this afternoon,” he told her holding her in his arms.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said breathing the scent of him.

She looked up and he took the opportunity to kiss her. “You have no idea how much I have missed you,” rubbing his face against her hair.

“Actually, I think I do. Jeremy, this is so hard. Going to different schools, I mean.”

“It won’t be for long, I promise you. I will work something out.”

It felt so good to be in his arms again. She felt strength coming into her body from his.

He never left her side again until after the funeral. Nora stood between Jeremy and Laura at the gravesite holding hands. The minister committed her father’s body to the dust but Nora knew he was already in his resting place. He would watch her, Danny, and her mother from above.

Sunday morning, Jeremy came over before his parents took him to the Tulsa airport to catch his flight to Harvard. They put on their coats to ward off the winter chill as they walked outside. He took her hand and they walked to the backyard where they had both put in so much work building the tree house for Danny, and he had installed a small concrete patio in the middle of her flower bed where she had cleaned out the collapsed shed. He had placed a decorative concrete bench in the middle of the patio for her to sit outside when she wanted some quiet time. Cute little stepping stones with butterfly impressions on them made it possible to reach the patio without stepping in the soil.

“You know, I love this little patio and bench that you made for me. I sit out here every chance I get,” she sat and snuggled next to him.

“I love you,” he said lifting her face to place a kiss on her lips. “Thinking of you is what gives me courage to keep going.”

“I love you, too.” She brushed her hand over the side of his face and chin. “One day we will be able to be together and this will only be a memory.”

Usually he tried to make her laugh, but right now it seemed to him that she was stronger than he was. “When I’m at Harvard, I feel that I am so far away. I’m doing well in my studies and I’m making friends but none of them come close to replacing you.”

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips mocking one of his old moves, “As it should be, my dear, as it should be.”

She looked so funny trying to ask indignant and mock him that he began to laugh. “Nora, I think that is the funniest thing I have ever seen you do.”

She laughed with him. “Now, my faithful attorney,” she continued, “I expect a report in writing sent to me at least once a week declaring your love to me. I also need to read about every wonderful feat that you perform in your school work. You can expect no less from me.”

“Yes, ma’am, my darlin’.” Jeremy stood up to give her a whirl.

Nora said, “I think both of us will make it better if we hear from each other often.”

“You’re right. Why didn’t we think of this before?”

Jeremy left to fly back to Harvard; he sat in the airplane with remorse in his heart. Nora’s dad had asked him to watch out for Nora, Laura, and Danny. He hung his head. He felt that he had let John down because he had not been able to stay home to see that they were okay. He knew John would understand but still he whispered, “I’m sorry, Mr. Ray.”

Nora had to get her things together. She had a two and a half hour drive to travel back to Oklahoma City.

As she drove back to OU Medical School, she reminisced about Jeremy being so sad. He had received his letter of acceptance to Harvard University Law School two weeks before High School graduation. His father had been so happy; his feet hardly touched the ground for days. His son had achieved the goal he had set before him. Everybody he saw throughout the days following knew that his son Jeremy had been accepted to Harvard, his alma mater.

Jeremy also received letters of acceptance from every other university for which applied to but his father only acknowledged the Harvard letter. Jeremy didn’t complain or make a scene, because he knew his destiny was already set. Nothing would change his father’s mind now.

Nora remembered Jeremy coming to school without his usual jolly demeanor. When they met at lunch, Jeremy told her about the letters of acceptance and his father’s reaction to them.

She had told Jeremy at the time that he ought to tell his father how he felt about Harvard. Jeremy shook his head very adamantly and said that was a can of worms he didn’t want to open.

She, on the other hand, only applied to OU, and thanks to God and Mrs. Jenkins efforts; she had received a full scholarship to study medicine.

Unlike Jeremy, she loved everything about her studies, she felt that she had been thirsting for information and finally the school was meeting her need. Every day she learned something that intrigued her.

She thought about Danny growing so fast, almost as tall as their mother. He would soon be in the fifth grade. Nora shook her head thinking about him. It was easy to notice how tall he was getting when you didn’t see him every day she realized.

Nora hoped her mother and Danny didn’t mourn their Dad overly much and were able to get on with their lives and be happy.