Operation Endurance

CHAPTER 16

The silent Sunday morning was shattered by the annoyingly shrill beep of her alarm clock. As Julie rolled over to turn it off, her lungs seized up and she began to cough. The horrible hacking movement of her lungs literally hurt. Oh God. She couldn’t deal with this today. She just had to make it through one more day and then she could spend the rest of the week in bed. The coughing continued as she struggled to pull herself out of bed. Sliding out from beneath the covers, a shiver racked her. Yep, damn, the fever was still there, too. She had a feeling she was going to have to go in for some antibiotics soon.

Stumbling into the kitchen, she filled a glass of water, and began popping the various cold medicines scattered over the counter. The goal was to make it through this day, no matter what it took. Everything from her waist up hurt, but especially her chest which seemed determined to seize up and cough. Hoping some hot tea might help, she filled her old battered tea kettle with water and set it back on the stove to heat.

After that, she slumped down into one of the bar stools at the breakfast bar. Her bed called for her, but there was just too much to do. Opening the binder, she began to work on her lists for the wedding.



* * *



Two hours later, Julie peered critically into the mirror. They had a makeup and hair team coming to make up all the girls at Cassie’s, but there was no way that she could have shown up there looking like death warmed over. So Julie had created a heavy base coat of concealer, base, and blush, just hoping that Penelope and Cassie would be too caught up in the excitement of the day to notice.

They didn’t need to know just how sick she was. In fact, that was her plan for dealing with everyone today. She’d stay on periphery, get things done, and away from other people, most especially Chris or Pete. They both knew how sick she’d been this week, so they’d be watching her for weakness. She couldn’t show any. Not today. She was in control. She could do this. Just a few more hours and then she could sink back into the comforting embrace of her bed.

Cassie deserved to have everything perfect for this day. To that end, a team had been sent to her house early this morning to pamper her.

Besides, she didn’t want to expose them to any more germs than she already had. Penelope certainly didn’t need to get sick with her pregnancy and Cassie was headed out on her honeymoon. Hopefully neither one of them had picked up her cold last night. She’d tried to breathe away from them all night.

As she walked back into her kitchen, she glanced out the window to Chris’s door. She recalled last night. That light kiss. Longing spread throughout her soul, so strong she wanted to crouch down on the floor from the weight of it. Watching him in the moonlight had been heaven, even with as sick as she was.

Could they have a future together? She wanted to hope, but as long as there were still secrets, that wouldn’t be fair to him. But it seemed wrong to tell him about Nugget. He’d lost so much already.

She shook her head. She couldn’t think about that right now. She needed to concentrate on other things. Gathering up her lists and cell phone, she began the phone calls to make sure that everything was on schedule for today, checking off items as she went.



* * *



Chris peered at his cell phone screen in surprise before he answered. “Hey, Cassie. I figured you’d be crazy busy in the midst of wedding preparation.”

“Well, normally I would be, but my wedding planner has abandoned me for the day and refuses to answer her phone. She’ll only text me. Can you look over at Julie’s and see if it looks like she’s there?”

Chris frowned in concern, as he headed toward his front door. “She’s been really sick. Have you talked to her at all today?”

“No, and that’s why I’m worried. I’ve received a ton of texts, but she says she’s too busy to talk on the phone.”

“Her car’s here,” Chris said as he crossed the sidewalks leading to her front door. “Let me go see if she’ll answer the door for me.” Chris knocked on Julie’s door and as he waited, he asked Cassie, “Are you feeling okay about everything else? Are you doing okay? Are you ready for tonight?”

Cassie laughed. “Yes, yes, and God, yes! I am so ready to be Mrs. Jake Madsen. I love him so much, Chris.”

“I know you do. Everything’s going to be perfect.”

“It will be as soon as I know that everything’s okay with Julie.” The strain in her voice showed her worry.

He frowned at the door. She had to be here, but she wasn’t answering his knock. He tried again. Finally he heard the chain lock disengage. “Cass, she’s opening the door right now.”

As she opened the door, her eyes widened in shock, but she quickly recovered as she took in his appearance and the fact he was on his cell phone. Chris didn’t think that it was possible for Julie to look worse than she had earlier in the week. He was wrong.

“Is that Cassie?” Julie whispered, her voice little more than a hoarse croak.

He nodded. “She’s worried about you.”

“Tell her I’m fine. My voice is just shot and I don’t want to expose her and Penelope to my germs any more than I have to.” She closed her eyes for a moment and he cupped a hand under her elbow to steady her as she swayed on her feet.

“Cass, I’m looking at Julie right now.” He knew that Julie didn’t want anyone to know how sick she was, so he started to cover for her as he propelled her back toward her sofa. “Her voice sounds pretty ragged from her cold and I’m sure that’s why she hasn’t talked to you all day. She doesn’t want to worry you and I’m sure she’s trying to save her voice for tonight.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” There was no mistaking the worry in Cassie’s voice.

“Yep, she looks beautiful as always.”

Julie had sunk into the cushions and pulled a blanket over her shoulders. She worked what looked to be another text on her cell phone while checking off something on her list in the binder resting in her lap. He pressed a hand to her forehead. Still warm, although she shook her head at him and watched him with pleading eyes so that he wouldn’t tell Cassie how sick she really was.

“I’m sure you’ll see her at your place in just a couple of hours. In the meantime, you and Penelope have fun. I’ll see you tonight, Cass.”

“Thanks, Chris. See you tonight.”

He hung up his cell phone and sat down on the coffee table in front of Julie. She looked at him with exhausted, wary eyes.

“How bad do you really feel?”

“I’m fi—”

“No, don’t lie to me or else I’ll call Cassie back right now.”

“Okay, okay, I feel awful, but this is her day and I want to be part of it. I don’t want her to worry about anything but her and Jake. If she knows how awful I feel, that won’t be the way this day happens.” Her bloodshot eyes pleaded with him. “I just have to get through today and then I promise you, I plan to sleep for a week.”

He couldn’t argue with that reasoning. As Cassie’s brother, he wanted her special day to be perfect, too, but he had to make sure Julie was okay. “Okay, I won’t tell her, but I want you to stick by me as much as possible tonight so I know if you need to go home.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he stopped her before she got a chance. It helped that another coughing fit overtook her.

Before she got a chance to catch her breath, he continued, “This is the way it’s going to be. Either you stay home the rest of the day and try to get better, or you have me by your side monitoring your health for you.”

“Chris…” she croaked.

“Come on, Julie. Give in. You’re sick. You need help and I’m willing to do it. Haven’t I proven to be a good helper this week? Let me stay by your side and I promise no one will figure out just how sick you are.”

She gave a hefty sigh, which was followed by another round of coughing that made Chris cringe. That had to hurt. No wonder her voice sounded so awful.

Finally, she relented and began to nod. Chris went over to her counter where her various medicines were piled. Glancing at his watch, he calculated. They had five hours to go until the wedding began. He needed to be at Colton’s to help Jake get ready in three hours and assumed Julie needed to be at Cassie’s a little bit before that. He started reading warning labels on the medicine to see what they could mix to get her functioning again.