“It’s the middle of January in Pennsylvania,” she said with a weary smile. “Of course I look pale.”
She wasn’t being totally honest with him; the way her eyes remained fixed on his chin instead of meeting his gaze was a dead giveaway. That and the way she petted his chest and arm, a soothing form of distraction she had perfected over the years.
Not for the first time, he regretted agreeing to this mission, and not only because the flu had knocked him on his ass. He’d been taking on more assignments lately, mostly to keep an eye on Brian. Brian had lost Adonia the year before and he wasn’t coping well.
From what Brian had told him, he and Adonia had been fighting over whether or not Alexis should be enrolled in public Kindergarten. Alexis was a common point of contention between them -—Brian felt she should have as normal as childhood as possible, whereas Adonia wanted to home-school their daughter, or at the very least enroll her in a private, controlled learning environment that would cater to her special needs. Things grew heated and tempers flared. Brian left to cool down, and when he returned later that night, he found her unconscious and unresponsive.
The official cause of death was listed as a subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke, most likely a result of Adonia’s rare bleeding disorder. Brian blamed himself, convinced that it was their argument that had elevated her blood pressure to a high enough level to cause a weakened blood vessel to give way. Heaped upon that was the belief that if he hadn’t walked out, he would have been able to get her the medical attention she needed before it was too late.
The doctors didn’t agree. After the autopsy, they’d concluded that Adonia’s weakened vessels were ticking time bombs, and that nothing could have saved her. Unfortunately, Brian’s crushing guilt wasn’t allowing him to accept that, not yet.
Jack hoped he would eventually, though, because Brian still had Alexis to think of. Knowing that she suffered from the same disease as her mother made it doubly hard for Brian, because he was terrified of losing her as well. Brian was signing up for everything he could, leaving a confused and hurt Alexis at his mother’s while he tried to exorcise his demons in the only way he knew how -—with extreme prejudice. Jack had had to intervene more than once to keep the little girl from having to grieve the loss of another parent.
That’s why he was doing this. And Kathleen, God bless her, she understood.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he told her.
“I know. Go. Brian needs you. We’ll be fine.”
He wished there was a way to put this off, but he’d already delayed as long as he could. Accepting her assurance, he made a silent vow to get in, get out, and get back as quickly as possible.
“When I get back, I’m going to spoil you rotten,” he promised, drawing her close against him. “Draw warm baths and wait on you hand and foot. Take care of you the way you take care of all of us.”
“Sounds wonderful,” she murmured. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“In the meantime, take your sister up on her offer to help, okay?”
“She’s got her hands full with Seamus and the kids. They all came down with it at the same time.”
“Mom! Bring the bucket!” Sean bellowed from the bedroom down the hall. “Shane’s going to ... uh, never mind. Better change that to a mop.”
Kathleen exhaled and kissed his chest. “Duty calls. Come back to me, Jack Callaghan.”
“Always,” he promised.
––––––––
Jack knew something was up when Charlie was waiting for them at the extraction point with the sleek black chopper instead of their regular transport.
“Go on,” he urged Brian. They were both thinking the same thing -—that something had happened to Alexis. Brian ran ahead and spoke to Charlie; Charlie put a hand on Brian’s shoulder and shook his head.
Dread began to pull in Jack’s stomach, but his gut didn’t take a complete nosedive until Brian turned and looked at him.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he drew up level with them. “Why the express?”
Charlie’s face was too even, too controlled to be anything good. “There’s a situation, Jack. You’re needed at home ASAP.”
“What situation?”
For just a second, Charlie’s mask broke and sympathy poured out of his eyes in waves. “It’s Kathleen. She’s been taken to the hospital. Tony here is going to get you there.” Charlie indicated the pilot, who nodded. Jack couldn’t see the guy’s eyes behind the mirrored aviator shades, but he’d seen enough to recognize the stiff body language of the bearer of bad news.
Ice filled his body, the kind that only came with the knowledge that something really, really bad had happened. Somehow, his body had gone into autopilot. He jumped into the copter, strapped himself in, and donned his commset while the pilot did his thing.
“What’s going on, Charlie?”
Charlie didn’t answer as the chopper left the ground in a vertical shot and then started hauling ass toward home.