“Didn’t I already explain that to you earlier? I was with a very sick man, and there was no way I could get back to you.”

“But you could have called me when you were on your way home.”

JT lifted the table, making sure it didn’t touch his starched khaki shorts. It wasn’t excessively dirty, but it would definitely have to be wiped down before they used it. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back.”

“Can I see you tomorrow evening?”

“Fine,” he said, but only so Carmen would leave him alone and let him get back to the patio. He told her what she wanted to hear; however, he knew he couldn’t make good on his words because he’d already promised Diana he would be with her. There was no doubt Carmen would probably go ballistic once she realized he wasn’t coming to her apartment, which was the reason he’d have to have some sort of an excuse ready before then.

When JT finished setting up the card table and cleaning it with soap and water, he scanned the main table and couldn’t wait to dig in. Tanya had prepared everything from potato salad, baked beans, and spaghetti to coleslaw, tossed salad, and some sort of fruit concoction that was drenched in whipped cream. Then there was all the meat James had finished up as well, and JT couldn’t have been more content than he was right now. He hadn’t been blessed to have parents like Tanya and James, and he was thankful just to have them as in-laws.

After listening to another twenty minutes of small talk, mostly between Alicia and Carmen and then Rita and Tanya, they all held hands and JT said grace. Seconds later, they began reaching for various dishes and started filling up their plates.

“Everything looks great, baby,” James said to Tanya.

“I wish I could have done more. Especially with the decorations.”

“The whole setting is wonderful,” Rita added.

“And these baked beans are to die for,” JT said.

“Why, thank you, son-in-law,” Tanya said, smiling.

Alicia and Carmen offered their compliments as well to both Tanya and James, and then Tanya said, “Carmen, I really am glad you decided to contact Alicia after all these years. She told us how you looked her up on the church’s website and e-mailed her.”

“I’m glad, too, because now I realize just how much I missed her.”

“I missed you, too. That’s for sure.”

JT forked up a helping of potato salad and wanted to kill Carmen. She was acting as if she were Alicia’s best friend, and he hated the way she was deceiving her. He hated that he’d allowed this whole mess to spin way out of control.

“I’m thrilled about it, too,” Rita said. “Because you girls were so close when you were children.”

Tanya drank a couple of sips of tea. “You really were, and you used to spend the night with each other all the time.”

“You were just like sisters,” Rita said, and then grabbed both sides of her head and leaned back in her chair.

Carmen slid her chair back and turned toward her. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

“My head is killing me.”

“Is it worse than it was yesterday?”

“Yes,” she said, now moaning with her eyes shut tightly. Then, in a matter of seconds, she passed out and slumped down into the chair.

“Oh no!” Carmen screamed. “Mom? Mom? Wake up!” she said, shaking her arm. “Mom, can you hear me? Oh my God, somebody call nine-one-one!”

The five of them had been waiting for at least an hour but still hadn’t heard anything from the doctors. James had called for an ambulance, which had arrived in a matter of minutes, and the paramedics had rushed Rita straight to Covington Park Memorial. Thankfully, Carmen had been allowed to ride with her mother, because the last thing JT had wanted was to be in the same vehicle with both his wife and the desperate woman he was messing around with.

“This is just horrible,” Carmen said, sobbing. “And what in the world am I supposed to do without my mother? How am I supposed to go on if she doesn’t make it?”

Tanya pulled Carmen closer, and Carmen laid her head on Tanya’s shoulder. Alicia looked on with tears filling her eyes, and JT wished he could go home. He did feel bad for Carmen’s mother, but it wasn’t like there was a whole lot he could do. There wasn’t a lot any of them could do except be there for Carmen, but at the moment, he wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

They sat, waited a while longer, and watched a number of gurneys wheel by them, some at normal speed and some in a hurry. They watched frustrated patients who obviously didn’t have life-threatening ailments because they still hadn’t been called into an examination room yet. They looked on in total silence, and then finally they were all directed into a conference room and two East Indian doctors in their midfifties dressed in scrubs walked in afterward.

“Miss Wilson?” the first one said, trying to identify who Rita’s daughter was.

“Yes,” Carmen said.

“Miss Wilson, I’m Dr. Mehta and this is Dr. Nigam.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well,” Dr. Mehta said, and both doctors shook everyone’s hand and took a seat. “Although I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances.”

“So, is my mother going to be okay?” Carmen asked right away.

“Well, the thing is, she’s had a massive brain aneurysm, and we’re prepping her now for emergency surgery. We need to get in there as soon as possible to prevent any further damage.”

Carmen burst into tears again. “So…what…are…her…chances?”

Dr. Mehta took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, it’s pretty serious, but we’re going to do all we can for her, and we’ll keep you posted all the way.”

Carmen was too upset to respond, so Tanya said, “Thank you very much, and we appreciate your coming out to update us.”

“You’re quite welcome,” he said, and then he and Dr. Nigam stood up.

“How long do you think the surgery will take?” James asked.

“It’s hard to say but probably a few hours. It just depends on what we find once we get in there.”

“Well,” James said. “We’ll be here.”

Both doctors exited the room, and tears drenched Carmen’s face. She was distraught, and JT could tell Alicia was glad her mother was there helping to console Carmen because Alicia hadn’t said more than a few words since they’d arrived.

“Now, come on, sweetie,” Tanya said. “You have to try and settle down because your mom is really going to need you when this is over. She’s going to need you to be the very strong daughter she raised you to be, and instead of crying, you have to focus on prayer. As a matter of fact,” she said, looking at her son-in-law, “JT, can you please say a few words for Rita right now?”

JT wanted to say no but knew that wasn’t an option. “Sure.”

Carmen looked at him for the first time since they’d come into the conference room, and JT hurried to bow his head. “Dear Heavenly Father, we come right now, recognizing that You are in control of everything. We come asking for Your awesome grace and wonderful mercy. Lord, we ask that You please guide the doctors through this entire process and that You give them all the skill and knowledge they need. We ask that You heal Rita’s body completely. Then, Lord, we ask that You watch over all of us who are here and that You give strength and understanding wherever it is needed. Father, we thank You for all that You’ve done and for all that we know You’ll do in the future. We ask for all these and many other blessings, in Your son Jesus’s name. Amen.”

JT glanced at his Rolex, the one his church had given him for his birthday about a year ago, and breathed deeply. They were now back out in the family waiting area, but after sitting for yet another couple of hours, he was starting to feel exhausted and wished this would be over very soon. About twenty minutes ago, one of the surgical nurses had come out with an update, but all she’d said was basically that there had been a lot of bleeding and that the doctors were still working. JT hadn’t known what that meant, but for Rita’s sake, he did hope she was going to be fine.