Danielle Steel - The Cottage

“Jimmy had an accident last night,” she told him somberly as soon as he was fully awake.

“How do you know?” She found it odd, but he sounded suspicious.

“Mark called me. He and Taryn are downstairs in the trauma unit. He drove off Malibu Canyon Road, he's got a lot of broken bones and he's in a coma.”

Coop sounded duly impressed by the news once she told him. He had seen a lot of ugliness and sorrow over the years, and in spite of hopes and beliefs otherwise, bad things really did happen to good people. “Do you think he'll make it?”

“It's hard to say at this point. It could go either way. A lot depends on the swelling in his brain, and what kind of toll that takes, how fast he comes out of the coma. The broken bones won't kill him.” But the rest could.

“Poor guy. He doesn't have a hell of a lot of luck going for him, does he? First his wife, and now this.” She didn't tell him that she suspected him of contributing to it. She had nothing to go on, just her gut, and the little she knew of him. “Well, keep me posted.”

“Do you want to come down and sit with Taryn and Mark?” She thought he should have volunteered, but it hadn't occurred to him to do that. There was nothing he could do for Jimmy, it was just a matter of waiting. And he hated hospitals anyway. They made him nervous, except when he met Alex downstairs, as he had on occasion.

“I don't see what good it would do them,” Coop said sensibly. “And it's too late to cancel my trainer.” It seemed an odd excuse to Alex. But he offered it instinctively. He didn't want to see Jimmy with tubes everywhere. He was squeamish about things like that.

“They're pretty upset over it,” Alex pressed further, but Coop didn't take the bait. He wanted to avoid the realities of the situation.

“That's understandable,” he said calmly. “I discovered years ago, that sitting around hospitals doesn't help anyone. It just gets you depressed and you annoy the doctors. Tell them I'll take them out to lunch if they're still there at lunchtime, but I hope they won't be.” He had denial about how serious it was, she knew, which made it easier for him.

“I don't think they want to leave Jimmy alone,” nor did she think that they would be in any mood to go out to lunch, but Coop refused to enter the drama with them, or with Alex. It was a place where he absolutely wouldn't go, under any conditions. Being part of it would have been too upsetting for him.

“If what you say is true, and I'm sure it is, Jimmy won't know the difference, if they're huddled in the waiting room miserably, or having lunch at Spa go.” What he was suggesting seemed in bad taste to Alex but she didn't say anything. It was definitely a different perspective. And she knew from experience that people had odd reactions to stress. Coop seemed to be avoiding it completely.

She called the trauma unit again at ten, and there was no change. The only thing Mark knew was that Mrs. O'Connor was already on a plane. She was expected to arrive at the hospital shortly after noon, if everything went smoothly. And when Alex had an official break, she went down to trauma to see Jimmy. Mark and Taryn were still sitting in the same place. Mark looked terrible, and Taryn had been outside smoking. She said hello to both of them, and then went into the trauma ICU to see Jimmy. They had him isolated and were observing him closely. Alex talked to the nurses for a minute, and if anything, he was in a deeper coma. Things were not looking hopeful for him.

Alex stood silently next to him, and with gentle fingers, touched his naked shoulder. There were monitors taped to it, and wires linked to machines. He had IVs in both arms, and they'd had to give him a transfusion to compensate for internal bleeding. As injuries went, he was in the big leagues.

“Hi, kiddo,” she said quietly as one of the nurses walked away and left her with him. They knew she was as capable as they were of keeping an eye on the monitors, and all the data appeared on screens in two other locations. “What the hell are you doing here? I think you'd better wake up now….” Tears stung her eyes as she talked to him. She saw tragedies as great as this every day in her work, but this was different. He was her friend, and she didn't want him to die now. “I know you miss Maggie, Jimmy… but we all love you too… there's a life for you here Jason is going to be wrecked if something happens to you You've got to come back now, Jimmy … you just have to “There were tears sliding down her cheeks as she spoke to him, and she stayed there with him for half an hour, talking firmly but gently to him. And in the end, she kissed his cheek, touched his arm again, and went back to the others in the waiting room.

“How is he?” Mark still looked panicked, and Taryn was exhausted. She had her head back against a chair with her eyes closed. And she opened them and sat up as soon as she heard Alex.

“About the same. Maybe it'll help when he hears his mother.”

“Do you really think that'll make a difference?” Taryn looked startled. She had heard that before, but never really believed it.

“I don't know,” Alex said honestly. “I've heard people say that they heard people talking to them when they were in comas, and no one thought they could. People have been brought back from the brink of death by stranger things. Medicine is as much an art as a science. I'd be burning chicken feathers and killing goats upstairs if I thought it would help one of my babies. And talking to him can't hurt anything.”

“Maybe we all should,” Mark said, looking anxious. He was dreading seeing Jimmy's mother. And Alex had increased his level of concern. He had no idea how old she was, and if she was very old and frail, this might be too much for her. “Can we see him?” They had seen him once, for a fraction of a minute, from the doorway, but things seemed less frantic around him now. Alex went to ask, and then beckoned to them. But she was more inured to medical scenes than they were. Taryn only lasted a minute or two, and then she left, with tears running down her cheeks. And Mark staunchly stood beside his friend, and talked to him, as Alex had suggested. But after a few minutes, he was so choked up, he had to stop talking. Jimmy's color wasn't good, and although he wasn't in extremis yet, he looked as though he were dying. It was a distinct possibility, Alex knew, and even Mark could see it.

The three of them sat in the waiting room after-wards, and cried over their friend. It had been an abysmal morning, and they were all frightened and tired.

Alex went back upstairs after that, but before she left, Mark asked her if Coop was coming.

“I don't think so,” she said quietly. “He has an appointment this morning.” She didn't have the heart to tell them it was with his trainer. She knew it was an excuse Coop had used, and sensed correctly that he was afraid to come. This just wasn't his strong suit.

Alex called trauma and checked on him hourly. And at twelve-thirty, Mark paged her and told her Mrs. O'Connor was there. She had gone straight in to Jimmy the minute she arrived.

“How is she?” she asked with deep concern for the woman she'd never met. Alex knew it was going to break his mother's heart to see him.

“She's a mess. But who isn't?” Mark sounded like he'd been crying. He had been since early that morning, and Alex found it touching, as did Taryn. She hardly knew Jimmy and she was devastated too. It was such a tragedy, but at least if he died, he wouldn't be leaving orphaned children. It was something at least, and very small consolation.

“I'll come down in a few minutes,” Alex promised, but it was almost two when she could get away. Someone had finally coded. She apologized for the delay when she got there. “Where's his mom?”