Chapter Fifteen
Riley’s phone rang,waking Letty out of a sound sleep.Letty wasn’t sure Riley even heard it.He was still wrapped around her, having fallen asleep after making love to her.Letty wanted to think of it as having sex, but she had a sinking feeling that wasn’t all it was to Riley or honestly for her either.No, he’d made love to her.
“Riley, your phone is ringing.”
“What?Shit.”He groaned and reached for the phone, leaning over her to grab it off the bedside table.
“What?”He didn’t yell but she could tell he wasn’t happy about the call.
He sat up.“What?You what?”He listened then said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He hung up and turned to her.“We’ve got to go home.To the hospital.”
Letty rolled out of bed, looking around in a daze, wondering where her clothes were.“The hospital?Is it your dad?”
He’d jumped out of bed and grabbed his pants, stepping into them and yanking them up over his hips.“No, it’s my mother.”
Lorraine?It had never occurred to her that Lorraine would be the one going to the hospital.Especially since Jasper was the one with the health problems.At least, the known ones.Had Lorraine been sick and they just hadn’t realized it?
“My dad called 911,” Riley continued, putting on his shirt and buttoning it.“Which he’d never have done unless whatever happened had scared the hell out of him.”
“Do you know what’s wrong?”She dressed quickly, then began gathering her things and tossing them in her bag.
Having already pulled on his jeans and his shirt, Riley was throwing things in his own bag.“She’s been sick, but we thought it was just a cold.But tonight she got much worse.Her chest hurt and she had trouble breathing.Her cough was worse and then she started getting confused.She wasn’t making sense so that’s when Dad called an ambulance.”He scrubbed his hands over his face.“If I’d known it was serious I’d never have left.”
“Why was she confused?”
“I don’t know.Neither does my dad, but it scared him enough to call EMS.Val and Liam are heading to the hospital as soon as Liam’s mom comes to stay with the baby.”
“Want me to make some coffee to take with us?”The hotel had a coffeemaker with coffee packets in the room.
“No.We’ll need gas soon and we can get some at the truck stop.”
They didn’t talk much.The drive was only about an hour and a half, not much more even with the stop for gas, coffee, and a bite of breakfast they could take with them.Letty knew Riley was worried sick, and frankly, so was she.Everyone knew Jasper had health problems, though he’d been much better lately.But Lorraine had always seemed fine.She wasn’t young, neither of his parents were, but they weren’t ancient either.
“Hey,” she said as they drew closer to Marietta.She patted Riley’s knee.“It could be something minor.”
“Could be but I don’t think it is.Hell, Jasper wouldn’t let Mom call the ambulance for him until he was damn near dying.”
“That was for him, though.He wouldn’t wait that long for your mother.”
“I hope not but you can never tell.Do you mind coming to the hospital?”
“Of course not.I’d be hurt if you kept me away.”
When they reached the hospital, they went to the waiting room where Val had texted them to go.Riley went straight to his father who was sitting in a chair looking…lost was the only word she could think of to describe him.Val wasn’t in the room, but Liam was.She hugged him and then went to Jasper and hugged him as well.Jasper patted her back but didn’t speak.
Riley wound up talking to Liam about his mother.Jasper hadn’t been able to tell him much.Whether that was because no one knew a lot or because Jasper was too distressed to make sense, she didn’t know.
“Val is with her.We’re hoping she’ll be moved to a room soon,” Liam said.“They’re saying it’s pneumonia and she’ll have to stay in the hospital for a while.We don’t know for how long yet.”
“Will she be okay?”Riley asked in an undertone.Jasper was sitting across the room, staring at the doors where the doctor would come through to talk to everyone.
In the same quiet voice Liam said, “We haven’t heard yet.We’re hoping the doctor will be here before long.”
So they waited.After some time, Val returned looking upset.“They say she has bacterial pneumonia and she’s contagious.They don’t want her to have visitors until she’s been on antibiotics for a couple of days at least.The hospitalist is taking care of her right now but Dr.Gallagher is on his way.”
Dr.Jack Gallagher, Letty thought.Three of the Gallagher brothers were doctors with the hospital, but Jack was one of the family doctors in town.
