Page 49 of Sterling Stone

He’ll call her?

It should make sense. They’d been friends as children, although Judd was more of a loner once he entered high school. I missed a few of his years when I went to college. Then, he went to college once I returned home. I hadn’t considered that he was still in contact with Taxi or even had her number for emergencies like this one.

My brother had her number all along and I could have gotten it from him.

Not the time. Not my concern. The two thoughts collide and knock each other out of my head.

“What’s next?” I ask.

“Rest. Recovery. Eventually, physical therapy. She’s heavily sedated for the moment, but if you’d like to see her, you can.” Her eyes shift toward Simon again. “We’ve moved her temporarily to ICU. Typically, we don’t allow children under sixteen in the unit.” Her hesitation suggests she might consider breaking hospital protocol.

“I don’t want him to see her with tubes and equipment anyway,” Judd immediately states, like he’s suddenly in charge of Simon’s well-being. “He’s already seen enough.”

The little hero made some thoughtful, quick decisions when he could have been scared out of his mind. Maybe he had been, but fear turned to action. He saved Trudy’s life.

When the doctor excuses herself, Judd and I each take a turn visiting Trudy, who isn’t aware of our presence. A heart monitor measures the slow but steady rhythm of her recovering heart. A mask covers her mouth, administering oxygen, while various other tubes and wires cover her body. Her youthful face looks like she’s aged ten years.

I feel utterly helpless. Seeing this powerhouse of a woman lying here reminds me how mortal we all are, and the one area I cannot protect anyone from is death. I’ve witnessed the inevitability of life too much in my forty plus years. I’m not ready to lose Trudy Wallace.

Eventually, I convince Judd to take Simon home with him.

“I’ll stay.” I don’t have anyone waiting on me, like Genie and the new baby are waiting for Judd. Plus, Simon doesn’t need to hang out in a hospital.

After Judd contacted Taxi, he told me she was hopping on the first flight out of Alabama.

Taxi will be in Sterling Falls soon. I wished her return was under better circumstances.

For hours, I try to distract myself from the thought, as I sit at Trudy’s side, using my phone to occasionally conduct business, but mostly letting my deputies take over for the day.

The ICU doesn’t allow more than two visitors at a time and regulates how often those visitors can enter a room. The nurses let me stay full-time, but eventually, there are three of us in Trudy’s room.

Emory Milton, the matriarch of the Milton family, and not any kind of kinfolk to Trudy, somehow talked her way in here. With her daughter, Emerson, at her side, I have no doubt Em tried to use her pull as the mayor of a nearby community to get her mother through the ICU security doors.

The senior Milton pays no attention to me as she rushes to Trudy’s side, hovering over her friend’s body before wrapping her hand around Trudy’s.

“Oh, Trudy,” Emory whimpers, blinking several times.

While Emory Milton was never friends with my mother, and rather down on all of us Sylvers, I’ve learned the reasons behind her hatred from her daughter.

Once upon a time, Emory Milton, the most popular girl in area, had been dating Flint Sylver when Violet Beauchamp moved to town. And while Mom said it wasn’t love at first sight because Dad ignored her, Dad argued he only ignored Mom because he was so attracted to her. The facts remain. He was already dating someone else.

He dumped Emory to be with Mom.

And all these years later, Emory has never forgiven Violet for arriving in Sterling Falls and taking her boyfriend.

“How are you doing?” Emerson asks me, sticking to the back of the room where I stand, allowing Emory a moment with Trudy.

“I’m good.” The chair hasn’t been particularly comfortable, and I could use something to eat and better coffee, but those feel like trivial things compared to Trudy’s position.

“Mama made me come with her,” Emerson continues, clarifying why she’s present when she doesn’t really owe me an explanation.

After all that happened with Taxi and the misunderstanding of what she’d seen between Emerson and me, I told Em I couldn’t pretend anymore. I couldn’t make public appearances and feed the rumors about a relationship we didn’t have. Em either had to come clean, or we needed to break what was never glued together.

She opted for a breakup.

Which led to another notch in Emory Milton’s dislike of someone with the last name Sylver. According to Emory, another Sylver broke the heart of another Milton, although that wasn’t even half the truth. The other half was Emerson’s to tell.

And Emerson and I are still friends. Just work-related ones.