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“Teddy! Where is she? How is she?”
“She’s being transferred to the intensive care unit right now. We got her here in time for the medicine,” Teddy said, and Lettie shifted away. He shook my hand and pulled me in, patting my back. “She can’t talk right now and really has no movement on the left side of her body, but the doctors say that could get better in time. Not real sure what to expect right now except lots of rest and prayers.”
Lettie nodded. “Okay, that’s good. It’s good she got here in time. Can we see her? Is she awake?”
“I’m afraid the ICU doesn’t allow other visitors. I’m sorry you drove all the way up here. I just asked Rosie to let you know what was going on, but she did sort of freak out when she saw the ambulance, so I should have known.”
“No,” Lettie said. “No, Teddy, we would have come regardless to check on you too. Have you eaten breakfast? Do you need anything? We could stay here for a while to make sure you don’t need anything.”
“Oh, heavens, no. I am fine, and yes, I have. Lenora and I had just finished breakfast before—” He stopped abruptly and looked away.
I walked back over to the desk and asked for a sticky note and a pen. “Here, Teddy. Since you left your phone at home, here is my number and here is Lettie’s. You can call us at any hour if you need anything. Do you know what room she’s going to be in?”
“Thank you. Yes, she’ll be in room 213 in the ICU. They said they should be transferring her soon.”
I nodded. I’d watched care being coordinated on more than one occasion, enough to have a pretty good idea of what to do. First when my mother had been sick and next when I’d been injured. I knew enough to make sure the right steps were taken to ensure Lenora was protected.
“Okay, we can call the room for updates too and to check in. When she’s moved to a regular med-surg room, let us know. We’ll stop everything we’re doing and come back.” I handed Teddy the paper and placed my hand on his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. Lenora is a fighter. Just make sure they put in an order for physical therapy too. We’ll all make sure she gets the best care.”
“Thank you, both of you. I just—I never expected anything to happen to Lenny. I always thought it would be me. I thought I would be the one needing her to take care of me. It’s always been that way, you know?”
Lettie hugged him again. “I know, Teddy. I know.” She pulled back and held onto his upper arms. “We’re here for anything you need, Teddy. We’ll go over to the house and take care of Genevieve, so don’t worry about her. We’ll feed her and change the litter.”
“Thank you. I didn’t even think about what I would do with Ginny. I’m just so discombobulated right now. I’m going to have to close down the bakery, and you know what an outrage that will be. You know half the town will need their bread, and Lenora won’t be able to get back for who knows how long.”
“Well, we will just have to buy it from the General Store like all the sad people from the city have to. It’s not even close to Lenora’s bread, but we won’t starve,” I said.
I watched Lettie’s eyes go from understanding and sympathizing to knowing, darting from Teddy, to me, and then back to Teddy, a smile growing wide across her face.
“I actually may have an idea,” she said. “Tuck is the only other person in town who can bake the way Lenora can. After all, she did teach him. And Tuck, you have been saying how you would like to find something to do during the day, especially since the house is so close to being done… Seems like you could just fill in for a while, don’t you think?”
I looked at Teddy, who held his hands in a prayer position at his mouth. He whispered, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Lettie patted Teddy on the shoulder. “Your thinking is clouded. That’s what I’m here for.”
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Lettie’s eyes grew wide. ”Think of the people, Tuck! Aveline with store-bought bread? It will be a travesty!”
I chuckled, knowing she was right and that no one would know what to do with a loaf of Wonderbread in Aveline. “Yeah,” I nodded. “Of course I will. It’s the least I could do.”
Lettie kissed Teddy’s cheek. “Okay, it’s settled. Call us as soon as you know anything. And don’t worry one bit about The Baking Tin. Aveline will have their bread and pastries.”
“I couldn’t worry now even if I tried.” He winked and waved us off as he headed back around the corner.
SEVENTY-THREE
LETTIE
The momentI sat back in my car, I began to cry. They were tears of relief that Lenora was alive, tears of sadness for the stress that the Burtons must have been going through, and tears of hope that everything would be back to normal in no time.
“Hey, hey. Lenora will come out of this unscathed,” Tuck said as he took my hand in his and brought it up to his lips. “She’s a fighter.”
“I know.” I nodded. “I just can’t imagine losing her. I can’t imagine Teddy losing her.” I wiped my eyes. “Even Genevieve.” I cried harder.
“You mean the cat?” Tuck asked, his eyebrows furrowed together.
“Yes, the cat,” I cried. “That cat loves Lenora.”
