Love Speaks Through: Chapter 19
Kris woke up the next morning and groaned seeing Adam wide awake and staring at the springs of Allison’s bed above him.
“Please tell me you slept,” Kris begged, and Adam glanced over.
“Please tell me this means you’re getting off my arm soon,” he shot back dryly.
“Oh, shit, Adam--”
“Kris!” came the tired but sharp command from across the room.
“Sorry, ma’am,” he apologized, knowing how much Joan hated even accidental cursing.
All the while Kris hurriedly trying to move so he wasn’t pinning Adam’s arm to the mattress anymore. Finally, he gave up and crawled out the way he had come in. “And here I was wondering why the mattress was so uncomfortable,” Kris joked. “I’m gonna go change. You need anything?”
“I got him,” Alli announced her feet suddenly hanging down precariously close to Adam’s bandaged hand.
“Dude, Allison, watch your feet,” Kris warned.
The feet disappeared, and her head hung down instead. “Morning, sunshine.”
“You sleep okay?” Kris asked her, digging through his shopping bag for clothes, and his toothbrush.
“I don’t know,” Allison admitted, climbing down. “No dreams or anything.”
She offered Adam a hand and helped him sit up. He’d slept in the nasty pastel plaid shorts and no shirt, but Allison didn’t comment on it, since even moving a little bit looked like it was hurting him.
“You don’t know…” Adam scoffed. “Please, girl. You snore louder than my dad, okay?”
Allison made a face. “You’re such a loser, Adam. So, where do you wanna be?”
Adam waited a beat. “Joan,” he called as she headed out after Kris, to help with breakfast. “You wanna do bandages now or later?”
“That’s up to you. I would wait ‘til after breakfast when there’s not food all over the place and things are a little cleaner,” she offered, continuing out to the kitchen.
“Damn it,” Adam whined. “I don’t want to get dressed.” He didn’t see the point in putting on another one of the horrid collared pastel atrocities if he was just going to get his bandages changed and get burn crap on it.
“Then don’t,” Allison shrugged happily. “Nobody will care. And if they do, you can wear my robe.”
“Girl, why’d you bring a robe to Costa Rica?” Tyler asked into her pillow.
“Because. You never know when you might need one,” Allison maintained.
“Oh hey, Adam?” Kris asked, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, still in his tee shirt and boxers. “Do you mind if I still use your phone to call home?”
“No, go ahead,” Adam allowed, moving to stand, and forcing himself to give his neck a little stretch. It was extra sore in the morning after not moving it for a long time.
“Point totally proven,” Allison said, jerking a thumb at the doorway where Kris had been.
--
That morning, while everybody else was in devotionals and Joan was helping Adam with dressing-changes, Kris hid out in the bedroom and called Katy. He felt like it had been way too long since he had heard her voice, even though it probably hadn’t been long at all. The only way Kris was even keeping track of the days was by knowing how many were left before he could see her and Kaleb again.
“Hey. One more day,” he said, smiling at the mere thought of seeing his wife and son again.
“Kris,” Katy sniffled. “I need you.”
His breath caught. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s not growing,” she managed. “He’s losing weight. Even with the feeding tube in him.”
Kris sighed, more than a little relieved. Weight loss was nothing when placed next to respiratory arrest or heart surgery. “Well, we’ll pray he gains.”
“I don’t know, Kris. He’s suffering so much…”
“No,” Kris said firmly. “He’s still trying to stay with us, and we have to keep trying until we can’t anymore.”
“Okay,” Katy managed.
“We’ll pray that he gains,” Kris repeated more softly. “I’ll be home tomorrow night. I love you both.”
--
Adam was beginning to think he might never move from Pat and Sandy’s kitchen table. Now that it was time for work projects and Alli and Kris were out digging and McKenna and Joan were at the houses playing with the kids, Adam was feeling more useless than ever. He already knew he would be staying in, but knew he wasn’t about to lie around when there was work to be done.
He hated feeling like Sandy had to hang around just to baby-sit him and be sure he was okay. Adam knew for a fact, too, that Tyler had hung back to do housework so she would get a chance to spend some time with him before they all had to leave. She had already swept and mopped and was pulling out the silverware drawer to clean and reorganize it when Adam called her over.
“Bring that here. I can do that,” he insisted, though thanks to the pain pill and the residual pain, it took immense concentration to do anything other than sit there.
“Okay,” Tyler agreed easily. “Less for me to do.” She smirked at him.
Adam went to work, taking out all the silverware and putting it in different piles and then wiping out the divider with a paper towel and some household cleaning spray.
While he was busy, Ty grabbed the drawer itself and dumped whatever crumbs had fallen in there into the trash can before setting it back on the table. Worship music was playing in the background and she jammed out in her stocking feet singing along at the top of her lungs.
“You should come and do one of my shows,” Adam offered, rubbing the back of his head absently.
“You are such a liar,” she quipped, smiling. “I can’t sing. At all. And then I got the best singer in the world all over me about it…”
Adam went back to the job at hand, dismayed to realize just how much of his concentration it required. Whenever Tyler asked Sandy what else she needed done, or the song on the CD player switched to another that sounded exactly like the previous one, Adam lost focus. He heard the kids outside, and wished he could be with them. That had been his favorite part, despite everything with Emilio. The kids were why he came.
He was just about to nod off when a centipede crawled out from beneath the divider. It looked like a worm-ant with millions of legs.
“Oh my God!” Adam exclaimed. “Ty, why the hell didn’t you dump that thing out!” he accused, though the bug had been as much a mystery to him.
Because it was crawling toward him and Adam had no time to demand that someone else take care of it, he grabbed the nearest utensil - a spatula - and brought it down hard on the table. Half the thing was smashed on the back of the spoon, and the other half was still somehow alive, running around until it fell off the table and Tyler stepped on it, laughing.
--
Kris was digging like crazy because they were behind and should have been pouring cement for the sidewalks by now. But because of Kaleb and not really having any new news on Emilio, Kris found himself thinking of the kids. A certain one in particular.
Belen had been passionate and thorough in her search for Adam over the past three days. Kris was sure that he wouldn’t be allowed out to play with any children. The weather was too hot, there were too many germs and he needed to rest. So, as with Nico before, Kris excused himself momentarily to go find Lupe and ask if it was okay to borrow another child momentarily.
He got the okay, made sure to wash the dirt off his hands, and went in search of Belen. He found her playing alone with some Hot Wheels cars.
“¿Quieres ver a Adam?” he asked her, with his arms open, expectantly.
“¿Adam?” she asked, bouncing up and down excitedly with the anticipation of seeing her friend.
--
Kris let himself in the house and glanced around, finding Adam and Tyler at the table talking softly. He closed the door and caught Sandy’s eye. She sent him a sly smile.
“¡Adam!” Belen shrieked happily.
He turned a little too quickly and regretted it, but not for long. Because his lap was full of squirming warm toddler. “Hey, baby,” he was cooing. “Hey, did you miss me?”
Adam didn’t know how, but Belen instinctively didn’t touch his hand or neck. After the first minute of excitement she settled down and leaned against the ugly spring green polo.
The visit didn’t last long, but that was okay. It was just about time for the kids to have lunch, and Kris had promised to bring Belen right back. So Adam said goodbye to her, kissing her on the top of the head and telling her to be a good girl.
When they were alone again, Adam lost himself in the mindless chore that was taking more time than he thought humanly possible. It had been hours and he still had most of the items to put back, but working with only one hand, and while under the influence of some hardcore pain medicine made it interesting.
“So, if I’m not allowed to sing then why don’t you sing me something?” Tyler teased.
“I never said you weren’t allowed,” Adam argued, smiling. His words were starting to run together but he didn’t care. “What do you want me to sing?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she insisted, doing her best to put together the ceiling fans Sandy had given her as the next project. Tyler had never put together anything more complicated than a bookshelf. She didn’t know the first thing about ceiling fans, but she was trying her hardest, grateful the instructions were in English as well as Spanish.
Because Adam knew with Tyler, it really didn’t matter, he started singing the only song that came to mind. An old one by Lifehouse.
“How long have I been in this storm? So overwhelmed by the ocean’s shapeless form? Water’s getting harder to tread with each wave crashing over my head. If I could just see you everything would be alright. If I’d see you, this darkness would turn to light. And I, will walk on water. And you will catch me if I fall. And I, will get lost into your eyes. I know everything will be alright. I know everything is alright...”
Tyler got lost in Adam’s voice. She always had. When he stopped singing and she glanced up, she saw him practically falling asleep at the table.
“Okay. Come on,” she said, helping him to his feet before he was sleeping too hard to be bothered.
“I have to finish…I told Sandy I’d finish…” Adam objected, fighting sleep and wishing he could have slept for more than a few minutes every hour the night before.
“You’re almost done. I can finish for you,” Tyler reassured.
“But I don’t like the bunk beds…’cause they were on fire…” he protested, sounding so out of it at his current level of exhaustion that he could have also passed for being legally drunk.
She kept her mouth shut though, not able to imagine how he could even get one minute of sleep hurt like he was. “Just a minute.” Tyler excused herself and felt around in her carry-on until she found what she was looking for. The tiny angel pin that had belonged to her grandmother. Passed down to her mother, now the pin made its rounds whenever one of them traveled or did something important. He grandmother had called it her guardian angel and it was supposed to protect you and bring you good things.
Even though Tyler knew that a pin was just a pin, it was comforting to hold onto something your family had also held onto when they were uncertain.
Gently she tucked it in his hand. “This is my guardian angel pin,” she said softly. “My grandma believed it protects people. So you hang onto this, okay? And get some rest.”
So, Adam settled in, and with the angel clutched in his hand, he fell asleep almost instantly.