Chapter 4
"It doesn't appear to be a serious event… this time," Dr. Conklin informed the worried Reagan family members as they gathered together upstairs to hear the news soon after Linda and Danny arrived. "For the last few months, I've been treating Henry medically for atrial fibrillation, also known as Afib which is an occasional quivering or irregular heartbeat. While Afib itself generally is not life-threatening, the complications can be very serious because it can increase the risk for other problems, including heart failure, as well as stroke. Today he's had some runs of what's called sick sinus or tachy-brady syndrome which is a specific irregular rhythm in which the heart beats too quickly and then too slowly. Symptoms can include a loss of consciousness like he suffered and ultimately with it comes a much higher risk of stroke since the blood is not being pushed through the ventricles the correct way, leading to the possibility of clots."
"But he hasn't had one of those, a stroke, right?" Eddie worried as she automatically rocked and bounced a now wide awake and alert Joey in her arms like a seasoned pro, having not yet taken the time to 'freshen up' as advised given that he had woken and loudly demanded to be fed while they were on their way upstairs. Now that the baby was happy and content, there was no way she was missing this conversation with the doctor since no one had been allowed to visit with Henry yet while he was being settled into his room, apparently against his will judging from the looks and casual remarks Linda was receiving from her fellow nurses. "Addison said you were testing him because he was acting off. I mean I saw it too right after he collapsed… he was really mad and talking about taking care of his wife. She died years ago."
"No, we've seen no indications of stroke, just those transient moments of confusion when the heart is beating too slowly, and oxygen levels drop. At the moment though he's stable and very clear… almost too much so," Dr. Conklin admitted with a small, knowing smirk as he considered the willful-minded, unhappy Reagan patriarch being sequestered just down the hall. "In short, he believes this is all because he missed taking one pill this morning, and he's ready to go home."
"But I wasn't supposed to pick up his prescriptions until tonight!" Jamie declared anxiously as he glanced around with a guiltily expression evident. "He only asked me yesterday and said he had enough for today. I would have brought them to him right away if I'd have known!"
"It was most likely not that, although missing meds is not advised," Dr. Conklin assured. "Henry's been fighting me like a bear, tooth and nail against the fact I've advised him for some time now that he needs a pacemaker to regulate these possible arrhythmias, but he's been adamant he will not have another procedure done on his heart, even a very safe, simple one that's clearly in his best interest. I could implant one this afternoon in about an hour with just local anesthesia and he'd be home tomorrow with very few restrictions for a few weeks," he offered.
"This is because of Grandma," Erin reasoned as she threw her hands up in the air in frustration and turned around to huff and stare at the bare wall. "It always comes back to that, doesn't it?" she added before facing them again. "Does my Dad know?"
"Your grandfather insisted that I not share my recommendations with the Commissioner or the rest of the family until today because, and I quote, 'Now those nosy kids out there are gonna stick themselves in my business anyway, so you might as well go ahead and spill it!'" he revealed while mimicking a familiar grumpy expression with raised eyebrows. "I'm sure you know that Henry is…"
"A stubborn SOB," Danny finished for him as everyone else rolled their eyes at his candor. "What? Where do you think that pig-headed gene comes from? It's the truth, isn't it?"
"Takes one to know one," Linda mumbled under her breath.
"Language, Uncle Danny," Nicki chided as she sat in a chair next to Kaylin coloring with the little girl to keep her occupied while the so-called adults were talking. "Little ears," she reminded.
"That was g-rated," he grumbled back.
"I was going to say very independent-minded, but I guess it all boils down to the same thing," Dr. Conklin admitted. "There's no law that says he has to accept a procedure if he doesn't want it, but if today is any indication treating it with only medication will fail and this will happen again, probably soon, and unfortunately if it's combined with say a fall down the steps or he hits his head on something, it could have immediate and tragic consequences... not just the long-term ones I mentioned before," he warned.
"Well, then he's going to get a pacemaker today," Eddie insisted as the issue seemed black and white to her even as that declaration was greeted with a series of snorts, sighs and stress tells from every other Reagan in the room. Even baby Joey voiced his displeasure although it soon became obvious he was working on another issue given the little screwed-up red-faced grunts accompanying it. "What? The doctor says he needs it! By the way, it's your turn, lambchop... Enjoy, and don't forget to cover up the Armani, he's got your aim," she added while looking to hand off their now malodorous son to her cleanly dressed husband since he had made a point of allowing her to sit in public before without mention of the little spit up meister's contributions.
"Have you met my grandfather?" Jamie asked incredulously while he stayed on track as Linda reached for the baby instead since she sought every opportunity to cuddle with her new nephew to relieve stress and ground herself as the issues with Marcus over guardianship of their soon-expected little bundle were mounting into an increasing number of snags while the younger man waffled back and forth over what he wanted his role to be in this arrangement just as she had feared in the beginning.
"I'll take him," she offered before grabbing the diaper bag to go attend to his needs on the other side of the room.
"Eddie, Pop has his reasons against," Jamie informed her sadly as he continued. "It's a long story and we might not understand them, but it all has to do with what happened to my Grandma Betty when she had her heart attack," he explained. "I'm not sure even Dad can change his mind on this one," he worried as a glance at his watch showed it to be just after noon and still too early to call his father to bring him up to speed and into the loop on what was happening.
"Well, what about you, Erin?" Eddie frowned as she looked at her sister-in-law, still not understanding the rest of the family's reluctance to tackle this issue head-on given the fact that they were Reagans after all and never had before hesitated to put themselves into each other's business. "He listens to you. Since when have you ever been afraid to say something to him, or anyone else for that matter?"
"Eddie, it's… complicated," Erin sighed. "The rest of us have been in this place before and pushed him to do something he didn't want to because it was supposed to be for the best, and… it didn't end well," she admitted with a sniff while wiping her eyes. "You've got to understand… what Pop and Grandma Betty had together was more than special… they were more than soulmates. Then again, maybe out of all of us you would know," she continued with a tight look while recalling the difficulties the two women had shared over recent months. "You spent all that time when Jamie was hurt worrying if you had made the right choices for him, and I'll admit I didn't help that. But what if you hadn't?" she challenged. "What if you had listened to someone else and forced him to do something he was against and only bad had come of it? Would you forgive yourself if he had suffered for months and then died? And then later if the same thing came up, and you were on the other side, would you make that decision for yourself again? If they were older, would Kaylin and Joey be able to change your mind? Because that's where Pop's at right now."
###
"Where is she right now?!" Frank Reagan's unmistakable, yet uncharacteristically shaken deep voice thundered ahead in demand as he hurried down the long hall from the elevator bank, the tails of his tan overcoat swinging along wildly behind while Joe followed at a near jog trying to keep up with his father's exaggerated stride, still dressed in his patrol uniform as his other two present siblings jumped to their feet to meet them and receive a heavy embrace.
"She's in the ICU," Erin reported as they approached. "I went in for a little before," she admitted as Jamie glanced down towards the floor with guilt evident since he had not found the same courage, although honestly, no one had approached him about that yet given that no more than two visitors were permitted back at a time and Henry had not been willing to step foot out of the room.
"It's bad though, Dad! She's hooked up to so many things," she added in an effort to prepare him for what he was about to see.
"Jamie, c'mere son… it's alright," his father murmured as he caught that look and the normally stalwart mustache quivered while he grabbed his youngest by the back of the neck and pulled him to his chest before slipping an arm behind Erin's back likewise drawing her close, so they formed a triangle with Joe closing in with a hand on Frank's shoulder. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," he added and drew strength from a moment of family unity before it had cause to disappear. "Where's your mother?" he choked out.
"The nurse was out a few minutes ago and asked her to come back for Grandpa," Erin advised tearfully. "The doctors need to go in and do their evening rounds for the patients in that hall, and he won't leave the room… they said something about privacy issues. Nobody's allowed to visit at that time. You have to sign in and take one of the two passes before they'll let you back."
"Of course, he would be stubborn, it's in his DNA," Frank muttered under his breath and sighed as he considered his father's reaction to this while continuing to worry over his mother and wanting nothing more than to force his way into the locked unit and find her for himself. Soon though, it was apparent that wouldn't be necessary as Mary emerged alone while shaking her head.
"Frank! Oh, thank goodness! I'm so glad you're here! He won't come," she cried as he released their children to go envelop her in a tight hug while Joe took up the supportive role with an arm firmly wrapped around Jamie's shoulder and a hand on Erin's elbow, expecting from that look that they were all about to receive the worst news. With Danny gone, it had been the middle Reagan brother who had quietly assumed that duty among them, and he was determined with a clenched jaw to see it through. Indeed, it had been that appearance of staunch resolve that had first clued Frank into the fact there was a serious problem at home when he was summoned by an insistent son from the secure situation room at 1PP where he had been out of touch along with the PC and the rest of the higher Chiefs while locked into an operation dealing with a credible terrorist threat against the city's mass transit system. When word came that the danger had been neutralized thanks in no small part to Frank's intuition, it had been Joe who guided his shaken father here and was ready to provide whatever backing was required. Now that role needed to be reversed, and it was up to Frank to do the same for his own as it was obvious Henry was not coping well.
"I'll go," he assured his wife quietly as she handed over the card to swipe for entry.
"First hall, three doors down on the left," she directed with a squeeze on his arm for strength as he gathered himself and forced his feet to move to that destination where his eyes glassed over at the sight of his father leaning over the side of the bed while seated on the edge of his chair and locked in obvious prayer over his wife.
"Pop," he choked out and for a moment allowed his eyes to focus past the plethora of equipment surrounding his mother and obviously tasked with keeping her alive. His knees nearly gave way as he took in the sight of the once vibrant, larger-than-life, indomitable Irish woman who had ruled their lives with a stern smile and a golden heart, now reduced to a pale shadow of herself and hardly recognizable. Tubes and wires were covering nearly every visible square inch and bespoke of an obvious critical condition.
"You have to come out now, the doctors need to work on her," he managed to add softly even as he moved to the bedside himself to take her opposite hand and lean in for a kiss. "I'm here now, momma. I love you," he whispered in her ear.
"She'll leave us if I go," Henry rasped out in a barely audible voice, thoroughly convinced of that fact as he took a stronger hold of her hand to anchor himself as if his own son would try physically to pull him away. "I knew she wasn't feeling well, but she wanted me to go to the market, and this happened! I should have never left her alone so long! It's my fault!"
"Pop, you're talking crap, and they need to come in and help her!" Frank insisted a little more vigorously than before since to him his father was being his usual unreasonable, obstructionist self as the situation appeared to require an all-hands-on-deck approach and he desperately wanted everyone who could possibly do anything to save his mother's life to be allowed into the room at that instant. "You have to go out with me! Let the doctors in to see her, and then we'll come back and talk to them."
"Francis, I don't have to do anything I damn well…"
###
"...DON'T WANT TO!" Henry thundered adamantly with a huff as he shut down any further conversation about his doctor's recommendation for a pacemaker and Erin and Linda flatly struck out on their united quest to reason with the older man, having been appointed that initial mission once the family was allowed to visit with him. "Erin Marie Reagan, you go get my clothes, RIGHT NOW! And Linda, bring me whatever damn forms from the desk I need to sign myself out of here! I WANT TO GO HOME!"
"Pop, you need to stay the rest of the afternoon for observation at least," Linda tried to mollify and at a minimum get him to agree to that while backing off any talk of the procedure, which to this point had done nothing but rile him up. "Let's just calm down and see how you feel in a bit, okay? You've got everyone out there in the waiting room worried about you," she attempted to appeal to his sense of family.
"Well then they need to get the hell out of here too!" he continued to bite back.
"Okay, well, this is a lost cause!" Erin griped as she took a deep breath to steady herself after a completely vexing day. "I'm going out to see if Jamie had any luck getting through to Dad," she added before leaving her sister-in-law to incur Henry's wrath alone while she sought out her younger brother who was found pacing once again outside of the waiting room with his phone to his ear.
"Did you get ahold of him yet? Because we're going nowhere down there," she advised as if the rest of the hall wasn't already aware of that fact.
"Plane's in a holding pattern," Jamie reported. "There's weather in the area, and they can't bring it down yet. Honestly, at this point it's not gonna make much of a difference, is it?" he questioned as he shared her growing frustration. "Baker said every other airport in the region is socked under and they're expecting heavy fog to roll into this one shortly. Between that and the flights already canceled up and down the coast he'll never get out of there, anyway. Do you think he's going to have any more luck than we are? If anything, Pop will just dig in further to make a point of trying to show him who's boss. Maybe we should just let him come home and keep an eye on him until Dad's back or wait until he cools down a little and try again?" he offered.
"You really think that's gonna work, kid?" Danny questioned as he stepped over to join them in a little sibling tête-à-tête, having been kept out of Henry's room since everyone decided there would be no advantage to throwing gas on the Reagan patriarch's temper with a like-minded confrontation between the two. "Who you gonna put on him 24-7? Erin's got a hot mess at work, Nicki has school, Linda and I have to go and iron out this Marcus thing before that baby comes or she's just gonna kill me, and none of you will ever find the body," he admitted quietly. "And you just started back at a new job this week with a month-old newborn in the house. Even Eva's working overtime now. Who's that leave?"
"What about a full-time live-in nurse?" Jamie asked grasping at straws.
"Right, so where the hell are you gonna find one today and get 'em fitted for Kevlar?" Danny shot back incredulously just as Eddie stepped up to the group, having finally taken a moment to spruce up a little and change in the bathroom down the hall while Nicki minded Joey and Kaylin.
"What am I, chopped liver?" she frowned at their apparent willingness to concede to what she still considered a non-starter; Henry was having that pacemaker put in today if she was the only one left with the guff to have any say over it. "I'm home full-time. He'll stay with us."
"Ed, honey, it's just that you have your hands a little full with the baby right now," Jamie tried to appease her gently while trying without luck to avoid sparking his wife's ire as he questioned her abilities. "Besides, this is a…"
"...Reagan family problem?" she huffed with her eyes flashing as she challenged an insinuation that put her outside the box. "Because I know for a fact that's not what you were going to say to me, Jamison! Let me talk to him! I'll get him to change his mind."
"Ed…"
"It's worth a shot, Jamie," Erin conceded. "No one else is winning. Do you have a better idea?"
"Tranquilizer dart?" he quipped. "Alright, go ahead," he gave in with a sigh as three pairs of eyes rolled in his direction. "We've got nothing to lose."
"Yes, we do!" Eddie snapped back. "You heard the doctor; we could lose Pop, and I will not have that happen in front of our children or me again if I have anything to say about it!" she vowed while reliving those scary moments earlier in the day when he collapsed in their home before stepping into the waiting room after a pause to formulate a plan. Her was mind made up, and she determinedly retrieved Kaylin with a whisper in her ear and lifted Joey out of his carrier.
"Eddie, they can't go back there… they're not allowed!" Jamie warned now that he clearly saw the cards she intended to play. "Kaylin will be scared!" he tried to reason instead when he saw the decided look on her face as she brushed past him.
"Janko's aren't afraid to play dirty when it's important, take note," she reminded flatly, and the three Reagan siblings were left to watch the little trio proceed down the hall together, only to stop at Henry's door and wave off Linda who thus far hadn't had any more luck.
"Pop," Eddie started quietly as they made their way into the room, knowing the older man would keep his voice in check in front of his gg's, and she deliberately used that to her advantage. "We need to talk."
"Why did you bring them back here?" he gruffed in a surprised, albeit in a softer manner and pulled the blanket higher over his gown given the fact that his sensitive great-granddaughter was clinging to Eddie's leg as she looked nervously around the room, remembering her daddy's multiple visits to such a place.
"Because you needed to see what you're giving up by being such a stubborn son of a… duckie," she retorted plainly while shifting Joey in her arms and keeping the conversation clean for the little ears present.
"Eh, what are you talking about? That thing he wanted to put in my chest? I can manage without it!" he insisted.
"This, Pop… holding your new great-grandson and the next one that's coming for Linda and Danny. I can't have you doing that when Joey's so little if I'm afraid you're going to pass out and drop him," she scolded before continuing. "What about your promise to teach Kaylin how to play handball or coming to her soccer games? Because the doctor said these arrhythmias are damaging your ventricles or whatever and if that goes on long enough you'll wind up with a stroke or congestive heart failure and have to be sitting in a chair alone somewhere or worse... and that will be your choice because you're being a pig-headed old man right now!" she added as it became evident that her anger was growing and she was losing the resolve to cover it.
"Do you realize what you put me through this morning? To turn around and see you laying at the bottom of the steps like that! Is that how you want Kaylin to remember you for the rest of her life? Because you know she doesn't forget!" she added as her voice broke and he looked away, ashamed as he vividly recalled that feeling of coming home and finding his wife in just that manner all too clearly.
"I know when you lost Betty it was the worst thing ever, and it had something to do with whatever the doctors did to her heart," Eddie continued and softened a bit as he was too choked up to speak in return or meet her eye. "Everyone else out there tells me I can't understand why you're so against this because I wasn't there when it happened, but I do. Believe me, I know she was your soulmate, and you made whatever choice you had to… If I would have lost Jamie… I mean I thought we did, remember? Twice. Everything inside of me wanted to die, but for our babies," she added as she hugged her two children tighter in front of him for emphasis.
"They're part of him, just like Joey's part of Betty's bloodline and you've said yourself that Kaylin has her spirit. It's because they live in her house now and we think about her every day. I never even met her in person, but I want to know more. I want you to tell us all about her, because I feel like she still visits there, and I want to honor her by being the kind of mother for my children and wife for my husband that she was to all of you, but I can't do that if you're not with us, Pop. Please," she begged. "Please have this pacemaker put in today so we can all have you around for lots more years… for these and the ones that might come after. She'd want more for them than sadness and crying over a headstone," she added in a familiar way in what could only be a direct sign from his beloved Betty above. "You'll come and stay with us at your old home for the next few days until Frank gets back and tell me all about the woman I owe my whole family to."
"You… you... drive a hard bargain, missy," Henry sighed and managed to rasp out eventually as he glanced back Eddie's way and she could see the raw emotion overcome him as he was once again clearly reminded of his forever angel. "So did she."
"Got that right, old man," Eddie affirmed with a twinkle in her eye now that it was apparent he was caving. "It's a required skill to be part of this family."
So Eddie of all people, with perhaps a little help from above, was finally able to get through to that stubborn son of a… duckie. Next, a new and slightly improved Henry arrives home and begins to recount some of the highlights and secrets of the time spent there with his beloved wife, Betty.
It seems like the FF gremlins have now set their sights on email notifications and PMs this week, so I'd like to offer a big thank you here to everyone who has reviewed and sent messages for this story so far. Now that the premise is set, we get into the fun part of exploring some of the events of the Reagan family past including why Peter Christopher remained such a secret all this time.
