Chapter Eighteen


Barbara was just coming out of one of her office's exam rooms, when Nicki stuck her head around the corner and called to her.

"Dr. Mason, it's Race Bannon on line two. He sounds pretty harassed."

"Okay, I'll take it in my office." Sitting down in her desk chair, she picked up the phone and said cheerfully, "Good morning, Race!"

"Is it?" he replied sourly. "You certainly couldn't prove it by me!"

"Oh, dear. What's up?"

"Things have just hit the fan and I'm not sure what do to."

"So tell me about it."

"Well, to start off with, Benton and Jonny got into it again this morning. This one's got me seriously worried because Benton simply refuses to talk about it. He's clammed up again. But I'll tell you this much . . . he's furious . . . angrier than I think I've ever seen him."

"Angry at what? Can you tell?"

"Oh yeah, I can tell. Without a doubt, he's pissed off at Jonny."

Barbara sighed. "And you have no idea at all what happened?"

"No. I do know that Benton had tried to reach Jonny several times yesterday with no success, and that he'd left a couple of messages, but no one ever called him back. So, he was agitated about that to start with. Then, early this morning . . . like 7:15 or 7:30 . . . he tried again. He'd been in the study with the door closed, but I could still hear him yelling. When he came out, he was absolutely furious . . . flushed and swearing. He went straight out to the lab and he hasn't been back to the house since."

"Did you ask him about it when he came out of the study?"

"Yes." There was a brief pause and then Race sighed. "He said . . . and I quote . . . 'Well then, let him starve . . . see if I care!' And he stomped out of the house."

"Oh, hell," Barbara said with feeling. "I really thought we'd gotten past this stage."

"So did I."

"You have no idea what he was wanting to talk to Jonny about that was so urgent? No hint at all?"

"No. But I do get the impression that whatever it was, he's been thinking about it for a while. Something he's been excited about, but that's all I know."

"What about Jonny? Did you try to reach him?"

"Yes, but I got no answer at the apartment."

"What about at work?"

There was a brief, painful pause before Race replied, "I don't have a way to reach him there. He still won't tell us where he works. The only one who knows is Hadji. We could probably find out, but we've been afraid to do that for fear of shattering the small amount of trust that we've managed to rebuild over the last several months. We keep hoping that he'll tell us himself."

Barbara nodded, as if he could see her. "You're right. You don't dare do that."

Again, there was that brief, pained silence. Then Race said, "You know, don't you . . . where he works. He's told you."

"Yes."

"I thought so." The hurt in his voice was palpable, and Barbara felt incredibly sorry for Race Bannon. Of all the people who had suffered over the estrangement between Jonny and Benton Quest, Barbara really believed that Race was the one who suffered the most unfairly. Blamed by association rather than by action, Race had been closed out of Jonny and Jessie's lives. Both young people were pleasant to him, but neither could bring themselves to trust him. Race never complained and he didn't seem to blame anyone, either . . . at least not that Barbara heard . . . but every so often the pain came through so clearly she could almost feel it herself.

"I'm so sorry, Race."

"Not your fault. And as my mother always used to say, 'This too shall pass.' So what do I do?"

"Let it ride for the moment. Both of them need to calm down a little, and I'm up to my ears right now. I'll come out either over lunch or this evening after I finish up, and see if I can talk to Benton . . . at least find out what's going on. Then I'll try Jonny and get his side of the fight and we'll see what happens. I was planning on coming out tonight anyway to take a look at Estella."

"And that's the next thing . . ."

"Estella, too?"

"I told you it hasn't been a good morning," Race said grimly. "She fell a little while ago."

"How badly?" Barbara demanded, sitting forward with immediate concern.

"Well, it could have been a lot worse. I've taken your advice and moved her upstairs. That has seemed to help in terms of her restlessness. I've also rigged a workstation around the bed up there so she can work at a computer terminal and still stay lying in bed . . ."

"That ought to be interesting," Barbara commented with a hint of amusement.

"It's novel, if nothing else. She's been pretty good about staying in bed . . . and truthfully, I'd begun to be suspicious. Stel's still a lousy patient and she's been too passive recently."

"And you're starting to wonder why."

"I've started wondering what she isn't telling me," Race corrected her. "She knows that if she gets much worse, you're going to start talking hospitalization. I guess I'm worried that she's not telling us about things that are happening to her because she can't face that thought. And I'm afraid her fear was reinforced this morning. Apparently, she decided that she wanted something downstairs. I guess she'd called for me, but I wasn't in the house. IRIS warned me, but before I could shake loose and get in to her, she'd grown impatient. She got up and tried to go downstairs alone. I'm not entirely sure what happened . . . whether she got dizzy and fell and passed out when she hit, or if she lost consciousness for some reason and then fell . . . but the end result was the same. I found her lying unconscious on the floor in the hallway at the head of the main staircase. If she'd gotten so much as one step further before she passed out, she would have gone headlong down the stairs."

"How long ago did this happen?"

"I found her maybe ten minutes ago."

"And where is she now."

"Back in bed. I made sure she hadn't broken anything when she fell and I stayed there for a few minutes with a hand on her stomach making sure there was no signs of contractions, and then I picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom."

"Is she conscious?"

"Yeah, she was starting to stir when I picked her up to carry her back to the bedroom again."

"Let me talk to her."

"Okay, hang on. I'm in Benton's room. I've got to go back down the hall."

The line hummed emptily at her as Race put the call on hold. That entire family is so damned stubborn, Barbara thought in disgust. From Benton and his son, all the way down through those people who have been blended in through time, loyalty, and marriage. They're all great at looking out for each other, but not one of them has a bit of sense when it comes to taking care of themselves!

The phone clicked in her ear and Estella's voice said, "Barbara?"

"What in heaven's name happened, Estella?" Barbara demanded.

The other woman sighed. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted. "One minute I seemed to be fine and the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor with Race staring down at me with his 'spook in crisis' look." In the background, Barbara could hear Race mutter something unintelligible that sounded decidedly grumpy. "There is, too, such a look," Estella replied to him with a ghost of laughter in her voice. Then she continued, directing her comments to Barbara again. "I really don't know what happened."

"Think about it. Do you remember feeling dizzy at all? Do you have any memory of starting to fall before you passed out?"

"No, none at all. Honestly, Barbara, I was being very careful. I'd stayed next to the wall for support in case I did get dizzy, but I don't remember anything like that at all. And I have no memory of falling whatsoever."

Barbara frowned, worry gnawing at her. "No hedging this time, Estella. Have you been developing symptoms that you aren't telling me about? I need to know."

"No! I swear! I've felt more tired than normal in the last couple of days, but I've warned you about that. If anything, I feel a little better because the nausea hasn't been as bad."

Barbara sighed again. "All right. I do not want you out of bed the rest of today, you understand? I'll be out there this evening and we'll take a good long look at you to see if we can figure out what's going on. In the meantime, I'm going to send Kathy out to collect some samples again and we'll have the lab run them before I come out."

She could almost see the other woman grimace. "Oh good. More needles and peeing in a cup again."

"You were the one who wanted to be pregnant," Barbara pointed out, a smile warming her voice slightly.

"Yes, and don't think I haven't wished that we had considered adoption!"

That caused Barbara to laugh outright. At least the woman's sense of humor was still intact. "Well, it's too late now . . ."

"'We play the hand we're dealt.' I know, I know. Well, I guess we'll see you later this evening then. Tell Kathy she's welcome to come out anytime. IRIS will be expecting her. And it's not like I'm going anywhere."

"Good enough. I'll . . ."

"Oh, wait! Race wants to talk to you again. Hang on . . ."

Barbara could hear the phone being passed, and then Race was back. "Please don't tell me something else went wrong," she said plaintively as she heard him draw breath to speak.

"What did I say about it being a bad morning? I need your advice on something else."

What now? Barbara thought resignedly. "Shoot."

Race was silent for a long moment and then he said heavily. "The fat's in the fire about Hadji, too."

Barbara felt herself go rigid. Oh no, not Hadji. He can't take having his other son in trouble, too. "What about him?"

"Do you have a copy of the morning paper?"

"Not right here. Why?"

"Get it," he commanded flatly.

Covering the mouthpiece of the phone, she raised her voice and called, "Kathy!" After a brief pause, the door opened and her nurse stuck her head in the door with a questioning look. "Get me today's Camden Herald."

"I wondered how long it was going to be before you asked to see that," she said cryptically, as she disappeared from the doorway. A moment later she reappeared and set the paper down in front of Barbara. It had been carefully folded to reveal the front-page story, and a photo of Hadji stared up at her from the newsprint. She snatched it up and read the brief story quickly.

"When did this happen?" Barbara demanded of Race. "I thought Hadji was adamant about not wanting his engagement announced until after they had finished school."

"He was," Race said, sounding grim once again. "I don't think Hadji had anything to do with this. Bennett warned us back in April that things were heating up in Bangalore. If I had to guess, I'd say this is a political move by the opposition. They're trying to put pressure on him."

"What does Hadji say about it?"

"I don't know!" Race said in frustration. "I can't reach him. He's not at his apartment in New York, nor is Kefira at hers, and he's not answering his cell phone. I've tried calling Jonny, too, but there's no answer there, either, and I can't even leave a message because the answering machine won't kick in."

"This doesn't sound good at all."

"No, it doesn't. My question is this. Do I tell Benton about this, or wait until we know something more? So far, I don't think he knows about it. I managed to snare the morning newspaper before he saw it. Both the phone and the fax machine began going nuts about an hour ago, but IRIS is fielding the calls and preventing the phone from ringing in the house or lab, and Mrs. Evans is pulling the faxes off before he has the chance to see them. But I'm just sure that Benton's e-mail account is probably getting just as many hits and I really don't want to tamper with that unless I absolutely have to. It's also made all the wire services and it's on the news."

"And you're sure he'll interpret this as bad news."

"No question. For one thing, Hadji never would have made a decision like this without telling Benton first. You know Hadji, Barbara. He's not a public person by nature. He would have come home with Kefira, told Benton, and then celebrated quietly with us. Furthermore, Benton keeps incredibly close tabs on the situation in Bangalore. He's been doing that ever since April when Bennett tried to question Hadji about the building situation there and Hadji lost his temper. I suspect Benton knows more about what's going on over there than any of the rest of us. No, he's going to know things are turning worse. He's also going to know that if Hadji has any hope of marrying Kefira at all, the two of them are going to have to return to Bangalore to deal with this situation."

Barbara was quiet for a long time. Finally, she said, "I think you have no choice but to tell him, Race. It will be bad enough telling him about it now, but it will be even worse if you try to hide it from him and he finds out on his own. That's what got he and Jonny in trouble back in March. It's going to put him under added stress, but we simply can't help that. Tell him face-to-face and watch him closely. Even if he seems to take it well enough, stay close and keep an eye on him. You've seen the way he looks when those spells hit him. Watch for the signs and call me if you see any evidence that he's going into one. I'll be out just as soon as I possibly can."

"Have you managed to reach that doctor you've been wanting to talk to? The one from England?"

"No, not yet," Barbara replied in frustration. "I did manage to get past the bimbo to someone who sounded reasonably intelligent, but he tells me that Dr. Burrows is traveling and they have no way of reaching him at the moment. Normally, he calls in every couple of days, but I just missed his last call. Because he's due back late tomorrow, they don't expect him to check in again before he arrives home, so I may not hear from him before Monday morning. I'm stuck. All I can do is wait for him to call me."

"Damn. If we just knew what it is we're fighting . . ."

"Tell me about it! Look, I better go. I've got a waiting room full of patients, and the sooner I get started the sooner I'll be free and can get out to you. Keep a close watch on both of them and I'll be there as soon as I can."