Chapter 20
"Hello? Carol, hi, it's Abby. Yeah...he did? Great! Did he...oh...did he sound okay...okay...thanks Carol. I'll give you the number here. If he calls back, give him this number, okay?"
Carter wandered into the kitchen in time to hear Abby's half of the conversation. When she hung up, he said, "He called her?"
Abby nodded. "In fact, he called the day I got here. She said he had called back five times to see if she had heard from me." Abby sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't believe I didn't think of calling her before."
"Well, at least now he'll know you're okay. Did she say where he was?"
Abby shook her head. "No, but he told her he was going to Western Union me some money because he knew I had lost my job." She realized that, if she had somehow gotten in contact with Eric before, she never would have gone to County. Why didn't he just leave her some money in the envelope he left her? She couldn't understand that.
"Is he okay?"
"She said he sounded worried." Abby laughed. "That used to be my job."
"Is he on his meds?"
Abby nodded. "After I had the twins, he decided to start taking the disease more seriously, and take the meds and everything, so that he could be a part of the twins' lives."
Carter nodded and looked down, and Abby realized how tacky her remark was. Before she could move to correct her blunder, Carter said, "Did he live near you?"
Abby shook her head. "But we stayed in touch more after I first had the twins. Then, after Maggie died, we just sort of...grew apart."
"How long has it been?"
"Almost four years. She never even got to see the twins," Abby said sadly.
"Mommy, look what I made!" Jill said, bursting into the room and breaking the uncomfortable silence. Abby turned towards her, relieved to have a new topic for discussion.
Oh, that's very nice," she said, glancing at the picture of what appeared to be a monkey. She was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing.
"Carter Residence," Carter said into the receiver.
There was a lengthy pause, then, "Um, could I speak to Abby? Abby Wyczenski?" he clarified, as if there might be several Abbys at Carter's house.
"Sure. She's right here." He handed the phone to her. "It's Eric."
Abby snatched the phone out of his hand before he could relinquish it. "Eric? Are you okay?"
"I should be the one asking that. I'm so sorry I had to leave like that, but...something came up," he said vaguely. "But you guys are okay, right? You have someplace to stay?"
"Yeah, I'm staying with Carter."
"Carter? The guy who answered the phone?"
"Yeah, you met him once, remember?"
"No, not really. Will you be okay with him?" He sounded worried.
Abby smiled at the concern in her brother's voice. "I'll be fine, Eric," she reassured him. "Are okay? What happened?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just gotta lay low for a little while," Eric said, evading her question. "But I can call you here?"
"Yeah, I'll be here for a while," Abby said.
"Okay. Good." Abby heard voices in the background. "Listen, Abby, I gotta go. You take care of yourself, okay?"
"Okay. And you do the same."
"I will. Talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye." Abby hung up the phone.
"Is he okay?"
Abby shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything, Except that he has to 'lay low' for a couple of months. I...don't know what's happening."
"Did he sound okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. But I wish he would tell me what's going on."
No one was as surprised as Abby when Eric showed up on her doorstep.
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Abby stood in the doorway, her face frozen in shock. Eric had started to enter the house, but stopped when he noticed that she was standing still as a statue, blocking his entrance.
"Abby? You okay?"
Her trance broken, Abby looked up at him, a relieved smile on her face. "What happened? I was so worried about you!"
Eric looked embarrassed. "It's a kind of long story. Can I come in?"
"Of course," Abby said, moving aside to let him in.
"This is a nice place. Who is this guy, anyway?"
Abby stared at him. Couldn't he remember anything? "John Carter? Jill and Riley's father?"
"Oh, oh, that Carter. I remember now."
"Eric, are you okay?" she asked, worried. Something wasn't right with him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Are the twins here?"
Abby led him to the twins' room, an uneasy look on her face.
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When Carter got home, he heard a man's voice echoing in his house. Who's here? he wondered, pulse quickening. Abby wouldn't have invited a boyfriend over, would she? His heart sunk at the thought, then he realized how implausible it was. But still, what if?
He realized that the noise was coming from the twins' bedroom, so he walked towards it, determined to accept whatever he found there. He was surprised, however, to see the man sitting on Jill's bed. It had been a long time since he had last seen him, but Carter had a good memory for faces. "Eric? What are you doing here?"
Eric looked up guiltily, as if he had been caught performing an act much more heinous than playing with his nephew. "Carter, John Carter, hi. I'm Abby's brother, remember? Well, I guess you do remember, you called me by name." Eric's laugh sounded forced, and Carter noticed that he still hadn't answered the question.
"What are you doing here?" Carter asked again.
"I was in the area, thought I'd drop by to see my niece and nephew. And my sister, of course," he said, glancing over at Abby. Carter couldn't read the look on her face.
"Uncle Eric, we have this park, and it has swings and slides and monkey bars and everything!" Riley gushed. Already, he had warmed up to his newfound uncle.
"Sounds like fun," Eric said, a smile coming to his face.
"Since Uncle Eric's here, can we have ice cream?" Jill asked. Jill thought every event was a cause for dessert.
Abby smiled faintly. "Why don't you guys show Uncle Eric where the kitchen is, and you can all have some ice cream," she suggested. Jill eagerly grabbed Eric's hand and started dragging him towards the kitchen.
"What's wrong with him?" Carter asked as soon as they had stepped out of the door.
Abby shook her head. "I don't know. He's been acting strangely ever since he got here."
"Is he still on his meds?"
"I think so. He seemed pretty resigned to his fate when he started taking them."
"But he seems kind of manic."
Abby nodded reluctantly. "But the meds aren't foolproof. Even if he's taking them all the time, he could still have episodes, they'll just be less severe," Abby explained, as if Carter wasn't a doctor. "That's probably all this is."
"Yeah, probably," Carter said, praying that she was right.
There was a crash down in the kitchen, then a giggle. Abby sighed. "I hope they're not breaking anything."
Carter smiled. "Should we go down and see?" Abby nodded, and they descended the stairs together.
"Hello-o-o?" Abby called into the seemingly empty kitchen. There was no one in sight.
"Where are they? They couldn't have possibly gotten lost in this short distance," Carter said. Already, he was looking around the kitchen, running into the connecting rooms, trying to find them.
Abby heart quickened as she joined Carter in the search. She wanted to believe that Eric was alright, that he had just somehow gotten lost in the short walk between bedroom and kitchen. But where had he taken the kids?