Chapter Seven

Skeletons and Phone Calls

Jordan looked at the piece of paper in her hand for a long time. Will had turned sixteen two weeks ago. His party had been "a blast" by his standards, so she guessed she hadn't done so badly putting the thing together. She smiled at the memory. Thirty of his closest friends at the downtown depot she had rented. A DJ, music, dancing until midnight. And food. Sometimes she would swear that teenagers were nothing but human food vacuums.

Sixteen. Her baby was sixteen. It didn't seem possible. It seemed like he should still be six – Legos, cartoons, the latest Disney movie, and staying up a half hour beyond his bedtime should still be his primary concerns.

Not soccer games, girls, college, and cars like it is now.

He was growing up. Far too quickly for Jordan's liking. Woody's stinging accusation about not trusting him with her son still rang in her mind. She pushed back her desk chair and propped her feet on her desk, still staring at the paper. Woody was right more levels than he knew.

She didn't trust just anyone with Will. Ever since he was born, it had been just him and her more times than she wanted to remember. After Jason had been shipped back to Iraq, Jordan had never felt more alone in her life, despite the fact that she was surrounded by a loving circle of friends at the morgue. When she began to show…her body ripen with pregnancy, everyone became so supportive….but she felt so lonely…she missed having someone there to share the pregnancy with. She felt, perhaps erroneously, that for the first time in her life, she was really all on her own.

Jordan had thrown up a flare to Max…to see if her father would reconcile with her and come home to help her with the baby at least for a little while. Reluctantly, her father had returned home to check on her and the Will, but was hesitant to commit to staying.

Will's premature birth put an end to his hesitancy. He was only a few weeks premature, but seeing the baby in neo-natal intensive care had shaken all of them up. Mainly Jordan, who perhaps for the first time really realized how fleeting life could be.

As well as how unconditionally she loved her son and just how fiercely over protective she could be of another human being. She never though she could ever have that emotion over another person. Funny how holding a helpless infant in your arms changes that. Especially one that had so many wires and tubes attached to him.

So no, she didn't trust just anyone with Will. She had reason. If anything happened to him, she wasn't sure she could make it through the next breath, much less the next day. The center of her life would be gone…and she would be on her own again. Alone.

Which brought her back to this piece of paper….Will's birth certificate. He was sixteen. In a few months, he would be eligible to try to get his driver's license. He would need this piece of paper she had gone to her safety deposit bank to retrieve. Will had asked her to go ahead and get it so it would be one less thing to worry about. Jordan sighed, folded the piece of paper and put it back in the envelope.

"What do you have there?" asked Garret, propping himself on her door.

"Will's birth certificate….he needs it to get his license."

Garret grunted. "That's a few months away, isn't it?"

Jordan nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you okay with it?"

"Oh Garret, I don't know…I don't know if I can handle it when it happens."

Garret walked over to her desk and gently took her hand. "You'll do fine, Jor. Just fine. Will will be okay…Trust me. He's a good, solid, young man and he loves you."

"I know…" she began, but ringing of her cell phone interrupted the conversation. "Turner," she said into the mouthpiece. "What?" Her face went completely white and her grip on Garret's hand tightened and her face went completely white. "When? Where?" I'm there. Yes…by all means go ahead…you have my permission to do anything you need."

"Jordan?" Garret asked, the question in his eyes.

"It's…..it's Will," she replied, the shakiness in her voice transferring over to her body. She blindly searched for her pocketbook and her coat.

"Whoa….slow down," Garret said, taking the keys from her hand. Whatever had happened, she was in no state to drive. "I'll take you wherever you need to go. Now what happened?"

"Will…" her lips were having a hard time forming the words…"Will collapsed during PE class at school. He is unconscious….and on his way to Boston General."

The morning passed in a blur…tubes, blood pressure checks, x-rays, scans….finally an MRI was ordered. Jordan and Garret sat with Will as he floundered in and out of consciousness….talking with him and answering a myriad of questions that the young man had. When the nurses came to get Will to take him down for the MRI, Jordan started to follow the gurney down the hall when a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Dr. Turner?" a tall, silver-haired man asked.

Jordan nodded. "Yes.."

"I'm Dr, Sullivan, Will's attending physician. I need to ask you some questions about Will's medical history. Has this ever happened before?"

"No…never…"

"Hmm….has Will ever complained about pains in his chest?"

"No…"

"And he plays sports?"

"Soccer."

"Has he ever been overly winded after a game…had a hard time catching his breath for a longer than normal time interval?"

Again, Jordan shook her head. "No…his medical history has been pretty normal…except he was premature…" then she remembered…"and he seems to have stayed sick this fall and winter. I can't keep him well. He's picked up every bug and germ he's come across. Dr. Reed sent him to an allergy specialist and he does have a mild case of those and is on the desensitization injections."

Dr. Sullivan shook his head. "No…that's not it. I know you're thinking asthma. This isn't asthma. Does your family have an history of heart disease?"

Jordan could feel her reality slipping away…Garret put his arm around her to steady her. "No…none," she choked out.

"Then what about Will's father? What about his family?"

The question was asked innocently enough, but Jordan felt her past crashing in on her as her present turmoil forced a skeleton to the surface she thought she had kept hidden so well it would never come out of the closet. "I don't know…." She answered faintly. "His father hasn't been in the picture for a long time."

"Can you find out? It's important that we get as thorough a medical background as we can."

Jordan nodded. "Yeah. Let me make a few phone calls." Dr, Sullivan nodded and walked down the hall towards the MRI lab. Turning to Garret, she asked, "What do I do?"

"You make the phone call, Jordan."