Story: Phoenix
Chapter 17
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: During a conversation with Maggie, a friend and nurse at the hospital, Abbey put the pieces together and identified her attacker as Maggie's fiance
Summary: Jed realizes how hurt Ellie is by the current circumstances; after Abbey tells Jed what happened with Maggie, the stress between husband and wife grows as they react in very different ways to the news
The echoing sound of pots and pans crashing against one another penetrated the thin walls that led down the hallway to the master bedroom. Jed's eyes opened to a blur of foggy cobwebs as he rolled himself onto his back and snuck his arm out from under the covers to reach for the clock on the nightstand.
9 a.m.
He hadn't even fallen asleep until well after six. Saying he was simply tired was an understatement; his exhaustion so powerful that when he forced himself up, he slumped over the edge of the mattress, his rounded shoulders deflating his posture. He tilted his head to the side to stretch his neck before standing. Still dressed in the pair of faded blue jeans and the Notre Dame sweatshirt he slept in, he rubbed his face and lethargically stumbled down a path out to the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Lizzie called out to him when she heard his clumsy footsteps dragging across the carpet towards the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" He checked the clock on the wall just to be sure he hadn't imagined his earlier glance at the time.
"Starting breakfast."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"Grandma said to let you sleep because you didn't get home until this morning."
Jed grabbed the spatula and pan out of her hands. "Do you even know what you're doing?"
"I've cooked breakfast before."
"And I was right next to you the whole time." He placed his hands on her shoulders and directed her away from the stove. "Go sit down. I'll make you some eggs."
"Ellie doesn't want eggs this morning." Lizzie grabbed a bowl from the cupboard above her father's head and set it on the kitchen table.
"Where is everyone?"
"Grandma's in the shower, Grandpa's asleep and Ellie..."
"Daddy!" Ellie shouted on her way out of her bedroom. "We're not going to school again today?" She geared up for his answer, expecting to hear exactly what she had been hearing for the past several days.
Not yet aware that Abbey's memory had shattered its protective layer, Jed shook his head. "No, you're not, Princess. But I talked to your teacher yesterday and I'm going to talk to your mom today so maybe tomorrow."
"I have to go tomorrow," Liz insisted. "I have Student Council."
"Did you finish the homework Amy brought over?"
Ellie briefly stared at the bowl of cereal Lizzie had prepared for her as she climbed onto one of the white cherry wood chairs at the table. Once she was settled, she reached for the open box of Lucky Charms instead.
"Ellie, that's gross!" Liz tugged on her sister's hand, pulling out a handful of marshmallows cradled between her fingers and wiping the stickiness away with a napkin.
Ellie ignored her, her concentration now shifting to Jed. "Daddy?"
"Elizabeth?" Jed called Liz's name a bit more sternly.
"Yes, I finished," she answered, returning her father's smile. "And Amy picked it up on her way to school this morning."
"Daddy?" Ellie impatiently repeated.
"Yes, Ellie?"
"When can we see Mommy?"
"Oh, by the way, Mom called."
And with those words, his world came to a screeching halt, stopped by the panic that escalated within seconds as he wondered if something was wrong with Zoey. "When?"
"While you were sleeping."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
Lizzie shrugged. "She said to let you sleep."
"You always wake me when your mother calls, Lizzie, no matter what she tells you." He dropped the bowl of eggs he was beating and rinsed his hands in the sink.
"It's no big deal. She talked to Grandma and told me to tell you to come down to the hospital when you wake up."
"Good morning!" Mary toweled her wet hair as she emerged from the bathroom.
"Hi, Grandma," Ellie replied.
"Good morning," Jed said with extreme urgency as he glanced up on his way to the phone. "Abbey called?"
"Yes, but she said not to worry. Zoey's fine."
"You're sure?"
"Yes. But she wants you to come to the hospital as soon as you can." Mary draped her towel over the back of a chair and approached him. "Go see her. I'll take care of things here."
"Thanks." He gave her a silent look of gratitude. Since Mary and James arrived the morning after Zoey's birth, they had become surrogate parents to Ellie and Lizzie, tending to their needs to allow Jed and Abbey to spend countless hours at the hospital.
"DADDY!" Ellie's little feet slid into the back of his as she rushed up behind him when he turned the corner out of the kitchen. "I wanna see Mommy!"
"Didn't you talk to her when she called?"
"I wanna SEE her! She promised that when she went to the hospital you'd take me to see her!"
"Yeah and when can we see the new baby?" Liz asked.
"I don't know that Zoey's up for visitors just yet, Angel."
"Girls, I'm sure your dad will take you to the hospital just as soon as the doctors say it's okay." Mary sat down beside Ellie and scooped the five-year-old onto her lap.
"When will that be?"
She lovingly stroked Liz's cheek as she answered. "I don't know. Hopefully soon. But today, I say we do a little Christmas shopping for your mom and dad. What do you think?"
"She promised," Ellie repeated in a softer tone, her head falling against Mary's chest.
Jed's heart broke for the anguish he saw in Ellie. She missed Abbey terribly and no one else could make up for her absence. This was the culmination of her insecurities, months of fearing she would lose her mother's attention when the baby was born. To her, this proved that her concerns were real. It was happening, just as she imagined.
With no real timetable for Zoey's recovery and no hope for a return to normalcy until she was healthy, Jed was at a loss. He couldn't tell Ellie when Abbey would be home to twirl her strawberry blonde ringlets around her index fingers and make banana pancakes just the way she liked them. He didn't know when she could be there to share their usual after school snack as they colored an entire page in her Sesame Street coloring book while waiting for Lizzie's bus, or when Abbey would be available to give her a bath and tuck her into bed with her usual reading of Good Night Moon and a glass of warm milk.
He didn't have any answers. So instead, he watched helplessly as Ellie curled up in her grandmother's arms. It was obvious she needed her mother almost as much as Zoey did, if for nothing else than a single night of reassurance, a few hours to convince her that she hadn't been forgotten or replaced by her baby sister.
Only Abbey could help her. But first, she had to know that Ellie was hurting. His determination clearly visible in his body language, Jed headed to the hospital. He had no idea that his chosen topic conversation would be immediately overshadowed by hers.
He walked into the NICU to find Abbey sitting in a metal chair beside Zoey's bed. Her hair was mussed and her eyes were red and streaky, as if she'd been crying. "Abbey?" She looked up at him from her seat. "What's the matter? What happened?"
Abbey rose to her feet and took her husband's hand, leading him out into the nursery lobby. "I spent most of the morning talking to the police."
"Why?"
"They arrested someone."
For a second, his thoughts centered Zoey. "Did someone try to..." Then it hit him suddenly, the jolt of realization nearly knocking him off his feet. "HIM?"
"Yeah," Abbey replied with a nod. "Him, the guy who attacked me."
"Who is he?"
"Frank Crews."
"Frank Crews?" It took him a minute. He mouthed the name several times, turning away from her then back again as it finally occurred to him. "Frankie? Maggie's Frankie"
"Yeah."
"He did this? He did what he did to you?" Confusion gripped his senses, his logical mind rejecting the notion of any motive.
Abbey nodded. "It looks that way."
"I don't understand. Why?"
"He was angry with me for interfering in his relationship. I convinced Maggie to leave him and since he couldn't take out his aggression on her, I was his lucky target. He waited for me in the hospital parking lot that night..." She shook her head, unable to continue. She just couldn't bear to repeat the details once again.
"Where is he right now?" Jed's fiery temper hadn't been exposed just yet. But it would, once the initial shock wore off. They were both certain of that.
"Probably still at the police station."
"Does Maggie know?"
"Are you kidding," Abbey asked, almost mockingly as she crossed in front of him. "She knew all along. He cut himself with his own knife. He went to her to patch him up."
"She helped him get away with it?"
"That's not all she did. Frankie works at the school board's district office. And when Maggie found out that I knew about the ID badge, she cornered me in the elevator. She tried to get me to drop it."
"To DROP it?" A ridiculous notion, they both agreed.
"That's when I began to put the pieces together. I remembered the things he said to me that night, the things that Maggie had told me about him. It all fit."
"And you told her?" Part of him was thrilled that they finally had the answers they were searching for, the other part slightly frightened at the consequences.
"I didn't have to. She knew that I knew."
"Where is she?"
"Believe it or not, she went into labor during our confrontation." Abbey's voice broke into a light whisper as she looked through the glass overlooking the nursery. Her own baby, so small and fragile, was curled into a little ball on her side.
"Labor? She's having that monster's baby?"
"At full-term. She's nine months pregnant." The irony of the situation wasn't lost on either one of them.
"Great. So she gets her boyfriend off and a newborn baby, then what?"
"Whatever the D.A. wants to give her I guess."
Her tone was subtle, indifferent, as if the impact of the news had faded into a dubious detachment Jed struggled to understand. "What did you tell the police?"
"I told them what happened - again."
"Everything?"
"Yes."
He was disappointed that he hadn't been sitting beside her when she relived the night of the attack. But even worse, he was hurt that she hadn't even asked. "Why didn't you tell Lizzie to wake me? Why didn't you want me to come down here to be with you when you did this?"
Abbey turned her head to face him. "Because there's nothing you could have done."
"I could have been with you."
"I did fine. Besides, you needed your sleep."
"My sleep is never more important than something like this, Abbey." It made him angry. He couldn't help it. The way she dismissed every gesture, every attempt to close the distance between them, infuriated him. Something had changed since Zoey's birth. The passionate dynamic between them was out of sync. They both felt it, but neither addressed it.
"You've been up for days. I was just worried about you."
"Next time, let me worry about me, okay?"
"Yeah." Her reaction lacking any warmth or compassion, Abbey returned her attention to the NICU. For the past week, she had been lost in a whirlwind of emotions and gravitating at the core of her weakness was the precarious juggling act she had engaged in with Jed. Every decision she made, he seemed to question as if he suspected an ulterior motive in the most innocent of circumstances.
Jed leaned up against the wall beside her and allowed a few silent minutes to pass before he continued the discussion. "Did Maggie know before..."
"Jed, I really don't want to go back over it."
"I'm just asking."
"No, I don't think she did." She shot him a look of pure annoyance as she opened the door that led to the nursery. "Can we talk about it later? I just want to concentrate on Zoey."
Frustrated, Jed stared at her through a pair of indignant eyes and just as he predicted, the shock began to vanish and pure anger began to emerge. He loved Zoey too, but he was overcome by the strength of the feelings burning inside him. He had been praying for a conclusion to the violent act that changed their lives. He wanted a person to blame, someone to pay for hurting his wife and sending the entire family on a turbulent journey that led to their daughter's premature birth.
Now, the sinister phantom had a name. More importantly, he would soon have a face, and Jed was eager to see it. His temper was bubbling dangerously close to a boiling point that could be neither stopped nor weakened.
While Abbey's devotion rested with Zoey, Jed's rage was directed at Frank. But he minimized it in front of her in an attempt to smooth the rough patches between them. "And Ellie."
"What?"
"You said you want to concentrate on Zoey and I'm saying that we're having a problem with Ellie as well." He walked through the door and straight towards the scrub station just as Abbey relieved the prop.
The door closed on the couple with a loud click of the latch. They prepared together for a visit with their youngest daughter, but like an ominous cloud of black smoke that lingers in the air hours after a flame has been extinguished, the tension never completely disappeared.
TBC