Chapter 9
All three girls looked at him, waiting expectantly for the next words, but not really wanting to hear them.
Jed turned to Liz and took her hands.
"Honey. They found Annie. She's alive. Apparently she was able to scramble under a table that held up when the debris hit. She's downstairs in the emergency room right now. She was cut by flying glass and was unconscious when they found her, but she's awake and talking now."
Liz's face lit up with this news, then realized he had not included Gus in that information.
Hesitantly, Liz asked about Gus.
Looking directly into her eyes Jed gave her the devastating news. "Gus was found behind where Doug was located. He was apparently crushed when all that debris fell. He didn't make it."
Jed knew the anguish that escaped from Liz's throat. He had known for the past thirty minutes and was experiencing the same.
All of the girls began sobbing. As they cried, he gathered them up in his arms and held them as tightly as he could. He knew that there were no words to say that would make it better.
Liz pulled back first.
"Do you want me to go see Annie?"
"No." Liz replied. She tried to wipe her face dry. "I need to be with my child with right now. Dad, if you hear anything about Doug, please come and get me."
The reference to 'my child' broke his heart. He had loved Gus as much as anyone, and he knew that Abbey would not take this news very well. Gus was at an age when everything was a discovery to him and Jed had been so glad to have this week to share in his grandson's awe. Now it really meant the world to him. He would always treasure those memories. Only a few that he had.
Now to tell Abbey. That was going to be the hardest.