Chapter Fourteen -
New York Hospital: Theresa Caruso's Hospital Room - Seventy One Hours Missing
The ICU unit was deserted when Angie and Danny made their way up to Theresa's room. "I don't understand why we are being so secretive about this." Danny mumbled, shaking his head. "You're a doctor."
"I'm a pediatrician, Danny. Theresa is well over the age of my usual patients. And if anyone found me in her room, I'd have to explain why I am at Theresa Caruso's bedside. I don't think I can do that without revealing who I really am." Danny nodded and Angie said, "Just watch the door for me, ok?"
Angie took a deep breath as she entered the hospital room. Theresa's beautiful features looked so pale. She glanced quickly at the monitors to check Theresa's vitals. Even though she could hear the rhythmic beeping, she still needed to reassure herself that Theresa was simply sleeping.
Angie pulled up a chair beside Theresa's bed and squeezed her hand hoping for a sign, but it was lifeless. Angie wanted to kill the bastards that did this. If she could, she would strangle them with her bare hands. "Theresa, I don't know if you can hear me but it's Angie. I'm right here. The kids are fine. They're with Mikey and you know they can stay with me until you are up and around again." Please God, let her be up and around again, Angie prayed silently.
Angie realized suddenly that it had been a long time since she last talked to God. Rose had always made sure that she and Eddie were in church every Sunday like good little Catholics. But Angie was sure that God had turned His back on her as a child and so she stopped going to church. The things she thought she knew, turned out to be things she never knew in the first place.
Fear, not God, seemed to be the only answer in Angie's life most of the time.But then again, fear was the answer to a lot of life's greatest mysteries. Fear of change, fear of death, fear of finding out who you really are. Fear became her best friend because it was constant, comforting. And in the end, Angie had learned that her fears were well-founded, but not productive. Being afraid of something wasn't going to stop it from happening. And somehow she didn't find that thought very comforting.
Pulling her thoughts together, Angie reverted to doctor mode. She pulled Theresa's chart out of the rack at the end of her bed. "The doctors are really pleased with your progress. For someone who took a bullet to the stomach, you are doing remarkably well." Angie closed the chart and looked back at her sister-in-law. "Now you just need to wake up. You'll be groggy, confused, and in a lot of pain, but we've got good drugs for that." She slipped her hand through Theresa's again and whispered, "Now just wake up. We can't let them win this one."
Angie took a quick look back at the door and saw Danny through the window, keeping guard for her, and smiled. Looking back at Theresa, she said, "Can you believe that in the middle of all of this, I've met a guy. A Federal Agent. Can you believe it?" Angie laughed and smoothed Theresa's dark hair off her forehead. She was quiet for a moment before she hung her head and whispered into the darkness, "You've got to wake up, T. I'm screwing everything up. Do you know where I was today? At F.B.I headquarters confessing my scared, little ass off." Angie laughed a bitter laugh. "I confessed to the Feds and the other night I almost slept with one. What the hell is going on here?"
Angie stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the city that she loved so dearly. New York City was so beautiful at this time of day...the evening sky was an amazing contrast to the sparkling lights of the city that were beginning to light up the night. Thinking of Danny and his co-workers, she whispered, "I know they mean well, but I don't think they can help us. We need to beat Joey and Uncle Tony at their own sick game." She looked back at Theresa's lifeless form, a new determination in her eyes, and said, "There's only one person who can help us now."