Chapter 10
As the doctor left, Jed let his daughters lead him back to a nearby chair where he flopped down and placed his head in his hands. Ellie sat down on one side of him and Zoey took the other chair.
"Dad, Mom will be fine. I know it and so do you." Zoey tried to raise her father's spirits.
After a few moments of silence, Jed raised his head. To Ellie he softly said. "You need to call you sister and get her back over here. She'll want to be here." Turning his head to Zoey, he replied to her previous statement. "I can only hope so. I'm going to the chapel. You want to come?"
As the tears rolled down her check, she nodded. "Yeah."
Both of them stood up and turned back to Ellie. "Come after you call Liz."
"Okay."
Ellie watched as her dad and sister slowly walked away in search of the chapel. Tears that had been threatening to fall were finally released. She knew if her mother died, then her father could not live without her. Even though she doubted it would be a physical death, the emotional loss would be enough to kill whatever remaining physical life he had left. And she couldn't face the loss of both of them.
Jed and Zoey followed one of his agents until they reached the chapel door. After checking the area out, the agent opened the door for his protectee and youngest daughter. Entering, both the silence and the reverent atmosphere began to calm their nerves. Jed led Zoey down to the front bench where he slid in and waited for her to follow.
"I'll pray Dad."
"Yeah. Pray for your mother. She needs all the help she can get."
Jed knelt on the bench, bowed his head, and clasped his hands.
"Sir, you're needed." Jed jerked up his head to see Leo standing over him. "What? By whom? Is it about Abbey?"
Leo shook his head. "No. No news about Abbey. But there's a situation and you're needed."
Jed looked at his watch and saw that over an hour had passed since he had knelt. Looking over to his right, he noted that Zoey was not there.
"How long?"
"Sir?"
"How long have I been in here?"
"Over an hour. Come on. We've set up a secure line in one of the conference rooms down the hall."
Jed stood, not believing he could have been in the chapel over an hour. But a quick glance at his watch told him that more than that had passed.
"Okay. Let's go. And Leo?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Get me some information about Abbey. Please."
"Yes, sir. But you need to take this call."