Chapter 17

A few days later, the phone rang at the Davis residence. Jennifer, who was still staying there, knew Stephanie and Roger were putting Glory down for a nap, so she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Jennifer?"

Jennifer was surprised at the familiar voice. "Mark?" she asked. "Why are you calling?"

"Jennifer, please hear me out," Mark said. "I know I have been a total jerk lately, and I'm sorry. I really am. Can I make it up to you?"

"How?"

"A date, doing whatever you want, just us?"

Jennifer considered that for a moment. Mark seemed like he really did want to make it up to her. And this was all he could give her. "OK," Jennifer said, "when?"

"Is Friday OK with you?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," Jennifer said. "See you then."

"OK, great. Bye, Jen," Mark said, and then he hung up.

"Who was that on the phone?" Stephanie asked, coming into the kitchen with Roger.

Jennifer jumped. "Mark," Jennifer said, turning around to face her. Stephanie looked surprised. "He wants to have dinner with me and stuff on Friday, so we can talk; a date, doing whatever I want."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Stephanie asked, noticing Jennifer's unease.

"I guess," Jennifer said. "He really wants to talk."

Stephanie nodded and squeezed Jennifer's hand encouragingly. "It'll work out," she said. "Just have faith in him."

Jennifer looked up. "I always have," she said, "until recently, anyway. I really hope it does, too, Steph."

They smiled at each other and Jennifer leaned her head against Stephanie's shoulder when they hugged.

That evening, Mark went to Stephanie and Roger's to pick up Jennifer. He heaved a deep breath to relax himself before knocking. Stephanie answered the door.

"Hey, Mark," she said, smiling at him. "Come in and sit down."

"OK," Mark said, smiling down at her and he walked in. He followed Stephanie to the living room and sat in a chair. "Where's Roger?"

"Upstairs sleeping," Stephanie said. "Glory was up most of the night, just lying there, giggling like a maniac at us. Roger walked her around a lot, trying to get her to sleep, and even drove her around town for a couple hours. She just wouldn't sleep. So Aunt Maureen and Joanne took her to spend time with her today, and he's taking advantage of that." Stephanie grinned. "Are you here to pick up Jennifer?" she asked him. "She's off running a quick errand."

"Yeah, I am," Mark said, looking at her.

"Well, we can just hang out until she gets back," Stephanie said.

"Sure, that would be nice," Mark said, smiling down at her. "It's been ages since we just hung out."

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah," she said. Roger came down a few minutes after Mark arrived. "Oh, hey, Baby," Stephanie said, smiling up at him. "Did we wake you?"

Roger's hair was tousled and he was in his boxers. "No," he said, "I woke up by myself. You should know by now that, if you guys aren't by the stairs, we can't hear anything upstairs."

"And we can't hear anything anywhere else," Mark teased. He ducked as Roger aimed a swipe at him. "I'm kidding, Roger."

About ten minutes later, Mark began to grow restless. "How long did Jen say she'd be gone?" he asked Stephanie, checking his watch. "It's 5:45. Our dinner reservations are at six."

"She said it would only take ten minutes, and that she'd meet you back here," Stephanie said, worried by this. "She's never late, if she can help it."

They all looked up as the phone rang. Stephanie got up from the floor and went to pick it up. "Hello? Yes, this is her…" A moment later, Stephanie suddenly looked horrified. "Really? OK, thank you, Lieutenant. We'll be there right away… Bye."

Mark and Roger both looked at Stephanie, worried by the sound of her voice, as she hung up. "That was Lieutenant Josh Saunders, NYPD… He said… he said…" Her voice choked off.

"What did he say, Steph?" Mark asked, looking at up, worried. "Is it Jen? Did something happen?"

"He's at the scene of a car accident. He said… he said that… that a woman in an SUV ran a stop sign and hit Jennifer and her Porsche. They found Jen's cell phone and called the last number she'd called… which was here. They're three blocks away."

Mark looked horrified. "Oh my God," he said, "we have to go there! Did he say if Jennifer's OK?"

Stephanie shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. As she put her face in her hands, Roger wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Come on," he said, taking control of the situation. "Mark, Jennifer needs you. We're going to the scene. Now. Go."

Mark gulped nervously and nodded at Roger. Then he turned and ran out of the manor before either Roger or Stephanie could stop him. They followed close behind.

By the time they got to the scene, police and ambulances had already shown up. Jennifer's Porsche was wrapped around a tree and completely totaled. The body of the car was so smashed the door could not be discerned. The door was pried off with the Jaws of Life, and Mark got a glimpse of long, brown hair, matted with blood. There was a smaller car about twenty feet away from her Porsche, resting upside-down on the pavement. Stephanie saw coroners taking away a body bag on a stretcher; her stomach lurched and she almost retched. The person who had hit Jennifer had obviously died. Paramedics, police officers, and firemen surrounded the scene and were holding people back.

"Mark, wait," Stephanie said, grabbing him before he could move forward into the crowd, but he wrenched out of her grip and ran over to the crowd.

"My wife's in that car!" Mark yelled, anguished, at the police, who were holding him back. "Jennifer Cohen. Please let me see her!"

"Please stay back, sir," a female police officer said to him. "The paramedics need to attend to her."

Stephanie went forward to him and she and Mark both started to cry into each other's arms, as they saw Jennifer's mangled body being pulled out of the car. There was so much blood they could barely tell it was her. Her eyes were closed; she was obviously unconscious. The EMT's lifted her onto a stretcher and whisked her away to the hospital.

"Mark," Roger said, putting his hands on Mark's shoulders and gently pulling him away. Mark resisted.

"No, Roger!" he yelled. "I have to stay with Jen!"

"Mark, come on," Roger said, and eventually, Mark collapsed into him, defeated and defenseless. "Easy, easy… Come on, we've got to meet them at the hospital, OK?" Roger began to gently pull him away again. "Come on, it'll be OK. Let's go." Roger looked at Stephanie, who was standing stock-still. Her face was very pale. "Baby, are you gonna be OK?" he asked.

Stephanie nodded numbly. "I don't know, Roger," she said quietly. "Is Jen gonna make it? What are we gonna do if she doesn't?"

"We won't know that until we get to the hospital," Roger said. "Come on. I'll drive."

Stephanie nodded and followed him away.

Not wasting any time, they immediately drove to the hospital. Mark raced up to the front desk and demanded to see Jennifer. "Jennifer Cohen," he panted, "please, let me see Jennifer Cohen. She was just brought in— accident victim."

"If she was just brought in, then you can't see her yet," the secretary said. "A nurse will come out and get you when you can see her. Are you family?"

"I'm her damn husband and these two are her best friend and brother-in-law, so yeah, I'm family," Mark said, slamming his fist down on the desk.

"Mark," Stephanie said, coming over to him and taking his hand in hers, "come on, you need to sit down. I'm sorry," she added to the secretary, who nodded understandingly. "Sit down, Mark."

Mark did as he was told and put his face in his hands. "Stephanie, what if she doesn't make it?" he asked her again. "The last thing I said to her was… was that I wanted to start over… if she doesn't make it, we'll never be able to… never be able to start a family again… I never got to say goodbye…"

"Mark, stop it," Stephanie said, as firmly as she could through her own tears. "Jennifer is not gonna die. You're gonna see her again. You're gonna have a family. We just have to wait." Roger wrapped his arms around her and she took Mark's hands in hers. "It'll be OK," she said. "Just have faith, OK?"

Mark swallowed and nodded as he broke down. "I'll try, Stephanie," he sobbed. "I'll sure try."

I'll update ASAP! Chaper 18 is in the works right now, so you won't have to wait for long to see if Jennifer is gonna be OK or not. Do I just like torturing Mark like that? I don't know. I love my albino pumpkin head mo fo too much to torture him for long. Keep reading and reviewing!

Until next time, lots of love,

Renthead07