Chapter 8

"Ron, did you know about this?"

"About what, sir?"

"Ron, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Yes, sir. I did know. I had to make arrangements for Mrs. Bartlet's security at the hospital."

"Well, why the HELL didn't you tell me? I am her husband, in case you didn't know that."

Ron knew that Jed's yelling was not directed at him, but was coming from the worry about his wife. He paused, trying to answer the President without fanning his anger. "Sir, Mrs. Bartlet asked me not to tell you. She said that the surgery was minor and you didn't need to know."

Jed sat back against the seat cushion. "She asked you not to tell me?" He was hurt that Abbey had not trusted him with this information.

"Yes, sir."

Jed paused, knowing that in reality Ron was not responsible for him not having the information. He knew from firsthand experience that Abbey could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

"Okay, Ron. Abbey manipulated you. What has happened is between my wife and me. Sorry about the yelling."

"Yes, sir."

Jed watched as the motorcade made its way to the airport.

"Can't you drive faster, Ron?"

"No, sir. We are already running with lights and sirens. We'll get you to the plane as soon as possible."

Abbey could die. That thought was unthinkable. It was unbelievable. But that's what Leo had said.

'What had gone wrong?' Jed couldn't believe that Abbey would have any surgery without him knowing about it. It just didn't make any sense.

Finally the motorcade pulled up to Air Force One on the tarmac. Jed leaped out of the limousine without waiting for the agents to open the door. Hair and jacket flying, he took the stairs two at a time and hurried into the Presidential office.

Picking up the phone, he asked to be connected to Dr. Griffith at GW. Waiting to be connected, he rubbed his hand through his hair. A nervous habit when he was stressed. And this certainly was a time of stress.

He finally had Millie on the phone.

"Hello Mr. President."

"What the hell is going on? I got a call from Leo about Abbey. He said something about her having surgery and possibly dying."

Softly, Millie responded. "It's true Jed"

Right away, Jed knew this was serious. Millie was responding as a life long friend, not as the Surgeon General of the United States.

"Millie, what's going on? Abbey never told me she was having surgery today. She's not been feeling well lately but never mentioned this possibility."

"Yes, Jed. I tried to get her to tell you about her problems many times over the past two weeks but she kept saying you had more serious things on your mind and she didn't want to bother you with her problems. At least not until she knew more about what was going on."

"That's not an answer. First, how is she right now?"

"She lost a great deal of blood and is in ICU, unconscious and on the ventilator." Millie was trying not to tell the President everything until he could get back to Washington.

Jed fought back the tears. "You have to tell me what kind of surgery she had. What kind of problem?"

"It was female surgery."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means she has been having a lot of bleeding lately and she decided to undergo this procedure, which normally is routine, to get more information. In normal circumstances, she would have been in and out in a matter of hours and by the time you got home on Sunday, she would have more information to tell you what was going on. But it wasn't routine."

"Millie, you have to tell me what happened." Jed was exasperated about Millie's evasive answers.

There was a brief silence on the other end.

"Jed, I have to go. The doctor wants to talk with me. Just get here as soon as you can. Abbey needs you. She needs you real bad."

The silence on the other end told Jed Millie had hung up. Placing the phone back in the cradle, he allowed tears to fall from his eyes. "I'm coming, Abbey. I'm on my way. Just hang on."

Hope was all he had. He prayed the plane would fly faster than it had ever flown. With God's help, maybe he would make it in time.