The Anniversary to Remember Chapter Six

Author's note- I'm sorry about the delay in publishing this chapter, but Christmas is a busy season!

Maura maneuvered the Mercedes SUV through the side streets of Boston, while Jane spoke with her brother Frankie on her mobile phone. "Yeah we're almost there, about another twenty minutes. Okay, we'll look for you in the lobby." Jane hung up, and looked over at Maura. The look of worry on Jane's face was palpable. "Ma is in the ICU, and they're taking her for another CT scan." Maura slid her hand over to hold Jane's "The CT scan in and of itself is routine after a stroke, and I am not surprised that they have her in an ICU. Don't get me wrong the consequences of a stroke can be severe, but it's the right type of stroke for an early intervention to be effective, and they got her to the hospital in time so I'm optimistic." They drove for several more minutes until they saw the signs for the hospital that directed them to the visitors parking deck. Jane was out of the car and heading to the elevator even before Maura had shut off the engine. Maura quickly caught up to Jane and they both took the elevator to the lobby where Frankie was waiting for them.

Jane hugged her brother. "Any more news?"

Frankie hugged her back " No, nothing yet. Hi Maura." Frankie walked over and hugged his sister in law. Nodding toward Jane he said, "has she been okay?"

Maura nodded "Where's Alice?"

Frankie assured her "Cailin has Alice with her, they went back to your house a few hours ago. She said you can call her."

Maura looked relieved "Thanks Frankie, I'll give her a call when we get upstairs." They took the elevator to the ICU and walked into the waiting room. Nina immediately ran over and gave Jane a hug, and Tommy came over and greeted Maura. Jane noticed that Vince was there and sitting with Canon Wells and his wife. Ron came over and greeted Jane and Maura as well saying that he was waiting for the neurologist to come and speak with him.

Jane smiled at Canon Wells as she sat down. "I'm glad you're here Mother, I was just telling Vince about the first time I met Angela." Jane looked confused "you mean the first time she worshipped at Saint Andrew's?"

The old canon let out a laugh "No, no, I was going to tell him about the FIRST TIME. See Vince we are blessed to be in the presence of an Episcopal Divinity School legend, the coach of the only EDS team to win the Common Cup at Luther Bowl!"

Jane looked embarrassed at the mention of the game, " Ugh, I haven't thought about that game in years, but that's right she was part of the pep squad."

The Canon laughed " Our team is called the Paladins and our mascot is St. George, so she came dressed as a dragon."

Vince laughed at the thought at Angela in a dragon costume. "So who were you playing?"

Jane shook her head as she realized she had to tell the story now "Luther Bowl is a flag football tournament that has been hosted by Gettysburg Seminary for over fifty years. It used to be only Lutheran seminaries that participated, but with the full communion agreement between the Lutherans and the Episcopal Church, they invited the Episcopal seminaries to join the tournament."

Vince looked at Jane "So, flag football, what's the catch?"

Jane smiled "Well, by the second play it turns into full tackle. It is the most violent football game I have ever seen!"

Maura walked over by Jane, sliding her phone back in her purse, "Canon Wells, I want to thank you and Mrs Wells for taking care of Alice until Cailin could get here. I just spoke with her, and she told me about everything you did, thank you!"

Canon Wells quickly replied "Oh it was our pleasure! She's a delight an absolute delight to care for! Now Vince, you're doubly blessed, being in the presence of Dizzy Isles who scored the winning touch down!"

Maura hadn't heard that nickname in five years not since the game. "I ran the wrong way in practice, so Jack nicknamed me Dizzy, and it stuck."

Canon Wells was enjoying the flood of memories, reliving the great day. "Dr. Jack Thorne! He was your defensive coordinator?"

Jane nodded "yes, in fact it was Jack's idea to field a team for the tournament. He was a retired Navy chaplain and was the seminary's new professor of pastoral care and counseling. He had played in the game when he was a seminarian,and wanted to restart the tradition at EDS."

Canon Wells turned to Vince "You would have liked Jack, he was a great professor, and he put together a great defensive line!"

Maura remained silent as the story turned to Jack, and she tried desperately to maintain a pleasant smile on her face to hide the feelings of awkwardness that were selling up within her.

Jane smiled "Yeah, he fielded a good defense, but our offense came together, and did it when it counted. So Vince, I'm sure the good Canon will not be happy until I retell the story of EDS grid iron glory. So we beat Virginia Theological Seminary in our opening game, the Fighting Friars , then we took on Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, their team, the Philistines, was tough but we pulled through to play the General Theological Seminary Nephilium for a shot at the championship title."

Vince looked at Maura "and Jane talked you into this?"

Maura smiled " No I volunteered."

Jane interjected "I thought Jack talked you into playing?"

Maura looked over at Jane "yes, he suggested it when I spoke to him about my concerns, about whether it was safe for you to be involved? He said I needed to stop trying to turn you into veal and let you live again. Then he invited me to come to practice so I could watch you become you again. I took it the extra step."

Jane continued "So the championship game was against the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the Heretics."

Canon Wells was excited that Jane was getting to the heart of the matter "They were ferocious! And were some of the most dirtiest, cutthroat, players I have ever seen at Luther Bowl."

Jane smiled "remember when we played the fire department team in the BPD vs BFD championship game? Well this was worse!"

Vince was amazed "that was dirty game! We had people end up in the hospital."

Maura interjected "Three, we had three end up in the hospital."

Jane continued "we scored first, but they came right back and knocked one of our wide receivers! After that they ran up a seventeen point lead by the half."

"Wow!" Vince was amazed. "They just hammered the kid?"

"Yeah, our team was pretty demoralized at that point, but I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. We gathered by the sidelines, and before we even went over any plays or the strategy for the second half I congratulated them on their three wins that brought them here to this game. I told them a game like this is a once in a lifetime experience and you need to play this coming half that way, it's once in a lifetime, no regrets. Leave it all on the field, win, loose or draw, you should have no regrets because you gave everything you got."

Canon Wells was excited and interrupted "Mother you're not doing it justice! Vince she was inspiring like Caesar before the battle of Alesia. It was her inspiration that turned the tide."

Jane continued "I told Jack if we're going to have a chance at this he needed to shut their offense down, it was time for some good old-fashioned smash mouth football. Hit em hard and hit em often!"

Canon Wells jumped in "that's the spirit!"

Jane smiled and went on "So things went according to plan we marched the ball down the field on our first possession and scored. Jack's defense held and we were in possession again but we weren't making any head way and so on fourth down I did something risky, I called for an on sides kick."

Canon Wells couldn't hide his enthusiasm "Vince it was brilliant, no one would expect an on sides kick this early, they were so confused, and then when ole Dizzy here recovered the ball!" Jane smiled but Maura looked embarrassed, and Jane wondered if it was all the attention or whether it was something else, like Jack.

Jane continued "Well thanks to Maura, or should I say Dizzy, we had excellent field position, and quickly scored making it a three point game. Now we just had to get the ball back with some time left on the clock, and well our defense delivered, they recovered a fumble and were able to run it down to the Heretics forty."

Canon Wells added "When our Paladins offense ran back onto the field, we all knew this was going to decide the game, it was electrifying, the crowd was going wild!"

Maura smiled "it was thrilling, and the noise was deafening. Chicago was playing even more aggressive than they had been, but they left a man open and our quarterback connected and that put us inside their ten."

Canon Wells stood up "so Vince we're at the seven, Mother calls for the run, bam! Maybe a yard on the play. Second play the quarterback calls audible and let's off with a shovel pass to one of the backs and we're at the two! The crowd is on their feet and our pep squad is firing them up as they're waving flags and ringing cow bells!"

Jane looked over at the Canon "I always thought you were a soccer fan?"

The canon proudly replied "well, Mother you'll be happy to know that I played rugby at Cambridge!"

Jane continued "it was third down, I had one shot at this, because fourth down I'd have to bring out my kicker and go for the field goal and then we're in overtime. So I called for heavy jumbo!"

Vince smiled "everyone blocking except the halfback who runs in behind the blockers! And let me guess Maura was a halfback."

Canon Wells interjected "right before the play Jack ran over to the sidelines and called out last play! Get loud!" So I grabbed our Mascot and Mrs Rizzoli, our green Dragon and I went in front of the stands saying [It's time for the Church of England fight song!] and began with the first few words of Jerusalem, And did those feet in Ancient times...and the whole stand erupted with ...walk upon England's Pastures green?"

Maura smiled "it was, surreal all I could hear are the words to Jerusalem as I ran forward and slammed into this Chicago player stiff arming her out of the way, then someone came for my legs but I jumped over him and threw myself sideways through a gap that had opened up. Next thing you know I was at the bottom of a pile of Chicago players, but I was in the endzone and I wasn't letting go of the ball."

Canon Wells added " see Vince what did I tell you EDS legends, both of them!"

Jane stood up "Well this has been fun but I better see if there's anymore news about Ma."

Canon Wells nodded "Oh Mother, whatever happened to Jack?"

Jane stopped and turned "I am not sure, why don't you ask Maura? I think he was more interested in keeping a correspondence going with her than me."

Maura winced inside at the remark and prayed no one thought to deeply about Jane's remarks.

Maura followed Jane down the corridor "Jane can we talk for a moment?"

Jane stopped and turned to face Maura "I'd rather not. We've done a lot of remembering this weekend, but there are some memories that are best forgotten, and I think Jack Thorne is a memory that is best left in the past."

Maura's jaw dropped at the frankness of Jane's words "Jane, let me explain, I..."

Jane interrupted "Maura, I know about you and Jack. I may be crippled but I was a pretty good detective once, and I confronted Jack about it just before he left to return to the Navy, he said he was to blame. So don't insult me by pretending nothing happened."

Maura just stood there in silence, as a cold shiver went down her spine, like someone just walked on her grave.