Eddie was nervous. She was sitting at the eye doctors with Josie. When the doctor finally walked in it wasn't good news.
"So Mrs. Reagan I would like Josie to have an MRI so I can get a better look at her eye."
Eddie sighed. "Is it really necessary?"
"I believe that it is."
Eddie and Jamie took her advice. What they didn't count on was the fact Josie would have to be sedated. They had to stop her from eating breakfast which was hard enough. But then when they got to the hospital she had to get an iv put in her arm. She was less then thrilled. When the results came in it made Eddie and Jamie's hearts sink. Thankfully Dr. McClain was able to explain it to them since he was head of Pediatrics.
"So I reviewed Josie's MRI with our head ophthalmologist and we are both comfortable with the diagnosis. Josie has a condition known as Nystagmus. It's caused by a number of things. In Josie's case I believe that it was caused by a lack of skin pigment."
Eddie squeezed Josie who was contently playing on Eddie's phone. "Are you sure?"
"She has some of the common symptoms. Her limited eye movement, tilting her head to see and the problems with her balance. You mentioned that she's having a lot of trouble trying to walk?"
Jamie nodded. "Addie and Brooke have both started trying to walk but Josie doesn't even stand yet."
"That's pretty common. So I have spoken with a few different doctors and we all agree that the best option for Josie would be eye muscle surgery."
Eddie was in shock. "You want to operate on her eye?"
"What we will do is make a small incision near the membrane that covers the white of the eye, we will then stretch her muscles to realign her eye. It's an outpatient procedure so she can go home the same day that we operate."
Jamie held back his emotions. He grabbed Eddie's hand and they looked at eachother before he spoke.
"It is what's best for Josie?"
"It is."
"Then we'll do it."
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As if things could not get worse a week after Josie's diagnosis they received a phone call at 2 am. Eddie grabbed her phone and answered.
"Hello?"
"Eddie it's Frank. I am sorry to wake you but something has happened."
Eddie sat up. She could hear his voice shaky. "What happened?"
Jamie sat up and Frank spoke.
"Linda died."
Eddie was shocked. "What?"
"She was transporting a patient and the helicopter exploded."
"Oh my God. Do the boys know?"
"Erin and Pop are with them. I'm with Danny. I wanted to let you both know before you saw it on the news."
"I understand. Frank is there anything we can do?"
"Just say a prayer."
"Will do."
She hung up and Jamie knew immediately that something was wrong.
"What?"
She spoke quietly. "Jamie...Linda is dead."
He looked at her stunned. "What?"
"She was in a helicopter when it exploded. I guess she was transporting a patient."
Jamie put his head in his hands and spoke. "Where's Danny and the boys?"
"Danny's with your dad at the hospital. The boys are with your Grandpa and Erin."
Jamie jumped out of bed and started pulling on clothes. "Wake up the girls."
She nodded. She slipped on random clothes before going into the nursery. She grabbed the babies and she and Jamie loaded them into the car in their pajamas. He drove to Frank and Henry's. They walked inside and felt the grim mood. Henry looked at them and sighed.
"You didn't have to come tonight."
Jamie shook his head. "Yes we did."
They laid the girls down on the floor in the study before joining Erin, Nicky and the boys in the den. Sean was crying but Jack was trying to hold it together. Jamie hugged them and spoke to Jack.
"It's okay to cry."
Jack sniffled. "Did you cry when Grandma died?"
"Yeah and when Uncle Jo died."
Jack nodded and let a few tears fall.
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Danny and Frank didn't come home until the next morning. The boys were asleep in the den. Danny looked dazed and exhausted. He sat down in the kitchen and stared at the table. Josie and Addie woke up and crawled into the kitchen. Eddie smiled a little. They had no idea what had happened or that their aunt was gone. Josie crawled to Danny and smiled.
"Unc."
He looked down and cracked a small smile. He lifted her onto his lap and sighed. Josie grabbed a muffin that was on the table and stuffed it into her mouth. Frank took it from her and broke it up into smaller pieces. She smiled at him happily. Nicky put Addie in a high chair and handed her part of the muffin. Addie smiled and offered Henry a piece. He kissed her forehead.
"Thank you Addie."
Eddie walked into the den and found Brooklyn awake and playing with Jack's cellphone. Eddie rolled her eyes and grabbed her.
"Come here trouble maker."
She set Brooklyn in her high chair and gave her some muffin. As the girls ate Eddie watched Danny. He looked so broken and confused. Frank had gotten on the phone and was talking in the other room. Henry had grabbed a notepad and was making a list. He spoke to Danny.
"I know this is a bad time to ask but we need to start making some arrangements. They can't keep her at the hospital long..."
Eddie sat down with them and saw that Danny didn't want to talk. She looked at Henry.
"How about he just picks a funeral home and I will call and make sure she is taken care of?"
Danny nodded and spoke hoarsely. "Thank you Eddie."
She nodded. She stepped out of the room and called the funeral home Henry told her to call. They were more then willing to help them through every step. When the boys woke up no one quite knew what to say. Danny spent the day in his daze and the boys spent most of the day locked in their bedroom. Eddie took the girls home before dinner time. She picked up thai food on the way and fed them quickly. She then gave them their bath and put them to bed. She showered herself then was about to go downstairs to eat when a little voice started talking.
"Momma! Momma! Dada!"
Eddie opened the nursery door and saw Addie wide awake in her crib. Eddie grabbed her before she could wake the other two and carried her down stairs. All Addie seemed to want was to be cuddled. Eddie obliged. She ate her dinner and settled with Addie and Titan on the couch. She flipped on some soap opera for some noise. She didn't realize that both she and Addie had fallen asleep until Jamie came home and found them. He smiled and gently poked Eddie awake. She sat up and looked around.
"What time is it?"
"A little after 11pm. What's Addie doing down here?"
"She wanted cuddles."
He nodded and lifted the still sleeping baby into his arms. He patted her back and carried her upstairs. He laid her in her crib and covered her with her blankie before kissing her forehead and exiting the room quietly. He walked into he and Eddie's room and found her climbing into bed. She looked at him.
"How's Danny?"
He shrugged. "As well as can be expected. He went to bed around 9. I stayed up with the boys so they would eat something."
She nodded. As soon as he got into bed Eddie looked at him serious.
"You need to let your feelings out."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if you do not deal with your feelings then you can't help Danny or the boys."
He sighed. "What do you want me to say? I lost my mom, then my brother, and now Linda."
She leaned over and kissed him. "We will get through this. Danny will get through this. Linda would want us to."
"I know but...she was like my second sister. More then that. She was like my second mother."
She kissed him deeply and flipped on top of him.
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In the midst of helping Danny Eddie got a phone call that really didn't help her anxiety levels. They were at Frank's helping arrange the service when her phone rang. She was expecting a call from the florist but instead it was the hospital. She cocked her brow and answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello is this Edit Reagan?"
"Yes it is."
"Mrs. Reagan I am Dr. Turner. I'm the head Ophthalmologist here. I was calling to see about scheduling Josie for her eye muscle surgery?"
Eddie paused. Her voice shook when she spoke which caused everyone to look at her concerned.
"We just found out that she needed it a couple weeks ago. We figured that we had some time before she needed to have it done?"
"Well I have some time in my schedule to get it done before Christmas. So when Dr. McClain told me that you wanted the surgery I figured that now is as good a time as any. Besides the faster we do it the better off. This way she won't need another MRI."
Eddie put her elbow on the table and leaned against her hand. She looked at Jamie and spoke to Dr. Turner.
"Can you hold for a second so I can talk to my husband?"
"Of course."
Eddie set her phone down and looked at Jamie. "They want to schedule Josie's surgery for next week."
Jamie was stunned. "Next week?"
"He has an opening and this way she won't need another MRI."
Jamie sighed. Henry looked at them confused. "What surgery?"
Jamie explained. "Josie needs eye muscle surgery." He turned to Eddie. "Okay."
She grabbed her phone again. "Dr. Turner?"
"Yes?"
"We'll go ahead and schedule it."
"Okay how about December 19th at 8:30am?"
Eddie grabbed Jamie's phone and typed it into his calendar. "That will be fine. Thank you."
She sighed and set their phones down. Jamie sat down next to her and rubbed her back soothingly. Danny looked at them.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Jamie shrugged. "We thought it would take months to get the surgery and then everything this week...it's not on our top list of problems."
Erin shook her head. "Our baby niece is having surgery on her eye. That is a big deal."
Frank looked concerned. "What is this surgery for?"
Jamie jumped into explaining. "She was diagnosed with nystagmus which basically means she can't control her left eyes movement. It is already starting to affect her balance and it will just put more of a strain on her vision if she doesn't have it corrected. She risks loosing vision in that eye entirely. So they need to stretch the muscles in her eye to realign it."
Danny whistled under his breath. "That's a lot for a baby to take on. Is it really necessary?"
Eddie nodded. "Jamie and I weighed our options. If she doesn't have it she could loose sight in the eye or in both because she'll be relying on her right eye more."
Just then Josie came crawling into the room with Brooklyn at her heels. Eddie picked her up and cuddled her close. She had no idea what was coming.
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