Chapter 32
"Well that explains the vomiting."
Echo sat on the counter of the bathroom sink and stared at the test in her hand. It clearly showed one pink plus sign and she sighed.
"How could this have happened?" Echo wondered and then chastised herself.
"You know exactly how this happened," Echo said out loud.
"Echo?" Daniel's voice called from outside of the closed bathroom door, "Are you alright?"
Echo quickly gathered the box and instructions that were on the counter in front of her. She hid them behind her back with the test as Daniel opened the bathroom door.
Echo smiled at Daniel as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom with a worried look on his face.
"I'm fine," Echo lied.
Daniel loved Echo very much and he was extremely worried about her on this tour. She had become sick, no make that drunk, Daniel told himself after they had gotten engaged. After a really bad hangover on Sunday, for both of them, they had traveled south on Monday for their next tour stop.
Echo had driven the rental car until on the seventh day she had become sick again. Daniel knew that she hadn't touched another virgin Pina Colada after that night in Washington D.C. She had tried, but after a sip of the one she had in South Carolina one night she had stuck to soft drinks.
"It doesn't taste right," Echo said handing the drink back to Daniel.
"Besides," she replied, "I don't want a repeat of earlier."
"Aye," Daniel had replied as he took the drink from her and placed it onto the bar's counter.
That had also been the last night that Echo had danced with him too.
Daniel studied Echo in front of him. She was pale and he didn't know if it was from the bathroom's light fixtures, as she sat on the counter in front of him, or her having the flu.
"Do you want me to drive again today?" Daniel asked.
Daniel had asked this question since the eighth day of their tour. Echo had woken up sick to her stomach. They had to be in Texas by the afternoon so that the couple could play with the Houston Symphony Orchestra the next night. Echo had agreed to let Daniel drive the rental car as she spent the better part of the day with the seat reclined back as far as it would go. She tried not to vomit as the car's momentum finally caught up to her.
"Daniel!" she had cried out to him when she could no longer take the pain.
Daniel only had to glance over to see her pale face to know what was wrong. Quickly pulling over he barely had time to put the rental car in park before Echo had her body hanging out the opened passenger side door.
Daniel had held her long hair out of her face as she lost her breakfast onto the side of the road somewhere in Louisiana. After that she had felt better even though he thought she still didn't look right. But that had only been the start of her getting sick. There was no rhyme or reason to it either.
Sometimes it was first thing in the morning, when all Echo could keep down was a plain bagel and 7-Up. Other times it was in the afternoon at lunch time as Echo would pick at her Chicken Caesar Salad only to excuse herself to the ladies room. Daniel knew what she was doing. He had heard it only too often at night back at their hotel room. At night she had been worse, at least he thought so. That was when he had stopped sleeping in the adjoining hotel room.
"Yes," Echo said pulling him out of his thoughts, "if you don't mind driving I'd appreciate it."
"Sure," Daniel replied as he turned to leave the bathroom.
Echo watched Daniel as he left the bathroom and went to close the door. Stopping before the door was fully closed he popped his head back inside.
"Do you want me to get you anything before we leave?" he asked.
Echo smiled at him. She knew that he probably thought she was just being a "big baby" as Peter called sick people who wouldn't wait on themselves if they could, but she liked the way Daniel cared for her.
"7-Up and Ritz crackers would be nice," Echo replied smiling wider.
"Sure thing," Daniel replied as he pulled his head out of the door and closed it behind him.
Daniel crossed to the dresser, gathered the keys for the rental car and the hotel key before he made his way outside. He missed hearing Echo break down and cry in the bathroom as he crossed the parking lot towards their rental car.
Unlocking and opening the door Daniel slid inside. After closing the door he pulled his Smartphone out of his pocket and turned it on. Quickly typing 'drug store' into the GPS navigation system Daniel turned the car over while he waited for the results. When the results came up, Daniel picked the closest one and put the car into gear, backing out of the parking spot. As he drove towards his destination he thought back on the two months that they had been totally alone.
Last year the pair had gone on tour, but only for a month. He had been alone with Echo then but this tour was different.
"I guess when you are intimate with someone you love it changes your perspective on things," Daniel said to himself as he turned left at the stop sign he was stopped at.
Echo being sick this trip out had made him want to help. That was one of the reasons that he had stopped sleeping in the adjoining hotel room. It was all going to have to stop tomorrow when they returned home.
Daniel let out a sigh. He liked sharing the same bed with Echo even if they didn't do anything but hold each other close. That was mainly Daniel's doing.
Echo had other things on her mind and thought that Daniel's sleeping arrangements was his way of telling her that he wanted her each night. Very delicately he had set the record straight.
"Echo," Daniel said as he sat on the side of the bed one night after she had advanced on him, "I can't do that again."
"Why not?" she questioned as she went to reach down his pajama bottoms.
Grabbing her hand before she could get passed his waist line Daniel gently held it against his chest.
"I just can't," Daniel pleaded with her.
"I wanted to wait until we were married," Daniel continued, "I'm so sorry I did what I did to you. I'm not going to make the same mistake again."
"So then why are you sleeping in the same bed with me?" Echo said taking her hand back.
"Partly because of your nightmares," Daniel replied.
Echo had remained silent for the rest of the night after that.
Daniel stopped at the next light.
Echo had started having the nightmares when she had gotten sick. At first he had heard her cries and had come from the adjoining room to wake her up. The nightmares had not been every night, but they did correspond to her bad days he noticed.
Sometime after a week or two he had not been able to wake her up and had found that playing his violin for her had been a big help. But then that had stopped working too. The only thing that helped now-a-days was holding her, telling her that everything would be fine. Yet when they returned home Daniel wondered if her nightmares would stop.
Daniel stepped on the gas as the light changed to green. He was pretty sure that Echo hadn't told her father what had happened between the pair when he called late every night to check in on her. Of course he could be wrong, but if she was going to 'spill the beans' so to speak, she might just do it when they got home. They had shared something special between them and he wanted to keep it a secret, but Echo was going to do her own thing. Keep it a secret or tell her father. She hadn't yet and Daniel could only hope that it would stay that way.
Daniel was going to have to talk to Echo today. She needed to know that he couldn't come to her in the middle of the night when they returned home. He didn't want Egon to know what had happened. It was Daniel's fault and he was going to have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life.
Pulling the car into a parking space at the drug store Daniel wiped the sleeve of his shirt across his eyes. He didn't realize that he had been silently crying. Who was he kidding? He was going to be the one who would miss sharing a bed with Echo the most. His decision was tearing him apart. He knew what was in his heart and yet he didn't, no make that couldn't, share it with Echo yet.
Daniel was deeply in love with Echo, attracted to her, but clearly it was not enough these days. He wanted her, desired her, and it took everything within him to control his urges when he was alone with her at night. He had been brought up knowing better. He didn't go around sleeping with women, yet the one wild night that he had spent with Echo, even though he couldn't remember a thing, had been his downfall.
"No good can come from getting close to evil," Allen had told his son.
Daniel had been taught right from wrong and yet a voice spoke into his ear telling him; "Everyone does it"; "It's the 'in' thing to do"; and "It doesn't hurt anybody else."
Daniel's father had likened following evil to a breaking system of a car.
"We all have an inner braking system that will stop us before we follow evil too far down the wrong road," Allen said.
Yet Daniel had succumbed to evil and his braking system had begun to leak brake fluid.
"But Echo was afraid," Daniel told himself out loud trying to convince himself it was right to have slept with her.
Shaking his head to clear it Daniel got out of the car and shut the door. He had a lively sense of guilt, pain, and anguish. Almost like an unquenchable fire and he wished in his heart that there was a way out. His unrighteous desire to have Echo that night had been plaguing his mind for a very long time. Kane had been a big help when they had stopped in to see him on their tour.
"Look Daniel," Kane said as he and Daniel leaned on the white fence of the corral watching Hawkeye inside, "trials come as a consequence of our own pride and disobedience."
"They can also come because of others' poor choices and hurtful words and actions."
Kane turned to face Daniel.
"Murphy's Law could have been named after me," Kane said laughing ever so slightly.
Regaining his composure Kane spoke sadly, "It wasn't just one of those days. It was turning into one of those weeks. Echo nearly drowning, my wife dying, a new born baby to take care off. I was devastated."
Kane looked up towards the sky, sighed and then continued on.
"I found myself locked in my bedroom crying nonstop. All I could think about was my wife. Lizzie's bright smiling face. Everybody loved her."
Kane brought his face down to stare at Hawkeye.
"Some of my fondest memories are of Lizzie with our children gathered around the living room couch reading stories from the Bible. Fortunately, the solution for me was on a slip of paper in my late wife's jewelry box."
"What did it say?" Daniel asked.
Kane smiled and turned back to Daniel.
"Life has many ways of testing a person's will. Either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once."
"Look son," Kane said as he placed an arm around Daniel's shoulder and walked him away from the corral and back to the house, "I have a feeling that something happened between you and Echo."
Before Daniel could protest Kane cut him off.
"Daniel," Kane said stopping before they reached the porch of the house, "I'm not going to tell Egon anything so don't panic. What you say to me will stay between us okay?"
"How do you know something happened between Echo and me?" Daniel asked trying to sound casual.
"My time as a Bishop in my church," Kane replied.
"I've spent hours behind closed doors meeting with people who allowed me into the darkest corners of their lives."
"I've seen the look upon their faces as they came in and sat in front of me," Kane continued.
"They came to me for various reasons. Because they had lost hope. Because they had questions. Because they had doubts. Because the person they were wasn't the person they wanted to be."
"You can see that in me?" Daniel asked turning to face the older man.
"No," Kane replied, "I see in your face guilt, betrayal, worthlessness, and you don't know what to do about it."
Daniel hesitated, took a deep breath, and grasped for the courage to say out loud what he had been hiding for weeks. Looking to Kane for the wisdom that he himself lacked.
After Daniel had confided what he had done Kane had surprised him. Daniel had thought that Kane would tell him what an evil person he was and that he was condemned to hell. That hadn't been the case. Kane had gathered Daniel into his arms and wept with the young man as the sun set in the west. Over and over again Kane only said two words to him.
"You're forgiven."
Daniel paused at the door to the drug store. Lifting his head up from looking at the ground he set a smile upon his face before he went through the doors. Daniel knew that Echo had forgiven him and held no ill will against him either. She was never going to leave his side and he only hoped he could live up to her expectations that she had of him. But he, Daniel, had let her down and not just with being intimate with her.
While driving through Colorado, after leaving Kane's place, they had come upon a severe traffic accident in the Rocky Mountains. Echo was asleep in the passenger seat at the time when Daniel saw the break lights ahead. Pulling over and stopping the car he had wondered what was going on. Echo had awoken after he had put the car into park and turned off the engine.
"What's going on?" she asked as she raised the reclined seat back to its original position.
"I don't know," Daniel answered sweeping his left hand to point out the front window of the car, "The traffic has stopped."
Echo looked towards where the road fell away from where they were and curved to their left out of sight. She couldn't see anything but people outside of their cars walking around.
"Maybe it's an animal," Daniel suggested, "a bear or an elk."
"We're not in Yellowstone National Park," Echo said under her breath as she opened the door and got out of the car.
Daniel opened his door and went to follow after Echo as she rounded the bend in the road ahead of him. No sooner was she gone then he saw her reappearing at a run heading for the car.
"What happened?" he asked as she sped past him towards the trunk of the car.
"Accident," Echo replied opening up the hatchback and rummaging through it for her med kit.
Grabbing her kit she shut the hatchback and leaned into the car through the passenger's open window. After opening up the glove box and grabbing her identification, that showed she was a medical doctor, she headed for the site of the crash.
"Come on Daniel," she yelled as she ran back down the road, "I'm going to need your help."
"Me!?" Daniel said as he realized that she was asking something of him that he couldn't do.
"Yes you," Echo shouted back turning around to look his way jogging backwards as she did so, "I'll show you what to do."
Echo turned back around and disappeared around the bend in the road. Daniel stood his ground not moving, afraid of what he might see until he heard her screaming his name.
"Daniel!" He heard from around the corner. "Bring the box of tampons NOW!"
Daniel was shaken from his trance and went back to the car, retrieved the box of tampons from Echo's suitcase, and hurried towards where he had heard her voice last.
As he rounded the bend in the road Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. It was an accident alright. There were at least seven cars all piled up together with a tractor trailer in front of the cars. Windows were smashed in, doors dented, glass everywhere he looked. Some cars were on their sides and a couple were completely turned over upside down. But what got Daniel scared the most were the sounds. He could hear moans and groans from the cars. People were still trapped inside. It was scary and he turned to run away, but a hand on his arm stopped him.
"Great you're here," Echo said as she pulled him towards the nearest car which was a van.
Daniel let Echo drag him along until they reached the van. The driver's door was open and a woman was sitting in the seat. She had blood running down the side of her face and she was pale, gasping for breath. Daniel froze in his tracks.
He had seen blood before. On Angus his brother and Daniel went to run away, only he was stopped by Echo's hand still on his arm.
"Daniel," Echo said quietly trying to draw his attention to her, "look at me."
Echo saw that Daniel wasn't listening. He was going to panic and run at any minute but she needed his help. She had too many hurt people to see as she looked down the road.
The other drivers and passengers who were not badly hurt were trying to help one another, but there were also cries for a doctor to help them further up the accident scene. She was needed and needed now, but the lady she had come across first had a pleural effusion and needed a chest tube. That was why she had yelled at Daniel to bring the tampons.
Ideally Echo would get a radiograph to confirm that the pleural effusion was there but this was not an ideal setting. She had trained for situations like this as a paramedic. This was her second real multi-car accident that she had come across and she knew what to do, but Daniel didn't.
Echo's patient had decreased movement on the left side of her chest with diminished breath sounds. Upon physical exam the area was bruised badly.
"Hit…steering…wheel…," the woman tried to say to Echo when Echo had come upon her. "Can't…breath…"
Echo knew that one of the causes of pleural effusion was trauma. She needed to insert a drain so that the fluid or blood that was building up in her patient's lungs could be removed. Echo needed Daniel's help. He was going to have to sit with her patient to make sure that the drain didn't become occluded or clogged, but Daniel's face before her was pale and scared. She wondered if this was the first time he had seen human blood?
Echo had trained other E.M.T.'s and paramedics before. She had seen the look on their faces when they had come across their first real accident scene and had to deal with real live breathing people and blood, not some training exercise.
Some had vomited, some had turned white, some had run away, some were fine, and some were like Daniel; panicked.
"Daniel," Echo said again releasing his arm to cup his chin into her hand, "look at me."
Finally something caught Daniel's attention and he slowly lifted his eyes to hers. Echo thought that he looked like he was about to cry. Why? She had never come across that before, but right now she needed Daniel strong for a least the next couple of minutes. Then if he wanted he could break down and cry. She wouldn't judge him.
"Hi," Echo said smiling at him, "you're going to be fine."
"Echo…," Daniel started to say as he tried to drop his head back down to the ground.
"Daniel," Echo said forcefully pulling his head back up, "Look at me!"
Daniel did as he was told and found Echo smiling at him.
"Hi," Echo said again.
"Hi," Daniel choked out.
"Daniel I want you to look into my eyes," Echo said. "Don't look anywhere else okay?"
"Okay," Daniel whispered.
"Good," Echo said releasing him and turning her attention to the woman driver.
Daniel did as he was told and locked his eyes upon Echo's face. He didn't look away. He could hear people crying all around him and he knew if he looked at them he would flee. He followed every movement of Echo's face. He had to.
He watched her narrow her eyes in concentration and then smile when she had found what she wanted. Daniel gladly handed Echo the tampon when she asked him for one. He watched as she ripped the covering off and pulled out the white cotton inside. His eyes never left her beautiful face for a moment.
Daniel let Echo turn him around to face the way they had come and carefully sat him on the floorboard of the van.
"I need you to hold this," Echo said as she placed his right hand onto the plastic casing of the tampon.
"The medics will be here soon and take over for you," Echo said into his ear. "Just make sure the red stuff continues to flow out of the end, okay?"
Daniel glanced down to where Echo had placed his hand. He saw blood flowing from the white tampon casing onto the ground and he became scared again, taking his hand away.
"No!" Echo sternly said as she gently placed his hand back onto the casing, "You have to hold it."
"I can't," Daniel cried to her, "there's blood on my hand!"
"I know Daniel," Echo said gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't think of it as blood. Think of it as something else."
"I can't…," Daniel went to say but Echo cut him off.
"Look," Echo whispered into his ear pointing her right hand to the seat behind the driver.
Four pairs of eyes were watching him and Echo. Four pairs of young eyes. Daniel didn't register who the eyes belonged to until Echo leaned in and whispered into his ear.
"Don't do it for me," she said quietly, "Do it for her children. Be a hero to them."
Now Daniel understood. The woman driver was a mother with four beautiful children watching him. Their scared faces were how he felt right now too.
"Aye," Daniel said to Echo, "hurry back."
"I will," Echo replied before kissing him on his head and disappearing.
Daniel looked down at his hands as he walked through the drug store to the back where the soft drinks were kept. He had spent hours scrubbing his hands at the hotel after the whole thing was over.
When the E.M.T.'s had shown up to take over for him Daniel had walked away. He had heard them commenting about what Echo had done to save the woman's life.
"Look, she used the casing of a tampon for a makeshift chest tube. I never would have thought to do that."
"Hey," the E.M.T. had called after Daniel, "What's your fiancée's name?"
Daniel hadn't answered back as he walked in a trance back to the rental car. Upon reaching the car he had collapsed in the grass on the side of the road. Echo had found him curled up into a ball some hours later.
"Daniel?" Echo quietly questioned as she sat down next to him in the grass rubbing his back, "It's over."
Slowly he had looked up at her. Echo had blood on her face and he quickly looked away.
Daniel stopped before the refrigerated case and reached out to open it up. He had let her down, he thought as he grabbed a can of 7-Up before he closed the door.
"Echo, I'm sorry," Daniel said as he buried his face into his arms that he had wrapped around his body.
"Daniel it's okay," Echo replied as she continued to softly rub his back. "I should be the one apologizing to you."
"Me?" Daniel questioned pulling his head out from his arms and looking to where she sat.
"Yeah you," Echo replied looking out to where their rental car sat.
Echo watched as a tow truck drove by before she sighed and continued.
"I should have asked you if you were going to be okay with seeing human blood. I'm so sorry I put you through this."
Daniel stopped before the rows of crackers. He wasn't angry that Echo had dragged him into her world of saving people. He was upset at himself for not being able to help her. Ever since Angus' accident he had been unable to do anything when someone got hurt. Even if the person only had a small cut, the sight of blood always caused him to panic.
Grabbing the box of Ritz crackers that Echo had asked him for, Daniel hurried to the front of the store to pay. He wanted to be alone right now. How was he going to be a good husband to Echo if he couldn't even help her when she needed him?
Paying for his items Daniel quickly left the store and headed for the rental car. He was worried now. If he couldn't help Echo now what was going to happen when they had children and the children got hurt while in his care? Would Echo be around to take over or worse yet would he be totally alone like on that day so long ago? Daniel opened up the car's door and slid inside.
"Maybe I shouldn't have asked Echo to marry me," Daniel said out loud to himself.
Daniel couldn't hold his emotions back anymore.
"Echo deserves better," he thought as he finally cried his heart out.
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Echo carefully dried her eyes. She was spent. She had been crying for at least ten minutes. Carefully taking all the evidence of her test and hiding it in the bottom of the bathroom's trash can she opened the door.
Echo noticed that Daniel wasn't back from the store yet and heaved a sigh. As much as she loved him he wasn't the person that she wanted to see right now. How could he have done this to her? Echo shook her head. No this wasn't Daniel's problem it was "their" problem.
"It takes two to tango," Uncle Peter told her when Aunt Melody had announced that she was pregnant.
Not understanding what Peter meant she had gone to her mother. But Echo had only gotten a somewhat confusing answer back and turned at last to her father. Egon had explained in scientific terms what Peter had said to her, with help from some books at the local library. After that Echo knew more about how babies were conceived than anyone else.
"Do you think that's wise?" Eden asked Egon when Echo had come back to tell her mother what she had learned.
Egon just shrugged his shoulders. "Would you rather have her learn about "sex" from someone else? Peter perhaps?"
"When hell freezes over!" Eden replied. "Oscar still thinks that the white stork that lives in Central Park brings "The Baby" to good couples."
"Yeah," Egon laughed at his wife, "I think that Peter is not the best person to be teaching Echo anything."
Echo smiled as she started to gather her things.
"Well," she said out loud to herself, "Peter may not have been the best person to teach me about science, but he did teach me about life."
Her Uncle Peter, the practical joker of the bunch, was very much down to earth and had taught her things that her father and mother didn't want her to know.
As Echo packed her suitcase she remembered back to when Peter had taken her to a "Billiards" place. She was all of seven at the time and Peter had placed a bet with the other guys there that his niece could play "Ten-ball" without any scratches. Of course the other guys just laughed and made the bet against Echo.
While Peter racked up ten balls into a triangle shape with the number 1 ball positioned at the apex of the rack she pulled a chair over to the pool table. Echo watched as Peter placed the number 10 ball into the middle of the rack and randomly placed the remaining balls around it.
Echo was allowed to climb up onto her chair as she chalked up her cue stick. She knew the rules. In order to establish a legal hit, the cue ball must contact the lowest numbered ball first, and subsequently at least one ball must hit any rail, without the cue ball being pocketed. The only difference between nine-ball and ten-ball was that she must "call" her shot each time.
As Peter lifted the rack off of the set of balls Echo looked for her first shot. As she studied the six pockets on the pool table she used what Uncle Ray had taught her about Geometry, Hooke's Law, and Newton's Second Law. Echo wrapped the index finger of her left hand around the cue stick and placed her fingers onto the surface of the pool table while her right hand gripped the butt of the cue stick in a loose, relaxed manner. Her thumb was her support and her index, middle, and ring fingers did the actually gripping. Her wrist was pointed straight down to prevent the cue stick from moving sideways when she took her first shot.
Peter had already placed the white cue ball on the head spot for her. Echo aligned her body with the cue ball, called where she was going to place the number 1 ball, and took her break shot.
"Lucky shot," one of the guys said as the number 1 ball fell into the corner head rail pocket next to her.
"2 ball side pocket," Echo called out as she pulled her chair around the side of the billiards table to take her next shot.
More groans came from the guys standing around watching as Echo slowly and deliberately sank every last ball into the pocket that she called out for them. The guys had been mad when she sank the 10 ball into the corner foot rail pocket, but had paid Peter the money that they owed.
"There's more where this came from," Peter said as he handed Echo half of the money in his hands, "You just have to do me one favor."
"What's that Uncle Peter?"
"Don't tell your father."
"Why?"
"Let's just say he will roast me pretty good with one of the proton packs."
"Okay," Echo replied counting her money.
Peter's scheme had lasted roughly six months until Echo overhead her parents talking about not being able to go on a trip together. Echo didn't know at the time that her father had final exams that he had to administer to his students. She thought that her and her mother were the only ones going on tour because there wasn't enough money for the whole family to go.
Echo had gone upstairs to the third floor of the firehouse and had pulled her shoebox down from the top of the shelves. Hurrying back to her parent's room she had proudly presented the box to her father.
"Now you can go too," Echo told Egon.
Egon narrowed his eyes at her and opened the box. His eyes lit up in surprise when he saw the money inside. As Eden counted the twenties, fifties, and hundred dollar bills inside her father asked her where she had gotten the money from.
"Uncle Peter gave it to me," Echo proudly replied.
"Peter?" Egon questioned. "Peter Venkman gave you this money?"
"Yes," Echo said.
"Why?"
"Because I earned it."
"Echo," Eden questioned shaking a stack of bills at her, "How did you earn all this money?"
"I…," Echo trailed off.
Echo just realized her mistake and didn't know how to get out of it. She had never lied to her parents before.
"Your mother asked you a question," Egon sternly said to her. "How did you earn this money?"
Echo bowed her head to the floor. She knew she was in trouble and she also knew that Peter was going to be in trouble also.
"Please don't hurt Uncle Peter," Echo whispered.
"Why would I hurt Peter?" Egon asked her.
"Because Uncle Peter said that if I told you about the money that you would roast him with the proton pack," Echo said softly.
"I won't roast Peter I promise," Egon said, "Please tell me how you earned all this money?"
"Playing ten-ball billiards," Echo whispered hoping her father wouldn't hear her, but he had.
Egon was in shock and just sat there for a moment. Ten-ball billiards was a challenging discipline game to play because it was slightly harder to pocket any balls on the break shot with the crowded rack. The initial shooter couldn't instantly win the game by pocketing the 10 ball on the break. They had to 'call' each shot. He also knew that performing a string of break-and-runs on successive racks was difficult to achieve. Yet somehow Echo had done just that. How else did she and Peter get all the money that his wife was holding in her hands? There had to be at least two thousand dollars there. Peter had scammed someone out of the money and had involved Echo. How dare Peter teach his daughter to do this!
Egon's face slowly changed into anger and he rose up from the bed where he had been sitting. Eden caught his arm before he could march out of the bedroom door.
"You promised," Eden hissed at her husband.
"I promised I wouldn't roast him," Egon said as he removed his arm from his wife's gasp, "I didn't promise anything about punching him in the nose!"
Echo zippered her suitcase up and stood up. Peter had taught her about life alright and maybe he could help her now.
"No," Echo told herself, "you can't tell anyone."
"Besides," something said in her head, "you probably will not be able to carry it past eight weeks."
Echo loved children and like her mother she wanted a large family. She took a step back and felt the wall behind her. Slowly Echo slid down to the floor as a new round of tears found their way to her already swollen eyes.
"That's right," she told herself. "No Parnell woman ever carried a baby passed eight weeks."
Very few children were born to the Parnell women. Her grandmother had only three natural born children. Lizzie had many miscarriages just like her mother Eden. Eden had only been successful in carrying two babies to full term. And now it was her turn. Would she be able to carry this child of her future husband's to full term or would she miscarry it between now and October?
Echo buried her face into her hands and wept.
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Daniel glanced over to where Echo was sleeping in the passenger seat. It was dark and he could only make out her silhouette. He narrowed his eyes at her. He thought that he had heard her moaning. Was she having another bad dream he wondered? Looking back to the dark road in front of him he listened carefully for Echo to cry out, but thankfully she didn't.
Daniel knew that she was extremely tired. They had gotten a late start at their concert due to the fact that the principal trumpet player for the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, William M. Black, had called in sick. Echo was playing George Gershwin's Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra for a fundraiser that night.
The second movement of the piece, Adagio-Andante con moto, is reminiscent of the 'blues' beginning with an elegant exposed trumpet solo melody accompanied by a trio of clarinets. A faster section featuring the piano followed, building gradually until near the end, at which point the piece pulled back to the original melody now given to the flute. The second movement would end in a peaceful cadence.
Echo had to wait half an hour while a replacement trumpet player could come in to cover for Mr. Black. Thankfully Echo's grandfather's brother; on Egon's side; Uncle Cyrus, had made the trip with his children to hear her play.
"I love how the concerto has strong thematic links between all three movements," Cyrus said as they sat backstage waiting for the trumpet player.
"And," Callista interrupted her father, "All the movements are heavily influenced by jazz."
"Yes, you are right," Cyrus answered back.
"You are both correct," Echo chimed in, "but what you may not know is that there also exists in each movement a very subtle structural integrity that is rooted in the classical tradition. You just might not immediately hear it though."
Daniel smiled as he thought back about the concert. The concert organizers had held the concert waiting for the trumpet player. They had started the concert at 8:45 P.M. The original starting time was supposed to have been at eight. Echo had been elegant in a dark navy floor length dress. The bodice was heavily beaded while the skirt was a series of cascading ruffles that parted whenever she walked. Her hair was left long and flowing with only the sides pulled up, held by a blue flower clip, close to the top of her head. She looked like she had been pulled out of a jazz magazine and she played just as well.
The first movement, Allegro, began with the timpani and then had an extended orchestral introduction. Echo entered with her piano solo, introducing another melody found throughout the piece. The music then alternated with contrasting sections of grandiosity and delicacy. A false climax was reached in which the orchestra resounded the piano's original melody. After Echo played her cadenza of quick triplets the orchestra came in to finish the final section with speeding octaves and chords. Echo had a large run of triplet obstinate up the keyboard along an F Major 6 chord, bringing the movement to a close.
After a standing ovation Echo had settled herself back down at the piano to play the second movement.
This movement started out much slower and Daniel liked when the orchestra had allowed him to play his violin as a solo during part of Echo's piece. For a lovely, brief moment Daniel's violin sang with the elements of Echo's playing as they alternated back and forth until Echo took the piece to a 'blues' theme next. This continued throughout the movement with different solo instruments until the end where a remarkable passage for flute and string quartet very delicately ended the piece.
No one clapped as the orchestra went into the next section of the piece, Allegro agitato. This was where Echo shined.
The final movement of Gershwin's piece was pulsating and energetic with several references to 'ragtime'. It featured both new material and melodies from the previous two movements. There was a false climax section, identical to that of the first movement, which in turn evolved into another build to the true pinnacle of the concerto. This was again dominated by the F Major 6 chord, bringing the piece to a close.
Daniel reached out and tenderly placed his right hand onto Echo's left thigh. She had been a sight to see playing the way she had. There had been a standing ovation where the audience had not stopped clapping for ten minutes.
"Encore! Encore!" The crowd had shouted when Echo had left the stage.
Echo had reappeared to play the third movement, Presto agitato, of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor more popularly known as Moonlight Sonata.
The stormy final movement was the weightiest of the three movements, reflecting an experiment of Beethoven's by placing the movement last. The piece had many fast arpeggios and strongly accented notes. Echo preformed it effectively, with lively and skillful playing, utilizing a variety of techniques. Beethoven's heavy use of sforzando notes (a forceful accent on a note and then to immediately get soft), together with just a few strategically fortissimo passages, created the sense of a very powerful sound.
Echo had once again been rewarded to a standing ovation.
Daniel remembered how at the end of the concert Echo had been interviewed for the local news channel.
"Dr. Spengler," the newscaster had said, "Even today, two hundred years later, Moonlight Sonata has a ferocity that is astonishing. It is the most unbridled in its representation of emotions. Can you tell me what you are feeling right now?"
Daniel had seen Echo's beautiful face turn into a frown.
"Excuse me?" Echo had questioned.
"I'm sorry Dr. Spengler," the newscaster replied, "It's just that every rare once in a while God peels back the curtains of Heaven and reveals a musician that is rare and talented."
"You, Dr. Spengler, are the best of what Heaven has given us and you tell us a story in the way that you play. We all hunger for this and secretly want to be like you."
"You have given us a wondrous example of that tonight," the newscaster finished. "That is why I asked how you are feeling."
"Oh," Echo had replied, "I'm sorry I didn't understand. I'm feeling wonderful right now. Thank you."
Echo excused herself and turned away from the newscaster, taking Daniel by his arm. She was clearly upset about something.
"We need to go," she whispered into his ear, "Where's Cyrus, Callista, and Cy?"
"Probably out in the foyer," Daniel had replied.
"Can you please find them for me?" Echo had said as she dodged a reporter and headed backstage.
"Sure," Daniel replied as Echo released his arm and tried to avoid yet another reporter.
Daniel shook his head trying to clear it. Looking at the time on the dashboard it read 3:00 A.M. They had another three hours to go before they got home to New Jersey. That wasn't his fault. It had been at the request of Echo and Cyrus to drive her straight home.
"Daniel," Cyrus said as he pulled him around a group of people, "Echo isn't like her mother."
"I don't understand," Daniel replied as he lost sight of Cyrus for only a moment before he ducked around a woman who was standing in his way.
When Daniel had found Cyrus in the foyer he had told the older gentleman that Echo had wanted to see him. Cyrus had narrowed his eyes and his lips had turned down into a frown. Daniel didn't understand why Echo was upset tonight.
"She never has done this before when we were interviewed together," Daniel shouted at Cyrus trying to catch up to the man that he had been separated from.
Cyrus waited for Daniel to come closer before he spoke again.
"Eden loved the limelight," Cyrus said going back into the theater, "Echo doesn't. She never did. She is very much like her father in that respect. She loves performing onstage, but when it comes to answering questions she can't do it 'cold turkey'. Echo has to have something memorized. Just like Egon. Didn't you know that?"
"No," Daniel answered back, "I never saw her memorizing anything."
"She probably did it at work where you didn't see her," Cyrus replied, "What did the newscaster ask her?"
Daniel lovingly stroked Echo's thigh. He had told Cyrus what the newscaster had said to her. Cyrus had nodded his head in understanding as Daniel showed him the way to where Echo was waiting.
They had found Echo crying inside a room when Daniel and Cyrus arrived.
"They are comparing me to Mother," Echo told Cyrus between tears.
"No they're not," Cyrus said as Daniel held Echo in his arms. "They just want to be like you that's all."
Daniel and Echo had planned on staying over at Cyrus' house that night and start home the next day. They were due at the Metropolitan Opera at seven the following night.
"I just want to go home," Echo sobbed into Daniel's chest.
Daniel took his hand off of Echo's thigh. Stifling a yawn he reached over and turned on the radio. He was going to need it if he was to stay awake. As he searched for a clear station Echo woke up.
"Where are we?" She asked trying to stretch the best she could in the cramped car.
"Somewhere in Pennsylvania," Daniel replied as he finally found a station and turned the volume down so that he could talk to Echo.
Echo looked out into the darkened highway ahead of them. Daniel was driving in the far left hand lane and there were no other cars that she could see. Echo got a little worried that there weren't more cars or trucks on the road.
"What time is it?" She asked sitting up straighter.
"3:10," Daniel replied as he pointed to the dashboard clock.
Echo's eyes widened in fear, "Pull over!" she yelled at Daniel.
"Why?" Daniel asked as he glanced her way.
Echo screamed and pointed at the road in front of her. Daniel quickly looked back to see a very fast moving car coming straight for them up the off ramp.
"Ooh yah can'!" Daniel shouted as he turned the steering wheel sharply to the right.
Daniel didn't have time to think as the oncoming car clipped the back end of the rental car that he was driving and sent it spinning to crash headfirst into the guardrail in the center of the highway.
At first Daniel didn't register what had happened as he tried to get his face out of the airbag that was in front of him. His head hurt him and he tasted something in his mouth. A loud ringing was all around him and he thought that it was his cell phone ringing. As he tried to search for it he realized that all he wanted to do was sleep.
"Get out of the car," something said in his head.
"Too tired," Daniel replied as he gave up on looking for his cell phone and started to slowly close his eyes.
"Now Daniel!" it said again only this time stronger.
"Git away ya mad tramp," Daniel replied trying to rid his head of the voice by rubbing it with his right hand.
"Daniel," the voice said, "get out of the car or ul hoor o'e beatin'."
Daniel was mad and took his hand away from his head.
"You fancy a doin'?" He said as he reached to his left and opened up the door to the car, "Ul wham yeh, yeh wee basturt!"
As Daniel exited the car a blast of cold air hit him in the face and he immediately woke up. All around him were pieces of his belongings. His clothes were blowing in the wind. Daniel tried to walk straight but tripped over a violin case in his path. He was still a little fuzzy on how he had gotten here. A flash of lightening lit up the night sky. A storm was rolling in. Something was in the grass ahead of him. Picking up the violin case he slowly walked towards it.
"Why did he have a large violin case?" Daniel wondered, as he bent down to look at the case in front of him. His fuzzy brain realized that it wasn't a violin case, it was a cello case. But he didn't play the cello.
Another flash of lightening streaked across the sky. Daniel saw another case lying in the grass behind the totaled rental car. How did he crash the car? Daniel wondered as he placed the violin case down by the cello case and stood up. He walked to the square black case and picked it up. He didn't know what it contained and slowly opened it up. Inside was a clarinet. He frowned and closed the case. He didn't play the clarinet either. Looking around the dark deserted highway Daniel wondered who had left their instruments in the middle of nowhere.
"Maybe there's a name on it," Daniel said to himself as he turned his attention back to the clarinet case in his hands.
Turning the case all around Daniel found no name on it. The wind picked up and blew his hair into his face. He still had that awful taste in his mouth and turned away from the wind. "Why did his mouth taste funny?" Daniel thought, as he looked around some more. As he did so a piece of paper caught at his feet. Trying to dislodge it by shaking his foot he found he couldn't. Reaching down with his left hand he picked up the paper. It was a piece of piano music. "Who played the piano?" Daniel thought, as he looked at the piece more closely. Lightning flashed again so that Daniel could make out a name. It read Doctor Echo Eddington Spengler.
Daniel closed his eyes. He knew that name. It sounded familiar. Echo? Daniel pushed his mind back. Somewhere in his clouded mind was a face but he couldn't come up with it.
"Daniel?" a voice called out.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked around him. The voice had been soft almost like it was calling from inside his head. He went to shake the voice off until he heard it again. This time coming from the front of the wrecked car.
"Daniel?"
Daniel slowly walked towards the passenger side door that was slightly ajar. Placing the piano music into his right hand, that still held the clarinet case, he opened the door the rest of the way. The side air bag had kept him from seeing inside the car. A young woman was sitting inside her head turned away from him. She had blood on the back of her head. He thought that he recognized her but from where?
All Daniel could see from his point of view was air bags in the driver's and passenger side. What was she looking for?
"Daniel?" she said softly again trying to look under the air bag in the driver's seat.
"Aye," Daniel replied, "right here."
The young woman slowly turned her head towards him. He couldn't see that well because it was dark. When her head came to a stop a flash of lightning lit up the darkened sky. Two things happened all at once. The first was that she spoke to him.
"Oh Daniel," she said, "Thank God you're alright! I thought you were thrown from the car."
The second was that Daniel recognized the young woman at once. Dropping the clarinet and piano music he rushed to her side.
"Echo, sweet lassie," Daniel said as he pushed the matted hair out of her face, "what happened?"
"You don't remember?" Echo asked as she reached out a hand to touch the open wound that she saw on Daniel's head.
"No," he replied, "my head's fuzzy and I hear ringing."
"You might have a concussion," Echo replied as she gently probed his head wound.
Daniel winced. She had hurt him.
"I'm sorry Daniel," she said.
The cut was deep and was going to need stitches, but she wasn't in a position to get her med kit to help Daniel out.
"Daniel," she said as he squatted in the doorway by her side, "Can you find my med kit?"
Echo watched as Daniel narrowed his eyes at her. She thought that his left pupil was dilated while his right one was normal.
"Sure," he said at last getting up and walking away from her.
Daniel's delayed response to her question confirmed her suspicion that he had a concussion. She was afraid that he wouldn't get treated soon. She had no idea where they were. He only increased her fear when he stumbled back with her med kit sometime later. Handing Echo the kit he once again squatted down by her side.
"Echo," Daniel asked as he let her place some gauze onto his head to stop the bleeding, "what happened?"
Now she knew that she needed to get Daniel help. He was perseverating. Saying the same thing over and over. She didn't want him to panic like before and so she decided not to tell him that he was hurt. "Or me for that matter," she silently told herself.
"It was probably a drunk driver," Echo replied as she tore a piece of elastic tape to place on top of the gauze to hold it in place.
"In Pennsylvania," she continued, "the local taverns close at 2 A.M. and the membership-only clubs close at 3 A.M."
"When the 'drunks' go to their cars to drive home they think that they are getting onto the highway the correct way but they aren't."
"How do you know?" Daniel asked as Echo dropped the tape back into her med kit.
"From Trooper Keith Leary," she replied.
"He had personal experience in encountering a wrong way 'drunk' driver. The 'drunk' driver naturally wants to do the right thing and travel in the correct lane."
"As Trooper Leary was traveling west he saw headlights coming around the corner at him. He quickly moved to the far right hand lane and the 'drunk' driver went by him in the 'left lane', subsequently colliding head-on with a vehicle that was trying to pass Trooper Leary."
"Both drivers were killed," Echo finished softly.
"Cummin' the cunt?" Daniel questioned.
"Yes," Echo replied, "I'm serious."
"Now what?" Daniel asked as he felt a few drops of rain on his head.
"Now we wait for help," Echo replied, "You don't have your cell phone on you, do you?"
"Na a'm sorry."
"It's fine Daniel," Echo said as she gently ran her right hand down the side of his bloodied face.
Daniel felt more drops of rain and stood up. "Well while we are waiting why don't we do it out of the rain. We can sit in the boot of the car."
"Daniel…," Echo started to say as Daniel grabbed her arm and pulled.
"Ouch," she winced when Daniel tried to pull her out of the car.
Daniel found that Echo was stuck and released her arm. He didn't understand.
"What's the mater?" He asked, "Why can't you get out of the car."
Daniel saw that Echo was in pain and holding her left side with her right hand. He didn't understand why she just didn't get up out of her seat and follow him. After all he had walked out of the car. What was wrong with her?
Echo grimaced in pain and tried to slow her breathing. Slow breaths hurt less than large ones. She knew that Daniel didn't understand why she just didn't get up and walk away. She wished she could but she was stuck. There was no way she was getting loose from the car until help arrived. She turned her head to look back at Daniel. She was afraid to tell him the truth. She was afraid that he would panic and run like he almost did in Colorado. She needed him by her side. Not because she wanted company, which would be nice right now, but because of his concussion. She didn't want him to wander off, get lost, or worse yet get killed when he got hit by another car. He didn't know what had happened to them. That alone scared her.
If she told him the truth, that she thought she had some broken ribs and couldn't feel her left leg, would he stay or run.
"Echo?" Daniel questioned pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Yes, Daniel."
"Why don't you want to sit in the boot of the car?"
Echo sighed, "I'd love to but I'd rather just sit here and wait for help to come."
"Why?"
"Oh," Echo replied as she tried to sound casual, "I'm out of the rain here. Why don't you sit next to me and I'll find something to hold over our heads to keep the rain off of us."
Echo watched as Daniel turned around and sat on the edge of the floorboard facing her. She reached into her med kit and pulled out a waterproof emergency blanket. Opening it up she placed it over their heads as the sky finally opened up and let loose with the rain that it had been holding back. She handed Daniel another blanket and asked him to wrap it around himself to keep warm. She only had the two blankets and she knew that her body really needed it, but she was more concerned about him. He was exposed more to the elements while she had the car for some protection.
Echo looked into Daniel's eyes as another flash of lightning lit up the night sky. Suddenly and without warning Daniel shot straight up. He had seen something and she grabbed his arm, holding him back from running.
"Gonnae no' dae that!" Daniel cried trying to get away.
"Daniel," Echo said softly, "Look at me."
Echo noticed that Daniel had fear in his eyes, just like in Colorado. But this time was different. She had not judged him when she found him curled into a fetal position on the side of the road by their rental car. Clearly Daniel was not comfortable with seeing human blood and suffering. This time he had seen her blood and suffering. She was pretty sure that he had seen why she was trapped and that had sent him into a panic mode.
"Daniel!" she said again, "Look at me, please."
"You can't move," Daniel said as he dropped to his knees in the wet grass.
"No," she replied softly.
"I can't stay," Daniel said dropping his head to the ground, "I don't know what to do."
"You don't have to do anything Daniel," Echo replied as she reached out with her other hand and lifted his head up. "All you have to do is sit by my side. That's all I ask."
"You're not going to die?"
Echo sat back shocked. What had happened in his life that he thought that she was going to die?
"No," she replied smiling at him.
Daniel relaxed and reached out his arms to his love. He had seen that the engine block was pushed though the dashboard and into the passenger side of the car. Echo was held tight against it in her seat. That was why she couldn't get out of the car. She was trapped and he had panicked. Twice he had let her down. It wasn't until she had turned his face up into the spray of the rain that he understood. She didn't feel that he had let her down. All she wanted was him by her side. He didn't have to be something that he wasn't.
"I love you lassie," Daniel said gently hugging her.
"I love you too," she replied.
Daniel redeemed himself as he stayed by her side until he saw the red lights coming towards them half an hour later. He had taken the waterproof emergency blanket and had held it over their heads. He had wrapped the other blanket around her body the best that he could, even though she had protested. Soaking wet he stayed by her side as the fire department arrived. He held her right hand as a medical rescuer performed an initial medical assessment of her and secured her neck with a cervical collar.
He watched as the rescue workers secured the vehicle with wooden blocks around all four of the wheels so that the car wouldn't unexpectedly move when the team went to free Echo. Using a large tool, that he later learned was called the 'jaws of life', the rescue workers removed the front window first. He held the heavy blanket that the firefighters had given him over both his and Echo's heads so that any glass that fell wouldn't hurt them. After the window was taken away the rescue workers went to work on the roof of the car. Cutting the four corners of the car, including the two by each door, they lifted the roof off of Echo so that now she was straight in the down pour of the cold freezing rain.
By doing this it allowed the paramedics to gain better access to Echo.
He stroked Echo's head as a paramedic placed a catheter into her right arm. After that the rescue workers brought in a long spine board. That was the only time he left her side, but only for a moment as four strong firefighters came in and surrounded Echo's body. Carefully they lifted and slid her onto the long spinal board, securing her head before they lifted the board from the car.
As Daniel came back over to her side he noticed that her left leg was bleeding. He notified the paramedic who placed a tourniquet around Echo's thigh. The same one that he had been stroking Daniel noticed. He walked by Echo's side to where a helicopter was waiting for them in the middle of the highway. He was told that he couldn't go with Echo and kissed her gently on the lips before he was taken to the back of an ambulance.
"You did good buddy," the paramedic told him as he finally examined Daniel.
"I did?" Daniel questioned as he sat down on the rear of the ambulance.
"Yes," the paramedic replied as he saw Daniel's uneven pupils, "you did. I think it speaks volumes to what people will do in a tragic situation to help another person out."
"Tragic?" Daniel questioned not understanding the paramedic.
"Yes, tragic car crash," the paramedic replied narrowing his eyes at Daniel.
"You were driving the car weren't you?" The paramedic questioned Daniel.
Daniel's head hurt him. He had forgotten about it when he was with Echo. And he still had that ringing in his ears. Suddenly he didn't feel well and he leaned forward to vomit onto the highway. Like before Daniel felt tired and tried to stay awake by shaking his head. The paramedic was blurry when he reappeared in Daniel's field of view.
"Hey buddy," the paramedic asked as he noticed the gauze taped to the top of Daniel's head, "did you hit your head?"
"I don't remember…," Daniel slurred out, trailed off, and fell forward into the arms of the paramedic, unconscious.