Chapter 21
Harold
and Jackie did not drive to Collinsville.
Rather, they flew to Atlanta, the nearest city with an airport, and
rented a car to drive to Collinsville.
Within a few hours of Taylor’s call, they were there.
Taylor
looked up at the sound of someone knocking on the door. She looked to Brian – that was what she was
calling him now - who called, “Come in!”
The
doorknob turned, and the door slowly opened.
And when it was open wide, there stood her parents. They said nothing, just stood, staring in
shock, not at their daughter, but at the young man lying in the hospital bed
beside her.
“Brian?”
Jackie asked, her voice breathy and sounding on the verge of tears.
“Momma,”
Brian said. Taylor had heard him call
Mrs. Cooper this before, but hearing him say it about her own mother, his real
mother, brought tears to her eyes. Her
whole family was together for the first time in her life.
“Oh,
Brian!” Jackie choked out, rushing to her son and taking him in her arms. She held him tightly, rubbing his back,
smoothing his hair, her tears dripping all over his thin gown as she wept.
Brian
finally pulled back from his mother. He
studied her tear-stained, but glowing face for a moment and then looked to
Harold. “Dad?” he asked.
Now
it was Harold’s turn. He came to his
son, wrapping his arms tightly around him, and hugged him. He did not cry, at least, not that Taylor
could see, but she suspected he was crying on the inside, tears of joy, of
celebration.
Once
the hugs were over, Jackie and Harold pulled up chairs, eager to talk to the
son they had not seen in over eighteen years, the son they had believed to be
dead.
But
there was not much time for talking, for only minutes later, the door opened
again, and a doctor entered the room.
His nametag read Dr. Lawson.
“Mr. and Mrs. Cooper?” he asked.
Jackie
and Harold exchanged glances and shook their heads. It was Brian and Taylor who took on the job
of explaining to the doctor what had happened.
He seemed confused, but went along with what they said.
“Well
then, Mr. and Mrs. Littrell,” he started again, “Like I told Brian before, he needs
open heart surgery very soon. He came
in here with chest pain, and I ran a chest x-ray and found that he has a hole
in his heart, something that has been there since birth.” Harold and Jackie nodded; they knew this
already. “In most cases, holes like
these in children close before they reach adulthood. In your son’s case, however, the hole was
only gotten larger and caused his heart to expand. It is leaking blood and has swelled up much
too large. This has been going on for a
few years now, and if it had been discovered earlier, it would not have been
life-threatening, and surgery would not have been as urgent. But by now, the condition is very series,
and Brian needs to undergo surgery as soon as possible.”
“When?”
Brian asked, his voice soft.
“Tomorrow
morning. Seven am,” Dr. Lawson replied.
“Oh
my,” Jackie breathed.
“You’ll
be the surgeon?” Harold asked.
Dr.
Lawson nodded. “Cardiac surgery is my
specialty,” he said. “And although this
condition is very serious, the operation is not a difficult one. It won’t even take long, just an hour or
so.”
They
all nodded, but could not help feeling scared.
They had just gotten Brian back; they didn’t want to lose him
again.
***
Harold,
Jackie, and Taylor checked into a nearby hotel late that night, but returned to
the hospital early in the morning, before the sun was up, desperate to spend
time with Brian before he went into surgery.
Harry
had been called the day before, and, not having enough money for a plane
ticket, was driving there. He had
driven through the night, and they were just hoping he would make it to
Collinsville to see his brother before the surgery.
At
six thirty in the morning, Brian’s nurses started to get him prepped for the surgery,
and the Littrell’s were asked to leave the room. They waited out in the hall silently.
“Has
he been taken in yet?”
The
three of them looked up suddenly to see Harry standing before them. He looked exhausted, with dark circles under
his eyes, his hair falling limply across his forehead.
“Not
yet,” Harold said to his son. He patted
the chair next to him, and Harry sat down.
“They’re getting him prepped and are going to take him to the surgical
holding area to wait soon. You can see
him then before he goes in.”
Harry
nodded, relieved. “So… what’s he like?”
he asked after a long silence.
Jackie
and Harold exchanged glances, not knowing what to say. They weren’t really sure yet.
“He’s
a great guy,” Taylor answered for them.
“Really nice.” It wasn’t much,
but then again, what else could she say about him? Even she had only known him a few days.
Harry
nodded, saying nothing. And they waited
some more.
Then
a nurse came out of Brian’s room.
“We’re going to be taking him up to the surgical floor in a few
minutes,” she told the Littrell’s. “You
can go up their now if you want. It’s
one floor up.”
“Thank
you,” Jackie said, standing up. She took
her husband’s arm, and they started down the hall to the elevators, Harry and
Taylor walking side by side behind them.
***
