EDIT: Sorry for hijacking your thread here Raia...
No worries.
Chapter 14 – A Little Rain Must Fall
“Do you think you will be coming home tonight?”
“Probably. They’ve got her stabilized for now, and I’m running on empty at this point.” Leighton paused.
“How's Sam doing? Any better?”“Last I checked he was trying to sleep,” Morgana answered. “He had a very rough morning. I went up to check on him at about noon and his fever was up to one-oh-one. Nothing severe, certainly not the worst case I’ve seen this season, but he’s pretty miserable.”
She heard Leighton sigh on the other end.
“When it rains, it pours... All right. I will call you before I leave. Love you.”“Love you too.”
Morgana ended the call and slipped the phone back into her pocket, shaking her head and wishing that she could be there with her husband. These last several days had taken their toll on Leighton, and despite his brave countenance she knew deep inside that he was only barely hanging on.
His mother was dying.
Up until ten days ago, Yumi seemed to be the picture of health. She was a bit slower of gait and shorter of breath, but no one thought anything of it other than a sign of advancing age. “I’m just getting old, that is all,” she had insisted. “
You try being eighty-something and see how fast
you move.”
Despite her limitations she was still living a reasonably active life, still cooking breakfast for her grandchildren and still puttering about in her backyard garden. All of that changed two Sundays back when Leighton found her collapsed on the floor of her bedroom, unconscious and only barely breathing.
Yumi had been hospitalized ever since...and the prognosis was far from positive. “Her heart is failing,” Doctor Landgraab informed them. “I’m putting her on the highest dosage of medication possible, but as advanced as her condition is...I’m not terribly optimistic.”
Leighton got right to the point. “Is she terminal?”
“The condition will eventually take her regardless, though exactly how long she has depends greatly on what happens in the next couple of days. If Yumi responds well to the treatment, she could easily live to see another two years, perhaps more. But if this round of treatment is not successful...” Geoffrey sighed deeply. “We may be talking on the order of three to four weeks.”
All color drained from Leighton’s face as the weight of the doctor’s words came crashing down upon him. His mother, the woman who had given him life, the woman who had been his cornerstone for so long, would likely never leave the hospital alive.
In the days that immediately followed they tried to remain optimistic. Leighton spent every moment that he could at his mother’s side, holding her hand as the doctors did what they could to heal her. As the week wore on, though, it became clear that nothing was helping. Yumi remained unconscious, her vital signs slowly fading...and their hopes began to fade along with them.
Late last night they received the phone call that they had been dreading; Yumi’s condition had taken a turn for the worse, and Doctor Bunch was concerned that she might not even survive the night. Leighton immediately got dressed and headed back to the hospital...
...and sixteen hours later, there he remained. Originally Morgana had intended to join him once the children were off to school, but her plans had to be scrapped when Sam suddenly fell ill early this morning.
It was a case of bad timing at its very worst. The teenager was positively miserable, and with a fever of over one-hundred degrees there was no way that Morgana was going to leave him home alone.
At this point, it was merely adding insult to injury...and it made for a very challenging morning. By the time Winter’s afternoon nap rolled around Morgana had half a mind to join her.
But alas, there was no rest for the weary. Once Winter was finally asleep, she gathered her medical bag and headed upstairs toward her stepson's room. It had been nearly two hours since last Morgana checked on him and she hadn’t heard any movement, which she hoped was a good sign. When she peered through the bedroom door the teenager was laying on top of his covers, yawning and stretching as if just awakening from a nap.
“Hi, mom,” he weakly spoke.
Morgana smiled in return and carefully sat down beside him on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Remember last year when we ate those bad hot dogs at one of Dad's games?”
Morgana grimaced; that was
one weekend that she would just as soon forget.
“It's still better than it was this morning, at least,” Sam continued. “I just wish this headache would go away...and that the room would stop
spinning.”
“Have you managed to get any sleep this afternoon?”
“A little bit. It's hard to get comfortable when your entire body is aching.”
“That's not entirely unexpected, I'm afraid,” Morgana sighed. “You've got a classic case of the simflu, and all of the fun that comes with it.”
She reached over and felt his forehead with one hand. While he was still uncomfortably warm, his fever seemed no worse than it had been earlier in the day. That, at least, was some semblance of relief. “Do you think you're ready to try something?” She asked. “Some tea, perhaps?”
Sam thought about this for a few moments. “I guess so...but I think I want to take a nap first. I'm really tired.” He yawned as if to emphasize his point.
“I suppose that's fair enough.” Morgana stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I'll be back to check up on you a bit later. Call me or text me if you need anything, all right?”
The teenager nodded as he climbed under the covers and closed his eyes.
---
A short time later...
“So you’re sure you don’t mind...?”
“Of course not! You worry too much, little sis.” She heard Gobias chuckle on the other end of the line.
“Besides, I already have to pick Hannah up from scouts. It’s not like picking up Justin up from ballet is really going out of my way.”Morgana smiled. “Thanks, Gobi. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“Not a problem at all. Anything I can do to help...” His voice trailed off.
“How is Yumi doing, by the way?”“Not great. Leighton said that her vitals had stabilized this morning, but...” Morgana heaved an uneasy sigh. “I have my doubts as to whether she will even make it through the day.”
“I’m sorry, Morgana. If there is anything at all that we can do to help, take Winter for a while or something, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.”“I appreciate that.” The sound of the school bus roaring to a stop outside caught her attention. “It looks like Lexie and Jeremy are home. I’d better get going so I can get Winter up from her nap and start thinking about what to cook for dinner.”
“All right. I’ll see you in an hour or so.”Just as Morgana ended the call the front door swung open and Jeremy bounded inside, a bright smile on his face. It warmed her heart to see her son so joyful, especially after the day she had been having so far...
“Hi Mommy,” he called out as he bounced into the den. “Where’s Sam? I wanna show him my drawing! Miss Alto gave me an A and everything!”
“Good job, Jeremy,” Morgana replied, “but I'm afraid you’re probably going to have to wait until tomorrow to show it to your brother. He’s resting right now and he’s not feeling very good.”
“Is he sick?”
Morgana nodded. “I'm afraid so.” At this Jeremy’s expression became sullen.
“...
Grandma sick?”
The tone of her son’s words struck Morgana hard and she immediately took him into her embrace. “No sweetheart...Sam just has the simflu. He should start feeling better tomorrow.”
“Are you
sure?”
“He's just feeling yucky, that's all.” She smoothed Jeremy’s hair back and kissed him lightly on the forehead. “Why don’t you go and do your homework, okay?”
“Okay.” Jeremy turned to leave, but stopped. “Mommy?”
“Hmm?”
“When I grow up I wanna be a doctor just like you, so I can help people feel better.”
Morgana smiled. “That is a very noble goal, Jeremy.”
He seemed satisfied by her answer. Returning his mother's smile with one of his own, he turned around and headed out the back door.
A heavy sigh escaped Morgana's throat as she watched her son retreat toward his room. Both she and Leighton had tried to keep the gravity of Yumi's condition a secret from their youngest children. They knew that she was ill, and they seemed to understand that it was fairly serious, but only Sam and to a certain degree Alexia knew just
how serious.
Speaking of Alexia...why hadn't she come inside yet? Morgana opened the front door and noticed her eldest daughter sitting on the bench, an apprehensive expression on her face. Something was definitely up.
“Lexie?” Morgana called to her daughter. “What's wrong?”
Alexia glanced at her mother, then back down at her feet. “My teacher is mean,” she replied with a pout.
Alarm bells immediately started going off in Morgana's head. “What happened?”
Without saying another word Alexia handed a small yellow slip of paper to her mother. Unfortunately, Morgana had seen enough of these lately to know exactly what it was before opening it. Surely enough...
Discipline Slip
Date: 11/15
Teacher Name: Mrs. Bebe Langerak
Student Name: Alexia Sekemoto
Description of Incident: Alexia got into a verbal altercation with another student and disrupted class.
Disciplinary Action Taken: Detention to be served on 11/16.
Notes: Please call me whenever you get the opportunity. I would like to schedule a meeting to discuss possible actions moving forward. Alexia is a brilliant young lady and has been doing well in her course work, however it is of critical importance that we bring her temper into check if she is to be successful.
Parent Signature:
Date:
“Alexia Grace...”
“Simon started it!”
“I don't care
who started it, Alexia. This is the second time you've had detention since the beginning of the month, and it has
got to stop!” Morgana looked her daughter directly in the eyes. “Go up to your room and work on your homework. I will be up a bit later to talk to you.”
Still pouting, Alexia gathered her backpack and made her way inside, leaving her mother shaking her head behind her. Everything had been going so well with Alexia up until this school year, then all of the sudden it seemed like someone hit a switch. Now, with two parent-teacher conferences and too many detentions to count, both Leighton and Morgana were about at wits end where their eldest daughter was concerned.
Most of the problem seemed to revolve around one of her classmates in particular, a boy who just happened to be her boss's youngest son. Exactly
why Alexia and Simon Landgraab rubbed each other the wrong way was a mystery that neither she nor Leighton could quite piece together, and frankly Geoffrey was equally stumped.
One thing was for certain: Leighton was not going to be pleased when he got home. This was about the
last thing they needed right now.
The sound of her cell phone ringing startled her out of her thoughts. Glancing at the caller ID she saw her husband's number, and a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread washed over her. She hadn't expected him to call until much later.
“Hello?”
“M--Morgana?”His voice was shaking, and Morgana's heart sank. Oh
no...
“It--it's over. Mom's...gone.”
Morgana slumped against the wall, allowing the tears to overtake her.
---
A/N: <exhales> Whew... that was a rough one to write. 
Thank you all so much for reading. I do greatly appreciate it!
