Personals, Internet Love? by B.L. Wilson

Author:B.L. Wilson [Wilson, B.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781370196166
Amazon: B072J7YQ1Z
Goodreads: 35234174
Publisher: Patchwork Bluez Press
Published: 2017-06-02T03:00:00+00:00

Ted leaned his head against the pew in front of him. The cool wood felt good against his skin. What was he doing here in the little church inside the hospital? He wasn’t a man who prayed often. Sundays, he usually spent at the Bronx precinct, filling out endless forms and signing stacks of paper. He let Janet handle the children’s education and their religion, just as his own father had done with him and Lucinda. He’d scanned the chapel’s interior, making sure it was empty before he entered and sat in the last pew.

What was going on with him today? Almost breaking down on the phone with his father, then begging him to come here and be with him for the bad news. Jesus, he felt funny, uneven, and all mixed up inside. He couldn’t hold on to his sadness. He started to cry, bawling against the pew in front of him like a kid … like his own kids did when they were babies. He cried until his stomach hurt and his eyes felt dry as an Arizona desert.

“Don’t die, Lucy Lou. I need you here. I don’t care about your women. I don’t care about that, just don’t die,” he muttered to the empty room.

After searching everywhere, Isabelle found Lucinda’s brother slumped against one of the pews in the tiny hospital chapel. She stood quietly in the doorway, unsure how he’d feel if he knew she was there. She needed to tell him Lucinda was in ICU and he could see her. She finally decided her news was more important than any fleeting embarrassment she’d cause him. She cleared her throat.

“Lieutenant Parker … Teddy? Could I speak with you for a minute?”

Ted jerked upright with a start, wiping his eyes with his palms as he rose. “Yes, Dr. Parker … I mean, Isabelle. She’s not … gone, is she?”

Isabelle walked over to him, noticing his damp eyes for the first time. “No, Teddy. Lucinda’s not ... dead. She’s doing well.” She frowned, then her lower lip trembled. “Oh Lord, not here! Don’t break down here. Not in front of him,” she whispered hoarsely.

Before she could back away, Ted cradled her against his chest. “It’s okay to cry,” he soothed, rubbing her back. “I haven’t cried since…” He sighed. “I can’t remember when, but that’s all I’ve been doing for the last hour in here. Bawling like a goddamned baby and bargaining with the man upstairs for her life. That’s me.”

Isabelle sniffed into his hanky, issuing a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”

“If my sister is okay—relatively speaking—why did you want to see me?”

“We’re moving her down to ICU. You can visit her if you’d like.”

Teddy shrugged, then ran a hand through his hair. “How does she look, Isabelle?”

Isabelle hesitated to answer him, rubbing her temples to ease the tension. She didn’t want to scare him with technical lingo, so she tried to keep it simple. “She’s hooked up to several machines, Teddy. There’s a ventilator to help her breathe. A heart monitor checks her heart rate and another one monitors brain waves.

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