“I suppose he doesn’t want to cause you any trouble,” Jacqui replied, feeling guilty again that she was keeping so much from LaDonna.
Did Mitch miss her as much as she missed him? Did he, too, lie awake remembering the nights they had spent together and aching for more? Did he also wish things could have been different for them?
“As if having my son as a guest would be any trouble,” LaDonna fretted.
Leaving her cookie untouched, she took a sip of her tea. Her pale face was creased with a frown when she lowered the cup. “Jacqui, do you have an ibuprofen available? I have a little headache.”
Jacqui stood and moved to the cabinet where she kept a bottle of over-the-counter pain reliever. “Headache? Is that something you have often?”
“More often during the past few months,” LaDonna admitted. “They seem to be getting worse. I suppose I should see someone about it.”
Jacqui frowned at the older woman in concern. “With three doctors in your family, I’d have thought you’d have mentioned it to one of them.”
“I hate to bother them with medical questions. They get enough of that at work. My annual physical is next month, so I’ll mention it to my doctor then.”
“I hope I’m not being too personal, but I’ve been a little worried about your health lately,” Jacqui admitted, reaching for the high shelf where she stored the bottle. “You seem to have lost some weight and you look a little pale to me. I’ve been wanting to mention it, but I wasn’t sure you’d—”
Her voice trailed into shocked silence when she saw LaDonna slumped in the chair. Throwing the plastic bottle of ibuprofen on the counter, she rushed forward. “LaDonna? LaDonna!”
Chapter Eleven
Mitch didn’t know what his family would have done without Jacqui during the next three days. When he and his sisters and Alice reacted with panic to his mother’s collapse and subsequent rush to the E.R., Jacqui remained calm, her soothing manner and outward confidence helping them all to remain optimistic.
It was Jacqui who had reacted so quickly to get his mother to the hospital and who had called each of them to give them the news of her illness. The first fear had been that LaDonna had suffered a heart attack. Instead, she was diagnosed as severely anemic, which led to the discovery of previously untreated bleeding stomach ulcers.
When the family reeled in shock from that news, Jacqui pointed out that LaDonna was in an excellent facility with highly skilled physicians and surgeons to care for her. When guilt and stress caused the physician siblings to snap at each other, mostly over who should have seen the signs that their mother had probably been ill for several months, Jacqui stepped in quickly to play peacemaker. She handled the brief conflict so skillfully that they were soon apologizing and working together to make the best medical decisions for their mother.
Jacqui fetched coffee and bottled waters, made phone calls, nagged everyone to eat and rest and served as a buffer when well-intentioned friends flooded them with calls and visits during the first hours after LaDonna’s hospitalization. When Mitch’s mom insisted that no one should miss work or school to sit in the hospital room with her while she recuperated enough to be discharged, Jacqui made them all feel more comfortable about leaving by offering to stay in their place. She promised to call each one if problems occurred. All of them checked on their mom every chance they got, but Mitch, for one, was able to concentrate better on his work knowing Jacqui was staying with her. He was sure the others felt the same way.
Jacqui had tried to warn him that his mother hadn’t seemed well to her during the past few weeks, but he had basically brushed her off. He regretted that deeply now. Under questioning from her doctors and family, LaDonna admitted that she’d had some pain for several months, but had treated herself with over-the-counter medications. She had taken a lot of ibuprofen for stress headaches during her mother’s long illness, she confessed on further questioning. Taking too much of the drug was associated with the formation of stomach ulcers.
There had been other symptoms, she said now. Long accustomed to caring for others, she’d gotten into the habit of neglecting her own pains. Besides, she hadn’t wanted to worry her children.
“What is with this family?” Seth asked in exasperation on Saturday, the third day of LaDonna’s hospitalization. He looked from one Baker sibling to the other as they rested for a few minutes in a visitors’ lounge while their mother was undergoing another test. “Meagan ignored the signs of her ovarian torsion for so long she finally had to have emergency surgery. Now LaDonna has suffered in silence until she collapsed. You may be a family of doctors and caretakers, but all of you have to start taking care of yourselves, too.”
“Amen,” Jacqui said, entering the waiting room with a tote bag full of cold drinks and snacks.
“You’re one to talk,” Mitch accused her, even as he gratefully accepted a diet soda. Having just spent the past eight hours straight working before breaking away to check on his mother, he needed the caffeine. “Who’s been taking care of all of us for the past few days?”
Jacqui’s gaze met his for a few moments, but then she looked quickly away, moving to hand a drink to Madison. She had been attentive to Mitch during this crisis but in no different a way than with any of the others. He suspected that he was the only one who could detect the invisible wall she’d placed between them, holding him at a distance even as she had seen to his needs.
There had been more than one time during the past three days when Mitch would have liked to just take her into his arms and hold her, seeking courage and reassurance from her when his own had wavered at the thought of losing his mom. Had it not been for that imaginary wall, and for knowing how important it was to her not to let his family know about their brief affair, he might well have given in to the impulse.
“I’ve been making sure I’ve had plenty of rest and food during the past couple of days,” Jacqui commented. “You guys are the ones who have to be reminded.”
“Whatever you pay her, Seth, it isn’t enough,” Madison remarked, popping the top on her soda can. “Thank you, Jacqui. I needed this.”
Mitch wondered if he was the only one who saw the slight wince narrow Jacqui’s eyes for a moment before she moved on to hand Alice a bottle of flav
ored water. He knew very well that Jacqui hadn’t been looking after them because she was paid to do so but because she genuinely cared about this family. She loved Alice and Seth and Meagan. She loved LaDonna.
Being loved by Jacqui Handy was a very special gift. Loving her in return was impossible to resist—at least for him, he realized abruptly.
He sank heavily into a straight-backed visitors’ chair, nearly splashing soda on the white coat he wore over his blue surgical scrubs. As if he hadn’t had enough shocks in the past few days, now he had a new one to deal with. He was in love with Jacqui. He’d been an idiot not to admit it earlier, especially when he’d been fortunate enough to be with her. Not to mention during the long, lonely nights that had passed after she’d sent him away.
With typical Baker oblivion, he had completely missed the symptoms of his own condition. He’d even misdiagnosed the signs that should have been glaringly obvious. Had he waited too long to do anything about it? Or had he ever really had a chance with Jacqui in the first place?
He watched her chatting with Seth across the room, both of them smiling. Probably lamenting together on how dense the Baker clan could be when it came to their own well-being. Now that it was apparent that LaDonna would make a complete recovery, everyone had relaxed a little, although he suspected his sisters were still struggling with the same guilt he was that they hadn’t been more observant.