Matthew's Choice. Patricia Bradley
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to him. “You never said anything about a sister.”
“Everybody, just sit down.” He sank into the hard leather chair closest to him and looked at Allie. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is she overdosed on heroin and her little boy has run away from the person who was looking after him temporarily,” Allie said. “You’ll have to ask Peter Elliott exactly what happened.”
He missed whatever she said next. Peter Elliott? He was taken aback the great man hadn’t already called to rub Matt’s nose in the news. Mariah. What have you done? His sister might be two years older, but he’d always taken care of her until she ran off with that Connors thug. He realized Allie had asked him something. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“I have the hospital number, if you want it.” She held a slip of paper out toward him.
Matt folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. I tried to talk to Mariah when she first started using—after Connors introduced her to drugs. She didn’t listen then, and I doubt that anything has changed. I’m sorry, but she made her choice a long time ago.”
And he had made his when he left Cedar Grove. He just never thought his past would choose today to catch up with him.
NOAH WAITED FOR an opportunity to slip into the hospital entrance unnoticed. By now, the cops were sure to be looking for him, and they’d probably figure out where he’d gone. A man and woman with four boys walked toward the door. Maybe no one would notice if he tagged along. Noah fell in behind them, staying just close enough, but not so close the man or woman would notice him.
Noah almost bumped into the last boy when the man stopped and turned around.
“’Scuse me,” Noah mumbled and bent over to untie his shoe and retie it.
The man clapped his hands once. “Okay, boys, listen up. We’re going down this hall to the ICU waiting room. I want you to be quiet. There’s folks here that have really sick people in the hospital. You mind your manners now, you hear?”
Noah couldn’t believe his luck. As soon as they started walking, he stood and tagged along. Once in the waiting room, he glanced around. Adults sat in little groups, but there was one area where kids watched cartoons on a wall TV. An empty chair next to a girl about his age beckoned to him. He sauntered over and sat in the vinyl wingback like he owned it. After a few minutes, he braved a glance around. People seemed to be lining up toward the silver double doors. “Where’s everybody going?” he muttered under his breath.
“It’s almost visiting time. But you’re not old enough to go back.”
Noah whipped his head around. He hadn’t meant anyone to hear him. The girl never looked up from her book. “What do you know about how old I am?”
“Puh-leese.” She eyed him over the book. “We’re both in Miss Allie’s reading class. Hello?”
Heat crawled up his neck and spread to the tip of his ears. Ashley...something or other. She always knew the answer to everything, and she never stumbled over her words. Noah dug his fingers into the hard vinyl. Maybe if he squeezed his eyes hard enough, when he opened them she’d be gone. Nope, she was still there.
She stared at him. “What are you doing? You look like you’re going to be sick or something. Why are you here?”
“What’re you doin’ here?” he snapped.
“My granna’s real sick.”
Oh. He never had a grandmother. “Do you get to go back there to see her?”
“Of course, but with my mother.”
She tilted her head up in that superior way girls had, and he quit feeling sorry for her. “Well, when those doors open, I’m going through ’em.”
“They’ll just make you come back if you don’t have an adult with you.”
He crossed his arms. “No, they won’t.”
She gave him a sour look and picked up her book again. “Whatever. But you’ll see.”
Noah spied the man he’d walked in with standing in line. He had one of the boys with him. “See ya,” he said and nonchalantly strolled over to the boy. If Ashley told on him, he’d... He fisted his hands. She just better not.
The doors opened with a soft swish, and people streamed through them and down a hallway with glass enclosures. His heart pounded against his chest until he thought it’d pop out. He didn’t see his mom in any of the first rooms. What if she’d died?
Then he noticed each room had a name on the door, and he kept walking even though his legs had turned to spaghetti, peering at each name. Mariah Connors. He inched inside the room and approached the person in the bed. Black hair fanned across the pillow, just like his mom’s, but this couldn’t be her. This person had tubes and wires everywhere. And her face was so big. Then he spied the little black mole next to her lips. “Mom?”
He touched her hand that lay elevated on a pillow. “Mom. Wake up.”
The rhythmic hissing in the room and the steady beep, beep, beep over her head answered him. He blinked back the tears that threatened to flood his eyes. “Mom, please.”
“I figured I’d find you here.”
Noah recognized the cop’s voice and whirled around to face him. Jason didn’t look too happy.
Suddenly, the beeping increased and just as fast it stopped. One long beep scraped against his eardrums. Alarms went off. Jason grabbed him up and carried him into the hall as nurses swarmed the room.
“Mommm!”
* * *
ALLIE’S HEART PLUMMETED. Who was this person Matt had turned himself into? The man she had loved would never turn his back on his family. But that was the reason they broke up. He’d been so bent on shedding everything about his life in Cedar Grove, including his values, that she couldn’t bear to watch.
He just proved she’d made the right choice, and now every second in his presence picked at the scab on her heart, reminding Allie that the Matt she’d known was truly gone. Why had she even bothered? She should have just let Peter handle the whole matter.
For the first time, Allie noticed the closed blinds, the fancy dishes on the dining room table. We’re kind of talking about getting married. Uh-oh. Heat crawled up her spine and across her face. Could the floor just open and swallow her right now? “I’m sorry—”
“Matthew...” Jessica’s soft voice held a touch of steel. “Would you please explain about this sister you never told me about? And why you don’t want to help her?”
Allie stared at him. Yeah, Matthew, why didn’t you tell this woman you’re about to propose to that you had a sister? Exactly what kind of relationship did they have?
A wince flitted across Matt’s face. He sat a little straighter and rubbed his hands on his thighs. “She’s not anyone you would want to know. She hasn’t made the best decisions in life, and I rarely hear from her...I didn’t even know she had a son until Allie told me last night.”
Conflicting emotions crossed Jessica’s face. Allie sensed Matt’s fiancée was not happy. “Look, I’m kind of in the way here, and I need to get on the road home. Mariah is at Cedar Grove Memorial, if you change your mind.”
“Would you leave the number, as well?” Jessica’s gaze was on Matt.
Allie laid the paper on the coffee table. “Nice seeing you again, Jessica. Matt, I’ll see myself out.”
In the elevator, Allie hugged her jacket closer. Matt hadn’t even tried to stop her. If she never