Chapter 18
The phone in the hotel room rang repeatedly, but since they’d only gone to sleep a few
hours ago, Brian wasn’t inclined to answer it. When his cell phone rang , he moaned in
acknowledgment that he’d have to answer it. So he carefully removed his arm from under
Julie’s sleeping head, rolled over, and flipped open the phone.
“This better be good.” He threatened.
“It’s not, get up.” Toby told him shortly.
“Toby? Give me a break! The campaigns over, man.”
“Fine. I just thought you’d like to know your boss is in the hospital.”
“What?” Brian sat up and his loud exclamation roused Julie. “What happened?”
“Car accident.” Toby replied trying to ride herd on Ben and Tori while Donna was with
Josh. “Tori’s arm is broken, Ben has some stitches, but Josh is in rough shape. For some
reason, Donna and the other kids drove separately, so they’re all fine.”
Brian took it all in and didn’t like the conclusion he came to. “That was me.”
“What was you? Tori, it’s okay. Your mom will come right back.”
“I asked them to take my rental car back to the airport today. That’s why they were driving
separately.” Brian told him.
“Snap out of it, will you? I need you to get over here and help. Can you get a cab, or I don’
t know, a snowplow of some kind?”
“I’ll be right there…Wait! Where is there? What hospital are you at?” Brian asked. Julie’s
eyes grew wide at the word hospital.
“Abbott Northwestern.” Toby replied.
Brian turned to Julie. “Do you where Abbott Northwestern hospital is?”
“Sure, it’s about 40 minutes away. What happened?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.” He turned his attention back to Toby. “We’ll be there in about 45
minutes.”
“Who are you talking to over there?” Toby asked suspiciously.
“We’ll see you shortly. Call me on my cell if something changes.” Brian hung up before
Toby could comment further and updated Julie who was already getting dressed.
“He didn’t have ANY details on Josh?”
“None that he shared.”
“Then let’s get moving. We shouldn’t run into any traffic this time of day.”
“A woman who can get out of bed and get out the door in 5 minutes? Very impressive.”
Brian decreed and held the door open for her.
“Just one of my many talents.” Julie smiled as they walked to the elevator.
“You ain’t kidding.” Brian agreed and pressed the button for the elevator car. “Morning,
Julie.” Brian leaned toward her and gave her a quick but intense kiss.
“Morning.” Julie returned the kiss. “Everything will be okay with Josh. Abbott has an
excellent reputation.”
“I certainly hope so.” Brian made a fervent wish that she would be right.
**************************************************
Donna carefully ran her palm down her husband’s bruised and battered face. She sighed
in relief when his eyes fluttered open. “Are you ever a sight for sore eyes.”
“Sore is right.” He mumbled. “Tori and Ben? They wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“That’s because they wanted to concentrate on you for awhile. The kids are fine. Ben has
some stitches and Tori will be showing off her black arm cast for a few weeks, but other
than that…”
Tears spilled over Josh’s tired eyes. “It’s my fault. I got distracted and-“
“That’s why they call them accidents.” Donna interrupted.
“What about the other car?” He asked and Donna could tell it was costing him to just keep
the conversation going.
“For them it was a front end crash, so the car is totaled but the driver only has some
bruises from the air bags. You took the brunt of the impact.”
Josh looked down at his body and back up the machines spewing out all his medical
information. “When can I go home?”
“You want to leave now? I’ll just have them disconnect you from the wires and tubes so you
can get dressed and walk out of here…You were in a serious car accident, you idiot, you’
re staying right here for a few days. You’ve got broken ribs, a broken Tibia in your left leg,
your heart has been behaving erratically and they’re concerned about additional damage
to your left lung. So, yes, I gave them the okay to keep you here for awhile.”
“You’re pissed.” Josh noted.
“I was scared.” Donna corrected. “Very scared. They were having trouble stabilizing you
and I couldn’t drive here fast enough without getting into an accident myself. I was so
scared, Josh, for all of you!”
“I know. I’m sorry.” They both shed a couple tears about both the damage done and what
might have been.
Donna nodded her acceptance and wiped the tears off her face. “Now I need you to pull it
together because I need to bring Ben in here. On top of inheriting your strategic brain and
enigmatic charm, he has also inherited your guilt complex and he’s out there thinking he’s
responsible for everyone’s injuries.”
Josh rolled his eyes before closing them and leaning his head back against the pillow.
“There’s really only room for one person with a chronic guilt complex in this family.” He told
her.
“A point I’m confident you can explain to him.” Donna said sternly. “Josh, he’s really upset. I’
m worried about everything that’s hitting him lately.”
“Me too. Bring Tori in too, would you? I want to see her.” Josh shrugged and winced from
the pain that it caused. “I’ll just feel better seeing her.”
“I’ll try but I don’t know how much luck I’ll have getting her to come into another hospital
room. They didn’t handle things very well with her in the ER; Ben had to step in and help.
Then after trying to get her to sit still for the cast…I just don’t know. If she sees another
doctor or nurse coing at her… They’re outside in the waiting room with Toby. Jenny has
the other two downstairs. I’m going to have her work on getting some rooms for us so we
have someplace to crash.”
“I love you, Donnatella.” Josh whispered hoarsely.
“You’re going to be okay and I’m so thankful for that. I love you too.” She gently placed a
kiss on his forehead. “I’ll get the kids.”
Donna moved slowly into the waiting area, her adrenaline spent, so she caught some of
the conversation between Tori and Toby. One of the things Donna appreciated most
about Toby was that he never treated Tori any differently from the other kids and actually
seemed to enjoy his interactions with her.
“But why black? They have a whole rainbow of colors to pick from, why black?” He was
obviously referring to her cast which was in a sling, also black.
“I like black. It doesn’t hurt my eyes.” Tori explained, her eyes drooping from the pain
medicine they gave her.
“Black is depressing.” Toby countered.
“YOU are depressing.” Tori shot back and made Toby laugh.
“Fair point.” Toby conceded. “But have you considered that a bright and optimistic color,
of say, blue, might speed your recovery?”
“Colors don’t make bones heal faster.” Tori said definitively.
“I guess not.” Toby agreed.
Ben, for his part, sat staring at the TV, which Donna knew he wasn’t paying attention to
because it was tuned to FOX news. The child was seriously down, but she hoped talking to
Josh would help alleviate some of that.
“Who’s ready to see Daddy?” she called out and all three heads swiveled her way.
“Where is he?” Tori asked looking around Donna to try and catch sight of her dad.
“He’s in his room.” Donna pointed to the door. “Come see. He’s asking for you.”
“No, thank you.” Tori turned her attention back to the book that has half in her lap and half
in Toby’s since she couldn’t hold it very well.
“Just for a peek inside, Tori. Daddy really needs to see you for just a few seconds.”
“No, thank you.” She repeated and got frustrated by her inability to turn the pages. Toby
gently pulled the book out of her hand.
“No one’s going to touch you.” He promised. “It’s just your dad in there. Let’s go open the
door and say, hi. You can even stay outside the room if you want and just look in.”
Tori reluctantly nodded and Donna sent him a grateful smile. Tori got to her feet but she
swayed a bit. Toby steadied her.
“Here, baby, Mommy will carry you.” Donna opened her arms and let Tori walk into them
before she picked the girl up. “Come on Ben.”
“I’ll stay here.” Ben replied without looking up.
“Ben.” Donna said louder than she intended. “Please come see your dad.”
Toby motioned for her to take Tori ahead and sat down next to the young man.
“Hey, this is what we were talking about before. You need to go talk to your dad and fix
things between you. That’s what men do. They stand up and take responsibility for their
actions and apologize when they were out of line.”
“What if he doesn’t want to see me or talk to me?” Ben was speaking so quietly Toby could
hardly hear him.
“He does Ben. He really does.” Toby assured him. “He just wants to see that you’re okay
and walking around and everything. Come on, I’ll walk you in so I can give him shit about
his driving.”
“You’re not supposed to say shit around us, Uncle Toby.” Ben smiled when he said it
though. It made him feel grown up when Toby spoke like an adult around him.
“Why the hell not?” Toby smirked.
“You’re not supposed to say hell either.” Ben pointed out with a full out grin.
“Then damn it, what words can I say?” Toy played along.
“Not those either.” Ben laughed and walked with him into his dad’s room.
Donna had convinced Tori to come in the room, but she was refusing to touch or get too
close to her dad. Everything made weird noises and her dad looked really sick to her.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Victoria Helen. I was worried about you.” Josh admitted.
“I’m NOT okay, Daddy. Don’t you see this big black cast here? I’m having lots of problems
today.”
“Me too, sweetie.” Josh gave her a smile then spotted Ben. “Benjamin, come here. Let me
take a look at you.”
“I’m fine.” Ben said but moved closer to his dad. “Are you okay?”
“I will be, Ben.” Josh said evenly.
“You don’t look so good.” Ben told him honestly.
“Well, neither do you pal. I bet your face turns more colors than mine.” Josh tried to tease
but Ben just kept staring at him.
“It’s time to go now.” Tori said looking anxiously at the door. If a nurse walked in, there was
no telling what would happen.
“Bye, Tori. Listen to your mom and Jenny, okay?” Josh instructed.
“I will. See you at dinner.” Tori replied causing Josh to shake his head. His daughter loved
routine and the routine was that he was home for dinner.
“I’d just like to point out before I go, that if you’d learned to drive defensively in New York
instead of that pansy ass state of Connecticut, this whole thing could have been avoided.
That’s all.” Toby concluded and walked out the door.
“I guess he told me, huh?” Josh asked Ben.
“It wasn’t your fault…about the accident, I mean. It was my fault.” Ben got the words out
that were upsetting him so much.
“Hey. Look at me now.” Josh insisted but then wasn’t sure that was a good idea because
looking into Josh’s injured face just brought the tears down Ben’s face.
“I’m really sorry, Daddy.” Josh startled at the word ‘daddy’ his oldest child rarely referred to
him as daddy anymore. It demonstrated just how upset he was. “I was being a jerk to you
and Tori and now everyone is hurt because of me.”
“Sit down, kiddo.” Josh used his right arm, which didn’t seem to hurt at much to pull Ben
closer.
“No, I’ll just hurt you more.” Ben continued to cry.
“You won’t. I’ve got such good pain meds right now I can hardly feel anything. Sit here with
me.” He repeated.
“I didn’t mean it. When I said I hated you, I didn’t mean it.” Ben hiccupped.
“I know that, Ben. God, don’t you know I already know that?” Josh tilted his son’s chin up to
face him. “Do you know how many times I told my dad I hated him? When went through
some really tough times after my sister died. I was angry about a lot of things and I just let
it all out with my dad. That’s what you were doing today. You were just venting; letting it all
out. I know that.”
Ben nodded hesitantly. “I thought maybe if we helped Julie she’d like me better than
Brian.” He whispered.
“Julie likes you already, Ben.” Josh paused. “Here’s the other thing you need to hear very
clearly, alright? This accident was not your fault. Hey! Don’t interrupt me here. We all
played a role in this. I tried to force you to talk in the car, you were yelling, and when Tori
did her melt down, I let myself be distracted. I should have pulled the car over and stopped
until things settled down again but I didn’t.”
Ben looked confused by that statement.
“I mean it Ben. Sometimes I get it in my head that I can handle anything and then I get in
over my head…but we don’t need to mention that to Mom.”
Ben smiled wanly. “I feel awful, Dad; really awful.”
“I know.” Josh told him. “But thank God everyone is alright. The bones will heal, the
stitches will mend your forehead, and we’ve all learned a lesson from this. I love you with
all my heart, Ben. The most important thing to me is that you and Tori are okay. That stuff
we said to each other today? Let’s just erase it all and start over, okay?”
“O…Okay.” Ben agreed and sniffed away the last of his tears.
“I heard you saved the day for Tori in the emergency room.”
“They just didn’t know what to do with her.” Ben brushed it off.
“Neither do we half the time.” Josh joked. “That was a really great thing you did, stepping
in to help her. You didn’t have your mom or your dad there and you stepped up just like a
big brother should to help your sister, even though you had to be scared yourself. I’m very
proud of you.”
Ben shrugged. “Are you sure you’re okay? You have a lot of wires tied up to you and
everything.”
“This? It’s just a scratch.” Josh deadpanned.
“Right. Just a flesh wound.” Ben drawled, playing his part in the Monty Python Holy Grail
movie they both loved so much.
“Your mom is going to need some help running things while I’m in here. You’re the oldest
so it’s going to be your job to pick up the slack and make sure your mom doesn’t mess
things up to much, okay?” Josh asked before he heard a “ah-hem” from the doorway.
“Look Ben…Mom’s back.” Josh tried for distraction.
“I’m going to run Jenny and the kids to a hotel close by, but I thought you’d like to see
some more friendly faces before I left.” Donna explained and held the door open for Julie
and Brian.
“Julie!” Ben squealed and dropped down from the bed to run over to her.
“Oh, Benjamin, what did you do to your beautiful face?” Julie held his face still with her
hands so she could look him over.
“We were in an accident and I got 6 stitches but I didn’t even cry once.” Ben bragged.
“You’re clearly much braver than I am.” Julie admitted. “I would have been crying like a
baby.”
“Tori did. She cried a lot!” Ben filled her in before lifting his gaze to Brian.
“You’re going to have an impressive scar there, champ.” Brian told him.
Ben shrugged and turned back to Julie. “Tori got a big black cast in her arm, Want to see?”
“In a bit. I wanted to check on your dad first.” Julie joined Brian who had already moved
over to converse with Josh.
“…and my trip to Illinois is going to have to be re-scheduled.” Josh was explaining.
“I can go. We’ve finished up here and the rest of the crew can handle dismantling the
campaign.” Brian volunteered.
“I’ve already covered it.” Donna announced. “Billy is heading out as we speak to cover
Illinois. Liz and I are looking at who we can reshuffle where.”
“Where do you need me then?” Brian asked.
“Home office. Can you get there tonight?” Brian exchanged a furtive look with Julie.
“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll come back for the rest of my stuff later.” He agreed.
“Thanks Brian, we appreciate it.” Donna told him.
“So, you’re just taking over?” Josh said sleepily from his position on the bed.
“It looks like it. So if you don’t want me taking over as President of this operation by the
end of the week, you’d better do what the doctors tell you.” Donna warned her husband.
“Don’t you love it when she’s all bossy?” Josh asked Brian who held up his hands in
surrender.
“I think that might be the pain meds talking there Joshua.” Donna chuckled.
“No, it’s not, Donnatella.” Josh smiled at her and damn if she didn’t feel it all the way to her
toes.
“Okay, Ben, let’s let Dad get some sleep. We’ll come back and check on him later.
“I want to stay here with him.” Ben announced.
“Ben, your dad needs to sleep.” Donna reiterated.
“Let him stay. He could use some sleep too. We’ll just lie here together and sleep.” Josh
told her. Donna was no match for both her men staring at her with their puppy dog eyes.
“Fine but I’ll be back to check on you two, and you better both be asleep.” Donna warned.
Without another word Ben kicked off his shoes and carefully lay down next to his father. It
was a tight squeeze but neither of them minded in the least.
Donna, Julie, and Brian left the patients alone, but Donna stopped at the nurse’s station.
“My son is staying with his father for awhile. Here’s my cell number if you should need to
get in touch with me before I get back. Otherwise, I’ll be back in 30 minutes or so.”
“Ma’am we can’t be responsible for a minor child; especially one that has just received
medical care himself.” The nurse replied.
“You’re not responsible, his father is.” Donna countered.
“And if something should happen to Mr. Lyman?” the nurse responded.
“NOTHING is going to- What is the problem here? And what happened to Minnesota nice?”
Donna demanded. She was tired and stressed too.
“Please, this is a health care facility.” Julie drawled. “If I’d been elected you would be-“
“I think what you mean to say,” Brian interrupted smoothly, “is that surely there is a
solution to this.”
The nurse crossed her arms in front of her and tapped her foot, unwilling to give an inch.
“I’ll stay.” Julie volunteered sending a venomous glare toward the nurse.
“You can’t do that.” Donna protested.
“Sure I can. You need to take the other kids to the hotel, Brian needs to get packed and
book a flight to D.C., but I am currently unemployed so I’m the perfect one to stay. I’ll just
hang out in the corner chair and nobody will even notice me.”
“Thank you Julie, I really appreciate it.” Donna said sincerely. “You know, I really wouldn’t
be sending Brian back to D.C. if I didn’t really need him there.”
“Uh…yes, yes I know that.” Julie responded carefully, unsure where Donna was going with
this.
“That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have company on his trip.” She mentioned. “I’ll be
back shortly, so if someone wanted to pack a bag and hop a flight to the nation’s capitol, I
think that would be a great idea.”
Julie and Brian exchanged glances.
“I hate flying alone, don’t you Brian?”
“I really do.” Brian nodded. “But I was under the impression that solo flying was being
encouraged.”
“It was. But circumstances have changed since then and in case you haven’t noticed, there’
s a new Sheriff in town. Talk it over. I’ll be back within the hour.” Donna winked and went to
gather her troops. It had been a long day.