Failings of the Fathers: 58

"Help us, please, my children," Blair screamed, crying.  The nurse at the emergency room, came around from behind the desk, to take Blair's arm. 

"Ma'am, please.  Calm down.  I think you need a chair."

She pulled away from the nurse, and said, "What?  No, I don't need a fucking chair!  Get my son help and bring me to my daughter!"

"Please, calm down," the nurse repeated.  

Blair looked at her and then relaxed her shoulders.  "I'm, sorry, I just . . ." she began to cry, "My children.  Someone hurt them.  Someone has my little boy."

The nurse's expression immediately changed, as another nurse whisked Sam off, and Jack ran after them.  Jenna stayed nearby, with the baby, and the nurse sat Blair down in the waiting area.  "Ma'am, please.  Who's your daughter?"

"Starr.  Starr Manning."

"I remember her being admitted about an hour ago, it's a pretty name.  It stands out."

"Yes, she . . . please, is she all right?"

"Let me get her info and get you to her, all right?"  The nurse stood up, and headed to the station.  Blair's hands were shaking, and her face was streaked with mascara and tears.  Jenna said, "Mrs. Manning, can I do anything?"

"Call Dorian.  Please."

Jenna, of course, had Dorian's number in her phone, but at the moment, she wasn't sure where her phone was.  She thought back, and realized she may have left it at Unforgettable with all the commotion.  Instead, she said, "I will."

The nurse came back and took Blair with her, and Jenna, left on her own with the tiny baby, sat in the waiting area for Jack to come back.

***

"Creena, ya won't believe why I'm waking ya."

"I wasn't sleeping.  I can't do it.  Something was in the way, I was restless as the tumbling terrain."

"The Mannings are in trouble, Sister.  We will need a great deal of prayers."

"What?"  she sat up in her bed.

"Todd just left.  He got a call.  Someone's hurt the family."

"No, that can't be."

"It is.  All I could gather was that Bridgette was hysterical, Todd was trying to be stoic.  Sam and Ray were missing, Starr was beaten.  I don't know more."

"Oh Dear Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  No."

"He left, already.  He's on his way to the states."

"My God, and here I thought . . . well, I thought at first . . ."

"That the call was about Eric.  I know.  I felt the same."

"Who would do this to them?"  she asked.

"I don't know.  I can only hazard a guess."

"My God."  The nun didn't speak, but she thought immediately of Bea, trying to warn the family of danger.   All right, she conceded, it wasn't Peter Manning, but it was someone. . . "Is Jewel all right?"

"I got the sense she was, yes."

"Sam and Ray both missing?"

"I believe."

"Starr. . . is she . . . alive?"

"Yes, she was alive when he got the call.  He has an eight-hour flight before even touching down in Llanview."

"Oh Dear.  We must pray."

"Aside from that, Dear One, we must determine who would want to hurt my son and his family."

***

Blair moved the curtain aside, and her daughter was almost unrecognizable.  One side of her face was almost all purple, and swollen.  There was also a bandage over her left ear.  Her arm was broken, the doctor said from being twisted in defense.  She had several cracked ribs, with fractures in front and back.  She was sleeping, and Blair cried as soon as she laid eyes on her.  "Oh, my beautiful girl," she said.  "My beautiful Starr."

The nurse spoke.  "She's all right now.  When they brought her in, a rib was poking through the lung.  But it's been repaired, and she's on the mend.  She will be all right."

She sat beside her bed.  She stroked Starr's hair on the right side and cried.  Where was Perzno?  He must have taken Starr in.  Maybe he knew something about Ray?  "The copter pilot, is he still here?"

"No, Ma'am.  He was asked to leave, because they needed the helipad for another victim."

Shaun.  She'd almost forgotten that Shaun was there, at the hospital, too.  She wasn't even sure if he were dead or alive.  "That victim, is he all right?"

"He's still unconscious.  Animal tranquilizer.  A very large dose.  We'll know more in a few hours."  The nurse left her.

"My God, Starr," she said quietly, "what did he do to you?  Who is he?"

Jack had chased the nurse who had Sam into a cubicle, where the little boy was put on the gurney and treated for shock and hypothermia.  After they tended to him, Jack moved along side him and put his hand on the little boy's forehead.  "It's okay Sam.  If you can't talk, I get it.  But if you want to, I'm right here, and no one is going to . . ." he choked up, "hurt you."

Sam just looked at Jack with very wide eyes, and tears continued to fall from them.

"I understand, Squirt.  I get you."  He sat, pulling the chair closer.  He took Sam's hand, and the little boy gripped his hand in return.

"There you go, good," Jack said.  "You don't have to be afraid anymore."  After saying that, he realized how foolish a statement it was.  His brother, Ray, was gone, Starr was beaten up, maybe to death, and Mixie was dead.  Sam had seen all that.  "Or, you could be afraid, and I'll be afraid with you.  Just talk to me, Puny.  Please."

Sam blinked, let more tears fall, but didn't say a word.  He just squeezed Jack's hand.  Jack said, "Do you think you could squeeze my hand, like one time if you want to say yes to me?"

Jack felt the little boy squeeze his hand once.  "Good, okay.  Are you hurt?"  No squeeze.  Jack took it as a no.  "Did you see what happened?"  Squeeze.  Yes.  "Do you know who it was?"  Another squeeze.  "Was it Malcolm?"  Sam closed his eyes and physically shook, as he squeezed Jack's hand.  "Okay.  That's enough for now.  Can I hug you?  I want to."

Sam squeezed, and Jack took his brother in his arms and held him over his shoulder.

By some grace of God, Jenna noticed she had Jack's cell phone in her pocket.  There was a text message from "Dad" that said, I'll be there.  Soon.  Take care of your mother.  It will be all right, somehow, Jack.

Her eyes filled with water reading it.  First the home invasion, now this.  She wasn't sure how much one family could take.  

But of course, Jenna had no idea how much they already had taken.

She looked through his contacts and found Dorian, and called her.  Jenna attempted to keep it as brief and informational as possible, just to get her to the hospital.  Dorian had just hung up, haphazardly, after saying she would be right there.  Jenna looked at the sleeping baby in her hand-made basket.  She was so beautiful and perfect and small; her head could fit in Jenna's diminutive palm.  Jenna felt a lump in her throat rising up, and she pushed it back.  She'd read somewhere that being upset around babies upset them, and she didn't want to do that.  The least she could do for Jack and his family was keep the baby calm and happy.  It didn't seem like even a small amount toward enough.

Within a short while, Dorian arrived.  She was in her house clothes, not dressed as she usually would be in public, and Jenna noticed.  She didn't have make-up on either.  It was after hours, and she had been settling in for the night.  Even though it was not quite eight o'clock, it was moving toward bedtime for the woman.  Jenna was not used to seeing her plain and unadorned.  She said, "Ms. Lord."

"Jenna, where's Blair?"

"In with Starr."

"Where's Jack?"

"In with Sam, I think."

"Where's the baby, Ray?"

"He's . . . gone.  They think kidnapped."  Jenna tried to reach out with her free hand as Dorian lost her footing and sat into one of the chairs.  

"No."

"They're pretty sure, yes."

"My God," Dorian said.  "Where's Todd?"

"On his way back from Europe."

"I see," she said, sitting back in the chair.  "Blair needs me, I suppose."

"She's a mess.  Really upset."

"It's her children, of course she is."

"I didn't mean anything," Jenna corrected.

"I know you didn't.  It's . . . a difficult time."

"I'm . . . so worried about them all.  Jack, too."

"I know you are, Dear."

"He thinks it's his fault."

"His fault?  How?"

"He was supposed to be there, babysitting.  But the art show, he had promised me.  He broke the rules to come to it.  He felt bad about it, so we went there as soon as it was over, well, even a little before.  When we got there . . ."  she grimaced, and began to cry, "It was horrible.  Starr was . . . on the ground, face down.  She was, bloody.  The boys were nowhere.  It wasn't until Blair got home that Jack realized where Sam was."

"Oh, no, this isn't Jack's fault.  Whoever did this is to blame.  Whatever their reason is the cause."

The girl got quiet, and sat by Dorian, with the baby in her basket on her lap.  Dorian said, "She's so beautiful.  Starr was small, too.  Not that small, but small.  They look very similar. . ."

Just then, Blair walked toward them.  She was moving slowly, as if in a dream.  Dorian stood up.  "Blair?"

"Starr's alive.  Sam's alive," she started to cry, "My baby boy is missing."

Dorian put her arms around Blair and held her, and Jenna looked to her hands and cried.

"Is Starr awake?"  Dorian asked, sitting Blair down next to them.

"No, she's not.  She's . . . Dorian she's beaten so badly.  I'm so scared there's more.  I'm . . ."

"Stop it.  No."  Dorian said, "No.  There's nothing more."

"How can we know?"

"There isn't, that's all."

"I have to go and see Sam, but I need a minute.  I don't want him to see me this way.  He's so scared.  He can't even talk to us.  He can't see me this way, it will scare him more."

Jack walked toward them, looking as if he had been up for weeks.  He said, "Runty squeezed my hand to tell me it was Malcolm."

"Who is Malcolm?" Dorian asked.

"Someone in Switzerland that Todd met.  He sent him here to work for us."  Blair said.

"Todd sent a madman to work for his family, is he out of his mind?" her voice raised.

"Dorian, please, don't do this," Blair said, standing.  She walked off and Jack pointed her in the right direction.

Jack plopped down next to Jenna.  He said, "Aunt Dorian, why do you always have to try and blame everything that goes wrong on my father?"

"Because he's the source of it.  Who would send a complete stranger overseas to care for his home?"

"You know what, Old Lady?  Shut up, seriously.  You think he ever thought the guy would hurt us?"

"That's just it, he never thought, and you, young man, watch your tongue."  She folded her arms.

Jack got up, "I gotta get outta here.  Going to see Starr."  He walked off.

Dorian, filled with anger, got up and paced.  She'd wait until she saw Todd Manning come into the emergency room, and would make him hear a piece of her mind.

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