that! She would lose him if she called and asked for his help to get May Li to the hospital. He’d take one look at this place, be disgusted, and never speak to her again. She couldn’t lose him! She just couldn’t! She had to do this herself.
Getting May Li’s coat on her was a feat in itself, and wrapping her mother as best she could, she practically carried her down the stairs to the warm car. At least she was glad it was still warm and she turned up the heater full blast. So nervous she could hardly drive, she made it down the hill and over to Baptist Hospital. Her uncle had told her they took charity cases and they’d better take her mom because she didn’t have a cent.
Arriving at the Emergency Room, Lia ran inside to get someone to help her get May Li from the car. When she got them to understand that May Li had had rheumatic fever and she was in a catatonic state, they went running with a stretcher. They slowed some, though, when they saw the small woman. There was supposed to be no difference according to race or creed, but she could see these orderlies didn’t follow that regulation. Her mother was nothing to them because she was a foreigner. Would Dari look at May Li the same way? She’d honestly never thought of it as she’d told him her mother was Chalayan, and had to show him where it was located on a map. The poverty they suffered was the only thing that had ever bothered her in connection with Dari.
Fortunately, the doctor was not the same sort as the orderlies. He was a kind, friendly middle-aged man and he rushed to get her mother into a room and started an IV drip, giving her much needed fluids. After his initial examination, he called Mylia aside, close to the window, and spoke with her in low tones.
“I’m Doctor Murray. Do you have an adult with you, young lady? Someone I can speak with? Are they perhaps out in the waiting room?”
“No. I brought my mom here because I’m all she has. My father is dead. She didn’t feel well earlier, but made me go to a New Year’s Eve party. I didn’t want to leave her, but…” and Lia’s tears came. She could no longer be brave, hold them back.
“Oh, child. Don’t feel guilty. This would have happened had you been standing over her. You see, her heart is just not strong enough, and I hate to have to tell you this bad news, but I doubt if she will last out the night. If there’s anyone you can call to come be with you, I’ll stay with her if you want to go use the payphone to call them.”
Lia knew, although her uncle had told her to call him that he would not leave his guests. And Dari? Would his parents let him come sit with her because her mother was so sick? Did she even want him there after she had lied to him so many times about May Li? There would be so much she’d have to explain to him, and she didn’t think she’d be able to face him right now. No, she’d go it alone, as she’d done since her father had been killed.
“There’s no one to call. We live on the charity of my uncle, but he wouldn’t come here just because my mother is sick.” Careful not to disclose her uncle’s name, this kind doctor would never tie them to the wealthy Trenton’s that owned practically all of Speesburg. “I’ll sit here with her. I’ve taken care of her since she was in the hospital with the rheumatic fever. I’ll be here when she wakes up.”
Denial, Doctor Murray was thinking. In her young mind, she could not imagine her mother dying, so therefore she would deny it. Everything would be fine. To her. But he knew better. The woman was dying. She wouldn’t wake again. But he wondered at this young girl saying the woman was her mother. Perhaps by adoption, but he would bet a fortune that she was not May Li Trenton’s natural child. There was no way she could be.
And Mylia sat, watching the doctor and the nurses coming and going. The only time she left her mother’s side was to go to the bathroom. Dr. Murray arranged to have a tray brought to her at breakfast. He’d been surprised when he’d arrived at the hospital that morning and the small woman was still holding onto life. But only by a thread.
Sunday went by and May Li didn’t open her eyes. Monday morning found Mylia eating the food that Doctor Murray was paying for himself. She didn’t know that, as he knew she wouldn’t eat a bite if she did know that he had arranged for her to have a tray. As far as she knew, the food she was eating was being furnished by the hospital. But he had a soft spot for the child whose father had died and left her with a very ill mother. He had a daughter nearly her age and wondered how Penny would react if she were in this girl’s situation.
Mylia heard her mother release a long breath and ran to her. She didn’t take another, and Mylia was on her, shaking her, yelling, “Breathe, Mom! Breathe! Wake up!” When she got no response she ran to the hallway shouting for the doctor, a nurse, anybody. Finally a nurse came into the room and quickly put a stethoscope to May Li’s chest. She listened for a second then told Lia to wait in the hallway.
The nurse went running past her, and Lia didn’t know what to do. She stood there, shaking, scared to death, wondering if she should go back in the room where her mother lay. All color had left her face, and the terror Lia felt at that moment could not be described. Evidently the nurse went to get the doctor because he came running down the hall, glanced at Lia and charged into the room.
In a few moments he was back and led her a short distance away to a private room that was furnished only with two small sofas and three chairs with tables between them. Wonder why the chairs don’t match the sofas, she thought, her mind in a daze.
He sat her down, and she knew what was coming, had prepared herself for this day, but it didn’t hurt any less. Tears ran silently down her face.
Doctor Murray gently took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Mylia. There was nothing we could do. All we can do in cases like this is to keep the patient comfortable until their time comes. You evidently did a good job taking care of her. As badly as her heart was damaged, I’m surprised she lived this long.”
“She… She lived for me, Doctor Murray. She often said I was the only thing she lived for. And I believe that. You would have liked her, I think. She was wonderful!”
Lia fairly shouted those last words, threw her arms around his neck and sobbed. The doctor held her as she cried and wondered what would happen to her now that both her parents were gone. Evidently she was all alone in the world as the small Oriental woman had had no visitors in the two days she’d been there. But someone was going to have to take responsibility for this girl. She was too young to account for herself.
“Mylia? Who can I call? There has to be somebody. I’m worried about you.” And the genuine concern on his face touched Lia.
“I’ll call my uncle, Doctor Murray. Don’t worry. My uncle will take care of me.” And she cringed at the lie she was telling this man who had done his utmost to save her mother. She had no intentions of calling her Uncle Warren. What would he care?
*********
“She’s not in school, Butch. I’ve looked all over for her and asked everybody if they’ve seen her. This isn’t like her. You know she’s here every day.” Although Dari was upset with Lia, and he meant to come down on her pretty hard for lying to him, he couldn’t let her go. She was too much a part of his life. If anyone let go, it would have to be her, and he was scared to death that she’d do just that. But what would he do without her?
“The one day I have something really important to tell her, she’s not here, and you know she wouldn’t give me her number. Said her mom wouldn’t let her. Well, at least now we know why.” Dari was at his wit’s end, needing desperately to find out why she hadn’t told him she was Warren Trenton’s daughter, and wondering why she wasn’t in class.
“Hell, they probably pulled her out. Gonna send her back to one of them big fancy private
