Chapter17

Four days before Christmas...

Jess, Kitty, and Evie glanced at each other then went to the main public waiting area. Evie held Ava on her shoulder and prayed to the ghost of her late beloved to whisper to Lily to stay with them as she walked away from the family who caused all this. They barely made it to the hospital before the storm hit. The snow would bury everything soon, but it wouldn't bury the pain her Lily was suffering or the consequences of the choice she made at dawn.

Hilary and Andrew Hastings stood side-by-side waiting. Once they were alone, Dr. Harris asked Hillary bluntly, "Tell me about your son's mental health history. If something happens to Lily, what will he do?"

Andrew spoke first. "He'll get depressed and go back to drinking like he did when he..."

"He abandoned her in the hospital after an emergency C-section because he thought she was Jessica?" Dr. Harris shook his head.

"How did you know?" Hillary demanded.

"Evie told me what he told her. I have been taking care of Evie's grandnieces for two decades. I love them like my own granddaughters. Lily has always been prone to depression and manic phases, ever since she was a little girl. If your son falls off the wagon again or gets depressed, he could well be the thing that pushes her over the edge. Now, I am asking you, is Ian strong enough to handle this?"

Andrew opened and closed his mouth because he honestly didn't know as Hillary rubbed her forehead. He suddenly realized she didn't think Ian could do it so he defended his brother, "He is. He loves her and regrets everything that happened. He will be anything she needs."

Dr. Harris eyed him. "And you're going to be there for him every step of the way?"

"Absolutely," Andrew promised.

"It may take years, watching over Lily may never end."

"I work and don't have a social life. Fixing my brother's marriage and helping his wife overcome her post-partum depression and the other stuff will be the goal of our family," Andrew vowed.

Dr. Harris eyed Hillary, "And you won't try to use Lily's diagnosis to take her only child from her."

"I already signed a notarized document to that effect," Hillary announced.

"Ian stated to me that he will get therapy to deal with what his exgirlfriend put him through, care to elaborate?"

"Caroline Smith as she presented herself to our family and friends is the identity thief Carly Simone, she went to prison and will be extradited to her home state of Hawaii for trial on the same charges after serving her sentence and probation in California," Hillary explained.

"She used the internet to find out everything she could about my brother while she worked as a nanny for one of my college friends. She seduced him so she could gain access to our circle of friends. She stole the identities of a dozen people we know, including Mother, and spent over one hundred thousand dollars in their names." Andrew bowed his head, "When I confronted her, she fled... She was the first girlfriend my brother really loved and to find out it was a grifter turned him into an alcoholic. After an accident that should have killed him, we got him sober, but he has had trust issues since. His struggle was my fault then, just like it is my fault now."

"Our fault," Hillary corrected. "Dr. Harris, we both are to blame for convincing Ian to sign those papers. Me for hiring a P.I. firm with a good reputation, but not double checking the information given us by their newest hire. No... no, I am not making excuses. In my real estate business, I always double and sometimes triple check any information I am given. My gut said the report about Lily couldn't be true, but after Carly... I chose to jump to conclusions. It was wrong of me."

"Of us," Andrew agreed.

Dr. Harris eyed them both then nodded. "They are two troubled young people that we can hope will recover together, but you need to prepare yourselves. Evie and her grandnieces know that there is a very real possibility that Lily will still die. The extreme cold does things internally to the human body that it struggles to heal from."

He turned to leave but Hillary stopped him, "Dr. Harris, we don't care how much it cost, just keep her alive."

"That might not be up to me or your wealth. We can only thank god she didn't make it further and that last night's temperatures moved the edge of the shelf further from shore." He walked back toward Lily's room.

Ian came to them a few minutes later with a white paste smeared on his nose and ears.

"You look like that time you fell asleep on the beach in Cozumel," Andrew teased to not think about what the doctor revealed.

"I wish it only hurt that bad," Ian responded, "The cream they use is numbing but it still burns. I never thought frost bite could hurt this much. I thought it was supposed to just feel numb."

"It does until you thaw," Jess revealed while she walked back toward them as Evie went into Lily's room. "Kitty is taking Ava back to the Inn. Dr. Harris doesn't want to risk her catching RSV while she's recovering from rosacea."

"What's rosacea?" Andrew asked and Jess rolled her eyes as she answered.

"It's a thing babies and toddlers catch from the snow. Don't worry, big boy, you won't even know if you get it." She glanced at the room where they were slowly warming Lily. Her Aunt was sitting by the bed, and Jessica's snarky mask failed to hide her worry for a moment before she announced flippantly, "I'll be down the hall giving blood just in case Lily throws a clot. Come get me if you need me, but don't need me."

As she walked away, Andrew watched her go.

"She's an amazing young woman," Hillary observed, watching her oldest son.

"Yes, she is," Andrew agreed then seemed to shake himself. "Who wants coffee because I only had one cup this morning with one of Evie's praline rolls?"

Ian shook his head, "Dr. Harris said to hydrate extra and avoid caffeine like I have a sunburn, so I'll take decaff."

"Your usual, Mom?"

Hillary nodded, "Thank you, and bring something back for Evie and Jessica. It's going to be a long day."

Andrew left to go to the café and they settled in to wait.

<<@>>

Kitty paced around the upstairs of the Inn while Ava had her afternoon nap. When it was 1PM central time she opened the family room on Discord and her siblings began appearing.

Laura, who was older than Kitty by four months and Jack by one year, greeted everyone then asked, "Where is Jess?"

"She is still at the hospital giving blood because they didn't have any of Lily's type in the blood bank. They are very worried about Lily throwing a clot, so they have her are going to put her on medications once she is warm, but the frostbite is the equivalent of second and third degree burns. Lily is sedated and being treated, but that isn't our only concern." Kitty braced herself against the urge to cry as she coolly revealed the thing she had not sent in the emails and text messages, "Lily has post-partum on top of her usual seasonal depression. She went out onto the ice of her own accord. She tried to kill herself again."

"She didn't hurt Ava, did she?" Dalia blurted out as Jack squeezed his wife against his side.

"No. Ava was with me." Kitty inhaled but before she could say more, Leonard insisted, "Lily wouldn't hurt her baby... She wouldn't hurt anyone. I can be there in six hours if she needs more blood, but her recovery isn't the problem."

Leonard held up a stack of paper. It was obvious he had printed out the copies and used the dyslexic reading technique of underlining the words with a ruler and pen to read it that Aunt Ava had taught him. "Who the fuk wrote up all this bullshit about Jess, claimed it was Lily, then gave them the right to dig around in our family business?"

Laura nodded, "Please don't tell us that this idiot's family is trying to get out of what they did?"

Kitty almost scowled as she realized how angry the eldest of the siblings was, because for her to use the term 'idiot' was the equivalent of one of Jessica or Jack's profanity laden tirades. "Then I won't but they are. They say it was all a big misunderstanding based on bad information, and the P.I. Firm was trying to help them make it right by helping them find Lily."

"That's a load of shyte!" Jack's wife Dalia hissed and everyone started talking at once.

As the siblings protested and argued about what to do, Leonard and Julie were both quiet and she knew they were rapidly typing to each other when Leonard held his ruler to his screen. He nodded then typed back.

"Oy! Enough!" Jeff shouted and everyone silenced. "What did you say, Jules?" He used the nickname only the Salt Lake full siblings used for their youngest sibling's full name. She hated Juliana the way Jeff hated his first name Lucas, as a group, the siblings had vowed to never speak or use Lucas Julien Johansen's name after meeting each other and learning the sorted truth.

The meekest of the siblings seemed to shrink as Leonard spoke for her, "She wants to know what will happen to Jessica if she gets caught out of Florida since she is on probation?"

"Yes, please," Julie whispered.

"She'll probably go back to jail for the remaining nineteen months of her probation and her degrees will mean nothing because they will upgrade her conviction to a felony," Kitty gave them the worst-case scenario.

"I'll c-come... I'll f-fly to Leonard and h-he can drive me up." Julie stammered.

"Are you sure, Julie-luv? Flying during the holidays... That's a lot of people," Jack asked gently. "I can go, I got the same blood as you both."

"Stay home with Jack Jr., I'll keep her safe," Leonard promised the siblings.

Laura, who was a travel agent, looked up from where she was typing, "Jules, your flight leaves at 4AM in the morning tomorrow. I am sorry about the time, there was nothing else available. Leonard, you should have the arrival information in your email. Please send a thank you email to our grandfather for paying for the ticket." She turned her head slightly to indicate she was talking to a different sibling. "Jeffery, you're the medical person in the family, how bad is Lilyana and how long to recover?"

The middle son who was a Coast Guard Medic in Alaska nodded, then started, "If she has no internal organ damage from the hypothermia, then Kitty was correct that the tissue damage will mimic burns. The ruptured cells in the surface skin can cause clots to form around them as the body tries to repair itself, besides the weeping of interstitial fluid through the damaged skin..." He talked about all the treatment options and the use of hyperbaric chambers to help the healing process.

An hour later, Laura's mother came in and handed her, her youngest baby, she waved at the screen then left as Laura held the fussy baby. "I need to feed Silas, but we have a plan and priorities. Thank you for the information, Jeffery. Jackson, see if you can find one of those chambers used that we can buy or perhaps rent for Lilyana. Jakita, have Jessica text me if she needs a flight back to Florida, with the decrease in availability... I will do my best. And talk to the doctors about the Hyperbaric Chamber therapy and how soon we can move her. We all love Aunt Evie and the Tiger Lily Inn, but Lilyana can't stay in Wisconsin for the winter. Leonard, you and Jules know what to do, safe travel. We will meet the evening after Jules and Leonard arrive unless there is a drastic change."

Almost cringing at her older sister's use of the full name she hated, Kitty held up her phone. "Jess, just sent an update to the family group. The warm-up worked and so far, there are no signs of any organ damage. They are giving her anti-clotting agents, transfusion, and treating the skin damage, but they are saying Lily will need skin grafts and she may lose a few of her toes but none of her fingers. I let Jess know to ask Dr. Harris about the chamber, and that Julie and Leonard are coming to give more blood."

Everyone made relieved sounds or uttered their gratitude. None of them held Lily's depression as any fault of hers. They all suspected that Belinda's excessive drug use was the reason the second-to-youngest of the siblings had struggled with a brain chemical imbalance her whole life.

"Do not worry, Jakita. God will take care of her," Julie murmured. None would refute their youngest sibling openly, but agnostic Jack looked away, trying not to scowl, so Kitty made herself smile.

"I know, Julie." There was a sound and Kitty bent down to pick up Ava from the basinet. "I have to go feed this angel a second lunch, and I am sure Silas and Jack Jr. are hungry too. Talk to everyone soon. Love you."

Choruses of the same returned then she watched images closing before she signed off too. She stopped the screen recording and saved it so Jessica could watch it before she changed Ava's diaper and made the tiny baby a bottle. Wandering around in Lily's suite, she admired the brightly painted rooms and beautiful murals. It looked like it came from a catalogue, but when she glanced out the large window and the winter white and gray of the world beyond she knew which way Lily must have faced. Her sister was always looking outward and never inward for beauty.

Looking down at Ava as the month-old sucked on her bottle, Kitty was suddenly overcome and wept bitterly for several minutes. Gasping for breath, she forced herself to stand and go wash her face. As she burped Ava, and listened to her niece's little noises, Kitty's moment of weakness passed like the wind blowing and her will hardened like the ice that almost claimed her sister.

<<@>>

Andrew struggled to drive as he tried to get them back to the rental while following Aunt Evie down the snow-covered roads of Oconto. A mechanic named John Micheals had come and put chains on his rental SUV and explained about how to drive with them one. His wife Kathy brought them a meal and seemed quite close to Jess and Evie. Before she left, the woman had given the Hastings such a heated look that could have thawed the ice on the lake, then primly announced if they caused any problems that she would stuff them down an ice hole and no one would find them until spring.

He turned and crawled up the drive to the rental house. "Ian, wake up, we're here."

Yawning, Ian murmured, "I need... to go check Ava."

"No, the Doctor said you need to sleep. I'll text Evie and see if she wants one of us to come over, but I think we need to give them some space for the night," Hillary announced.

They sat in the car waiting, and dreading going out into the frigid wind.

"Evie says don't come over, they are going to bed and there will be praline rolls ready for breakfast at 6:30."

Ian sighed heavily but didn't say anything as he opened the door. They rushed inside and prepared for bed. In the silence of the rental house, they all lay in their bedrooms regretting the moments that led to this night. Outside, the wind howled across the lake ice shelf like a lost soul.