A Christmas Peril (The Teacup Novellas - Book Five) by Diane Moody Page B

me.
    Then
suddenly others were there to help ‌—‌ a
group of travelers coming from the station who must have seen or heard us. They
called for help and in a few moments the wail of an ambulance siren filled the
air.
    Even
now as I write about what happened, it still seems like a nightmare . . .
as though I’m totally disconnected from reality, though I have only to look up
to see Gary lying in that hospital bed to know the nightmare is real. We’ve
been here a week now and ‍—
     
    I slammed the diary shut and sat
up as an icy chill sent long shivering fingers down my back. How was this
possible? I’m sitting in a hospital beside my Mark who’s been in a coma for a
week now . . . and I’m reading words written by my aunt as she sat in a hospital keeping vigil beside Uncle Gary.
    “Whoa.” I let the diary drop
to my lap, my mind spinning. I rubbed my eyes. “This can’t be right. I never
heard about this before. Why didn’t Aunt Lucille ever tell me? Why didn’t Dad ‍—‍”
    I scrambled to dig my cell
phone out of my pocket and called home.
    “Lucy!” my dad answered. “We
were hoping to hear from you. How’s ‍—‍”
    “How come you never told me
about Uncle Gary being in a coma?”
    “What?”
    “The day he was supposed to
leave to go back to the war. He was trying to stop a mugger from attacking an
old lady, and the guy cracked his head open with the butt of his gun. Why
didn’t anyone ever tell me about this?”
    “Lucy, I don’t understand why
you’re so upset. Has something happened? Is Mark all right?”
    I huffed. “He’s exactly the
same, Dad. He’s in a coma. It’s been a week now. And I’m reading Aunt Lucille’s
diary and just read about this, and frankly, I’m a little miffed that no one
ever told me about this!”
    “Okay, sweetheart. Just take
a deep breath for me, will you?”
    I imagined my father pulling
off his readers, running his hand through his thinning hair, and trying to calm
me down. I could see this in my mind because it happened so often when I was
growing up. Especially during my teenage years. Which probably accounts for most
of those missing hairs on his head.
    So I took a deep breath,
exaggerating it for his benefit. “There. All better. Start talking.”
    “I’ll be glad to if you’ll
explain to me why you’re so upset. Where did this come from?”
    “I don’t know, Dad. It just
feels like something was kept from me. Something so pertinent to what I’m
experiencing right now. And I guess I feel like Aunt Lucille should have told
me! All those years, when she used to tell me stories, she never once told me about
this. All she ever said was that she’d met Uncle Gary when he was home on leave
during the war. Why would she leave this part out?”
    “Did you ever ask her? Ask
for more details about their courtship?”
    Dad’s question caught me
short. “Well . . . no, I guess I never did. Which is odd,
actually. Because I was always so mesmerized by the two of them. How they still
acted like a couple of young lovebirds after all those years.”
    Dad chuckled. “That’s true. Gary treated Lucille like a queen. Always did. And Lucille
pampered him something terrible.”
    “Whenever I was with them, it
was almost like watching a love story on the big screen. Know what I mean?”
    “I’d never thought of it that
way, but you’re right. Course, I was just a kid when they married, so that kind
of thing didn’t really register in my mind at the time. But later ‌—‌oh my goodness, they not
only doted on each other, they spoiled me rotten.”
    “Which is why you adored your
sister.”
    “Still do, Lucy. Still do. I
miss her more than you know.”
    “Me too, Dad.”

Chapter
9
     
    Shelly and Mark’s parents
arrived shortly after I got off the phone with Dad. I have to admit, I had
mixed feelings about them coming. As selfish as it sounds, I was feeling a
peculiar mix of territorial jealousy. I’d been with Mark since the