Part Two:

She rushes through the doors of Cook County Hospital, her heels clicking on the tile floor as she makes her way towards the nurses’ station. Seconds later she’s running through the double doors and down the long hallway towards the ER trauma rooms. She stops, her heart racing, her breaths coming in rapid bursts as she sees them slowly filter out of the room in front of her, their blood-stained smocks, their haggard looks, and the slow shake of their heads as they make their way towards their next patient.

One of the doctors looks up and catches her eye. He motions to the other doctor to go on; he’ll take care of this. He walks towards her recognizing her from the picture that Rachel had held in her hands, “Mrs. Gannon?”

“Buchanan, it’s Nora Buchanan, I’m Rachel Gannon’s mother…where’s my daughter?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Buchanan…”

She begins to shake her head, “No…where is she…where’s my daughter!”

He reaches out to touch her arm, pulling back when she glares at his hand, “I’m sorry we did every thing we could for her.”

She glares at him, the tears spilling on to her cheeks, her whole body trembling, “She’s not…she can’t be!” she screams through her tears. He tries to reach out to offer her some comfort but she backs away, “Take me to her…just take me to see my daughter!”

He just nods his head and takes her into the room. She stands in the doorway for a moment, millions of memories flashing through her mind in those moments. The first time she heard her cry, her first word, her first steps; one wonderful memory after another. She walks over and stands beside the bed, picking up her hand and removing the picture of her, Rachel and Matthew. She looks over at the doctor, her voice firm and steady, betraying the storm raging within, “What happened?”

“She was hit by a car. She had massive internal injuries….”

“The baby,” she says, cutting him off. Her eyes fixed on Rachel, “What happened to the baby.”

“She’s in the nursery. She’s doing fine…thanks to her mother.”

She looks at him, “I don’t understand?”

“Your daughter sacrificed her chance at survival to make sure her daughter lived,” he walks closer to the bed, “We had to do an emergency c-section in order for your granddaughter to make it and that delayed our ability to help Rachel. She was bleeding internally and we only had a small window of opportunity, a window we lost by doing the c-section,”

Nora looks down at Rachel and back up at the doctor, “I’d like to be alone with my daughter now.”

The young doctor just nods, “When you’re ready to see your granddaughter just let me know.”

Nora ignores him, her attention focused on her daughter, lying on the table. The doctor walks out the door, leaving her alone. He turns when he feels a hand on his arm, “How’s our daughter holding up, doc?”

The doctor sighs, “I don’t know your daughter at all Judge Hanen but my father did and he always told me that she was one of the strongest people he knew growing up, but regardless she’s in pain.”

“Has she asked about the baby?”

“Yes she did but she hasn’t asked to see her.”

Len and Selma exchange glances, “I’m going to go in and see her.” She looks over at the doctor and then back at Len who just nods his head.

Selma walks into the room and stands next to Nora. Nora looks up and then back down at Rachel, “She’s gone, mama.”

“I know she is baby. I know.”

Nora brushes some hair out of Rachel’s eyes, tucking it behind her ear, “If she hadn’t been pregnant. If it hadn’t been for the baby…”

“Stop it right there Nora Buchanan!” She reaches down and turns Nora’s face so she’s looking at her, “She did what any mother would do and you know that!”

Nora pulls her face out of her mother’s grasp, “I don’t care, mama! My daughter’s gone and she had one chance to live,” she stands up and walks away, turning her back on Selma. Selma walks over and turns her around, “You’re reacting right now, you’re lashing out of your pain and you’re not thinking clearly. You know if your positions were reversed and it was Rachel’s life on the line you would sacrifice anything and I mean anything to save her, even your own life.”

Len continues to watch them, he sees the pain his daughter is in, and the way she’s fighting and arguing with her mother. He can see her squaring her shoulders, building up those walls. There was only one person who was ever able to break down those walls and reach her. He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t there with her, surely she must’ve told him that she was leaving town on an emergency, surely she told him about Rachel, so why wasn’t he here. Len walks away from the window and picks up the phone at the nurses’ station.

Bo runs into his office when he hears his cell phone ring, realizing he had left it on his desk. He stares at the unknown number with the Chicago exchange and his heart begins to race, “Buchanan…”

“Bo, where the hell are you boy?,” Len growls into the phone.

“Mr. Hanen?” Bo asks, his heart beating faster, “I’m in Llanview, where else would I be? What’s wrong?”

 

Len can hear the panic in his voice, realizing that his daughter never told Bo where she was going and why, “When was the last time you talked to Nora, Bo?”

“This morning, we both talked to Matthew at the ranch and then she had meetings all day.” Marcie sticks her head in the door, giving him a pink piece of paper. He glances down at the note, “My assistant just handed me a message she took from Nora saying she would be out of town for a few days. What’s going on Len? Why are you calling me asking me why I’m not in Chicago? Is Nora in Chicago?”

“I can’t believe her, stubborn as all get out that one,” Len says on the other end of the line, more to himself than Bo.

Bo cuts him off, panic gripping his heart. Something had to be wrong, surely she wouldn’t have just left without telling him if Rachel had gone into labor, she knew they were both making plans to  be there together for that, “Len please tell me what’s going on? Is it Rachel…the baby…did Rachel have the baby? Please Len, tell me,” he yells into the phone.

“She had the baby, but I’m sorry, Bo…Rachel…Rachel’s gone, Bo. An accident…”

Bo steadies himself for a moment and then grabs his jacket off the back of the chair, “I’m on my way, Len,” Bo says cutting him off, “I’ll be there within the hour.”

Len nods on his end of the phone, “Hurry, Bo…I think you’re the only one who can reach her now.”

Bo nods and hangs up the call, quickly dialing again, “Pa it’s me, I need the jet… I don’t have time to explain just call the pilot and tell him to have it ready. I’ll tell him where we’re going when I get there…Yes, I’ll call you and explain it all later.” Bo hangs up the call and yells over his shoulder at Marcie, “Tell John I’ve got to go to Chicago, no time to explain, he’s in charge.” Marcie just nods her head and watches him leave.

Back in Chicago Nora is sitting with Rachel, slowly stroking her hand. She looks up at her and brushes her hand across her cold cheek, “They’re going to come and take you from me soon but I’m not ready to let you go. We haven’t had enough time; we still had too much to do. I don’t know how I’m going to tell your little brother that you’re gone. Hank…” she shakes her head, closing her eyes, “God I can’t do this, I can’t tell him…and Bo,” she wipes the tears from her face with the back of her hand, “He loved you like you were his own, Rikki. What are we going to do without you?”

The warm humid air hits him full force as he runs towards the hospital, the taxi having to drop him off down the street. He pushes through the double doors heading for the ER. He gets the directions from the nurse and impatiently awaits the buzz, indicating the opening of the doors leading to the trauma rooms. He looks around, looking for Len and Selma. He walks towards the room the nurse had told him they were in. He looks through the window, watching her as she holds her daughter’s hand. He looks at his ‘daughter’ and the pain rips through him like a knife.

He thinks about going in to her, to take her in his arms and hold her, but she wasn’t the one that called him, Len was. She didn’t even know he knew. He knew she needed this time with Rachel, he knew it all too well. She had wanted to be there for him all those years ago but he wouldn’t let her, he hopes she won’t make the same mistake he did, and shut every one out. Not this time, he thinks to himself, he won’t let her push him away.

He walks over to the nurses’ station, “Excuse me could you please tell me what floor the nursery is on?”

They young nurse looks up and smiles, “Fifth floor sir, the elevators are down the hall and to the left.” Bo nods his thanks and walks towards the elevators. He glances through the window once more and sighs feeling his heart break all over again.

The ride to the fifth floor seemed to take hours instead of minutes. Finally the doors open and Bo exits the elevator. He looks up and down the hallway, noticing the sign for the nursery to his left. He walks towards the large window and stares at all the blue and pink bundles. Inside the nursery Len and Selma look up. They say something to the nurse who nods and walks over to the door. Bo walks into the nursery and over to where Len and Selma are standing.

They embrace each other and quickly turn their attention to the small bundle wrapped in pink. A doctor walks over moments later, “Judge and Mrs. Hanen?”

“I’m Len Hanen and this is my wife Selma,” He looks over at Bo, “and this is Bo Buchanan he’s…he’s one of the baby’s grandfathers.”

They quickly shake each other’s hand before the doctor speaks again, “I’m Dr. Brooks, chief of emergency medicine. I was one of the doctor’s that cared for your granddaughter,” He holds out a large envelope, “Your granddaughter was able to make the appropriate legal arrangements for her daughter before she passed away. We took the papers to our legal department and had them properly processed,” he hands the papers to Bo, “I’m sure you’ll want to take these to your wife and discuss them with her.”

Bo, Len and Selma exchange looks, none of them bothering to correct him. Bo takes the envelope and nods, “I’ll make sure Rachel’s mother gets these papers.”

The doctor offers his condolences once again, leaving them alone. Bo looks down at the papers and back up at Len and Selma. Len lays his hand on his shoulder, “Selma and I are going to go get us all a cup of coffee. We’re going to try and see if Hank has made any headway in getting out of Africa. Last time we talked with him he was stuck there since no international flights are being allowed to land right now.” He looks down at the baby, “Don’t worry about Hank, take some time with her, and we’ll see you later.”

Bo nods and turns his attention to the little girl lying awake in the bassinet. The nurse looks at him from across the room and smiles, making her way over to him. She stops on the other side of the bassinet, “Would you like to hold her?”

Bo looks up at the nurse and nods. The nurse walks to the front of the bassinet and picks her up, placing her in Bo’s arms. Bo walks over to the nearest rocking chair and sits down, never taking his eyes off of her, “Hey there little princess. Wow, you look like your mommy and your grandmother,” he pulls the blanket away from her face, “there’s even a little of your uncle in you too,” he says, finally allowing the tears to fall.

They had finally come and taken Rachel away, leaving Nora sitting alone in the room. They had told her she needed to leave, that they needed the room. She had looked up at them feeling as though her daughter and what had happened was now a distant memory for them, on to the next emergency. She had made her way down the hallway, pushing the button to the fifth floor before she realized where she was going.

She exits the elevator, looking down the hallway, noticing that very little had changed since the day she had Rachel on this very floor. She walks down the hallway, stopping at the large window as Bo had an hour before. She stands outside, looking around, her eyes finally settling on the one person she never thought she’d see there. He’s holding her, she thinks to herself.

He looks up and sees her standing outside the window. He looks down at the little girl wrapped in his arms, holding onto his finger for dear life. He stands up and places her back in the bassinet, noticing that Nora was making no attempt to come into the nursery, but was standing outside, her hand pressed against the glass, her eyes fixated on the little girl he had held in his arms.

He walks out into the hallway, stopping just outside the door. He holds the envelope by his side, knowing legal papers were not what she needed right now. He slowly walks towards her and she turns when she hears his footsteps. She looks back into the nursery and then at Bo. She starts to back away as he gets closer. She was putting up those walls already he thinks to himself. He’ll give her this time, but he’s not walking away. She looks down at the floor and then back up at Bo, “Daddy called you, didn’t he.” Bo nods. She looks back into the nursery, “How’s the baby…is she…is every thing okay with her?”

“The doctors say she’s going to be fine. Six pounds ten ounces,” He reaches out and lays his hand on her arm, she didn’t pull away, “Do you want to go in and see her? She’s beautiful, Nora.”

Nora looks through the nursery window and over to where she’s laying in the bassinet, her arm waving in the air as she familiarizes herself with her world, “I…I can’t, not right now.”

Bo nods and squeezes her arm. He looks down at the envelope in his hand, “Nora, this was given to me by the chief of emergency medicine,” she looks down at the envelope that he’s holding out to her, “Apparently Rachel…apparently she lived long enough to make legal provisions for the baby,” she takes the envelope from him, “it’s all in there.”

She looks down at the envelope, her hands running over Rachel’s name written across the front. She hands the envelope back to him and looks up at him, the tears spilling onto her cheeks, “I can’t…please…can you…” she barely chokes out.

He nods his head, his own tears threatening to fall once again. He reaches out his hand, and she places hers in it as they make their way to the chapel on the first floor.

They walk into the candlelit chapel, neither one having said a word since they left the nursery. Bo could see her wheels turning, the memories playing through her mind as she tries desperately to come to grips with all that’s happened. He sits down on one of the pews, she does the same. She looks around the small chapel noticing how different it is from a synagogue.

Bo flips the envelope over and looks up at her. She nods her head. He gives her a reassuring smile before opening the clasp and pulling out the documents. He flips them over and begins to read them to himself. He looks up at her, the tears welling up in his eyes, “She named her Amalya, meaning ‘a work of God’, Amayla B Gannon,” he hands her the copy of the birth certificate form that Rachel had filled out. He flips over the next document and begins to read it, “Oh my God…”

She looks up from the paper she was reading, “What…what’s wrong.”

He begins to shake his head, the tears freely flowing down his face, “I Rachel Gannon do hereby grant joint custody of my daughter, Amalya B Gannon, to my mother, Nora Buchanan and to the only other man in my life besides my father that I would trust my daughter’s life to, Bo Buchanan.”

Bo and Nora look at each other, Rachel’s words hanging between them. She had given them her little girl, trusted them with her life and her upbringing. She had placed her daughter’s life in their hands, and now no matter what happened in their future, they were connected not only by their little boy waiting for them in Texas, but by the little girl that lays in a bassinet four floors away.

TBC...