“Maybe after I see Winnie. It’s really important. And Lucas. Is he there, too?”
“I expect so. He went with Winnie in her van. In case she slid off the road or something.” He then uttered a “huh,” steered onto the icy and now snowy pavement. And he carefully guided his truck toward Winnie’s.
In spite of nasty road conditions, they made it without incident.
* * *
Winnie made tea while Orrin’s wife, Barbara, tended to Annie’s wound. Barbara was a nurse, so when she told Annie that she needed stitches and an X-ray to rule out a concussion or worse, Annie took her seriously. First, however, she asked to see Lucas. Her head was pounding then, but it didn’t matter.
Winnie hustled from the room. Seconds later, Lucas appeared.
“Geeez, Annie,” he said, “what happened to you?”
Annie shook her head. “Nothing serious. But I have a question. You were in high school with the Thurman brothers, right?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Have you seen either of them lately?”
“Funny you should ask. I saw Caleb last week. I was driving to Edgartown. He was heading toward OB. I blew the horn, but he didn’t wave or anything. Maybe he was in a hurry.”
Caleb.Hadn’t Lucy said that Abigail’s boyfriend’s name was Cal, but that his real name could be Calvin, like in the old cartoon? Maybe it wasn’t Calvin. Maybe, just maybe, it was Caleb. Annie stood up, got dizzy, and slid to the floor.
“Lucas,” she heard Barbara’s voice, which sounded as if it were somewhere in the distance. “Call the ambulance.”
Annie wanted to ask if someone could drive her. She hated ambulances, hated the lights, hated the siren, announcing to the world that a person was in crisis. But though she hadn’t passed out, she felt too groggy to speak.
Barbara and Orrin got her back onto the chair; Barbara checked her vitals and had her sip water. Winnie and Lucas quietly watched.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Annie had found her voice; she told them that the pain in her head had eased, though it had not.
* * *
The EMT who rode in the back with her insisted on yakking all the way down State Road toward the hospital. Annie wanted to ask him to please be quiet, but she suspected he was trying to keep her alert.
Finally, they made it. The EMTs whisked the gurney out the back door and into the ER. Within seconds, Annie was wheeled to a separate room, where she received twelve stitches. Then it was on to radiology. While she sat in the dark room, waiting for the technician to adjust the camera angle, she wondered how she was going to look as a bride wearing an ugly dress and sporting a battered face.
After she was moved back to the first room, the doctor came in and told her she needed to stay awake until the X-rays were read. Annie, however, was tired. Very tired. As she was struggling not to nod off, Winnie came into the room with Lucas.
“You drove all the way here?” Annie asked. “But the roads . . .”
“Never mind the roads. Lucas didn’t finish telling you everything about Caleb before you landed on the floor. I decided you should hear the rest. Traipsing up-island on such a nasty day seemed a bit much, even for you, so maybe this will help.” Winnie’s smile warmed her copper skin and instantly put Annie at ease. “The truth is, we would have called to tell you, but the damn service went out.”
Annie almost laughed. Then she looked at Lucas. “What else?”
“You asked me if I’d seen Caleb recently, so the first thing I thought of was when heading toward Oak Bluffs, like I told you. But I saw him earlier. Back in September. On the boat.”
It was interesting but did not seem important. “Was he coming to the Vineyard?”
He shook his head. “Heading to Woods Hole. I was surprised ’cuz, like I said, I’d heard they left the island. Anyway, we said hi; he told me he’d been here to see the headstone that was finally put on his father’s grave. He died, you know.”
Annie said yes, she knew. Again, it did not seem important. Or relevant. Until Lucas continued.
“Anyway,” he said, “just when we started talking, we saw Abigail. John’s daughter?”
Annie blinked. She sat up, ignoring her pain. “And?”
Lucas shrugged. “She’s younger than we are, so he didn’t remember her in school back when she went to school here. Before her parents got divorced. But I know who she is, because our family’s always been close to Earl’s. Anyway, I told Caleb that her father’s going to marry a famous author. That would be you.”
