Eva

Author's note: We're coming to the end of this story of Eva and Jon and their family. This part, leading to the ending, takes place in the future. My story, my rules. No Covid in this world of my creation. And this will be the end of the saga. I hope you'll like what I came up with. I loved writing Eva and Jon's lives, from beginning to the end. I think I gave them a pretty great life overall.

Sorry this has taken a while to finish, but I was under the weather for a while and then had some writer's block issues. So here it is, part 20 of 'Eva'. The final part. Thanks for taking the ride with me. Rabbitman55

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After staying with Connor for a short time, the doctor, Commander Jefferson, told us we had to leave his ICU room, where he was in a medically induced coma after his wife, Leigh, shot him in the gut. He wouldn't be conscious for a few days, at least, and before then they planned to send him to a bigger hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. We had no idea what happened between Connor and Leigh but it must have been a hell of an argument.

Outside his room, in the waiting area, were the other officers and a few of the enlisted men from Connor's boat, the USS Galveston. Included was his Executive Officer Lt. Commander Aiello, whose wife was watching over Oliver while all this was going on, and he offered to take us to his home so we could see our grandson. Since we couldn't see Connor again for a few hours at least, we followed Lt. Commander Aiello back to his house on the base.

When we got there, Oliver immediately ran into Eva's arms. He was fifteen now and he was a good eight inches taller than she was, but he seemed so small as he cried in her arms and she cried with him. Then he came to me and I hugged and kissed him like no one mattered more in the world. Then he hugged Vince and Maria, technically his aunt and uncle, but they were only three and one years older than he was, respectively. And he was very close with Maria since there was only the one year between them.

We tried to ask him what happened, but he was too emotional to talk about it then. As we had coffee, the base police called us and said they had a few questions they needed to ask us, so I made plans to meet them at the brig, the police station in Navy parlance, two hours later. In the meantime, I got calls from both Rachel and Cammy and we all coordinated to meet at a Quality Inn not far from the base. And Cammy told me no one should talk to the police, including Oliver, without her there. That was good enough for me. I told her to meet us at the base jail.

We thanked the Aiello's for their help and kindness and headed over to the brig. Eva and I sat with two investigators and the detectives from the Camden County Sheriff's office. They informed us that Leigh, before she lawyered up, admitted shooting Connor during a fight where he asked for a divorce because he loved another woman. But she said it was self-defense, that Connor was advancing on her and she feared for her safety.

The Naval investigator and the sheriff's deputy wanted to ask us questions but I told them none of us were answering anything until our family lawyer arrived in the next hour or so. in the meantime, we just kept quiet. Then Rachel and Tony arrived, which meant more tearful hugs all around.

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Rachel held me tight, and I did the same to her. "Daddy (she hadn't called me that in years), is he going to be all right? What do you know?"

I had to be honest with her. "Your brother is in a medically induced coma and they're very worried about a massive infection. They're going to transfer him in the next day to a large hospital in Jacksonville where they can give him the best treatment in the area. They just have to get him stabilized before they can move him."

Rachel cried, turning to Tony, really as it should be, though I instinctively wanted to comfort my daughter. Instead, I hugged Eva as she hugged Oliver. It was getting crowded in the small lock-up and more Grossman's were on the way, so I offered to rent one of the smaller conference rooms at the Quality Inn. The police accepted simply because there really was no way to question us all, and we agreed to all meet there three hours later so we'd have a chance to go back to the hospital, check into the hotel and clean up and eat something.

That's what we did; there was no change with Connor and the plan was to move him the next morning. We all stayed there for an hour; me, Eva, Oliver, Rachel, Vince and Maria all took turns visiting by his side. Oliver was particularly upset and he went in with Eva, the closest person there to being his mother (who was in the county jail). Then we checked into the hotel and went to clean up before we went to a nearby coffee shop for lunch. We asked Vince to room with Oliver and for Maria to help keep him company the rest of the time.

Eva and I were alone, finally, for a little while in our room. She went and used the bathroom without saying a word, which I put down to being very tired and hungry. When she came out I used it, washing up, then came back out to the bedroom. She was crying, and I knew how she was feeling, seeing our son so seriously wounded. I went to her and put my arms around her from behind. But instead of accepting my hug, she violently shook me off her.

"Don't touch me, Jon! I'm so angry with you, I don't even want to talk to you!" She turned and I could see she was furious and it was directed right at me.

"Angel, what the hell?"

"Don't call me Angel either! Don't talk to me!" She hurried out into the hall without even changing clothes. I was shocked and distressed. I had no idea why she was so angry and she wouldn't even talk to me about it. Maybe later that evening. Maybe she was just having an irrational reaction to seeing Connor is such serious condition. People didn't always handle it well at first.

In front of our kids and family, Eva was back to the matriarch of the group. You couldn't tell she was angry with me except for the fact that she didn't talk to me at all. No one else seemed to notice it over lunch, but I sure did. Then Cammy, Kyle and Anna got there and there were more tears and more hugs. After we filled them in on Connor's condition, they had lunch with us before we went back to the hotel to the room I rented for the interviews.

Obviously, none of us were suspected of doing anything illegal; the detectives were just trying to find out who knew what before the shooting. And aside from Eva, Oliver and me, no one else had a clue that there were problems between Connor and Leigh. Most of the interviews were five minutes or less. Even for Eva and me, it didn't take very long to confirm that we knew Connor was having an affair and Leigh may have been having one as well. We didn't even know there was a gun in their house, though I guess we shouldn't have been surprised with Connor being a Naval officer. But Oliver may have seen and heard a lot recently. He wasn't a suspect but no way were we going to allow our fifteen year old grandson to talk to them without counsel. In case they thought otherwise, Cammy the Bulldozer was there to protect him legally and from having his emotions toyed with. Whatever Leigh may have done to our son, for whatever reason, Eva and I didn't want our grandson to be used against his mother. That would be a terrible pain for him to bear. We didn't want him to lie, certainly, but we didn't want him used either. But there might have been no choice.

Oliver and Cammy sat with the police for an hour and a half, and the police still wanted to ask more questions, but my sister cut the interview short. That didn't make the police any happier, but that was their problem. Ninety minutes was too long for an emotionally hurting teenager.

As they all came over to where the rest of us were waiting, Oliver turned to Cammy and said "Aunt Cammy, when can I see my mom? I need to talk to her."

Cammy touched him on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. "I don't think it's a good idea to see her right now, Oliver, honey. You should stay with us, your father's family, while some things get straightened out." He was sniffling at that news.

The cops turned to each other and one of them said "He can talk to his mother if he wants. We wouldn't have any reason to stop him."

Cammy shot them very dirty looks, then she told Oliver to join us and either go to me and Eva or to hang out with Anna and Maria and Vince. Then she took the cops aside and dressed them down good. When I asked her later what she was chewing them out about, she said "I told them from now on not to talk directly to any members of the family, and that included Connor unless she was present. As far as they were concerned, Connor was represented by counsel."

"But what could happen if Oliver talked to his mother? I'm not exactly a fan of her right now, but I'm more concerned about how this is affecting Oliver."

"You don't get this, Jon. I don't know what Oliver might say. What if he incriminates his father? What if he incriminates HIMSELF? I doubt that's the case, but I'm not taking a chance. From now on no one" -she had everyone's attention- "no one talks to the police, any police, without me representing you. Or another lawyer I approve for you. And for right now, Oliver can't talk to his mother, whatever the police think. They can listen to their conversations. If Leigh did this while feeling threatened and Oliver heard it, their conversation could give her a defense. Now, maybe in that case she would be deserving of a defense. But I don't know, and I don't want Oliver used by either side. Not right now. He might have to talk later. But not for now. Jon, let me protect Oliver and Connor. Let me do my job."

Cammy was thinking like a lawyer, not just an aunt. I rarely got to see her in her power lawyer role. Getting a glimpse of her like that made me very grateful she was on our side.

Before we could leave a woman showed up from the Georgia Department of Family and Children's Services. The police had called her in. It turned out we couldn't take Oliver back to the hotel with us. He had to go into emergency foster care. The police didn't want to take any chance that we'd question him on our own or influence any statements he would make. Objectively I understood that. But as his grandfather, I was royally pissed off. He needed to be with people who loved him, then more than ever. And as angry as I was, Eva was ever more furious.

She turned to Cammy and through her tears, she begged her sister-in-law to stop this from happening. I mean begged. She clutched at Cammy's blouse. "Please, Cammy, don't let them take my grandson away! He needs to be with his family right now!"

Cammy looked uncomfortable, a very unusual look for her. She was always one of the most confident people I knew. But this situation was incredibly different. She also wanted to protect him by keeping him with us, but until she could get before a judge, or get a local lawyer to go before one, we couldn't stop this. I got into a hell of an argument with one of the detectives but my sister restrained me before I ended up locked up for taking a swing at a cop.

We gave Oliver a very tearful goodbye and Eva and I promised him we'd see him when we could; we were staying as local as we could while trying to keep near Connor as well. It wasn't going to be easy but they both needed us. It tore our hearts apart to watch him be led away by the woman from Family Services. Overall, it was the worst day our family suffered since I had been shot over twenty years before.

We were a very dejected group that went back to our rooms. We agree to take naps for a few hours and meet in the lobby at 6 to find someplace for dinner. When Eva and I got into our room, instead of the cold fury she showed me earlier, she fell into my arms and cried and cried. And I joined her. We let out the entire days' sorrow and pain out and we needed each other. We laid down on the bed, hugging tight and crying. Our son was critically wounded and our grandson was with strangers for at least a few days and there was nothing any of us could do about it. Even Cammy, with her legal skills, couldn't help Ollie right then (Eva and I still called him that when we were alone).

"Jon....Bear....I am so sorry about how I treated you earlier. I never should have said that or pushed you away. I can't get through this without you. I'd be so lost without your love." She was sniffling, her hair and makeup were a shambles, and her eyes and nose were all red. And she was the most beautiful woman in the world, especially on this terrible, bleak day.

"Shhhh Angel. You never have to apologize to me about anything. I know the pain you're in because I'm in it as well. Sometimes people say things they wish they hadn't. I'm not forgiving you because there's nothing to forgive. I couldn't bear this without you either. It would be unendurable without you."

We held on close, just rocking in each other's arms. And then something totally instinctual took over. We were kissing wildly, pulling each other's clothes off with an urgency we hadn't felt in a long time. Soon we were naked and Eva rode me, no extra lubrication needed. It was hard and raw, not loving at all. We clutched at each other, kissed almost hard enough to be painful, scratched and clawed almost hard enough to draw blood....and we came furiously. When the climax was past, we held each other again, crying again, but softer.

"Angel....what the hell was that? Is something wrong with us? You're the psychologist here."

"It's not uncommon, Bear. In times of great emotional pain, a lot of people seek something that feels pleasurable. It's the mind trying to ward off the feeling of heart aching pain. It sure as hell feels like it's wrong, but it's not. We needed it. Jon... I love you so much. I need you in my life, whatever happens."

"Eva, I need you too. Always and forever, right?" I kissed her gently, with all my love for her. "We always get through everything by doing it together. Connor will recover and Ollie will be with us within a few days. Cammy the Bulldozer will make sure of it." We smiled a little. My sister was going to do some research in her room to see if she could represent Oliver or the rest of us in a Georgia Family court or if she needed to find a lawyer here and which ones were good ones. Money wasn't an issue. We could hire whoever we needed and Cammy's firm had connections all over the country.

We went around to the other rooms to check on Rachel and Tony, and Vince and Maria, hanging out together with Anna. We didn't interrupt Cammy; when she was deep in work mode, she could keep almost everything else out of her mind. Kyle was used to it (as was Anna) and he was trying to organize the younger members of the family to go to a nearby swimwear store to get bathing suits so they could all swim in the hotel pool. It was a good idea; it was brutally hot, and the 'kids' would get bored without something physical to do. Kyle always was a good man.

While they were gone, we learned that Connor would be moved two days later, early in the morning, by helicopter, to Jacksonville. Then Cammy told us she found a local lawyer to help us with an expedited motion before the Family Court judge. The lawyers' name was Denise Horn and when Cammy introduced herself over the phone, Ms. Horn knew of my sister by reputation since Cammy was one of the most powerful and successful female lawyers in the country. She agreed to meet with my sister along with Eva and myself for an emergency appointment that night at our hotel.

When we sat with her, she agreed to make an emergency motion in the morning in Family Court. but she explained if a judge agreed to give us custody of Oliver, we would have to agree not to question him in any way about the shooting and that included Cammy. My sister couldn't represent Oliver and represent Conner in the same case; it would be a conflict of interest. So, figuring the potential for criminal exposer was greater for Connor than Oliver, and since Ms. Horn was an expert in Family Law, we decided she would be hired to represent Oliver. If it turned out Connor needed criminal representation, God forbid, we'd hire him an expert in criminal law. Cammy could represent him in the initial stages. The hard part would be not questioning our grandson about what happened that day. It also meant we had to discourage him from talking to us about it if he chose to.

The next morning, Cammy and I were allowed to travel on the helicopter to Jacksonville with Connor, still in an induced coma, while Eva and everyone else stayed behind in case Oliver was released to our family. Rachel and Tony drove down separately and met us in Florida since there wasn't enough room for all of us to ride in the helicopter. Eva, Kyle, Anna, Vince and Maria stayed in Georgia for Oliver.

Over the next couple of days, there were a lot of phone calls back and forth. Ms. Horn was effective at her job, getting Oliver released to our family under the court order that no one but his lawyer and the police could talk to him about the shooting. And two days after that, Connor was brought out of his coma. Cammy and I were by his bedside (only 2 visitors at a time) when he was brought out and, though he was slow initially at making the connection, he did recognize both of us in a couple of minutes. Cammy and I cried tears of relief.

Connor managed to say in a raspy, dry voice "Where's Oliver? Where am I?"

I told him where he was and then the doctor asked him questions. Did he know his own name, what did he do for a living, did he know why he was in the hospital? He remembered everything except why he was hospitalized. At least at that moment, he had no memory of the shooting.

The doctor gave the four of us fifteen minutes to talk to him. We all kissed him, even Tony, Rachel, Cammy and I all hugged him as close as we could without causing him pain. I promised I'd call Eva as soon as I got out of the ICU (no phones in there) and tell her he was conscious. Then Cammy asked the rest of us to leave her alone with her nephew/client so they could go over a few things as lawyer and client before she had to leave as well.

I called Eva and she cried with relief when I told her Connor was awake. Then she told me Oliver was with his family and I closed my eyes and thanked the powers that be. Oliver was glad to be with Eva and the others, but he was upset that he couldn't see his mother or his father, not for the moment. None of us were really inclined to bring him to see Leigh and we had to get permission from the court to take him out of state to see his father. Until that permission was given, we'd be split into two groups for a while.

Eva and I talked on the phone for a long time that night. That was tough in itself; we were unaccustomed to spending our nights apart from each other. With the circumstances...it was just damned hard.

After we talked, filling each other in on our other children aside from Connor, we were silent for a moment or two. "Angel, I love you, more than ever before, I think. hate being apart like this, for any reason. We are so much stronger together."

"I'm missing you terribly, Bear. I hope the judge lets us bring Ollie to Jacksonville in the next day or so. I need to see Connor, desperately. But I need to be with you too. You give me so much strength."

"Like you give me." I paused, then said "Eva, Connor says he doesn't remember anything except having an argument with Leigh that afternoon. He couldn't be lying, could he? He wouldn't have threatened her in any way?"

"Jon.. I just don't know. I know how we raised him. I know he was so honorable when he went into Annapolis, it was almost a pain in the ass." I could sense her smiling, a weary, dejected smile. When you've been together this long, you know without seeing each other. "But when he told us he was having an affair, I knew something had changed in him. Honestly, I don't know what he could be capable of now."