It was after two when Scott came in, picked her up from the couch, and carried her up to her room. He laid her in the bed and kissed her gently before covering her up. As much as he wanted to lie next to her, he knew that his dad would be there soon, and they needed each other right now. He brushed her hair from her face and left her alone.
"ERIC!" she screamed out, waking, finding herself in the bed, feeling for him, but he wasn't there, it was almost three a.m. She hurried from the bed, grabbing her robe and rushed to check on her children, even Scott. She found everyone sleeping and hurried downstairs to the garage to see if her car was there, but it wasn't.
She picked up the phone and dialed his cell, getting no answer. She tossed the phone on the table and sat down, looking at it, and trying to assess the reason she called his name. Had she been dreaming about him, why else would she call for him?
Scott came into the kitchen, his head still fuzzy with sleep, "Mom? What's going on?"
"Your dad, he's not home. I'm worried."
"Maybe he stopped because of the snow, it was getting heavy earlier."
"But he would have called."
"He knew you were going to bed, he probably didn't want to wake you."
"Scott, it's only an hour's drive from the cabin. I know with the snowfall, he was being careful, but if he would have pulled off, he would have called."
"What was he doing up there this time of night?"
"I don't know, I didn't ask. He told me he would tell me when he got home. I didn't care, I just wanted him home."
Headlights flashed in the kitchen window from the driveway, "Look mom, there he is now." Scott pointed out, but Emily was hesitant to move, and looked at Scott, fear flashing in her eyes.
"Baby, that's not your father. That's not my car."
"Come on mom, who else would be?"
A hard knock came from the front door startling them both. Emily stood up, wrapped her robe tightly around her, and hurried to the door, Scott on her heels. She pulled the door open to see a sheriff standing on the other side. "Emily Richmon?" his voice was strong.
"Yes, I'm Emily. Can I help you?" she opened the door further, offering him to come from the cold night air. He accepted and entered the house.
"I'm Deputy Patrick Kirk. And I'm sorry to wake you at such a late hour, but I have a few questions I need to ask you."
"Yes, certainly."
Scott walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the need to give her strength, or maybe gain some for himself.
"Do you own a 2006 Mustang, red exterior, black interior, plate number..." he read something off to her, she shook her head yes. "We found the registration in the glove box, and thought you needed to be notified about your car."
Emily went pale; she felt her blood go cold, "what happened to Eric!"
"Mr. Richmon is in the hospital. His wife said that he lost control of the car and..."
Emily cut him off, "HIS WIFE! I'M HIS WIFE!"
The officer was shocked, "Mrs. Richmon was at the scene, she said that her husband was returning the car this evening, and lost control of it on the mountain, she was the one who called us right after the accident. She said she had been following him here so she could drive him back home."
Scott stepped up to confront him, "Did you get her name?"
He flipped though some pages of his notebook, and looked back up at Scott, "Tangelia Richmon, why is that sir?"
"She's my EX wife, Eric is my father, Emily is my mother, Eric's wife." he felt his mother shaking, thinking she would faint. "Mom, come on, sit down."
He led her to the couch, helping her sit, went to get her a glass of water, and retrieved her purse, rummaging though it for some information as proof for the officer. He handed off her insurance card, and pointed out the photographs of her and Eric, as well as some of his own information to prove who Tangy really was.
"I don't understand," the deputy replied.
"I do, my ex-wife is lying." Scott stated sternly.
"Eric, where's Eric, where's my husband!" in her head, she was screaming, in reality, she was whispering.
"Mom," Scott held her hand, "I'm sure dad is ok." The deputy looked at her, and asked to speak to Scott alone, he agreed and they went to the kitchen.
"Look, I don't know what's going on here, I guess that is what I came here to find out. We found Mrs. Richmon's car in a ravine off the mountain, about ten feet down. It looked like there was a patch of ice and the car slid from the road. Mr. Richmon, your father, is in the hospital, his condition was undetermined when I left the scene. Ms. Richmon, Tangelia, was direct and to the point about who she was and what she was doing there," he looked back into the living room, "But unlike Mrs. Richmon," he motioned to Emily, "she was not shocked by the incident. She was very matter of fact, which I found very disconcerting. I asked to come here because I remembered your mom's car from a few months ago when I pulled her over for her tail light being out. There's no mistaking that Mustang, it's the only one around here that looked like that."
"Do you know where they took my dad?"
"County General, about an hour ago, after they cut him out of the car."
"Do you know how long ago the wreck happened?"
"We received a 911 call around twelve-thirty, and the paramedics have been working to get him out of the car since we got there a little before or about one a.m."
"What the hell am I going to tell mom!" he fiercely whispered.
"Let me call in and see what I can find out, and then I can tell your mother, if you prefer?"
"No, I would rather be the one to tell her, but yes, if you could find out some more information, that would help a great deal." Scott looked over at his mom, "They just made up from a fight, he was coming back from the cabin so that they could talk about things. I hope that what ever they said gives mom strength to deal with this, because I don't think she can handle anything else right now."
The deputy sheriff walked away to call in on his radio, talking for a while to some one. Scott went back in to sit with Emily, who was mumbling something incoherently to herself. He startled her when he took her hand.
"Oh Scotty," she hadn't called him that in a long time. "He knew, when he talked to me earlier, he knew something was wrong. If not, he wouldn't have said all those things, asked me how much I loved him, reminding him of why, telling me why..." she just kept going on and on about their conversation.
"Mom, I need to tell you what happened." he held her hand, she just stared into the darkness, "Emily!"
She flashed her eyes to him. "Scott, he's dying. I have to get to him before he slips away from me." She left him sitting there and ran upstairs to change her clothes.
Scott went to the officer and asked him to wait, going up after Emily, "Mom, you can't, you don't know where he is. You have to, what about Willow, Hayden and Bren, and Brey?"
"I'll take your father's truck. Please, call Erica, and Mal, don't wake Hayden or Bren. I have to make Eric hang on, just for a few more hours. I have to go."
