Family Ties

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Chapter six: The Hospital.


Lance ran thru the hospital stopping at the nurses station and looking around frantically for his mother. Jessi spotted the door of the waiting room and grabbed Lance's arm pulling him thru the door. Lynn quickly stood up as she saw them enter. She hugged Jessi then reached around pulling Lance to her.
"I am so glad you two made it. Your mom should be back in a minute. The doctor took her down to see your dad."
Lance pulled away wringing his hands nervously. "Is he ok? What happened?"
Lynn sat down pulling Lance down next to her.
"We were going to go out to dinner, Kendal and I were going to leave tomorrow. Your dad didn't seem to be feeling too good today. But we got ready to leave and he grabbed his chest and hit the ground. He told your mom to call an ambulance. Its seems to be a mild heart attack is what they are saying."
Diane walked into the waiting room and threw her arms around Lance crying.
"I am so glad you are here. Your dad will be so happy to see you."
Lance pulled away from her holding onto her arms. "How is he really mom?"
Diane sighed a raspy sigh and sat down.
"They are getting him comfortable right now. We should be able to go in a few minutes to his room to see him. He looks good, hooked up to a lot of machines, but he's doing ok. They want to run some test and if he does real good he'll get to go home in a few days. It was mild. So we're all real lucky."
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his forehead whispering.
"Everything is going to be ok."
Lance closed his eyes and nodded placing his hands on top of hers.
Jessi looked around the waiting room. "Where is Kendal."
Diane pulled away from Lance resting her hand on his knee.
"Stacy and Ford took her down to the cafeteria to get her something to eat."
Diane held her free hand out to Jessi smiling.
"Come see me."
Jessi walked over sitting next to Diane and hugging her.
"You look beautiful. Did you have a good time in Hawaii?"
Jessi glanced up at Lance then back to Diane and smiled.
"Yeah, it was good."
Lynn tilted her head eyeing Jessi as Stacy and Ford walked in with Kendal.
Kendal let go of Stacy's hand running straight for Lance. She grabbed a hold of his of his arm pulling herself into his lap and kissed his cheek.
"Daddy, I so glad you here."
Lance smiled wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the nose.
"Daddy is so glad to see you. Have you been having a good time?"
She nodded looking over at Diane.
"Nana has told me all about when you was little."
Lance grinned cutting his eyes to Diane.
"Is that so? Well you'll just have to tell me all about that."
Jessi reached around Diane poking Kendal in the back. Kendal turned looking at her and smiled.
"Hey you, mommy is here too. Didn't you miss me?"
Diane laughed as Kendal climbed across her lap to get to Jessi. She hugged her mother tightly.
"I missed you lots mommy."
Jessi laughed hugging her back. "I missed you lots too."

The doctor came in announcing Jim was settled in his room and the family could go to the room now.
Lance stoshershering his mother and sister out of the room then turned back to Jessi.
"Ya'll are coming aren't you?"
Jessi shook her head moving next to her mother. "Ya'll go ahead. You need family time right now. We'll wait here for you. Take your time."
Lance let the door close as he walked back toward Jessi and Lynn.
"Ya'll are apart of this family. Come on. Dad will be glad to see you."
Jessi reached up taking his hand in hers and squeezing it.
"I'll come down and him him in a little while. Go be with him right now."
Lance nodded and walked out of the room.

Lynn sighed shifting in her seat and turning toward Jessi. She raised her eyebrow smiling at her.
"So, what is all of this about?"
Jessi watched as Kendal climbed out of her lap and went over to the t.v. turning the channels.
She cleared her throat and looked over at her mother laughing.
"WHAT? There is nothing going on. I talked to dad earlier and told him I would be coming home tomorrow. When this happened I wanted to come and check on Kendal and I didn't want Lance to have to deal with this alone, no matter how much I hate him."
Lynn laughed as she folded her arms across her chest.
"You my child are something else. But I am glad you came along. So tell me, what is going on with you and Chris? I got the impression from Paul when I talked to him earlier that things weren't good."
Jessi's brow furrowed as she looked at Lynn. "I didn't say anything to dad about there being problems with me and Chris."
Lynn shrugged. "Guess he's raised you long enough that he knows when something isn't right."
Jessi laughed and sighed looking down. "Chris and I aren't together any more. We had some disagreements in Hawaii. I don't really want to talk about it right now."
Lynn nodded patting her hand. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm here when you want to talk."
Jessi nodded and leaned back in the seat closing her eyes. "I'm tired. Wake me when Lance is ready."
Lynn nodded as Jessi leaned her head over on her shoulder and fell as.
.

Lance pulled up a chair sitting down next to his dads bed. Jim turned and smiled at him weakly.
"Good to see you son. You shouldn't have rushed home just for me."
Lance smiled patting him on the arm. "How are you feeling dad?"
Jim breath heavily and nodded. "I'm alright. Doctor says i'm going to be good. I'm ready to get out of here already. That daughter of yours has been keeping me on my toes."
Lance laughed taking his dads hand in his.
"You just take it easy from now on. I think all the excitement with Kendal got you worked up too much."
Stacy quickly looked up at Lance shaking her head.
"No way. Kendal being here has been good for both mom and dad. Dad has been overworking himself way too much lately. I believe if it wasn't for Kendal his heart attack would have been worse."
Jim waved his hand in the air. "Hey hey, now ya'll just hush. I'm doing fine and i'll be going home in a couple of days." He looked over at Lance frowning. "And my granddaughter better still be here when I get home."
Lance sighed leaning back in the chair. "She will be. Jessi came along with me, so she's not going any where."
Jim sat up in his bed a little looking around the room.
"I would really like to see Jessica. Is she here?"
Lance nodded. "She's in the waiting room with Kendal and Lynn. I'll go get her."
Jim nodded as Lance walked out of the room and down the hall.

Lynn stretched and smiled as Lance walked into the waiting room.
"How is your dad doing?"
Lance walked over sitting dow next to Jessi watching her sleep.
"He looks good. He wants to see Jessi so I came to see if she'd like to go in awhile."
Lynn nodded as she watched Lance gently stroked her cheek. She stirred opening hers eyes and sat up quickly when she saw Lance. He smiled and pulled his hand away from her cheek.
"Dad wants to see. Why don't you come on in for a little while then i'll take you back to mom and dads so you can get some rest."
Jessi slowly stood up yawning. "Is he doing ok?"
Lance nodded placing his hand on the small of her back. "Yeah, he looks tired. But he's doing good."
Jessi stopped in the doorway of the waiting room turning to Lynn.
"I won't be too long."
Lynn waved her hand as she shook her head. "Take your time. Kendal and I are just fine."
She turned back allowing Lance to lead her down the hallway.

Jessi stood at the side of the bed and sighed nervously as everyone left the room. Jim smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "It's good to see you. How are you doing?"
Jessi smiled and turned pulling the chair closer to the bed sitting down.
"I'm doing good. You gave all of us a scare. How are you doing?"
Jim shrugged his shoulders and covered his yawn. "I'm actually doing better than I look. I wanted to thank you for letting Kendal come to spend time with us. I've really enjoyed having her. I hope you'll bring her back more often. You know you're always welcome in our home."
Jessi nodded. "You're welcome. And anytime you want Kendal to visit I will gladly bring her. She's had a really good time here with you and Diane."
Jim covered his mouth yawning again and laughed. "I am so sorry. It's the medicine. Not the company."
Jessi laughed and stood up. "I think you need some rest. I'm gonna steal Lance from you for a little bit and get Kendal back to the house to get some rest."
Jim nodded reaching for her hand. "I'm glad you came along. I hope you and Lance can work out your differences for Kendal's sake. I like Chris, he's a good man. I'm glad the two of you are together. At least I know my granddaughter has someone around who is going to be good to her when Lance can't be there. I may still be young but i'm worn out Jessica. I want to make sure my family is well taken care of. What I want the most is for you and Kendal to be happy. "
Jessi weakly smiled at him. "You're going to be just fine.You get some rest. I'll be back to see you. You've got to come home soon. Ever since I got here Kendal has talked about how poppy is takeing her horseback riding."
Jim smiled snuggling back into his pillow. "Poppy is going to show her how to ride a horse. But daddy is going to buy her a horse. He just doesn't know that yet."
Jessi laughed shaking her head. "You just get some rest. We'll discuss that later."
He smiled whispering a thank you as she walked out of the room and stopped in the hallway leaning against the wall and sighing deeply.