Adopted

Chapter 69

I slept fitfully and not well. I kept waking up from nightmares. Josh was there every time, rubbing my back while I cried. At some point I heard someone come in.

"Hey Spence," Josh whispered.

"How's she doing?" Spencer whispered back.

"Okay. She keeps waking up from nightmares, I guess."

"Poor kid. What did she mean by 'not again'?" Spencer asked.

"B didn't tell you? Her bio parents were killed in a car accident when she was eight. That's how she got AIDS. She was in the car and pretty banged up apparently."

"Oh," Spencer said. "No. B didn't tell me the details."

"He would have eventually I'm sure," Josh said.

Suddenly, there was a scream from downstairs. I sat bolt upright as I heard Mom scream 'BRENDON!'

Uncle Pete came running up the stairs.

"Jess, come downstairs. Now," he said.

I didn't hesitate and ran down the stairs as quickly as I could, fearing the worst. Mom was on the phone and crying. But, also laughing?

"Jess, honey, here," she said, handing me her phone.

"Hello?" I said not knowing what to expect.

"Hey kiddo, what's all the fuss?" 

It was Dad. I started crying into the phone.

"Dad?  Is that really you?" I asked.

"It is. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry Dad!  I'm so sorry!" I cried harder.

"Hey, hey," he said. "What are you sorry for?"

"I didn't tell you I love you before you left. Or when you texted me. And then we thought..." I couldn't finish the sentence without breaking down. Mom took the phone from me, and led me over to the couch where she held me in her free arm. I just cried while she talked to Dad.

"Okay, we'll speak to you tomorrow. You have no idea how relieved we are to hear from you," Mom said. "Love you too. Good night."

Mom hugged me and rocked me while everyone celebrated that Dad and everyone were fine.

"Spencer, call Linda and make sure Breezy has heard from Dallon," Pete said.

"I am," he said.

I curled into Mom as she stroked my hair with one hand and rubbed my back with the other. She kissed my head. I could feel myself falling asleep.

"Jess?" She asked.

"Mmm?" I mumbled.

"Sar," Kala said. "She's fast asleep."

"Poor kid," Mom whispered. "I can't imagine what was going through her mind this whole time."

"She was having a lot of nightmares when we were upstairs," I heard Josh whisper.

"Thank you for staying up there with her," Mom whispered.

"My pleasure. I wouldn't have left her, if she hadn't asked me to stay."

"She's got to be so drained from all this," Mom sighed.

I was. I fell into a deep, deep sleep.

I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking and mom singing in the kitchen. I opened my eyes and couldn't remember why I was sleeping on the couch. Uncle Josh was sprawled on the other half of the sectional. Uncle Pete was in the lounge chair.

I sat up and went into the kitchen.

"Why did I sleep on the couch?" I asked Mom, who was practically dancing around the kitchen.

"You fell asleep on me after we talked to Dad, and I didn't have the heart to move you. And to be honest, I didn't want you away from me. So we both slept on the couch.  How are you feeling today?"

"Happy," I smiled.

"Me too," Mom said.

"Mmm. Something smells good," Uncle Josh said, coming into the kitchen.

"Celebratory breakfast," Mom said. "Coffee's ready."

Uncle Pete made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee before saying anything to indicate he was awake.

"How're you doing kiddo?" He asked me.

"Good," I smiled.

Mom poured me a glass of orange juice and placed a cup of my meds beside it. We kept meds in the kitchen as well as in my bathroom.

"Do you want eggs?" Mom asked. "Scrambled? Fried? Poached?"

"Scrambled please," I said.

"Thank god. I can't poach an egg to save my life," Mom said and we laughed.

While we were eating breakfast, Mom explained what had happened.

The stage crew had left way early and then Dad's bus left. Somewhere between both of their departures, another bus had been involved in the accident. Dad's bus had been rerouted, but they didn't have a clue that it was a tour-type bus that had been involved. They just knew it was an accident ahead. Because of the terrain, the fact that they'd been in Canada and the detour, their phones had lost signal,, and then as soon as they got into Vancouver, they had to get ready for the show because the detour ate up an extra two and a half hours.

Since they didn't know what had happened, they didn't notice their phones were blowing up when they got signal, because they'd all turned off their ringers since the phones kept beeping 'no signal'.

They'd forgotten to turn the sound back on when they got into Vancouver because they were in a hurry to get into the venue, set up, sound check really fast then do some press and go on stage.

It wasn't until after the show, when Dad went to call us that he saw the hundreds of phone calls and texts from Mom and Josh and Kala and Pete and whoever else.

He felt horrible that we'd spent so many hours not knowing if he was dead, injured or alive. Mom told me he was particularly worried about me when he heard what we were all thinking. Because of my biological parents.

"He said he wished he could cancel the rest of the tour and come straight home, but he can't. And he'll be home Wednesday anyway," Mom said. Josh ruffled my hair.

"Thanks for staying with me last night, Uncle Josh," I said.

"Of course," he said. "Oh, here. Your phone was also blowing up last night. You should probably text your friends back."

He handed me my phone. There were texts from Astrid, Kevin, Joshua and Paige. All of them asking what happened. Paige and Astrid asked why I didn't come back to PE, and Kevin said he saw me leave with Pete and asked why I left early.

I went into the group text and explained what happened. It was still early, so I didn't expect anyone to respond but they apparently were all awake. They all responded that they were happy to hear Dad was okay and how scary that must have been.

Paige texted me privately and asked if I wanted to get together today. I told her I wanted to be with my mom today. But maybe she could come over on Sunday.

"What are your plans for today?" Mom asked, as if reading my mind.

"Actually, I want to spend it with you, if that's okay," I said.

"Of course. We'll have a girl's day. We'll do something fun and reckless."

"I'm not going sky diving," I said, smirking.

Mom laughed.