Amazing Gracie

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

John paced up and down the hallway anxiously waiting for news from the doctor. He had been there for approximately two hours, but there had been no news.

Just then, a man wearing a white lab coat walked up to him.

John turned to speak to him.

"How is she?" The man turned away.

"It's not going well. Her condition has improved somewhat since she was admitted, but it's still touch and go at the moment. We have no idea whether or not she's going to make it." The doctor spoke honestly.

"She has to make it. I-I can't live without her," he whispered, his voice cracking. Elisabeth was his first and only love. He couldn't imagine life without her.

The doctor was upset. It was inevitable that in his line of work, he would have to deliver bad news, but every time he did, it tore at his heart. He wished he could do more, but he had done all he could. The rest was up to fate.

John's phone rang, and he picked it up.

"Hello?" His voice came out harsher than he had wanted it to, but at that moment, it didn't matter to him.

"Well, I'm sorry for whoever is standing with you at the moment," said an amused voice. Margaret. His wife's best friend.

"What do want Maggie?"

Margaret frowned. No matter how gruff and rude he was around other people, he was never like that around her, or Elisabeth.

"I'm at your house right now. I've been banging at the door so hard, I'm pretty sure the neighbours are considering calling the cops. Where are you?"

John sighed, and rubbed his forehead with his calloused palm.

"I'm at Riverside Hospital. Liz—she had a heart attack."

He heard Maggie gasp.

"I'll be there in ten minutes. Hang on John." He hung up on her, and went back to pacing. The doctor had disappeared when he had picked the call.

John Barnes was not used to being powerless. He was a business tycoon; he called the shots, not the other way around. He wasn't used to being the pawn, wasn't accustomed to being battered by life's storms. He had no control. And he hated it.

He grunted in frustration.

Ten minutes later, Maggie ran into the room, her appearance completely dishevelled.

"Is—is Liz okay?" she panted.

"She just had a heart attack, do you think she's okay?" John snapped.

He saw the hurt in her eyes, and he sighed.

"I'm sorry Maggie. I've been here for hours, and she's still not out of the danger zone. I can't lose her like this Maggie, I can't." Tears pooled in his ice blue eyes.

"Don't worry, God's not going to let her go that easily," Maggie said soothingly.

"God? God?" A wild look appeared in his eyes. "The woman in that room served God wholeheartedly! She prayed, she tithed, and she sacrificed! She gave him everything! Heck, she spent more time in the church than she spent with me! And what did she get as a reward? A heart attack."

The bitter tone in his voice did not go unnoticed.

"John, calm down. You know what, I think you need someone to pray with." She took his hand, and he pulled away as if he had been burnt.