“Hi, this is Ellen. I’m a nurse at the doctor’s office your wife came to today.” Fuck. Something has to be wrong. Why else are they calling me? Sylvia’s doctors never call me after a visit. I check my watch. Fuck, she might still be there. “She, um, learned of some news and is a bit hysterical. She demanded we get you here before she fainted.”
“She what? What the hell happened?”
“Can you please get down here as soon as possible? Since she became conscious, she’s not acknowledging anyone and it doesn’t appear as if she’s going to leave her room.”
Fuck. I gulp. “I’m not in town right now. Can you tell me what’s wrong? Or let me talk to her?”
“Dr. Floyd would like to deliver that news to you in person.”
I hang up on her and call Sylvia’s cell. Damn it. Why did I let them schedule this appointment when I would be out of town? She doesn’t answer, but I keep calling. On the fourth try, I hear a tiny voice answer, “Scott?”
“Sylvie, what the hell? What’s going on?”
“I need you.”
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
My blood runs cold. “Okay. Let me see what I can do, all right? I’m going to get someone to pick you up and take you home until I can get there. Who do you want? Lizzy?”
Sylvia chokes on a sob. “No, please, no.”
“Meredith? Theresa? Sydney? Who, Sylvie? Your mom?”
“Meredith, maybe?”
“Okay. You sit right there. Meredith will come get you and I’ll be home as soon as possible. Is your doctor with you?”
“No.” She’s still crying, and it’s killing me, not knowing what the fuck is going on with her.
“Okay. Everything will be fine. I’ll be home soon. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
As soon as I hang up, I rush to find the people I need to talk to. I need to go home. This is an emergency. I run into Noah and Marc first.
“Woah, Scotty. What’s wrong?” Marc asks, but I ignore him and focus on Noah.
“I need you to call Meredith and tell her to pick Sylvia up from the doctor’s office. I can text you the address, so you can forward it to her. Something’s happened, no one will tell me what the fuck is wrong, and she’s freaking out. She doesn’t want Lizzy. Will Meredith do it?”
“Yeah. I’ll call her now.”
Next, I get the all-clear to leave. We’re only a little over four hours away from home and I can drive there faster than I’ll be able to catch a flight home, so I rent a car and start driving. All the worst possible scenarios race through my mind as I put all the focus necessary into driving. What could they have found so quickly? Maybe her throwing up and the mood changes are part of a more serious condition. I don’t know. I don’t fucking know and I don’t like it.
Please let her be okay.
I also call my parents and ask them to pick up the girls from school and take them back to their house until I can assure that everything is okay at home. I need to make sure Sylvia is fine. My parents can take care of the girls while I do that.
Four hours have never passed so slowly with a seemingly ridiculous amount of traffic and road work. My first stop isn’t my house where my wife is waiting. It’s the doctor’s office. It’s twenty minutes until they close, but that damn doctor will talk to me. I need to know what is going on before I go home.
My concern rises when they immediately usher me into the back to a small office. Dr. Floyd stands and shakes my hand.
“What the fuck happened? What’s wrong with her?”
“Calm down, please, Mr. Boyd. I assure you she is fine.”
“Apparently not,” I interrupt. “I just left my job and drove over four hours because she had a meltdown over something you told her was wrong with her. I need t