'Is she all right? Where is she?' Nadine said, struggling to her feet.
'She's going to be just fine,' said the doctor who was on ER duty that night.
'Did Deborah tell you?' Bambi asked.
'That someone—' Nadine couldn't make herself say the horrible words.
Impulsively, Bambi took her hand. 'It's okay, Mrs. Knott. She wasn't raped.'
'What?' I was dumbfounded.
'She was assaulted,' the doctor said grimly. 'Facial contusions, bruises to her upper extremities, but there was no penetration, no semen smears, no bruising in the vaginal area itself. And the hymen is still intact. Your daughter has a mild concussion—it would appear that she was thrown down rather violently—but I'd guess that he panicked and fled when he realized she was unconscious.'
Nadine was suddenly an enraged mother tiger ready to kill. 'I want to see my baby. Now!'
'Of course,' the intern agreed. 'I've given her a tranquilizer and I want to check her blood pressure again, but then she can go home.'
As they left the waiting room, Dwight turned to me. 'What happened, Deb'rah? Who did it?'
I gave him as many details as I could remember, carefully editing out Cindy McGee's involvement with that hound's leavings. No point smearing her with his slime.
'I'll try to get Nadine to swear out a warrant against Bannerman,' I said, 'but she may not want to if she thinks it'll hurt Annie Sue. And with Herman—how is he really, Dwight?'
He shrugged bleakly and held out an arm to me. 'Don't look good, shug.'
I've known Dwight since I was a little girl and he was one of the gang of neighborhood boys that used to hang out at the farm and play whatever ball my brothers were tossing around at the moment. He fusses at me, tries to watch out for me, comforts me just like one of them; and I let myself be enfolded by his big arm because sometimes you just need to lay your burdens down for a few minutes and take refuge in a loving human hug.
I leaned against his broad chest and tucked my head under his chin as reaction set in.
'I swear to God,' I told him, 'if that slug had come back for his car right then, I'd have bashed his head in with Herman's hammer.'
'Shh,' said Dwight, his voice muffled by my hair.
But my words suddenly registered in both our heads and we pulled apart.
'Blood!' I said.
'His car?' asked Dwight.
'I'll bet he hit Annie Sue with that hammer,' I said. 'That's why there's blood on my skirt.'
'Hold on a minute,' he said. 'How come Bannerman left his car there?'
Before I could speculate, the waiting room was flooded with Knotts.
Reese and his girlfriend tumbled through the door one step ahead of Haywood and Isabel and two of their kids. Andrew and April came with A.K. and Ruth. Seth, Minnie and their kids arrived moments later because Minnie had stopped to call one of Nadine's sisters. Will and Amy were right behind them and they'd brought Daddy, who came in grim-faced and resigned to hear the worst. Soon I saw Aunt Zell and Uncle Ash and some New Deliverance Church people.
Brothers who lived away had been called and were just waiting for the word to get on plane or car, but by the time Nadine appeared with her arm around a shaky Annie Sue, every Knott in that end of Colleton County knew everything we knew about what had happened to both my brother and my niece. The women rushed to comfort Nadine and Annie Sue; the men buzzed around like an overturned hornet nest. My brothers were talking horse- whips; their sons and daughters were talking hanging trees.
They all fell silent though when Dr. Worley appeared in the doorway. For a moment, he seemed taken aback by so many of Herman's kinfolks, but we moved aside automatically and he made his way to Nadine, who sat between Daddy and Annie Sue. Someone gave the doctor a chair so he could face all three of them, then we all circled around so we could hear, too.
'We've got him stabilized,' he told Nadine. 'But frankly, I don't know for how long. It's not his heart, although there may be some peripheral involvement. His white blood count's way down and there's definite neurological damage. It may have been a stroke, but there's some kidney blockage—it's a medical nightmare. Frankly, all we can do right now is treat the symptoms until we can do more tests. And Dobbs Memorial just isn't equipped for what he needs. I want to airlift him to Chapel Hill.'
'Airlift?' Nadine looked around our circle of faces.
'Helicopter,' said Daddy. 'That sounds pretty serious, son.'
'It is, Mr. Kezzie.'
Their eyes met and Daddy nodded.
'Whatever it takes, whatever it costs—' He broke off and put his gnarled hand over Nadine's. 'But it ain't mine to say. You're his wife, girl. You want them to do this?'
'Yes!' she said. 'Of course, yes. Only'—her eyes sought out the preacher, who'd come as soon as her sister had called him—'could we have a prayer first?'
The only times I'd heard New Deliverance's preacher pray, he'd struck me as overly long-winded. Tonight, he was brief and to the point as we all joined hands and bowed our heads: 'Lord God who hears us when we cry thy name, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but we pray mercy on this family, Lord, and on thy good and faithful servant Herman. In Jesus' name we pray it. Amen.'
'Amen,' we echoed.
