insistence on getting the echo, he’d waved it off to diffuse her obvious anxiety. “Seriously, how bad could it be?” he said. “You’re normally healthy as a horse. It’s a precaution, I’m sure. It’ll be fine and he’ll go to the next test on the flow chart.” But he knew the possibilities were limited, and something less serious would have been found by now.
His mind was a mess. He wanted to hide in his office or go for a run, but he knew Savannah needed him and his false confidence nearby. He feigned interest in the paper to keep from having to engage too much, turning the pages at appropriate intervals and pretending to read while she lay on the couch and stared out the window. Maybe she’d fall asleep and he could sneak out…
“So, how are things at A &A?”
Or not. He gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know it’s killing you to not be there.”
She rolled to her back, adjusting the throw pillow behind her head. “Torturing me, actually.”
Shaun gave her foot a squeeze. “It’s fine, just like it was yesterday, and the day before that. We’re not going to fall apart without you, you know.”
She sighed. “I know. I just get so tired of sitting here thinking. I almost wish A &A
“Heh, bite your tongue.” Though the thought of being free from the weight of the financial responsibility is bliss.
She nudged him with her foot. “Come on. We must have something to discuss. Any big decision you want to hash out? Any new curriculum ideas? Anything at all?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh-what about the feedback from the tour? Marisa told me on Monday the info cards had come in, but she hadn’t had time to go through them yet.”
He nodded. “Yes, they did come back, and Marisa just gave me the report yesterday. All very positive; no surprise there. Only one case of books was left, so you set a personal sales record.”
She gave a half-hearted pump of her fist. “Yay.”
Shaun thought for a moment, debating whether or not to mention the one issue he actually could bring up to her. “I am a little concerned with one thing.” Her face lit up with interest. “Remember Nick Albright, the accountant we hired back in April?”
“Of course.”
Shaun set aside his newspaper so Savannah wouldn’t see his hands shaking. He’d never been able to keep his cool while lying. “I’ve got a really bad feeling he’s been stealing.”
She raised her brows. “Office supplies?”
“Money.”
Savannah sat up. “Oh Shaun, seriously? He doesn’t seem the type! What happened to make you think that?”
“I was checking the bank statement, going over some things, and the numbers weren’t reconciling with the monthly reports he’s been giving me. I started going back over previous statements and reports, and I noticed a trend.” He shrugged, giving her a brief look before averting his eyes again. “I thought maybe I was the one making the mistake, but I did them all at least twice, and got the same discrepancies. I think he’s taking money from the ministry.”
Savannah shook her head as her hand massaged her chest. “Oh Shaun, what are we going to do? He seemed like such a nice young man.”
He chuckled. “You’d have expected him to come to the job interview with a ski mask?”
She gave a mirthless chuckle and lay back down. “That just breaks my heart.”
“I know; that’s why I haven’t said anything yet. I knew you’d take it hard. I didn’t want to worry you with things you couldn’t fix.”
“So now what?”
“Well, I think it’s clear we need to replace him.”
“What? No – we need to confront him, Shaun. What good are we doing for him if we don’t call him on it and do what we can to help him? Who knows what his motivation is. For all we know he’s got some awful financial trouble and doesn’t know what else to do. Taking away his income might make him even more desperate. I just can’t believe he’s doing it to be malicious.”
“Sweetheart, I know you like to assign positive intent to everyone, and overall that’s a good policy. But when we have proof that someone has been blatantly stealing from the ministry, I don’t think trying to make excuses for that behavior is helpful to anyone.”
She frowned, sitting up again. “I’m not making excuses, Shaun. I’m not saying it’s alright that he’s stealing. I’m saying we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, and we need to consider the possibility that our brother in Christ-” her brows arched “ – is just in dire need of help. How can we, in good conscience, just send him on his way to steal from someone else and not even try to get to the bottom of things?”
Shaun mentally kicked himself for opening his mouth. After twenty-two years he knew how her mind and heart worked. How would he get himself out of this mess? “I’m just trying to help us avoid a scandal, Van. If anyone got wind of the fact that we knew about this and didn’t deal with it-”
“Oh, for pete’s sake, Shaun, are you listening to me at all?” Savannah pushed herself from the couch, glaring at him as she swayed on her feet. “We
Shaun, frozen in shock, watched as Savannah seemed to fall in slow motion, her legs folding beneath her and her body settling in a heap on the floor.
CHAPTER 4
SAVANNAH HADN’T BEEN TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM SINCE HER last miscarriage. She welcomed the distraction of a new environment, letting herself stare unapologetically at the nurses and doctors as they walked or ran past her room. It kept her mind off her own troubles – like how much harder it was to breathe, and how much more her chest ached.
Shaun looked about as awful as she felt. He sat beside her bed in a plastic chair, shoulders hunched and features etched with worry. She’d never forget the look on his face when she’d regained consciousness – it still hadn’t faded entirely. The intake nurse had asked him twice if he was alright.
The time passed slowly. The ER didn’t seem full, but apparently it was still busy. She had nothing to compare it to, other than the rare episode of hospital dramas she’d seen on TV, and who knew how accurate those were. Regardless, it took half an hour for a doctor to finally come to Savannah’s bed and pick up the chart; when she did Savannah’s nerves kicked up a notch for fear of what she might say. Shaun straightened in the chair and they reached simultaneously for each other’s hands.
“Hi there, Mrs. Trover. I’m Dr. Rockwell.” She pulled over a stool, lips pursed, and looked over Savannah’s chart. “Weakness and fatigue for two weeks?”
“Yes.”
“And the fainting spell this evening.”
“Yes, that’s never happened before.”
Dr. Rockwell pulled her stethoscope from her neck and settled it into place. “You told the nurse your chest ached. For how long?”
“I don’t know – three or four days, maybe? But not as badly as it does now.”
“Have you had shortness of breath, vomiting, diarrhea?”
Savannah blinked at the rapid-fire questions. “Um – short of breath, yes. It used to be just when I’d go up the stairs, but it’s a lot harder to breathe now than it was before I fainted.”
Dr. Rockwell moved the chest piece to a new place, eyes trained somewhere above Savannah’s head as she listened. “Have you ever had a stress test, heart catheterization, echocardiogram?”
“No, never – I’m usually very healthy.”
