Standing Tall

July 4, 2013

“What are you saying?!” Scott yelled.
 
“I’m sorry Mr. Hartnell.  You are not able to give consent.”
 
“I’m her husband for Christ’s sake!  I’m his stepfather!  That should count for something!” Scott continued yelling.  Lindsey and Brayden both stood behind him and Lindsey reached for Scott’s arm but he shrugged her off.
 
“Scott, please.  Calm down,” Lindsey begged, feeling the tears forming in her eyes.
 
“I can’t calm down Lindsey.  This is horseshit!”
 
“I know.  I’ve called Claude.  He’s going to call the team’s lawyer to see what they can do,” Lindsey said.
 
“Mr. Hartnell, I’m very sorry about this.  Your wife will be fine, but she still has not regained consciousness.  We’re keeping Tyler sedated and comfortable until consent for the procedure has been given, which we will get once your wife wakes up,” the doctor stated.
 
“How long can he wait?” Scott asked.
 
“Obviously the sooner the better, but we do have to wait for some of the swelling to go down before we can operate.  But…the longest we can wait is 72 hours.”
 
“And then what?  What if Rebecca doesn’t wake up by then?”
 
“Let’s not worry about that just yet.  Your wife should make a full recovery, her body just needs to take some time to heal.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s awake by morning,” the doctor tried to assure him.
 
“Can I see them?” Scott asked, trying to restrain himself from strangling the doctor standing before him.
 
“Give us a few more minutes to get them both situated and the nurse will show you in.”  The doctor scribbled onto his notepad, smiled and then turned to walk away.
 
Scott ran his hands through his hair and pulled the short strands.  “I don’t believe this is happening.”
 
“Scott, what can we do?  What do you need?” Lindsey asked.
 
“I don’t know Linds.  I need my wife.  I need both of them to be okay.” Scott choked back tears and Lindsey wrapped her arms around him into a hug. Scott had wished he could go back and erase the last twenty-four hours....
 
************

The first month of Rebecca and Scott’s marriage went by in a blur.  Over the past four weeks they had been whisked away to New York City courtesy of Mr. Snider, taken a weekend jaunt to Wildwood with Tyler and Gia to enjoy the sand and sun, and then spent ten days in Wyoming on their family-style honeymoon.  

Before they knew it, they were gearing up to celebrate the Fourth of July.  Tyler suggested hosting a barbecue with all of their friends and family, and Scott had agreed on the condition that they would also celebrate Canada Day and have the party on either July 2nd or 3rd since it’s in the middle of both holidays, stating that half of the people coming to the barbecue would be Canadians anyway.
 
Being July, most hockey players return to their hometowns to train and visit family that they have neglected during the season, however, many of the Flyers have rooted themselves in the city and the community and no longer make the trip back to Canada during the off-season.  Scott invited as many of his teammates that were still in the city or New Jersey, Tyler invited a handful of his closest friends, and Rebecca reached out to her mother and sisters, foregoing calling her three best friends since they will all receive an invite from their significant others on the Flyers roster.

Mostly everyone had shown up at the Hartnell house for their "North America Birthday Party" as Tyler had dubbed it. Scott and Rebecca had rented an inflatable bounce house for the small children to enjoy, which was a big hit until one of the Coburn children had managed to bounce himself right out of it and onto the hard ground, bruising his chin. 

Tyler and his friends played horseshoes and hung out in the pool for most of the day and evening, that is until Claude had pronounced the pool a "no kid zone" from that point on. 

By nine o'clock those with small children began saying their goodbyes. Rebecca had also taken Gia inside and put her to bed.  Tyler and his friends had taken up residency in the basement, the boys playing Xbox and the girls comparing notes on which Flyer they would date if they were older. 

Rebecca returned to the backyard after putting Gia down and cleaning up some of the mess in the kitchen to find Scott, Claude, Erica, Luke, Tiffany, Brayden and Lindsey all pulled together in a circle of chairs.  Scott pulled a beer out of the cooler next to him and handed it to her.  "So what are we discussing?" Rebecca asked after taking a sip of her beer. 

"Well, we were just asking Scott what kind of plans you may have for the Olympic break next year," Tiffany smiled. 

Rebecca glanced at Scott, who shrugged, and said "Nothing that we know of...that's seven months away. Why?"

"Because we're getting married!" Tiffany squealed. 

"Oh my God, Tiff!" Rebecca exclaimed as she, Lindsey and Erica jumped to their feet and enveloped Tiffany in a bear hug.  

"I can't breathe guys," Tiffany laughed as the girls pulled back from her. Rebecca pulled Tiffany's hand up to see the ring, and frowned when she didn't find one.

"No ring?" Rebecca asked looking at Luke.

"I wanted to tell you all when we were by ourselves, so I told Luke to hold so no one would inadvertently see it," Tiffany responded as Luke pulled the ring box from his pocket, opened it and removed the ring from the holder. He slipped it onto Tiffany's finger and kissed her cheek.

"When did this happen?" Lindsey asked as they inspected the ring.

"This morning," Tiffany smiled. "I'll spare you guys the sappy details, but he surprised me with breakfast in bed and asked."

"And you said yes?" Brayden laughed. "Great...now we'll be related. You sure you want to have to deal with me for the rest of your life?"

"Wait...can I change my answer?" Tiffany asked Luke.

"No. You're stuck with us," Luke smirked.

The next few hours the eight friends chatted about the upcoming wedding, their plans for the summer, and the upcoming season. The guys were all excited for the new season, ready to redeem themselves for missing the playoffs a few months ago.

"So whatever happened with the whole name change thing?" Claude asked after Tyler had said goodnight to the group and retreated to his room.

"Well, I don't feel comfortable going with your plan Claude, so we told Tyler the situation and he decided he would change it once he turned eighteen. I really wish we didn't have to wait, but the alternative is just too risky," Rebecca responded.

"When's he turn eighteen?" Luke asked.

"Not this September but next. It's becoming difficult though because of his college applications. All of his school records are as Parker. His guidance counselor said we should use Parker-Hartnell on his applications so that when he does change his name it will be an easy transition for whatever school he attends," she said.

"Hopefully he won't run into any problems. Has he even started looking at schools yet?" Erica asked.

"He's said his number one choice is Villanova, but he'd like to go to Penn State, West Chester University or Saint Joe's," Rebecca said.

"Tough schools. I hope he gets in to all of them," Erica smiled.

"So does he," Scott laughed.

***********

Two days later Rebecca and Tyler stood in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes from that night's dinner.

"Come on ma...I only have two months to get my sixty-five hours of driving time in so I can get my license. You said if I could save enough for my insurance that I could get it. I'm already a year behind my friends," Tyler pleaded with his mother.

"I know Ty. But you know that just because we have money now doesn't mean anything changes. I'm not going to let Scott buy you a car just because he can. You need to earn it," Rebecca responded.

"And I get that. But come on, we're just talking about driving to the mall and back. I need to get in as much as I can. We're just going to be there for a couple hours, I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up," Tyler said.

"Fine. What time do you have to be there?" Rebecca asked.

"Seven. Thanks ma!" Tyler said as he ran up the stairs to his room.

Rebecca sighed. "Guess this was going to happen sooner or later," she said to Scott as he walked into the room.

"Yes it was. I'm surprised you were able to dodge it for this long," Scott chuckled.

"I just don't feel right letting him drive at night. Not yet," Rebecca responded. "He's my baby. I'm not ready to let him grow up yet."

"I know babe. But you'll be in the car with him. He'll be fine. Now, if we were letting Claude teach him like he wanted...then we'd have a problem. G is the worst driver I've ever seen," Scott laughed.

"Great. Remind me to never let him drive Gia anywhere," Rebecca smiled.

"Will do," he smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Do you want me to drive with him?"

"No, it's alright. Maybe I'll feel better if I can see how well he drives at night."

************

At eight forty-five Rebecca received a text from Tyler saying he was ready to be picked up and would meet her at the same entrance he had been dropped off. Rebecca leaned over to Scott, kissed his cheek and said, "Be right back. Love you."

"Love you too," Scott responded.

Rebecca grabbed her keys and her purse and made her way out the door to her minivan in the driveway.

An hour later Scott was awakened from his sleep on the sofa by loud banging on the front door. He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on the clock above the stove as he passed by the kitchen to the front door. Scott looked around trying to hear...anything...in the house.

Another loud knock on the door startled him and he reached for the doorknob to open the door. Standing before him were two police officers with grim looks on the faces. "Mr. Hartnell?" Officer One spoke first.

"Yes?"

"Your wife and son were involved in a car accident. They've been taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center. We could give you a lift there if you want," the officer said.

"No, thank you. I have to have someone come over and sit with my daughter. Are they alright? How serious was the accident?" Scott asked, hoping that the knot in his stomach was wrong.

"It's pretty serious. We don't have all the details yet, but we believe a drunk driver ran through a red light and hit the van."

"Oh my God. I'm sorry, I need to start making phone calls and get to the hospital. Thank you," Scott hurried, slamming the door in the officer's face. He ran to the den and grabbed his phone from the side table. His first call was to their neighbor Marissa, it would only take her a minute to get to the house so that he could go to the hospital.

His next call was to Lindsey, telling her what had happened and asking that she go to the hospital since she was closest to see if she could get any information on Rebecca and Tyler.

His third call he made from the car after leaving Marissa with a sleeping Gia. "Jean. Don't panic but Rebecca and Tyler were in a car accident. I don't know what happened but I'm on the way to the hospital now. No, don't leave your house yet. Let me get to the hospital and see what's going on and then I'll let you know. Yes. I promise. As soon as I know anything I'll call."

Scott hung up the phone and sped the rest of the fifteen minute drive to the hospital.

*********

Now three hours later, Scott sat at Rebecca's bedside holding her hand and running his other through her hair. Her right arm was broken and had been set in a cast, along with her right ankle. There were cuts along her forehead from where the broken windshield glass had flown passed her face and a bruise was beginning to form on the right side of her face. The doctor had assured him that she did not have any internal injuries, that she would make a full recovery...once she woke up.

He had sent Jean to the house to relieve Marissa from her babysitting duties when it became apparent that even grandparents aren't able to give consent for medical procedures of a minor.

He had also put Lindsey in charge of calling everyone they knew and updating them with whatever information they had gotten. Her phone call with Claude proved unhelpful as he informed her that the team's lawyer told him that there was nothing that could be done to grant Scott rights to Tyler.

Lindsey and Brayden had bribed the nurses with tickets to the Flyers home opener if they would be allowed into Rebecca and Tyler's rooms to sit with one while Scott was with the other. Lindsey sat in a chair next to Tyler's bed, tears filling her eyes as she looked at the boy she had watched grow up for the past sixteen years. Brayden stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, willing his strength into her.

"Ty...you have to fight sweetie. You have to hang on for your mom. The two of you are the strongest people I know. You can fight your way back to us, I know it," Lindsey whispered to Tyler. "Please, just give your mom time to wake up."

"Baby...please wake up. I don't know what to do. Tyler is in bad shape and there's nothing I can do for him. He needs you," Scott whispered in Rebecca's ear, "I need you. Please wake up." He couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks.