The Preacher's Kid: College and Beyond - 10. Nate

Monday morning started off like any other Monday morning. I didn’t want to get up. The shower only helped a little. Coffee—the only thing that would help.

My cup was almost filled when my phone rang. It was Mom, and she sounded a bit stressed.

“Eddie?”

“Good morning, Mom. What’s going on?”

“I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nope. I’m just fixing a cup of coffee. Everything okay?”

“I’m sure it will be. I’m on the way to the emergency room with Nate. He’s been fighting the flu all weekend. His fever has jumped to 104, and he can’t even keep water down to take an aspirin. I’m just playing on the safe side and getting him some extra help.”

“Do you need me to come by?”

“No, dear. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. I’ll send you a text when we know something, okay?”

“Okay. And Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Tell Nate I love him, and I’ll see him when I get home tonight, k?”

“I have you on speaker, so I’m sure he heard you. Right, Nate?”

I heard a long groan. I guess he heard me—poor kid. The flu sucks, that’s for sure.

I was finishing lunch when I got that text from Mom.

MAGHAM85: Bad news, they’re keeping Nate here at hospital. Call when you can.

Fuck! I just had a bad feeling, so I sent a text to Donald. I had to let him know to get a ride home from Conner so I could go to the hospital and see what was going on with Nate.

I left campus for the hospital as soon as Donald said he got his ride home covered. The only thing that had me freaking out a bit is we hadn’t had our flu shots yet. We usually don’t get them until the middle of September—which it now was.

As I pulled into the hospital parking lot, I said a little prayer for Nate’s getting better and another one thanking Him for Mom. She’s so fucking strong when it comes to this kind of stuff. I couldn’t help but smile when I thought back on how awesome she was when Matty was hurt.

I went to the registration desk and asked for Nate’s room. The lady said I should have a seat and someone would be with me. I guess I got a panicked look on my face because she said he was okay—they just require an influenza screening before people can visit flu patients.

I texted Mom and told her I was in the lobby and that they had to screen me before they would let me go up. She understood and was pretty cool about it. A few minutes later, someone came into the lobby and called my name. Let’s proceed with the screening.

I guess they were expecting me. They already knew a lot of my shit. The forms were already filled out, and they took my blood pressure, temperature and listened to my breathing. The nurse said that Mom had authorized them to give me a flu shot, so they went ahead and did it. Can I just say—I fucking hate needles!

They said I had to wear a mask for my protection as well as Nate’s. Finally! I was allowed up to the room to see my little brother!

Oh. Fuck. I walked into the room and couldn’t believe it. Nate was white as a ghost. He had an IV in one arm, a tube in his nose, and some more tubes to help him breathe. Mom and Dad both had masks on, and Mom had rubber gloves on as she ran her hand up and down Nate’s arm.

“Hey. How is he?”

“We have a pretty sick boy. They have him on fluids and are giving him antiviral medicine. That’s why there’s a tube in his nose. It’s the only way they can get the pill in his stomach. He’s also showing early signs of viral pneumonia, and they’re doing everything possible to fight that.”

“His fever?”

“The last check it was 102. Still pretty serious, but better than when we got here. It was almost got up to 105. Did they give you your flu shot downstairs?”

“Yeah, they gave it to me. Arm’s gonna be hurting tomorrow.”

“Eddie?” Nate moaned out my name, and his eyes were open.

“Hey, kiddo.” I put on a pair of gloves and walked over to the other side of the bed. I put my hand on Nate’s head and told him, “You need to get your scrawny little butt better and out of this place. I don’t want to have to drive all the way down here when I need me some Nate time.”

“Not scrawny. You’re scrawny.”

“I am not!”

“Next to Matty, you are.”

Nate cracked half a smile, took a breath, and closed his eyes.

Mom looked at me and smiled. I looked over at Dad, and he nodded his head. “I’m so glad you and your brother have figured out how to get along better—and speaking of Matty, have you let him know what’s going on?”

“No—I’ll send him a text. They review film on Monday so he won’t be back at the dorm until eight or nine.”

 

MATTY

Holy. Shit. I checked my phone as soon as we were done watching the film of Saturday’s game. I guess the last thing I ever expected was a message from Eddie saying that Nate was in the hospital with the flu. Surely, it can’t be that bad—can it?

I stopped and sat on a sofa in the lobby so I could call Eddie.

“Matty?”

“Hi, baby. How is he doing?”

“I don’t know. Hell, nobody knows. There’s so much waiting to see if the treatments take hold. Right now, they’re looking at what could be pneumonia—and that’s not a good thing—not good at all.”

“Okay. I’ll be there tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, Eddie. I do have to do that. You’re my family now. Does Haley know?”

“Yeah. Mom called her. She’s already on her way.”

“See? That’s what family does. I need to go see Coach and let him know. I’ll call you back when I’m done, k?”

“Okay, babe. Talk to you soon, then.”

I ended the call and went right back into the building. I knocked on Coach’s door and heard him tell me to go in.

“Jordan. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, Coach. I just got a call from Eddie, and his little brother—who is also my little brother—has been put in the hospital with the flu. It seems to be pretty serious. I have to go home for a while.”

“Well, you have two days off from practice. Is that going to be enough time?”

“Yes, sir. I hope so anyway.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. When are you planning to leave?”

“As soon as I can pack a bag and get out of here.”

“Okay then. Drive safely. We’ll see you on Thursday?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be back Thursday.”

I called Eddie back as I was walking to the dorm. He said Mom had already added me to the immediate family list.

“Have you had a flu shot?”

“Yeah, the team all got them back when we started practice.”

“Okay, that’s good then. When do you think you’ll get here?”

“It should be sometime between 9 and 9:30. Should I go to the hospital? Home?”

“I’ll plan on waiting for you here at the hospital. If things change, I’ll text you as soon as I know, k?”

“Okay, babe. Hang in there. I’ll be home soon.”

I ended the call as I was walking into the room. Parker was on the sofa watching television.

“Dude! You okay? You’re looking awfully stressed.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. But I have to go home for a couple of days. My little brother is in the hospital with a pretty serious case of the flu.”

“Wow. But he should be okay. They’re probably just making sure his fluids are replenished. As long as he doesn’t have pneumonia, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Fuck. It looks like he might be getting that, too.”

“Well, if they caught it early enough, things should be okay. No need to stress about shit until you know something for sure, right?”

“Right. Uhm—I need to pack a bag and head out.”

Parker asked when I was going to be back as I walked into my bedroom. I shouted back to him that I’d be back Thursday, and in less than five minutes, I was packed and out the door. My Uber took me to Haley’s so I could get my car.

I was about twenty minutes out of Charlotte when I got a call from Eddie. He was going to go home and wait for me there, but when Nate found out I was on my way to Charlotte, he insisted that I come to see him tonight.

I headed to the hospital and was there in less than thirty minutes. I parked and went in. After having my vitals checked, The nurse told me where I could see my two favorite boys.

Damn! That was the slowest fucking elevator ever! I finally got to Nate’s floor and couldn’t believe they put the dude in the fucking children’s ward! For God’s sake! He’s 14! Fucking Mickey Mouse?!? Really?!?

I found Nate’s room and put on the mask they gave me downstairs. After knocking on the door, I walked in and found my boys playing a video game.

A very tired Eddie looked up and smiled as I walked up to the bed. I leaned down and kissed my beautiful boyfriend through the mask, then bent over the bed and kissed Nate on the top of his head.

“You really came!”

“Of course I came! When my second favorite boy in the entire world ends up in the hospital, I drop everything and get my ass back home!”

“Haley came, too. I must be really sick.”

“I don’t think that’s it. But I can promise you that you are really loved.”

“I love you, too. You’re my equally favorite big brother.”

Fuck me! Why are tears welling up in my eyes?

“Nate? Matty and I need to head home so you can get some sleep—and we need some rest so we can be here in the morning. You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. I guess I’m getting tired. I’ll see you in the—” And with that, Nate was fast asleep.

Mrs. H walked in as we were getting ready to leave. She had a stack of magazines, a book, and her iPad with her. “Thanks for watching him while I went home for a bit. How’s he doing?”

“He’s sleeping a lot. But I guess that’s a good thing. He insisted on seeing Matty before he went to sleep again, so here we are. We’re going home now, though.”

“Thanks so much for coming down, Matty. How did you get away from practice?”

“We have a bye week, so there’s two days off from practice. But even if we didn’t have them off, I’d be here. You’re my family. You guys come first in my life. Plain and simple.”

Mrs. H. put down her shit and opened her arms to Eddie and me. “You are such wonderful boys. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay? I’m staying the night with my other wonderful boy.”

“Okay, Mom. I love you.”

“Same here, Mrs. H. See you in the morning!”

 

EDDIE

I can’t believe Matty drove down! I’m not complaining, though! It was soooo fucking nice to crawl into our bed with my naked boyfriend. No words were spoken. We just started kissing and ended up with an amazing sixty-nine. God, I love the taste of Matty’s hot nut, and from the moans I was hearing, Matty sure likes the taste of mine!

I spooned my boy all night, sleeping better than I had in a long time. I mean, yeah—we were just together Saturday night, but this was here—in our house—in our bed!

The following day, I woke up and found my favorite cock standing straight up from my quarterback's hot body. What else was I going to do? I quietly slid under the covers and began sucking on it!

I completely love how Matty makes these little whimpering noises when he’s asleep, and I blow him. Just like every other time I’ve done this, he doesn’t wake up until the moment he’s ready to nut in my mouth.

“Oh fuuuuuuuuck! That’s so awesome! Oh! Oh! Ooooooooh!”

I swallowed and smiled up at Matty. “Good morning, boyfriend!”

“Whoah! I was starting to feel guilty for dreaming that Shawn Mendes was giving me an awesome blowjob. But waking up and seeing you on my cock is sooooo much better!”

“Shawn fucking Mendes? You’re not supposed to dream about other people blowing you!”

“I know—but it was Shawn Mendes.”

“Okay, that’s fair—and your save was pretty good.”

Matty’s stomach growled, telling us it was time for breakfast. We got out of bed and shared the toilet for our morning piss, although it was a lot harder for me since I was still hard as a rock.

“I’m taking care of that big boy as soon as we have breakfast!”

“We could skip breakfast!”

“We could—but we won’t!”

Matty and I threw on our boxer briefs and a t-shirt before we went downstairs. Conner and Donald were already eating their cereal.

“Matty! I didn’t know you were coming down! Everything okay?”

“Yeah, when Eddie told me Nate was in the hospital, I got in the car and came down. And I’m guessing this is Conner?”

“Yeah, and you must be the Matty that Eddie can’t stop talking about!”

“Awwww! That’s so sweet! You can’t stop talking about me?”

“Shut up. I don’t always talk about you!”

I looked over towards Donald and Conner and discovered why Matty was giggling. They were both nodding their heads with an “oh, really?” look on their faces.

Whatever. I went to the pantry and dug out some cereal. I poured a bowl for each of us, added some milk, and fired up the Keurig. While we were eating, Donald and Conner had changed clothes and started to head out to school.

Donald told Conner to wait a minute, and he came into the kitchen. “Matty. You didn’t say anything about Conner and me. You cool with everything?”

“Of course I am. It’s nice to see you so relaxed and happy. I didn’t want to say something because there’s nothing to say, really. But—I am happy that you’ve found someone to share your life with—and the way you’ve turned your life around—well, it deserves to be shared.”

“Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you. Hopefully, you’ll get to know him better soon. We gotta get to class, though. I’ll see you guys later.”

We finished our breakfast and got in the car, heading back to the hospital. Once we checked in and got our facemasks, we headed up to Nate’s room.

We stepped out of the elevator into the children’s ward. “I still can’t believe Nate hasn’t said anything about being in the children’s section. He’s been so excited about being fourteen and almost a grown-up.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t been out of his room yet—and I don’t know if he’s even noticed the giant Spongebob painted on the wall in his room.”

We walked into the room, and it was all I could do not to gasp out loud. Nate looked white as a ghost. Mrs. H. was rubbing his head with a washcloth, and Mr. H. was holding his hand while speaking softly to his youngest son.

“Matty and Eddie just walked in. We’re all here for you, son. You’ve got to fight now. We all need you to fight harder than you’ve ever fought in your life.”

Fuck. I was just paralyzed, standing at the door. Eddie walked to the bed and spoke softly to Mrs. H., “What’s happened? He was starting to do so well when we left last night.”

“The pneumonia has begun to take hold. They’re increasing the doses of the anti-viral meds, and they are hoping that will stop things from getting worse.”

“And the fever?”

“It dropped to 100, but it’s gone back up to 102. If it doesn’t break by this afternoon, they’re talking about an ice bed to force Nate’s temperature down. But—the good news in all this is that the flu symptoms seem to be going away. Right now, that’s the best news we have.”

Eddie grabbed a chair and put it on the side of the bed opposite his parents. Me? I was still at the door—watching the amazing love and compassion the people in this family have for each other. The one thing I never felt in my own family since Mom died. I wasn’t jealous—it just seemed like I didn’t belong in the picture.

Fuck! Why am I making this about me? Nate Hamilton—the abso-fucking-lutely coolest kid on the planet—is lying in that bed with his Dad telling him to fight for his life. I opened my eyes and realized Eddie was looking at me.

“Grab that chair and sit with us, Matty.”

“I think I’m going to go to the cafeteria and grab some coffee. You guys need to be here as a family right now.”

Mr. H. stood up and started to make his way over to me. I totally wasn’t expecting him to wrap me in his arms! He pulled my head to his chest and started circling his fingers in my hair. “Matthew Jordan. You have been a part of our family since the day you were born. Whether you believe it or not, the moment you worked your way into Eddie’s heart, you found your way into all of our hearts. Now—here’s the part that might surprise you—all that happened about ten years ago.

“Mrs. H. and I both remember the moment you and Eddie began to accept your love for each other. It was the day Eddie told you he didn’t want to play Pee-Wee Football anymore—that he wanted to spend his time with Little League. Eddie was so afraid he was going to lose his best friend over that. Do you remember what you told him?”

“No. Probably something about it was okay if it was what he wanted to do.”

“Exactly. All these years later, I can still hear the words from your wise heart. You told Eddie that it was cool. You told him you would love it knowing he was in the stands cheering you on during your football games, as long as he would let you sit in the stands and cheer him on for his baseball games.”

Eddie got up from his chair and walked over to us. “I’ll never forget that day. That’s when I first realized that somehow I would spend my entire life with Matty Jordan. Of course, I was nine years old and had no idea how that would turn out. But I will tell you what I did know.”

Mrs. H. walked up to us and put my face in her hands. “Matthew, you are as vital a part of this family as you can be. I may not have given birth to you, but that has nothing to do with the amount of love I—no—all of us have for you.”

My eyes filled with tears as I looked up at the three most important people in my life. When my gaze went past Mrs. H., and I noticed the giant Spongebob, I started to laugh.

“What’s so funny, babe?”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to cry in front of Spongebob Squarepants. That’s why he’s all over this room, isn’t it? So you don’t cry in front of the kids and all?”

Mr. H. pulled all of us into a group hug as we all laughed through our sniffles. God, I love this family! We broke away from the hug, and I grabbed a chair. I sat next to Eddie and took his hand as I put Nate’s in my other hand.

“Hey kiddo. You’re the little brother I never had. Just so you know, it’s a good thing I never had one. He’d be miserable trying to live up to your awesomeness. You better fight this thing—just like your Dad said. I have to whoop your little butt in Mario Kart, you know.”

Just then, the little fucker squeezed my hand as he opened his eyes. “Whoop yours, big brother.”

The collective sigh in the room was palpable. Mrs. H. hit the call button and told the nurse that Nate was waking up.

Three nurses came into the room with a computer cart. They asked us to step out of the room so they could work on Nate. So—we walked out of the room and into the hallway.

“I can’t believe Mario Kart is the thing that brings my brother back to us!”

“I will never speak poorly of that silly game again!”

“You know you’ll never beat him, Matty!”

“I love you guys! Thank you! Thank you for letting me be a part of this awesome family. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more blessed than I do right now.”

We decided to head down for some coffee while they worked on Nate. Mrs. H. stuck her head in the door and told one of the nurses where we were going if they needed us for anything.

When we got to the lobby, we found Haley heading to the elevators, so we had her join us. Once we had our coffees, we headed back up to Nate’s room. As we neared, a doctor was walking out of the room. She walked up to us and asked if we would follow her.

She took us into a conference room and asked us to have a seat.

“Hi folks, I’m Dr. Wellington. I’m the head of the Childhood Oncology Department.”

Mrs. H.’s face when white as a ghost. “Oncology? Why are you with Nate?”

“Well, first—I would like to share the good news. Nate’s viral count is finally starting to drop. Now—he may very well have a bit of a fight ahead with the pneumonia, but I’m confident we’ve reached a turning point, and we’ll have that all taken care of in the next 24 to 48 hours.

“Nate’s attending physician was concerned with Nate’s fever and had me take a look at his bloodwork from this morning. I ran some more tests, and I can tell you—with fair certainty—the sudden flu, pneumonia, and the high fever appear to be the result of what appears to be Acute Myeloid Leukemia.”

“My baby has cancer?”

“We aren’t certain yet. We need to run a couple of tests before we can give a firm diagnosis and begin treatment. I’ve ordered a bone marrow aspiration so we can confirm our diagnosis. We’ll take the marrow from Nate’s pelvis. Should that test be positive, I will set up an aggressive treatment to remove the cancer from Nate’s blood.

“I’ve also ordered a lumbar puncture—spinal tap—so we can make sure the leukemia cells have not spread to the fluid that surrounds the brain or spinal cord. If this test comes back negative, then more than half the battle has already been won.

“Right now, we want to keep any cancer contained to the bloodstream before it has a chance of spreading. So far, I think we’re still at that place.”

Whoa! Mr. and Mrs. H. were sitting across the table with blank stares and tears falling down their faces. Eddie had his face buried in his hands and was crying. Dr. Wellington kept looking at each of us, waiting for someone to say something. Well Hell! I guess I should ask something then.

“What do you need us to do, doctor?”

“As devastating as this news can be, I need all of you to be positive and encouraging around Nate. Study after study has shown that a patient’s success with cancer treatment depends quite heavily on their state of mind.”

“I guess the next question is, what do you do now?”

“We’ll do the testing that I told you about, but we can’t begin any kind of treatment for leukemia until we have taken care of the flu symptoms and the pneumonia.”

“Okay, that makes sense. I guess I have only one other question. What do we tell Nate? He’s an incredibly smart kid. He’ll know if we’re trying to hide something from him.”

“I don’t think you have to tell him anything until we know for certain what we’re looking at. When we perform the lumbar puncture, we will simply tell your son that we want to take a look at his spinal fluid. When we conduct the aspiration, we’ll tell him that we want to look at his blood cells as they are being made to get a better picture of how he is healing. Neither is misleading. Once we know for certain what’s going on with Nate, we’ll make sure to set up a meeting with one of our social workers to help you with informing Nate of his situation.”

Mr. H. spoke up next with, “I’ve spent time with several hospital patients—being a pastor and all—and I know that several blood cancers are treated with bone marrow transplants. If that’s even a remote possibility, I would like everyone in the family to begin testing for compatibility. Would that be alright with you, Dr. Wellington?”

“I think that’s an excellent idea. If we can get a head-start on that, it only means we can get to that type of treatment sooner—that is, if that’s the treatment we need to go with. You should know that the results from an HLA test will take two to three weeks.”

Haley, Eddie, and I had been pretty quiet through this entire conversation, but it was Haley who asked what needed to happen so she could get tested right away. Eddie and I suggested that the three of us get tested together so we could get back to Nate as soon as possible, allowing Mr. and Mrs. H. the chance to get tested as well.

Dr. Wellington looked at me and said I didn’t need to get tested since I wasn’t a blood relative. “Dr. Wellington, you don’t understand the situation. Nate is my little brother. If there’s even a one in five million chance that I could be a match, I’m getting tested. There’s no other option as far as I’m concerned.”

“Very well. I think it’s probably a good time for Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton to head back to Nate’s room. As for the three of you, I’ll take you to the nurses’ station and get the ball rolling on your tests.”

We all stood up and fuck—we looked terrible—all of us. The look of worry on our faces was awful. Mrs. H. let us all know that the glum look would be gone once we walked out of the room. “We have a fourteen-year-old boy in that room across the hall that is going to need every ounce of positivity he can get from all five of us. If you can’t do that, you can’t be in the room with him.”

We went our separate ways, with Dr. Wellington taking the three of us to the nurses’ station. She told one of the nurses that the three of us needed to be taken to the lab and told her that we needed to be tested for bone marrow compatibility.

The nurse took us down to the lab and had us wait to be called. We didn’t talk at all. Hell, we didn’t even look at each other. But we were all deep in worry and thought. All I could think about was my mother. For months, I just watched her get sicker and sicker. As bad as that whole experience was, the worst part was my father keeping information about her treatment and diagnosis away from me. I was pretty much in the dark except for the fact that Mom was sick—real sick.

That was the moment the tears flooded my eyes and fell down my face. Haley and Eddie each took one of my hands and squeezed. “I’m sorry, guys. It’s just that I’m only nineteen, and there’s been way too much fucking loss in my life already. Please—please. Please promise me you keep me in the loop about Nate. The worst part about losing Mom was not understanding what was happening to her—or even why it was happening. I can’t go through that again. I—I—I just can’t.”

“Eddie and I love you, Matty. Like Dad said, you are totally a part of this family. We’ll talk to them when we get home tonight.”

I turned my head to Eddie and saw that he was crying right there with me. I wrapped my arms around him and told him I had him. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you came down from school. I’m gonna need you and your strength more than ever now, Matty.”

“We’re going to get through this. Nate will get through this. Eddie—Haley—I got you. But I need you to promise that you guys have me, too.”

Haley rested her head against mine and said, “Matty—that’s how we roll in this family. The only way we can get through the shit times is that we all have each other—Mom, Dad, Eddie, you, me—and Nate. All of us are going to help Nate pull through this.”

“Haley Hamilton? You can come back now.”

Here we go.