Leave The City (Book 8 of Adopted by the Josephs)

22. Tyler

Samantha slept on. I knew she needed the rest. She'd testified. The defence may still want her testimony, but this would push her testimony back. I'd speak to Mr. Kravitz later. Once I knew Sam was on the mend.

Jenna and I sat beside Sam into the evening. I texted Josh and let him know what had happened. It had been in the news that paramedics had been called to the courthouse, and it was already in the news that we were there for Mark's trial.

Kravitz had called into the court to let them know what was happening. The trial would continue without Samantha's cross-examination. We were recessed for the next day. Back to court Friday. Whether Samantha was conscious or not, the trial had to go on.

Around eight o'clock at night, Samantha started to stir. Jenna and I jumped to her side.

"Mama?" Her small voice asked. It was how she always woke up.

"Hi, baby," Jenna said.

"I'm cold," Samantha whined.

"You have a fever my sweet darling," Jenna said to her. "You have an infection."

"Again?" Samantha asked.

"Again," I said.

"Okay," she said and drifted off again.  Jenna looked sadly at her.

"This fever," Jenna whispered to me. "She didn't have a fever this morning. She seemed tired but she didn't seem this sick, did she? Did I miss something?"

"No. You didn't miss anything. She seemed okay this morning. She didn't have a fever this morning. I don't think she even had it at lunch. It came on suddenly."

"What if it's like Karen?" Jenna asked. This was a fear that had plagued her since last year when Samantha's teammate in her adapted basketball team - they were a wheelchair team - had gotten a cold that within two days was pneumonia and within three had caused the girl to pass away. However she'd struggled with her health for years. Her whole life. That didn't make her loss any less painful.

"Sam's strong. Once they figure out what caused this infection, we'll get to the bottom of this," I said. "And Sam will recover."

"What do we do about court?" Jenna asked.

"We don't have to be there but we should. How about we trade off. There shouldn't be much more. Kravitz said he'd be resting his case by Friday afternoon."

"Okay. Let's go day by day. One of us here, one of us there."

"Okay. I'll make arrangements with Josh to take Junie and Rosie to their place. That way they can get out from time to time. There's press at the driveway again."

Jenna's features clouded over. 

Josh and Debby said they'd spend the night at our house with the girls tonight and pack them up for a few days in the morning.  I couldn't thank them enough for everything they had done to help us whenever Samantha was in the hospital.

Around midnight, Samantha woke up drenched in sweat.

"What? Where? Why am I wet?" She asked looking around.

"Hi there," I said, leaning over her in her bed.

"Hi, Dad. What happened?"

"You spiked a fever of 103 at court this morning. You've got an infection in your stump. They're trying to figure out what it is."

"Oh," Sam said, frowning. "It's really itchy."

She tried to reach to scratch it, but I caught her hand.

"That's how you spread the infection. Let me call a nurse."

I pressed the call button while Samantha writhed in discomfort. Jenna was awake by now and said that when the nurse came she'd help Sam change into a dry and clean gown.