The Pearl of the of Sea

Chapter 25

It's now Christmas Day and Steve, Neenah, Tom, Michelle, and Jeff are visiting Mandy who is still comatose. The room is decorated with Christmas decorations and there is a radio with Christmas music playing softly. Neenah places a Santa hat on Mandy's head and she hugs her, "Merry Christmas Mom."
   
Steve rubs Neenah's back as he sees her cry, "Don't cry, she wouldn't want you to be sad."
   
Neenah sits down and holds Mandy's hand, "It's just not fair that she can't really celebrate Christmas with us."
   
Jeff walks to the other side of Mandy and puts his face up to hers, "I lost 25 pounds."
   
Michelle pulls Jeff away, "Come on, don't do that."
   
Jeff turns around, "Mom, I just wanted to tell her good news and people in comas can still hear you so when she wakes up, she'll know that I'm dieting."   

Tom shakes his head, "Jeff, she's not going to wake up, she's dying."
   
Jeff looks at Mandy, "Yes, she is going to wake up, she can't die, you need her."
   
Tom takes a deep breath, "Jeff, she's been in a coma for over three months, I highly doubt she'll wake up." Tom looks at Mandy, "I wish you were right though."
   
Annemarie walks in the room with a Christmas gift in her hands, "Merry Christmas everyone." She then walks up to Tom and hands him the gift.
   
Tom opens up the gift and it's a teddy bear in a wheelchair with a shirt saying 'Life Is Good'. He looks at the bear and up at Annemarie who is smiling, "Thanks, but I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."
   
Annemarie kisses him, "Yes, you did, you gave me your smiling face and that's all I need for Christmas."
   
Tom smiles with tears in his eyes, "This was the best Christmas ever." Then Tom looks over at Mandy, "It's a shame my mom couldn't enjoy this moment with us."
   
Neenah looks over at Tom, "You know it's sad, because every Christmas dad would always go through the trouble of buying us everything we wanted and wrapping the presents. I remember every Christmas he be at the bottom of the stairs shouting, 'Santa came! Come get your presents!' When mom was around she would video tape us opening the presents and I always sat on dad's lap and she would hand over my presents to me. I even remember one year he dressed up as Santa Clause, then after mom left Christmas wasn't the same, I just open my presents and run upstairs into my room without even saying thank you."
   
Steve looks over at Mandy, "Christmas was never the same without your mother, but I'm sure she wished she could have been there."
   
Jeff scratches his head, "I thought she abandoned the family? I'm confused."
   
Tom pats him on the back, "Yeah, it's a long story."
   
Steve raises his eyebrow, "You never told Jeff about what happened to your mother?"
    Tom shrugs his shoulders, "I just told him she went into a coma."
   
Neenah looks over at Jeff, "She abandoned us because she didn't want us to see her struggle with addiction."
   
Jeff looks down, "Oh, I'm sorry, drugs are bad."
   
Michelle grabs Jeff's shirt and points at him, "DON'T YOU EVER DO DRUGS JEFFERY!"
   
Steve places his hand on Mandy's cheek, "I'm sorry, we couldn't help you fight your addiction, but your children turned out great."
   
Neenah hugs Mandy, "I know you're dying, but I'm still hoping you'll wake up."
   
Steve rubs Neenah's back, "I hope so too." He looks over at Neenah and Tom, "We all do."
   
Neenah looks up at Steve, "I broke up with Bruce. You were right dad, he's nothing but a jerk."
   
Steve smiles, "I'm glad, but promise me you won't date anymore douche bags ok?"
   
"I promise, dad."
   
Steve sits next to Mandy's hospital bed and as he holds her hand he starts to have a flashback to when Neenah was first born: Mandy is lying in the bed holding a baby wrapped up in a hospital blanket as Steve who has a bit more hair on his head is sitting next to her and Tom who is around 2 years old in this flashback watching his parents look at his new baby sister. Mandy looks over at Steve who is smiling, "Isn't she beautiful?"

    Steve gently rubs his new daughter's soft head, "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." he looks over at Tom who looks a bit jealous of the baby, "Tommy, come meet your new baby sister."

    Tom sits in the chair on the opposite side of Mandy's bed and crosses his arms, "No, I don't like her, I'm cuter!"

    Steve laughs and shakes his head as he looks at Mandy who is also laughing, "Looks our son is already jealous of his new sibling."

    Mandy looks up at Steve, "What should we name her?"

    Steve smiles as he looks at the baby sleeping peacefully in Mandy's arms, "How about Shiloh?"

    Mandy shakes her head, "Nah, how about Nevaeh or Neenah?"

    "Ok, how about Neenah Shiloh Cashlin? That way we both get the names we want."

    Mandy nods her head, "That sounds fair." She looks at her newborn as the little baby wakes up and yawns, "What do you think, would you like to be called, Neenah?" the baby smiles after she says that and Mandy looks back up at Steve, "Well, the baby approves of the name."

    Steve smiles as he looks into the babies eyes, "Ok, then Neenah will be her name." Steve goes to grab Neenah, "Can I hold her now?"

    Mandy hands Neenah over to Steve, "Here, hold her for a while, I'm still in pain from the c-section." Mandy rubs her lower abdomen after Steve takes the baby from her, "It hurts so much, I can't wait for it to heal."

    Steve cuddles Neenah and gives her kisses, "Who's a beautiful baby girl, Daddy loves you, yes he does!" He stops and stares at her baby face, "I know you're only a baby, but Daddy's not going to let any boy date you, no he's not, you're my little girl." He hears Mandy whine some more, "Honey, are you ok?" he pulls up Mandy's hospital gown and sees she has a really bad infection around her c-section scar, "Oh my God!" He runs out of the room still holding Neenah, "Hey, can I got a doctor in here, my wife got a very bad infection from her c-section!" The flashback ends and now Steve looking over at Neenah.
   
Neenah's tears roll down her cheeks as she looks back at her mother, "Come on mom, please don't die. You have to get better."
   
"I'm sorry Neenah, but unfortunately she can't."
   
Neenah shakes her head, "I hate drugs, there needs to be a permanent cure for addiction, it takes too many lives!"
   
Steve nods his head, "Yes, and people need to be less judgmental and more willing to help addicts. I know it's hard not to judge, but they need help, not hate. Addicts need to stop letting their addiction win, they're not only hurting themselves but the people that love them." Steve looks over at Tom and Jeff, "Please, don't ever do drugs, they're not cool, they kill." He looks back over at Mandy, "Look what they did to my wife." Steve grinds his teeth and clenches his fist, "Mandy was a wonderful woman and the drugs turned her into this monster and now she's dying. This all started, because a doctor didn't do his job right and make sure she didn't get hooked." Steve looks down, "But maybe I should have noticed, she was having problems, but I was too busy bragging about my lap of luxury." he grabs Mandy's hand, "Lap of luxury that I got from the lawsuit against the hospital that Mandy got the infection from and the same place she will die in."
   
Jeff walks up to Steve, "So, you didn't get rich from the bar?"
   
Steve looks over at Jeff, "No, I bought the bar after winning the lawsuit, but I didn't budget my money well and I wound up losing everything."
   
Tom shakes his head, "No, dad you're wrong we didn't lose everything, we have each other and we actually have more than we ever had. I may have lost my ability to walk, but I learn to value what I got, instead of what I don't have. If it wasn't for all this 'bad stuff' happening then I would have wound up marrying Angela Leonardo and being miserable for the rest of my life."
   
Steve smiles, "As long as you guys are happy then, I'm happy. Let's go home, kids."
   
Neenah kisses Mandy on the forehead, "Bye mom and Merry Christmas."

Then everyone, but Steve leave the room.
    Steve then shouts, "Michelle, come here."
   
Michelle turns around and the rest wait outside in the hallway, "Yeah, what is it?"
   
Steve grabs her hand and speaks softly to her, "I'm thinking of letting the doctors pull the plug."

    "Are you sure?"

    Steve looks over at Mandy, "I can't stand seeing her like this, I have to let her be free, there's no brain activity. It's time for her to go to heaven now, she'll be happy there and she'll watch over my children."

    Michelle hugs Steve, "I'm sorry."