Chapter 6 #2
“I’ll run them into the school so that someone can grade them for you.
Also, is there anything that was in your backpack that needs to be returned to the school?
The police have it, but said that I can pick it up for you at any time.
” She said that it had a couple of credit cards in it as well as her driver’s license.
“I’ll make sure that they’re still in there if you give me permission to look. ”
“Yes, of course. That would be wonderful. I hope no one has been having a good time on them. They have a good limit, but I can’t afford to run the bill up too much.
” He said he’d take care of that for her.
“Have we talked about this before? I have a feeling that you’ve been telling me things for the last few days that I just never got. ”
“It’s been all right. I don’t mind reminding you again.
” So he had been repeating himself for her.
What a lovely thing to do. “There are some other things that you need to be made aware of. You’ve pressed charges against the school and David separately.
The school for no having working cameras, and of course, you understand why David would be done separately.
Zander did that for you when you were first hurt.
It’s kept David in jail until such time as the judge comes around to hear what he has to say. ”
“What do you think that he’s going to plead?
I mean, it’s obvious that he hurt me.” He told her how he’d called her cell phone when she had not shown up to work on time.
“You’re kidding me? Even though he’d put me in a position to not be there on time?
The bastard. I wish I could see him now.
I believe I got in a few punches of my own. ”
“You did. He has a broken nose and his wrist, like yours, is broken. He had to have forty-four stitches to his head where they think you slammed him with the door.” She asked how no one noticed that.
“They did, but he said that he’d had a fender bender on the way to work and had cut himself on the door getting out.
The medic who took care of him said that it would have had to have hurt badly to be hit where he was. Just at the corner of his right eye.”
She would doze in and out throughout the day.
Sometimes she’d wake startled out of her sleep and know that she’d been dreaming about the beating she’d taken.
Knox was forever there, and she was grateful for his comforting hand on hers.
She, however, wanted him to go home to get some rest because they both knew that he wasn’t sleeping all that well here at the hospital.
Of course, he’d told her no, that he was all right.
She threatened him, and he finally said he’d go home and shower.
“You need to rest, too. You’re not going to be able to help me if you’re sick.
I need you to be strong for me. I might need you sometime, and if you’re ill or something, what will I do?
” He said he would take a nap. “Good. I’ll feel better when you do.
I know that I need a nap now and again with all the pain medication that they’re giving me.
I wish they didn’t, but sometimes my body hurts so bad that I want to crawl into a corner and suck my thumb.
If I didn’t hurt so much getting down there, I might well do it. ”
After about an hour, she had no concept of time nowadays.
He said that he was going to leave her. When he kissed her on the forehead, careful of the wounds there, she held tightly to his hand.
It was all she could offer him, the way that she was feeling, and she loved that he didn’t make fun of her when she did it.
As soon as he left, she wanted to call him back.
The room was too quiet, and she didn’t have anyone in the room to make the quiet more tolerable.
Just as her dinner was being brought in, she thought of Knox and how he would tell her what he was feeding her with each spoonful.
Feeling sorry for herself, she did the best she could without having any idea what she’d been eating or if she got any of it on her gown.
She cried herself to sleep once and woke to someone in the room. Not having any idea, she cried out when the person touched her. Then he told her that he was Locke, that Knox had called him to tell him to watch over her.
“That was nice of him. I sent him home to get a shower and a nap. I don’t know if he’ll take a nap or not, but I know that he needs it.” Locke said that he was lying down when he talked to him. “Well, that’s good. He won’t do himself any good to be sick when I need him.”
“You’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?
” She asked him if he was going to tell her to back off.
“Why would I do that? He’s a grown man, and you’re a grown woman.
I’m surprised that it’s taken him so long to tell you.
I could tell that he loved you when he was talking about helping you move into your place. ”
“That seems so far away now.” He said it had been about a month. “I’ve tried to tell him he could do better, but he won’t listen to me.”
“You could do better, too, but I think the two of you make the perfect couple. You’ll do him some good, and I think he’ll do the same for you.
” She told him that he was kind to her. “He’d better be.
Any one of us would kick his ass if he’s not.
” The two of them laughed, and she felt better about him being there.
“We’re very close, the six of us and our wives have just made it better between us.
I hope you’ll be a part of the family soon. ”
She hoped so as well. When the nurse came in to take her blood pressure, she was also asked if she wanted anything for pain.
She didn’t because she was feeling better daily and didn’t want to make a habit of the medications.
She’d be out soon and couldn’t wait to be on her own two feet.
Tomorrow, she was supposed to start walking the hallways to get herself in better shape.
She hoped that her gown was closed up tight, as she couldn’t see what it looked like.
~*~
Knox woke up and couldn’t believe that he’d slept all night.
He felt horrible for not being there if Elaine had needed him.
Taking another shower and getting dressed, he had to admit that he felt better.
He’d been running low for the last few days, and it had finally caught up with him.
Talking to Locke, he said that he’d left her at midnight when she was sleeping well and came back in the morning to help her with her breakfast.
“I wonder how she can eat so little of this stuff and survive. It’s just soft stuff that looks like baby food.
I never realized that when I put someone on a soft diet.
” He said that she was on liquids before, so she was glad that she’d been upgraded.
“She’s excited to be able to walk around the halls today, but I warned her to be careful that she doesn’t get dizzy.
She’s been in bed for a week now, and she might not be very steady on her feet. ”
“I’ll remind her of that when I see her.” He told him to take his time, that he had this. “I know, but I miss her. Christ, why didn’t anyone tell me that love was all-consuming? It’s like I can’t breathe without thinking about what she might be doing.”
“I’m so glad that you found someone to love, little brother.
It is the best feeling in the world.” He agreed with him.
“And to think we all thought that you and Carrie would be an item. I’m glad you were able to find Elaine when you did.
It’s nice to be able to add to the family.
I wish that Martha were here. Wouldn’t she be getting a kick out of all of us finding someone to love? ”
“She’d be as happy as we are for us.” Locke said that he agreed with him and told him how much he missed her daily.
“I do as well. I will think of something that I want to tell her, and be sad when I remember that she’s gone.
For as little time as we had with her, she certainly made a huge impact on our lives.
And I don’t just mean the money, I mean in our actual lives. ”
“She was the best.” He had to agree with him about that.
Martha had helped shape them into the men that they are today.
And she’d loved them. No one had loved them up until they came into her life.
If not for a broken-down van that died in front of her house, there was no telling what sort of lives they might have lived.
“I can’t believe she’s been gone almost a year now. It doesn’t seem possible. Does it?”
“Not at all.” Knox told his brother how he still goes out to her gravesite and talks to her.
“I think that we all do that in some way, talk to her. Like we said, she was a huge part of our lives for so little time we had with her. Knowing that she was there for us, too, made any decisions we made all that much more important to us. Because she approved of them.”
“She loved us no matter if our decisions were good or bad. Though I don’t think that there were all that many bad decisions we made when we got out of the house that we grew up in.
Do you ever think of our father?” He said he did on occasion.
“I do as well. Not to dwell on his life, but I was never so happy to get away from him as I was that day.”