Mending Hearts (4 page)

“
Thank you, I
will.” 

I walk out of the room and take a few deep
breaths. How am I supposed to help her? I stop outside of the
unknown man’s room. The doctor, a nurse, and that dark-haired woman
are standing near the bed of the unconscious man. I watch as the
medical staff assesses him and the woman watches. She looks up at
me briefly before looking back at the man in the bed. She wipes
away the tears dripping down her cheeks. I walk away from his room
to join Alec and the kids.

Chapter Two: Miracles

Alec

Mom and dad leave to go home and I wait for
Emma in the waiting room with the kids, Sam, and Bridget. The kids
are sitting on the cloth chairs eating their snacks and watching
cartoons. Emma walks through the double doors — she looks like she
has been crying. I rush over to her and ask, “Did she say something
to you?” 

“
No, Alec, she didn’t.” She
rubs her hand up and down my arm.

“
Why the tears?” I ask as I
wipe away the tears from her cheeks with my thumb.

“
It’s just been an emotional
couple of days.” 

“
What did she want to see
you about?” 

“
She just wanted to thank me
for taking care of Raelynn. She said Raelynn talked about me and
her Bubby,” she says, smiling.

“
I forgot to tell you that
part. Molly laughed at Raelynn calling James Bubby
and it
didn’t become a
problem. James did make her a get-well card,” I say as I search her
eyes for more of the truth. 

“
That’s right — he did. They
are moving her to a regular room now.” 

“
Are you sure that’s all she
wanted?” I ask again.

“
I’m sure. Oh, do you
remember Molly’s friend, the guy she came in
with?” 

“
Yes, the one they didn’t
know who he was.” I watch Emma and I can see some excitement in her
eyes. 

“
A woman is in his room. He
is still unconscious and she is crying by his bed. But at least he
isn’t alone.” 

“
That’s good. Are you ready
to go home?” 

“
I am.” We say our goodbyes
and drive home. Once we are home I tell Emma that I need to call
Mason and Madison. The kids run down the hallway screaming and
laughing as James chases Raelynn. We are in a small house with two
children, so good luck finding someplace quiet.

“
If you want quiet, the only
quiet place you’ll find here is in the spare bedroom,” Emma
says.

“
I’ll be just a few
minutes.” I kiss her before walking in the direction of the spare
room.

“
Take your time; I have some
things I need to do as well,” she says.

I call Madison, who wants to know when a
good time will be to close on the house. She said the inspectors
will be there tomorrow to check for termites, inspect the wiring,
and do whatever else they do when they inspect a house. I tell her
the sooner we can close the better. The house is already vacant so
we won’t have to wait for the previous owners to move out. Molly
will also recover, so I don’t see anything holding us back from
closing and/or moving in quickly. 

I call Mason and his phone goes to
voicemail, so I leave a message saying I’m home and to call
anytime. The house seems quiet, so I call Adam McDaniel and tell
him Molly will be fine and they are moving her out of I.C.U. and
into a regular room. I’m not certain of the relationship Molly and
Adam have, but I know she needs all the support she can get. As I
walk out into the living room, Emma is on the front porch on her
cell phone and the kids are playing in their bedroom. Deciding now
would be a good time to have a beer, I do just that.

I sit at the dining room table with my beer
in hand. Emma walks in after only a few minutes, smiling.

“
You seem to be in a good
mood.” 

“
I am,” she says, as she
walks into the kitchen. I hear the door to the refrigerator open
and close. She walks back into the room with a beer bottle in her
hand. 

“
It’s a little early for you
to be drinking, isn’t it?” I say jokingly. 

“
I could say the same thing
to you,” she says as she takes a drink.

I look at my beer bottle and tip it to her.
“It has been a rough couple days.” 

“
Yes, it has. Did you finish
making your phone calls?” 

“
I did. I’m just waiting on
Mason to call me back. I also called Madison and told her we want
to close on the house as soon as we can.” 

“
Oh, Alec. I totally forgot
about the house.”

I watch her as she smiles and takes another
drink.

“
They really accepted your
offer?” 

“
We’ll be in it right before
the kids start school,” she says, caressing my knuckles with her
fingers. 

“
It’ll be perfect
timing.” 

“
Alec, I have never lived in
a house that size. I won’t know what to do with all the space we’ll
have.” 

“
I have a feeling it’ll fill
up quicker than we anticipate.” I get a text and Emma waits
patiently for me to reply. I look up from my phone and she is
looking at me. “It was Mason; he told me that Molly’s friend is
waking up.” 

“
Is Mason at the hospital?
He said earlier that Angel had a doctor’s appointment
today.” 

“
I don’t know, and I didn’t
ask how he knew that Molly’s friend was waking
up.” 

She smiles and says, “Molly’s friend waking
up is great news.” 

“
Yes, it sure is.” We sit at
the table and we both finish our beers. I tell Emma about the male
clothes I packed up from the hotel room and about the stuffed
animal that was in one of the drawers. She tells me that if they
belong to the guy at the hospital, he probably would like to have
them back.

After dinner, I call the hospital to make
sure Molly is still there before I go up to see her. Emma tells me
she thinks I should leave Raelynn home. She says she thinks Raelynn
has had enough for one day. Emma, Raelynn, and James stay home so
she can get things ready for the work week, and I go to the
hospital.

I walk into Molly’s hospital room and see
Molly lying on the bed talking with Mason. “You’re looking better,”
I say, looking at Molly. 

“
Thank
you.” 

“
How is everything?” I
ask. 

Molly replies, “Mason just came in to tell
me he found an opening in a drug rehab center in South Florida that
is willing to take me.” 

I look from Molly to Mason, “Are you talking
about the intensive drug rehab facility?” 

“
That’s the one. They have
two openings, so if Molly’s friend wants to go, they will also
accept him once he is released from here.” 

 “
Molly, you’re serious
about this?” I ask seriously. 

“
I am. I want to get better
for Rae. I have missed her terribly.” 

“
Mason, is that a 30-day,
12-step facility?” I ask. 

“
We were just talking about
that. It’s a 45-day, 12-step program. No phone calls the first
seven days, then they gradually add phone calls, emails,
visitation, and even Skype.” Mason looks at me and then at
Molly.

“
This is what you want,
Molly? It sounds like Mason has put in a lot of time finding this
place for you. It’s a very intense program.” 

“
With a very high success
rate. I do want this and Bobby will want it, too.” 

“
Bobby? Is that your
friend?” I ask. 

“
It is. I need to see him
and make sure he is all right. I also want him to come with me. I
can’t thank Mason or Emma enough for helping me.” 

“
What did Emma have to do
with this?” I ask, looking from Molly to Mason. 

“
I asked Emma to help me and
she called Mason,” Molly says.

“
I made a few phone calls to
some old colleagues and everything just fell into place,” Mason
says, “It took very little effort on my part.” 

“
I see. Molly, how will you
get there, assuming the hospital releases you
tomorrow?” 

“
Mom and dad will take me
and Bobby. The doctor said there isn’t anything he can do about the
cracked ribs; they have to heal on their own.” 

“
Have you talked to her
friend Bobby yet, Mason?” 

“
No, not yet. I was going to
head down there now. They moved him out of I.C.U. earlier
today.” 

“
Molly, was he staying with
you at the hotel?” 

“
Yes, Bobby is my only
friend,” she says sadly. 

“
Sam asked me to clear out
your room after the hotel called him. I put everything in your car
and had my dad take your car to your parents’ house. Bobby has some
personal items I think he may want in the car.” I look from Molly
to Mason. “Mason, would you tell him we can get those items to him
whenever he wants them?” 

“
Sure, no
problem.” 

“
There was also a stuffed
animal in one of the drawers. Did that belong to you or
him?” 

Molly asks, “Stuffed animal? It must be his.
It doesn’t belong to me.” 

“
The hotel also refunded you
some money for the unused nights. I put the check in your glove
compartment in the car.” 

“
Thank
you.” 

A knock sounds at the door before it slowly
opens. We all turn to look and in the doorway stands a petite
dark-haired woman; with her is a man in a wheelchair. He smiles at
Molly and the woman pushes him further into the room. 

“
Bobby,” Molly says, crying.
“I was so worried about you.”

I watch as the man stands up from the
wheelchair. “Doll, I was afraid I would never see you again,” he
says, as he walks over to hug her. He is a tall but thin
man. 

“
You can’t get rid of me
that easily.” Molly hugs him back and he sits back down in the
wheelchair.

He looks around the room and says, “I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just had to see for myself
that Molly was all right. Hi, I’m Bobby Grether and this is my
wife, Leah.” 

Molly introduces everyone and Mason asks,
“Bobby Grether? You’re the legendary pro boxer Bobby
Grether?” 

“
Not anymore, I’m not. But,
yes, that was me.” 

I watch as his wife pats him on his
shoulder.

“
Bobby, I didn’t know you
were married,” Molly says.

Bobby sadly explains about the car accident
that killed his only daughter and about his leaving his wife out of
shame and turning to drugs. He and his wife both cry, and the rest
of us are in shock. “My daughter is who I visited at the cemetery
that day,” he says as he looks at Molly. She only nods. 

Mason explains to Bobby and his wife about
the treatment center he found and about the open beds they have
available. He tells them when Bobby is discharged from the
hospital, he can go there for his treatment, if he wants to.

“
That’s very nice of you,
but I would like to stay close to home. I don’t want to leave Leah,
since I just got her back.” Bobby looks back at Leah and she smiles
as a tear falls from her cheek. “I left my wife because I believed
she was in an
irreversible coma, and I was
also afraid if she woke up, she would blame me for Jamie’s death. I
was sadly mistaken on both parts. But, Molly, I would go with you
to the rehab center if I didn’t have Leah.” 

“
If you need help getting
into a program here, please let us know,” Mason says.

“
I will and thank you.” He
looks over at Molly and smiles.

“
Take some Motrin to help
with your symptoms,” I say.

“
Thank you, I will.” He
looks away from me and looks at Molly. “I’m going to miss you,
Doll.” 

“
Bobby, this isn’t the end;
this is only the beginning of the next part of our
lives.” 

I look over at Bobby and Leah and say, “I
cleared the things out of the hotel. I have some things that belong
to you that I am sure you want.” 

“
What kind of things?” Leah
asks. 

“
Clothes mostly, and a
stuffed animal,” I say.

“
I still have Jack,” Bobby
says, looking back at Leah, who instantly cries. 

“
You have Jack? I thought he
was gone — I thought he was gone forever,” Leah says,
crying. 

“
No, Leah, I took him when I
left.” I watch as Bobby leads Leah around the wheelchair and she
sits on his lap. Bobby explains, “Our daughter, Jamie, had a
stuffed rabbit she called Jack. When I shamelessly left my wife, I
took one thing with me: Jack.” 

I watch as Bobby tries to console Leah, then
I look away and watch as Molly wipes away her tears. I walk over to
Mason and he whispers, “I hope he gets the help he deserves.”

“
Bobby, what are your
plans?” I finally ask. 

Bobby holds his wife’s hand and she tries to
smile at him. “When I am discharged from here, Leah and I are going
home.”

“
Here is my card,” I say,
handing him my business card. “It has my cell and work number on
it. “Please, I want you to call me if you need any help, any help
at all.”

Mason also hands him his business card.
“Take my card, too. Alec’s work number will soon be changing to
this number. But seriously, call if you need anything at all; we
want to help.”