Chapter Eleven:
It only took a matter of minutes for him to see the light leave her eyes and the emptiness take over. Damn you Nick Manzo he said to himself. They sat in silence for a few moments, both waging their own internal battles. He wanted to reach out and take her in his arms and hold her forever, but he knew he couldn’t. You’re lucky you’re already dead you bastard, he thought to himself. You broke her spirit and if it was possible to kill you again I would. He reached out and touched her hand. She instinctively withdrew from his touch, but immediately regretted it, knowing deep down he was only offering comfort.
“I’m sorry. I-I don’t know why I did that.”
“It’s okay, Nora. I understand.
She looked over at him and noticed that his arm was in a sling.
“Bo, what happened to your shoulder? Are you okay?
“Oh, this? It’s nothing. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry,” she said without looking at him.
“For what? You have nothing to be sorry for. Nick Manzo was a sick individual who chose to blame everyone else but himself for what he did. But I don’t want to talk about him right now. There’s plenty of time for that later. Right now I have a very important phone call to make. There’s a little boy at home who’s going to be very happy to know his mommy’s awake.”
“How’s Matty? I’m so afraid of what this might do to him, you know after the last time.”
‘He was scared but he was brave, he knew you wouldn’t leave him, and he’s anxious to see his mom.”
“Well his mom’s anxious to see him.”
“Okay, I’ll make you a deal. You close your eyes and get some sleep and I’ll be back in an hour with our son.”
“Sounds good.”
“Okay, promise me you’ll rest.”
“I will, and Bo?
“Yeah.”
“Thank you, for everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I’m serious Bo. I know…I know you were the one who…who stopped (fighting back the tears)…who stopped him from…”
“Shhh…, just rest. Don’t think about it okay. Just rest and I’ll be back with Matthew.”
“Hurry Bo, please. I need to hold my baby.”
“Then I’ll be back in 45 minutes.”
She gave him a small smile and waited for him to walk out the door before she let the tears fall.
Bo stopped by Larry’s office and told him that Nora was awake. Larry walked into her room 10 minutes after Bo left.
“How are we doing this morning?”
Nora just looked at him.
“That good huh?”
“Larry I feel…”
She pauses having a hard time continuing with her thoughts…
“How do you feel, Nora? You can talk to me you know that. I’m more than just your doctor, I’m your friend, but I can understand if there are some things you don’t want to talk to me about. I could call Vicki or who ever you want.”
“I just feel so uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable how, are you in pain? Is it your shoulder?”
“No, I feel uncomfortable in my own skin. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore. I don’t feel like myself. I have all of these emotions running through me at the same time and I don’t know how I’m supposed to act or how I’m supposed to feel.”
“You’re still you, Nora.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.”
“You can make it through this with the help of family and friends, Nora. You should see all the people that have been coming and going. You know Bo’s been here all day and all night for the past week.”
“I know, and I wanted to talk to you about that.”
The Garret….
Bo walked in and found Jessica and Matt playing a computer game on Jessica’s laptop. Matt looked up when he heard the front door close and jumped up and ran over to Bo.
“Are you taking me to see mommy now?”
“I sure am. Go get your card for mommy and then we’re going to stop and get her some flowers for her room.”
“Yeahooooo.”
Bo smiled at his son’s excitement.
The hospital…
They walked off the elevator hand in hand. Bo walked over to the chairs just outside the elevators and sat down with Matt.
“Why are we sitting down, daddy? Aren’t we going to see mommy?”
“Yeah, we’re going to go see her in a minute, but I need to talk to you about mommy for a minute.”
“Okay?”
“When we go in and see mommy I know you’re going to be excited, but you have to be careful, okay? Mom has some bruises and her shoulder was hurt pretty badly, so she can’t pick you up. She’s also going to have some bandages on her face and I don’t want you to be afraid.”
“What happened to her?”
Bo paused for a moment trying to come up with a way to answer their son’s question. He would never understand the truth….
“She had an accident but I don’t want you to worry about that. I just want you to make sure you’re careful when you give mom a hug, okay?”
“Okay dad. I’ll be careful. I promise.”
At the same time in Nora’s room…
“Okay? What do you want to talk about?”
“I—I don’t think I can do this with Bo around.
“Why not? He’s been here…
“I know he’s been here every day and night for the past week, Larry, you already told me that! I just can’t…I just…
Just then the door flew open and Matthew ran over to the side of the bed…Bo could feel the tension in the room and quickly looked between Nora and Larry. Larry looked away and concentrated on Matthew.
“Hey my angel, how are you?”
“Daddy said I had to be careful because you had an accident and you were hurt, but I can still give you a hug if I was careful.”
“You bet you can. Why don’t you let your dad put you up here, because your old mom here really needs one of your special hugs.”
Bo picked Matthew up and he clung to his mother. He broke their hug and handed her the card that he had made for her. He sat down beside her and rested his head against her shoulder while she read his card, trying to keep from crying in front of him. They all sat there quiet for a few minutes. Matt lifted his head off of Nora’s shoulder and looked at her, his expression too serious for a six year old.
“Mommy?”
“Yeah, buddy.”
“I’m glad you’re not an angel.”
Bo and Nora exchanged a painful glance. Bo knew she was having a hard time keeping her emotions under control…
“Hey champ, you’re mom here needs to get some rest. I’m going to go get Grandma Renee and I’m going to have her take you back to your house.”
“I want to stay with mommy.”
Nora shook her head and Bo knew she had had enough.
“We’ll come back tomorrow okay. Mom needs to rest.”
“Okay.”
Matthew kissed Nora goodbye and he and Bo left to find Renee. Larry sat down beside Nora and took her hand.
“Tell me what you need?”
“I need for you to keep Bo away.”