Chapter Fourteen:

Bo knew he was going to have to take it slow, and he was more than willing to wait. He’s waited five years to have their love come full circle, and he wasn’t about to let a sick bastard like Nick Manzo take away their second chance at happiness.

He decided to go home and shower instead of using the facilities that the doctor’s used. He laughed to himself, “being a Buchanan certainly has its advantages”, he certainly has taken full advantage of the hospitals “accommodations”.   He decided to pick Matthew up from school and take him out to lunch before his visit with Nora. As he stood in the shower, he thought about what he had overheard Nora say. A part of him was happy because now he knew her true feelings, that she had fallen in love with him again, that she had really never fallen out of love with him. Another part of him was angry that she thought of herself as unlovable now. That Nick Manzo had put those awful thoughts in her head. He was brought out of his thoughts as a rush of cold water hit him. He climbed out of the shower and got dressed. He called ahead to Matthew’s school and they had him waiting in the office when Bo arrived.

“What ya doing here, daddy?”

“I thought we needed to have a Matthew and Daddy day before you went to see mom.”

“Yeahoooo.”

Bo took Matt to Rod’s Red Hots and they filled up on chili dogs and cheese fries and of course washed them down with rootbeers.

“Daddy, can we take mommy a hot fudge sundae?”

“Sure.”

“Good, cuz mommy said that someone told her a long time ago that hot fudge sundaes can make you feel better when nothing else works.”

Bo smiled at the memory and it warmed his heart to know that even when they weren’t together and even when they thought Matthew wasn’t theirs, she would think about him and the special memories they had made.

“Well then, two hot fudge sundaes it is. Let’s go to the diner.”

Bo and Matthew stopped by the diner and picked up two hot fudge sundaes. Carlotta asked about Nora while she made their sundaes, careful to put extra hot fudge on Nora’s. Matthew talked a mile a minute about his mom coming home, and all about his Matthew and daddy day, and how his big sister was in town to help him take care of their mom. Carlotta watched father and son walk out of the diner hand in hand and smiled. She was happy for Bo and Nora. They finally had the son they had always longed for. Now if they’d only find each other again, their family would be complete.

Bo and Matthew arrived at the hospital just as Larry was walking out of Nora’s room. Rachel came out and helped Matthew bring the ice cream into Nora. Bo nodded his head towards the chairs and he and Larry walked over and sat down. Larry was having a hard time figuring the two of them out. She refused to let Bo visit with her and help her through this, but when he asked for her permission to discuss her test results and condition with Bo she had no problem with it. Then again, he thought, there’s never been anything normal about those two.

“How is she Larry?”

“She’s doing well so far. Her latest tox screen shows no drugs in her system and she hasn’t had any side effects or withdrawal problems.”

“Well that’s good news.”

“Yes it is its excellent news as a matter of fact.”

“What about her shoulder?”

“Her shoulder is also healing nicely. It’s her pelvis that’s the biggest concern.”

“I know you said that she had re-injured it.”

“Yeah, at some point either during his attack or maybe when she tried to get away she broke it. The bruising around her pelvis was consistent with the way he would have pinned her down or slamming her against a piece of furniture.”

“So what do we do about it?”

“She’s going to need physical therapy again once it heals, and she has agreed to that, when the time is right.”

“Okay, then I don’t see the problem.”

“She wants to go home but she refuses to let me hire a private nurse for her. I want to keep Nora here until her physical therapy is done but she’s pitching a fit.”

“Well what exactly needs done so that she can go home?”

“She’s going to need someone around all the time to help her get around. She won’t be able to climb stairs or anything like that for quite awhile and there is no way Rachel can carry her up and down those stairs everyday.”

“Okay so she’ll stay with me.”

“I’m not sure she going to agree to that.”

“Well then tell her it’s the only way she can go home.”

“I think that just might work.”

Larry walked back into Nora’s room and found Matthew asleep in one of the chairs and Rachel and Nora were talking.

“Hey Doc, so what’s the verdict. You ready to spring me?”

“On one condition?”

“Oh yeah what’s that?”

“You have to temporarily move in with Bo.”

“NO way, NO how.”