Chapter Fifty:
Bo was awoken by the sounds of his daughter’s cries from out in the hallway. He expected to see Nora sitting beside Matthew’s bed, but she was nowhere to be found. He walked out into the hallway and found the nurse walking back and forth with Madison, trying to console the baby’s cries.
Taking Madison in his arms, “Have you seen my wife this morning?”
“No sir, I haven’t. We came by about 45 minutes ago when your daughter awoke, but your wife wasn’t here. We had to feed her ourselves when we were unable to locate Mrs. Buchanan.”
“Oh, I’m sure Madison will be fine. Nora probably just took a walk and lost track of time. Um—(handing a sleeping Madison to the nurse) Please take her back to the nursery for me. I need to find my wife. (hands her a business card) This is my cell phone number. Please call me if you need us for Madison the other nurses already know how to contact us when Matthew wakes up.”
The nurse took Madison back down to the nursery. Bo walked back into Matthew’s room and stopped in front of the chair where his coat and holster were lying. He picked up his holster; his heart sinking when he noticed the missing gun.
“My God, Nora. What have you done?”
She stood there just staring at him as he slept. She had no idea how long she had been standing there before he noticed her.
“Scarlet, what are…”
Her trembling hands betraying the calmness of her voice, “Don’t you dare call me that again.”
Noticing the gun, “What’s with the gun, Nora? You know you don’t have it in you to use it.”
“How do you know what I do or don’t have in me to do?”
“I know you better than you think I do, Nora. Remember we were engaged to be married.” (smiling at the obvious affect his words had on her) So you see I know you could never kill me.”
Cocking back the gun, “You wanna take that chance?”
“Nora!!! Put the gun down.”
Shaking her head, the tears continuing to fall, “I can’t…I can’t, Bo. He has to—he has to pay for what he’s done.”
Slowly walking towards her, “He will pay, I promise you. He will pay, now please, honey, give me the gun.”
“No…no…you don’t understand. I have to…I have to make him pay for what he did to Matthew, for what he did to me. He…he tricked me. I—I believed he was Troy. I believed him when he said he loved me…”
“I do love you…”
Shouting; pointing the gun directly at him, “Shut up!...Just shut up….Don’t say those words to me again! Don’t you dare say you loved me!”
“Nora, honey, please give me the gun. He’s not worth it. He’s going to pay but this is not the way. Our babies need you, Nora. They need their mother with them every day and every night, not in some jail cell. Come on now, sweetheart.”
“But Matthew…Matthew might die because of what he did. I have to…I have to protect them…”
“Nora, Matthew’s going to be fine. He’ll recover, but if for any reason, God forbid, he isn’t meant to survive this, he wouldn’t want you to do this. He wouldn’t want you to avenge him this way. Please, just put the gun down.”
Shaking her head; gripping the gun tighter, “Bo, please just go back to the hospital and let me do what I came here to do.”
Yelling, trying to snap her out of it, “No! I won’t let you do this. Listen to me, Nora. This is not the way to handle someone like him. Living your life despite him is the sweetest revenge.”
Turns and looks at him for the first time, “Bo? What’s happening to me?”
Grabs her as she starts to fall to the floor, “Shh…its okay. You’re going to be okay. Here, give me the gun, okay?”
Handing him the gun, “O-okay.”
Bo carefully takes the gun back from Nora and picks her up off the floor and carries her out of the building. He carefully puts her in the car and goes to shut the door but she grabs his arm instead.
“I’m sorry, Bo. I’m so sorry.”
Kneels down and wipes the tears off her cheek, “Shhh…its okay. Everything is going to be just fine.”
“If you hadn’t been there I would’ve killed him, Bo. I would’ve.”
“Let’s not talk about Colin anymore, okay.”
“How can we not talk about him after what he’s done? What kind of person am I, Bo? I almost married him. I fell for his lies and in the end it may cost our son his life. The two of you just found each other. What if…What if he…(she breaks down)…”
Taking her face in his hands, “Look at me…(tilts her chin up) Look at me, Nora. Everything’s going to work out the way it should. Everyone’s being tested. Rachel, Asa, Clint, you’ve been tested, I’ve been tested. They’ll find a match and Matthew will get exactly what he needs to pull through.”
“What if you’re the only one who matches him for the kidney transplant, Bo? You can’t…”
“I know but we just have to have faith that someone else will be a match…”
Bo was about to say more when his cell phone rang….
“Buchanan….Okay…we’re on our way…Thank you….”
“What happened?”
“They need to see us right away, it’s Matthew.”