Margo tipped her head slightly to the right and gave him an inquisitive look, then immediately winced from the pain caused by the movement.
“Try not to move too much, Margo. You still have a lot of healing to do. Are you in a lot of pain? Do you want me to increase your painkillers right now?”
Margo moved the pen slowly across the paper and wrote: Williams?
“You must have a lot of questions, and to be honest, I am probably not the best one to try to answer them. As far as I know, Williams is out of the country right now, probably licking his wounds,” Theo’s face grew tight with anger.
Margo simply wrote: ?!
“It’s a long story, but first, let me get the kids for you,” he walked toward the bathroom door and knocked. “They’ll be so excited you’re awake; they’d be upset of they didn’t get to see you for themselves.”
9 Reunited
I heard a sharp knock at my bathroom door just as I finished pulling one of my favorite white T-shirts on.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” I called, my mind just as foggy with thoughts as the bathroom was with steam.
“Meg, your mom’s awake! Hurry up!” Dr. Andrews’ excitement carried through the door.
“Mom’s awake?” I threw the door open and bolted past the doctor, nearly tackling him because he didn’t move fast enough out of my way. Rushing to my mom’s side I saw for myself. Her soft brown eyes glistened with happy tears. “Oh, mom. Thank God you’re awake! I love you so much!”
I felt a wave of love wash over me from my mother’s heart. My connection with mom was stronger than with anyone, ever. I could feel her emotions so clearly, sometimes it was hard to distinguish which were hers and which were my own.
“I’m going to call down to the children’s ward. Let’s get the boys up here, too,” Dr. Andrews was nearly bubbling with joy. He reached for the telephone and pushed a few buttons, but I wasn’t paying attention to him. I was too enthralled by my mom’s emotional roller coaster. She was oscillating between feelings of thankfulness and those of terror.
“It’s okay, mom. You’re safe. We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again,” I looked into her still mangled face and felt her wave of worry heighten even more.
“You’re not worried about yourself, are you? You’re only worried about me and the boys getting hurt. Don’t be worried. We’ll get through this. All of us will,” I was holding my mother’s hand softly as I spoke. She squeezed it in response.
It must have been a total of two minutes from the time Dr. Andrews called the third floor until the time Alik and Evan were grinning at their mom from her bedside.
“Where’s Cole?” Dr. Andrews asked looking out the hospital room door and down the hall.
“Um,…sorry about that, sir. We heard mom was awake and we both ran full speed up the four flights of stairs, not wanting to bother with the elevator. I guess Cole had a hard time keeping up. I’m sure he’ll be along in a minute,” Alik was grinning adorably at his mom the whole time he spoke. Mom’s eyes kept staring at each of our faces in turn, welling up with tears so often I took to gently patting them dry with tissues.
“I’m so thankful you’re awake, mom. It’s been awful having all these questions rolling around in my head and knowing only you have the answers,” Evan smiled widely at his mom.
“You know, mom. Maze has refused to leave your side the entire time you’ve been in the hospital?” At the sound of his name, Maze walked up to mom’s bed and stood on his hind legs, balancing by gently placing his paws on the edge of her mattress. His sweet yellow eyes studied mom’s face. He cocked his head to the right, as he does when he’s trying to figure something out then let out a soft wine. I scratched between his ears and said, “He wanted to be sure you were safe.” Mom reached out with her one good hand and let Maze lick her fingers. Furry love; it’s a beautiful thing, I laughed to myself.
“Unnn an ur ach ish oph?” mom asked incoherently.
“She wants to know when they can take the wires out of her jaw so she can talk,” I translated to the room. Mom looked at me appreciatively.
“How on earth did you understand her?” Dr Andrews asked amazed.
I shrugged, “I dunno, I just can,” I answered trying not to sound like a super freak.
“Margo, I’ll get in touch with your maxiofacial surgeon and ask him to come examine you. He’s one of the best in the world. We’ll see what he says.” The doctor still had that sweet goofy grin every time he looked at his recovering patient. “For now, let’s just stick to having you write what you want to say, or letting Meg translate for you,” he said and gave me a wink.