Page 53 of Bernadette
Chuck whipped his head around to look at Lucas and saw Bernie told the truth. He looked at his mother and said firmly, “What you’re about to hear, you do not repeat, understand?”
“Yes.” Angela quickly reassured him. This was the first time she had ever seen him act this way.
“Lucas, you are Morgan’s person. I knew that the first time I saw the two of you together. She’s over there at the other hospital all alone wondering if her husband will wake up, and if he does, will he still be all there? Will he have his memory? Will he remember what happened? Will he remember her? Will he have TBI? Which stands for traumatic brain injury. Will he be able to walk? Talk? Feed himself? All of that is going through her head right now, and her person is over here too scared to face her. Is that why you went with me when we had to call for help?”
Chuck remained silent, until Lucas spoke, “Yes.”
No one said anything for a few minutes, but Chuck looked over at Lucas, and took his forearm in his hand, to say gently, “Lucas, I’m not shaming you. Please, don’t think that, but think of it this way, what if it was Dillon or DJ lying in that bed? Who would you want by your side, holding your hand?”
“Aunt Morgan.” Lucas didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Again, I’m not shaming you, here. I’ve known Morgan her entire life, I know that she won’t be upset with you because you waited twenty-nine minutes to come get help.” Chuck held up his hand and shook his head when Lucas started to say something. “Let me finish. She won’t be upset about the extra time you took to make sure you didn’t miss her arrival. However, I’m sure she would be pissed if you kept away from her during her time of need for feeling guilty. I don’t think you’ve seen it, but I have, and Morgan Stuart-Erwin is one person you don’t want pissed at you. You need to get over yourself and go to her. She needs someone with her. That person should be you.”
Lucas looked around wildly and Chuck breathed easier, when Mikel said, “I’ll drive you.”
“Thanks, Chuck. I hope you get out of here soon,” Lucas said as he gathered his things and hurried out the door.
“I’ll be back,” Mikel said to the others, and followed the younger man out.
Once they were alone, Chuck looked at Bernie and sighed, “That wasn’t too harsh, was it?”
Angela answered instead, “That was what you call tough love, and you’re going to make a wonderful father one day.” She looked at the couple before her and asked. “Is Lucas really Morg’s person?”
“Yes, she even had him as her Man-of-Honor for her wedding.”
“Wow, and he’s been here with you and not over at the other hospital with her?”
“Yes,” Bernie said. “You have to give him credit for staying here with Chuck, but he needs to be over there with Morgan. I think, though I’m only basing this on what everyone’s telling me, Morgan’s not in a good place. She needs Lucas to be with her.”
“Do you think we should call Stan and Dottie? What about her husband’s parents?”
“They’re dead, and I don’t know about Stan and Dottie.” Chuck looked at Bernie and sighed. “Who’s in charge of Boswell with you and Morgan here?”
“The ladies, but they still refer to me about everything.”
“What do you think about calling Uncle Chip?”
“Now that, I agree with. I won’t get into the details, because the ladies are looking into it as we speak, but just before, like two minutes before Lucas came to tell us what Morgan said the day of the wedding, we uncovered some interesting information. I haven’t had a chance to tell you what happened Wednesday night.” Bernie paused and shifted her eyes toward Angela, and Chuck squeezed her hand and nodded.
“I understand, but I think maybe we should put the decision of getting the Stuarts back here into Chip’s lap.”
“I agree,” Bernie said, then stood, and had to grip the side of the bed when she started to walk away, and her knee buckled. “Shit,” she said, then used her cane to hobble over to the chair to put her brace on. When she was done, she stood, then grabbed her phone and turned toward the door. “I’ll go call him now.”
Once it was just mother and son in the room, Angela turned toward him with a grin. “I like her, and I can tell you do too. Can I ask what happened to her leg?”
“Military injury.”
“She was in the military?”
“All the women at the compound were at one point.” Chuck looked at his mother, then chuckled. “Did you know that Morgan was a Marine for over ten years?”
“Oh my, no, not at all. Ten years?” She looked at him in shock. “I know you were best friends with the J’s, and you had a crush on Morgan, but I wasn’t really close to their parents. I knew them, I would go to their house when invited, but for years I was too busy working three jobs to socialize.”
“I know, and no one holds it against you, but why are you here? Who told you to come?”
“Apparently, Justin was talking about coming out to tell me and to escort me here if you needed me, but Mikel said he would take care of it. He showed up at my office this morning and told me you had been in an accident and needed surgery on a shattered wrist. When I found out it was your left one, I had to come.”
“You will not be feeding me, nor will you put a bib on me.” They shared a laugh, and that was when Bernie reentered the room.
