Page 65 of The Sound of Sleighbells

“Can we see him now?”

“You can be with him in his room. The nurse will tell you when he’s been transferred. It’ll take about forty-five minutes. There’ll be some paperwork.”

“Bring it to me,” Ruth said. “I’ll fill it out while we wait.”

“I’m hungry,” Tammy said. “My tummy is growling.”

“I could take the girls to the cafeteria,” Judd offered. “Do you want to come, too, Ruth? There should be plenty of time.”

She shook her head. “Go ahead. I’ll stay here. Maybe there’ll be news. Meanwhile, I can fill out the admission papers.”

“I’ll check back here and hope he’s in his room. Come on, ladies. Let’s go and find something good to eat.”

She watched the three of them walk down the hall, Judd with one of her daughters on either side, holding on to his hands. To her girls, he was already family. She hoped Judd felt that way, too. But what could they make of their shattered family if Skip failed to recover? Cheerful, responsible Skip was the glue that held them all together.

The nurse brought her a clipboard with several pages of forms to fill out. Struggling to concentrate, Ruth pulled her insurance cards out of her purse and began.

She was partway through when she heard a scurrying from behind the swinging doors. Seconds later, the nurse burst through. “Mrs. McCoy, your son’s awake. He’s asking for you.”

Heart pounding, Ruth strode after the nurse, through the doors and down the hall, past the curtained-off partitions. “We were about to wheel him into the elevator when he opened his eyes and started talking,” the nurse said. “The first thing he did was ask for you. You can have a few minutes with him here. Then you can stay with him in his room. We’ll let his father know where he is.”

We’ll let his father know.

As the nurse’s words sank in, Ruth knew it was time. She couldn’t wait any longer to tell her son the truth.

“How is he?” she asked the nurse.

“Lucid. A bit confused at first, and his head hurts. That’s to be expected with this kind of injury.”

“But will he know me? Will he be able to understand what I say to him?”

“Find out for yourself.” They turned the corner to the elevator bank. A wheeled hospital bed stood in the open space. Skip, wearing a hospital gown and a white bandage around his head, lay against the pillows. An IV was attached to the back of his hand. His eyes were open.

With a little sob, Ruth rushed to his bedside and clasped his free hand. He smiled.

“Hi, Mom,” he said.

“Do you know what happened?”

“Kind of. But I don’t really remember. I was in the barn. Then nothing.”

“How do you feel?”

“Like crap. But they say I’ll be all right.”

Ruth took a deep breath. “Listen, son, there’s something I need to tell you. If you choose to hate me for it, I’ll understand. It’s about Judd.”

“He’s my father, isn’t he?”

Ruth’s heart dropped. “How did you know?”

“It wasn’t hard. When I looked in the mirror, I could almost see him looking back at me. All I had to do was check my birth date against his arrest date, and I knew. Why did you wait so long to tell me?”

A lump had risen in Ruth’s throat. “I was scared—scared you’d never forgive me for lying.”

He squeezed her hand. The bed began to move toward the elevator. “It’s okay, Mom. You did what you thought best. We’ll talk more upstairs.”

Ruth watched the elevator doors close, hiding him from her sight. Only then did she break down and cry.

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