Mary Sullivan - These Ties That Bind

“Fire?” He didn’t miss the flicker of fear in her eyes. “You okay?”

“Yeah, Ma, I’m good.” Blinking rapidly, he kissed her forehead, unsure whether she could even feel it.

Get your shit together. Get over all of this stupid emotion.

“She okay?”

“I don’t know how she’s doing. She had burns on her head, but I haven’t seen her since we got here. I hope so.”

“How old?”

“I think maybe nine.”

“Poor girl.”

With her good hand, she pointed at the scrub shirt he wore. “Where’s…own…shirt?”

“The accident was at the end of our lane. It woke me up and I rushed out to see if everyone was all right. Only got as far as pulling on my pants ’cause the car was on fire.”

Ma smiled but it looked bizarre with that one side drooping.

Ma’s eyes flickered to the doorway and her expression softened. Rem turned to see who had entered. Sara.

His gaze flickered to check out her conservative shirt and blue jeans. He remembered her tight body as though it were tattooed on his eyelids.

Sara approached the bed and gave Ma the kind of warm smile he hadn’t seen from her in years.

He’d always wanted a piece of that, of the soft, affectionate side of Sara’s character she reserved for everyone but him.

“How are you feeling?” Sara asked.

“Good.”

“When are you going to the convalescent home?”

Nell glanced at Rem.

“She leaves here tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve already arranged everything. She’s coming home with me.”

She turned to him with a frown. “May I talk to you out in the hall?”

He didn’t like the seriousness of her expression, but followed her out. Was she going to argue more about Finn? He wouldn’t allow it.

Once away from the door, Sara crossed her arms. “Why are you taking Nell home instead of putting her into Tender Loving Care? She needs full-time attention.”

That took him aback. She wanted to talk about Ma, not Finn. “She wants to come home.”

“It doesn’t matter what the patient wants. What does matter is that she gets the care she needs.”

“She’s my mother—I care what she wants. I’m not putting her in a place run by a bunch of strangers. I won’t know how well she’s being taken care of, or if they’ll give her enough attention. I’ve heard horror stories about old folks being neglected.”

“TLC has an excellent reputation. She would receive everything she needs.”

Rem chewed on his lip. “I can’t.” He’d neglected his parents for too many years. His wild ways had kept him isolated from everyone. When his father died, Rem realized just how much of his life he’d been throwing away. How much he was hurting those around him.

No way was he letting Ma go to an institution.

He shifted gears. “She wants to come home, Sara. I don’t know how much longer she’ll be around. How can I say no to her? I want her home, too.”

“Do you have any idea how much care she’ll need?”

“Of course I do. For God’s sake, Sara, I’ve talked to the doctors. I’ve arranged to have caregivers at the house fourteen hours a day.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“You guess? It isn’t your decision to make.”

Sara raised a staying hand to squelch his anger. “I know. I care about Nell, though. I want to make sure she gets the best care.”

“She’ll get the best.”

“TLC Outreach?”

“Yes.”

Her frown eased. “Okay.”

Rem calmed down. Sara might be a pain in the rear end sometimes, but there was no doubting how much she loved his ma.

She touched his arm, her manner hesitant but also determined. “As far as Finn goes, here’s the deal. You can tell Nell that he’s her grandson on the condition that she understands that he isn’t to know. And you can’t tell him that you’re his father.”

“What the hell?”

“Those are my terms. For years, you didn’t want to acknowledge him as your son. You can’t change the rules on a whim.”

“I want to be his father now.”

“I can’t risk that you’ll hurt him.”

“I’ll take you to court.”

“In the eyes of the law, I’m his only parent.”

No way. “You didn’t put my name on the birth certificate?”

“I had planned to, but you walked out on us.”

She might as well have sucker punched him. It hurt. Finn was his son. He’d never claimed the boy, though, had he?

“Did you really hate me so much?”

“I’ve never hated you, Rem. Never. But I don’t trust you to do what’s right for my son.”

Without waiting for a response, she strode away and Rem was left reeling. So, should he go ahead and tell the boy anyway, against Sara’s wishes? Somehow, that didn’t feel right.

He would tell his ma, though, when the time was right.

He returned to Ma’s room to say goodbye.

Last week, on the day of her latest stroke, it had occurred to him that she was his only family.

Other than Finn.

He’d always thought her hale and healthy, but she’d shrunk, was small now, and he was in danger of losing her. Now he had this impulse, an inkling that had started after he became a full-time veterinarian, but urgent now that Ma was so bad, to start a family. He already had started one, though, and wanted to claim his son and get to know him.

He’d screwed up in not acknowledging him from the beginning. He was through screwing up. He was setting everything in his life right.

Sara had done a great job of raising Finn alone, so Rem would respect her wishes. For now.

“Ma, I’m going to see how that young girl is doing and then finish setting the house to rights for your homecoming tomorrow.”

She tried that smile again, but must have known how bad it looked because she stopped. Ma, you’re breaking my heart.

He squeezed her good hand. “I love you.”

She nodded.

Rem rushed out because of the headache throbbing behind his sinuses. Maybe he was getting a cold. Or maybe it was just that he’d been up too late last night turning the dining room into a bedroom for Ma’s return, including moving in the new bed he’d had delivered.

On the first floor, he found Randy in the emergency ward. “How are the girl and her mother?”

“Lucky, from what I hear.” He punched Rem on the shoulder. “Heard you’re the man of the hour for pulling her out of the wreckage.”

Rem shrugged. “You would have done the same thing. Seriously, how are they?”

“You called it right. Mother’s got a concussion, fractured ribs and a broken arm. Daughter’s got burns to her scalp, hands and arms.”

“Can I see them?” Rem needed reassurance that the two were alive and well. When the kid had been trapped…

Quit. Don’t think about it.

Randy directed him to Intensive Care. “They’re pretty doped up, but you can look in on them.”

Rem stepped into the room. Nurses worked around the young girl’s bed quietly, lending the room a hushed, expectant silence.

Her face looked peaceful in her drugged sleep, with the white bandages swathing her head.

His gaze drifted to the other bed, where her mother lay awake and watching him, her gaze only slightly unfocused by pain meds.

“Hi,” he said with a wave of two fingers.

“Hi,” she said. “Are you the one who saved my daughter?”

“Yeah.” He squirmed beneath her admiring gaze. Lady, I’m not a hero.

He approached her bed. Under the bruises on one side of her face, he could tell she was a whole lot younger than he’d originally thought, probably younger than his own thirty-two years.

“What’s your daughter’s name?” he asked.

“Melody.”

He had a snap memory of this woman screaming that as Rem dove into the burning vehicle. “I’m Remington Caldwell. People call me Rem.”