Breaking Love Full Hearts 2 (26 page)

Two hours later, they were awoken by the light being turned on. A nurse stood in the doorway, startled to see two extra people in the room. “I’m here to check on our patient,” she said in a singsong voice. “How are you, Helen?”

Helen lifted her head off the pillow a little and then let it flop back down. “Dizzy.”

The nurse asked Megan and Luc to give them some privacy. The pair quietly got up and went into the hall.

“Did you get some rest?” Luc asked, yawning and scratching his head with his fingers sleepily.

“I did. How about you?”

“I did.” He answered. “I suspect that will be it for now. Shall I see if I can find us some coffee?”

“That would be amazing. I need to leave to get Elliott in about an hour.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Megan walked back into the room just as the nurse was leaving. “Your husband is a little overdressed for the occasion.”

“Oh, he’s not my husband,” Megan replied.

“No? You should lock that down, honey. He’s hot even at this hour in the morning.”

After the door closed, Helen spoke up. “Yeah, lock that down, Megan.”

“I see you got your sense of humour back, so that must be a good sign.” Megan slumped down in the chair again with a sigh.

“You must be exhausted. Sorry about all of this. I feel silly about all this fuss.”

“Stop it. Of course I should fuss over you.”

There was a gentle knock at the door.

“Come in,” Megan called.

Luc poked his head in tentatively. “Is it alright if I come in? I’m bearing coffee.”

“Come in, come in,” Helen said. “I want to take a look at you.”

Luc walked in with a small smile as his eyes met Helen’s. “Hello, Mrs. Foster. It’s good to meet you, even under such circumstances.”

Megan smiled up at him as he crossed the room and handed her a cup. “Mmm, you’re a lifesaver, Luc. Thank you.”

She looked over at her mom, trying to gage her reaction.

Helen gave him a weak smile. “I’m very dizzy right now, but I can already see what Meg likes about you. Thank you for getting her here so fast.”

“No, please don’t thank me. It was my responsibility. I’m the reason she was away in the first place.” Luc’s eyes fell back on Meg as though he had no control over them.

Megan spoke up. “Mom, I need to go pick up Elliott at Jase’s in a bit. I’ll bring him back here.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. You go home with him and get some rest. I’m going to sleep anyway. The nurse gave me another dose of Gravol just now.” Helen’s eyelids moved slowly down and back up as she struggled to stay awake.

“Well, I’m not going to leave you here alone all day. I want to be here when the next set of test results come in so I can ask questions.”

Helen turned her head slowly in Luc’s direction. “She’s very stubborn. I’m not sure if you noticed that yet.”

Luc grinned from mother to daughter and nodded. “I think she said she prefers it to be called ‘persistence.’”

Megan raised one eyebrow. “Ganging up on me already? I knew I shouldn’t introduce you two.” A hint of a smile escaped her lips.

Helen’s eyes were closed now and her breathing was growing more rhythmic. Megan walked over and gently touched her mom’s cheek with the back of her fingers, whispering, “We’re going to go get Elliott. I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”

Helen nodded without opening her eyes. “Nice to meet you, Luc.”

* * *

Megan paced back and forth a few times in the waiting room, chewing on her thumb while Luc stood patiently waiting for her to make a decision about how to proceed. Finally, she turned to him. “What do you know about kids?”

Luc looked up at the ceiling, trying to think. “Never let them play with matches. Or lighters. Or anything else that can start a fire.”

Megan gave him a hard stare. “What else?”

“They are like adults, except with less life experience. You need to show them respect but guide them in matters they don’t know about.”

“That’s pretty good,” Megan responded, feeling surprised. “You’re a very insightful man.”

“I know.”

“Shit. This is a terrible idea.” Megan went back to pacing.

Luc reached out and stopped her, gently turning her to him and lifting his hands to her face. “You’re scared. I understand that. This takes a lot of trust and I promise I won’t let you down, Megan. But only you can decide what to do.”

Megan sighed. “Okay. Let’s do this. I’ll go get Elliott. We’ll tell him that you and I are friends.”

“It’s going to be alright, Megan. We’re not doing anything that will hurt your little boy. I promise.”

* * *

Megan gulped down her coffee as she sat in the driver’s seat of her car, waiting for a light to change. She was alone, having asked Luc to wait at the hospital. The night’s events would be enough for Elliott to deal with, and she wanted a chance to talk to him alone and find out how he was doing. Draining the coffee, she realized she would need several more of those to get her through what was going to be another long day.

Twenty minutes later, Megan had Elliott settled into the back seat of the now-warm car as they headed in the direction of the hospital.

“You doing okay, buddy? I bet last night was pretty rough for you.”

Elliott looked at his mom in the rear-view mirror. “Yeah, it was kind of scary. I thought Grandma might die. But when the ambulance people got there, they were really nice and told me everything would be okay. That made me feel better.”

“Good. Listen, Elliott, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I should have been home to handle that, not you.”

“Mom, it’s not your fault. You didn’t make Grandma get sick. Besides, it was kind of fun to ride in the ambulance. They let me wear a stethoscope and they gave me some Batman Band-Aids to keep! I can’t wait to tell the kids at school! They’re going to be so jealous.”

Megan smiled back at her little boy and shook her head a little in amazement at his resilience. “You sure know how to roll with the punches, kiddo.”

“I probably get that from you.” He grinned.

They rode along for a moment before Megan approached the subject of Luc. Her heart was in her throat and her hands felt clammy against the wheel as she tried to think of what to say. Finally, she cleared her throat and began. “So, Elliott, you know I went to San Francisco with a friend of mine. My friend is a man, actually.”

“I know. His name is Luc. Grandma told me,” he replied simply.

“Okay. . . .” Megan hesitated; Elliott didn’t seem bothered by it. “Well, yes that’s right, his name is Luc. He came back with me in case I needed any help. He’s at the hospital.”

Elliott’s eyes lit up. “So, am I going to get to meet him?”

“Yes, if you want to.”

“Yeah, I would like to. Are you are going to get married to him?” he asked.

Megan laughed. “No, no. We’re just friends. He lives in France, which is very far away.”

“Okay. Just wondering. You should marry someone, Mom.”

“Why’s that?”

“Jase’s mom doesn’t have to do as much as you. His dad does stuff like shovelling and taking care of their van and yelling at the kids when they fight. It would be much easier for you to have a husband.”

Megan laughed a little at her son’s keen observation. He was wise beyond his years, a result of spending his young life almost exclusively with adults. “Yeah, well, I’m happy the way things are. I don’t mind doing all of those things myself, actually. And I never have to stop any fights since there are just the two of us.”

Elliott shrugged. “I guess so. But it might be nice to have more people. You should think about it.”

* * *

Megan held Elliott’s hand in hers as she hurried him through the sliding doors into the hospital and out of the cold wind. Her heart pounded and she felt slightly sick to her stomach as they approached the waiting room. Luc sat, still in his tuxedo, flipping through a magazine. He looked up and smiled when he saw them. If he was nervous about meeting Elliott, no one would have been able to tell by how casual he appeared. He stood and tossed the magazine onto a table nearby.

Megan spoke up, “Elliott, this is my friend Luc. Luc, this is my son, Elliott.”

Luc extended his hand. “Elliott, I’m very glad to meet you,” he said with a little nod.

Elliott gave him a hearty handshake and eyed him up and down. “You talk funny and you’re dressed for a fancy party.” He looked up at his mom with a skeptical look on his face, then whispered to her, “
This
is the guy? He’s kind of weird.”

Luc burst into laughter at the boy’s honest appraisal of him. Megan reluctantly joined in, trying to give Elliott a stern look at the same time but failing.

When Luc finally stopped laughing, he answered Elliott’s charges. “I’m dressed this way because I don’t have any other clothes, and I talk like this because I’m from France.”

“You don’t have any other clothes?” Elliott replied with wide eyes. “My mom can afford to buy you some new stuff. She makes a lot of money. She has hundreds, even.”

Megan’s face turned red as Luc began to laugh again. “No, no, kiddo, he has more than one outfit. He just doesn’t have anything else with him because we were in such a rush to get back here last night.”

Elliott stuck one finger in the air. “Ah! Now I get it.”

Megan grinned down at her little boy. Somehow he had managed to make this introduction more amusing than awkward and she was grateful. Her cellphone rang, interrupting the moment. It was her brother, Mark, from Portland. Megan excused herself and spent a few minutes on the phone, updating Mark on their mom’s condition.

When she got off the call, she walked over to find the two chatting away happily.

Elliott puffed up his chest. “Yeah, so I could probably teach you lots of new ski moves, since I’m young and all. You probably don’t know all the new stuff people are doing these days.”

Luc nodded in agreement. “Sure, because I am very old.”

“Exactly.” Elliott replied wisely.

Luc grinned over at Megan, fighting the urge to laugh.

“Can we go see Grandma now?” Elliott asked.

“Yes. She’s probably sleeping, but we can peek our heads in.”

“Good, because I want to make sure she’s okay before we go home.”

“Let’s go check on her, then,” Megan replied. “We’ll be right back, Luc.”

Luc sat back down to wait for them. Elliott turned back to him and motioned for him to come. “Let’s go check on Grandma, Luc. Honestly, Mom, you can’t leave him just sitting there, being bored. Have you forgotten what you taught me about being a good friend?”

“Alright, settle down, buddy,” she replied, raising a stern eyebrow in his direction.

After they had gone in to see Helen, Megan checked with the nurse. She apologetically told Megan that there was an error on one of the tests, so they would have to run it again. It would be several hours before they had confirmation of Helen’s condition. They walked back into the lobby. It was clear Elliott couldn’t spend the day there.

“Elliott, I really need to stay with Grandma today to make sure she’s going to be okay. It’s still early in the morning, so I don’t want to call any of your friends yet, but I’m going to try to find someone you can spend the day with, okay?”

“I can hang out with Luc. I bet he’s bored here too.” Elliott shrugged, looking over at Luc.

Luc smiled kindly. “That would be up to your mother. I don’t have a lot of experience looking after kids, I’m afraid.”

Elliott shook his head. “I’m six, Luc. That’s practically a grown-up. I really only need an adult around so the police don’t take me away to an orphanage.”

Megan slapped her forehead with her hand. “He’s taking something I said a couple of weeks ago out of context.”

Luc laughed too loudly for the surroundings, earning him a glare from a nurse who was passing by. “You told me he was funny, but I had no idea. If he wants to hang out with me, I think it might be one of the most fun days I’ll have in a long time.”

Megan couldn’t believe she was going to agree to this. It was the last thing she had ever wanted, but at the moment, her instinct was that it would be alright. She trusted Luc and the two seemed to have such a natural rapport she figured they would probably have a good time.

“Okay. I guess if you want, you could go do something for a few hours. Maybe you could help Luc buy some clothes for himself.”

Elliott grinned enthusiastically. “I know just the place! Target! They sell toys too!”

“No toys, mister. Your birthday is coming,” Megan said sternly. She took out her keys, handing them to Luc.

“We’ll go get some breakfast if Elliott wants, and then he can take me to Target and show me what all the cool kids are wearing these days.” Try as Luc might to hide it, his face wore a slight look of horror at the thought of going to Target.

“Okay!” Elliott grinned. “And after that we can go home and play video games! I bet you don’t know anything about that either.”

Luc gave Megan a little wink. “It appears I have a busy day ahead of me. We’d better get started. Call me if you need anything.”

Megan watched as her little boy walked outside with Luc beside him. Elliott reached up and took his hand to cross the parking lot. Something about the sight of it squeezed at Megan’s heart. Any passerby would think they were father and son. A bond Elliott had never known.

A feeling of dread passed over her as she made her way back to her mom’s room.

TWENTY-ONE

“Check those soldiers out! Wicked!” Elliott exclaimed. He rushed over to a low shelf holding a display of tiny green soldiers near the checkout at Target.

Luc was a good sport about shopping, letting Elliott pick out a black hoodie to go with the white T-shirts and jeans Luc had chosen for himself. He was pleasantly surprised to find he could also buy himself some hiking boots, mitts, a wool hat, socks and underwear as well as a shaving kit and other toiletries. He now felt prepared to stay as long as he was needed.

Luc crouched beside the young boy to look at the soldiers. They came in a little tin holding twenty of the tiny figures. “Very nice. That is exactly what I would have wanted when I was your age.”