She’s selling that one soon.”
“Why would she—? You did that, didn’t you? Just to see me on the streets. Well, I have money, so I can buy any home I want. You just wait and see.” Rayne told her she didn’t care if she had a house or not. “What a rude person you’ve turned out to be. My goodness, I should probably have beaten you once or twice to get that nastiness out of you. You should be nicer to me. I’m the only relative you have besides Selma. Did she tell you that she’s dying? Well, she is.”
“We’re all dying, Aunt Becky. And you both being in your seventies isn’t a big stretch in knowing that you’re going to die too. But if you mean the cancer, yes, she told me about it. She also told me she’s in remission. I have a feeling you would have left that part out had I not heard.” Nothing. Not a denial or anything. “By the way, Grandda is fine as well. He’s been having fun with our children. He said it makes him feel decades younger to be a great grandda.”
“He should have died long ago, the old buzzard. He’s just hanging on because he wants one of us to die first.” She thought that was as good a reason as any and told her aunt that. “Have you always been a terrible person, or am I just noticing it?”
“Always have been. Always will be.” She saw the surgeon coming down the hall. Charlie was just joining them in a wheelchair when he stopped to talk to them all. “I have to go. I’m not asking you for permission to hang up, Aunt Becky, because I know you well enough to not allow it. But I’ll talk to you some other time.”
Simply closing the connection, she stood up when Doctor Moran Davis sat across from Charlie. Since he and everyone else was going on the notion that she was Booker’s wife, he was going to speak to her first.
“He’s come through well. The bullet didn’t do much damage. But he will need to rest up and behave himself for the next week or so. He had a lot of injuries and is lucky his head is hard.” He looked at Wats. “I did take a look at his head. You’re right. It was a good sized gash. I opened it up while I was in the sterile room and washed it out while I had him under. I hope you don’t mind that I did that.”
“No. I’m glad you did it. I don’t want anything to happen to him.” Wats looked relieved. “I was concerned when he wasn’t arguing with us about bringing him in. He’s not one to go to the doctor all that well.”
“Well, he’s in good hands, I believe.” Doctor Davis looked at Charlie. “I’m to understand that you’re going to be a physician here as well. You need anything, Charlie, you just let me know. I’m new as the head of this department, and I’m trying to make my way into getting things on a better standing between doctors and nurses. If you need anything, I’m serious, you just call me or come by.”
It was another hour before they got to see Booker. Rayne could tell he was in a great deal of pain, so when he was taken to his room, sharing it with Charlie, she rushed the rest of them out of the room so he could get some meds and rest. Yes, Rayne thought this was a good family to be in with.
Louis was holding Wesley’s hand when he got off the elevator. It was a good sight to see, the two of them. When he saw her, he came to her slowly. As soon as he was close enough, she gave him a big hug, then pulled out her phone to show him what they’d gotten for him today.
“The bunk beds will be nice if you want to have someone stay over. And look at this old flag. I thought if you wanted to, you could hang it on your wall.” He looked at the pictures as she showed him, and she knew he had questions. “If you don’t like it, Louis, we can sort that out later. I just thought bunk beds would be nice for your new room.”
“Are you going to send me back?” She asked him where she’d send him. “To my dad. He will come and get me.