Page 23 of Families and Other Enemies

CHAPTER NINE

ONTHEDAYof Ralph’s release from the county hospital, Bridget had arranged everything for his celebration. Everyone had a role to play, and Kellen’s role was to pick him up and bring him back to the soup kitchen.

She walked down the corridor to his hospital room, then, at the sound of weeping, paused outside the open door.

Inside, she could hear two nurses helping him into his wheelchair. One of them was the one crying; he was patting her hand and murmuring to her softly. “It’s okay,” he was saying. “Hanima, it’s okay.”

“But you did so much for me.” She choked on every word.

The other nurse was less emotional, but she watched Hanima with a worried frown.

“Do you know it was a privilege to be able to help you?” Ralph continued to pat Hanima’s hand.

“A privilege,” she scoffed. “I was a wreck when you found me, a drug-addicted teenager who—”

“Who had never done one stupid thing I didn’t do first. You’re here now. You’re an LPN, and you’re working toward your RN. You’re someone I’m proud of. You’re someone you can be proud of.”

“Because of you.”

“Because of you. I try to help lots of people. Most of them insist on screwing up more. I sure did. But at the first offer of assistance, you set your foot on a new path and you’ve never deviated.”

“I don’t want to see you go,” Hanima said.

Man. In the last few days, Kellen had spoken with and met a lot of Ralph’s rescues, but none of them had been as emotional as Hanima. Because she’d been caring for him?

“We all go eventually. But if you really want to do something for me, pass it on.” He was still bruised and battered, but more than that, he looked bad, with a yellowish tinge to his skin and sunken eyes.

Kellen didn’t like the sound of the whole conversation. Something was going on she didn’t understand. She stepped into the room. “Ralph, your ride is here. Are you ready to go home?”

“Home?” Hanima scoffed. “To his cardboard shack?”

“Until he fully recovers, the church is going to allow him to sleep in the old bell-ringer’s room. He’ll be safe there,” Kellen assured her. “No one will hurt him.”

“It’s too late for that,” Hanima snapped.

“That’s enough,” Ralph told her sternly.

Kellen looked between the two of them.

Hanima thanked the other nurse for the help and sent her on her way, and went back to work preparing him for departure. “Ralph, I wish I could be there today when—”

Kellen cleared her throat ominously. If Hanima spilled the beans about Ralph’s reception, the wrath of Bridget would descend upon them all.

Hanima blinked and sucked back her words. She took the handles of the wheelchair, and the three of them started for the front door of the small hospital. Ralph was weak; it took the efforts of all three of them to get him into the car.

While Hanima checked his oxygen tank, Kellen went around and got into the driver’s seat.

His breathing was harsh and uneven, worse than Kellen could have imagined.

“Today, Ralph, you...you...you’re going to get what you deserve. I do wish I could be there—” Hanima gave Kellen a defiant glare “—but I have to work.”

“Work is more important than this old carcass.” He smiled at the still-emotional young woman. “Goodbye, dear. I know you can do whatever you decide, and I have faith you’ll make all the right decisions.”

Hanima stepped away from the car.

Kellen pulled away from the hospital. When she looked in the rearview mirror, Hanima was crying again, and still waving. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Kellen said, “May I ask? What was that all about?”

Ralph relaxed against the seat, eyes closed, limp and tired. “When they took me in for surgery, they found lung cancer. Lesson learned. Don’t smoke, don’t snort stuff up your nose, don’t go into combat with poison gas.”

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