Page 42 of Bernadette
Dillon led the caravan of trucks out of the driveway and headed down the road. This time, he drove by the ranch, but kept on going. Conversation was light inside the truck, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Bernie hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until she felt a hand on her bicep, and a deep voice beside her.
“Bernie, wake up, we’re almost there.”
Bernie jerked awake and looked around. “How long was I out?”
“About two hours, and we’re about thirty minutes from the hospital. I charged your phone.” He handed it to her, and she turned it on. Before she could look to see how many messages she had, Dillon continued, “I charged my phone first, and was able to get ahold of Lucas. He’s at the hospital, alone, he doesn’t know where Miller is, according to my son, the last time he saw him was when he climbed into the front of the helicopter when they lifted Chuck.”
“He’s not with Morgan?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Why not? Isn’t Wyatt at the same hospital as Wyatt?”
“No, it seems Wyatt’s injuries are more severe than Chuck’s and they took him to the hospital specializing in severe traumas. Lucas opted to stay with Chuck until we could get there.”
“Oh,” Bernie didn’t know what to say to that, and sighed in relief when Dillon continued. “We’ll stop in and see Chuck first, then we can go to the other hospital to check on Wyatt and Morgan. Somehow Lucas was able to charge his phone, but he hasn’t been able to get ahold of either Morgan or Wyatt.” The entire time Dillon talked, he made his way through traffic and at one point Bernie looked out the back window and saw the others behind them.
“I know we want to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, but shouldn’t we stop and get some food for Lucas? I’m sure he didn’t have a lot of money on him to eat from the vending machine.”
Dillon grinned and pointed to the seat between them. Bernie frowned when she saw a red and white cooler, along with a large paper bag. “We stopped about an hour back. I know my son will be wanting his cola. He drinks it like Joyce drinks coffee.” They exchanged a grin, and he slowed down, turned on his turning signal, and pulled into a parking lot. All the trucks found someplace to park, Dillon grabbed the bag and cooler, then only gave Bernie a glare as he exited his truck. As he walked around, her door opened, and Alex was there to help her out. Once she was steady on her feet, she gave a nod, and they all started forward. After crossing a small road, they looked up at a shout.
"DAD!" came a cry, and Bernie reached out and took the paper bag from Dillon at the same time Justin took the cooler. Dillon had just enough time to brace himself before his son barreled into him and wrapped his arms around him. Everyone turned away to give father and son privacy when they realized Lucas was crying. It didn’t take long for the younger man to get himself under control. He stepped back from his father and looked at the others. He shook the men’s hands, and hugged the women. When he got to Bernie, he took her shoulders in his hands, and smiled at her.
“Chuck is awake and is asking for you. I told him you were on the way, but didn’t know when you’d get here.”
“That’s fine, will we be allowed to see him?”
Lucas grinned and Bernie leaned back to give him the stink eye. “Why don’t I like that grin?”
“Because I did, or rather, I said something that you might not like.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I told the nurses I was his nephew, and that his brothers and girlfriend were on their way. Dad, the J’s and A’s are his brothers, you’re his girlfriend.” He grinned at Bernie.
“And us?” Joyce asked with a grin.
“My aunts, since I implied the J’s and A’s were Dad’s siblings and my uncles. In my defense, I told them that Chuck came from a large family and there would be a lot of people here to see him.”
“That’s fine,” Bernie said. “Can you lead us to him?”
“I can. He’s finally in his own room, and I only told him about thirty minutes ago that I would come see if you guys were here yet.” He frowned when someone handed him something, then he grinned as he opened the bottle of cola and Bernie swore, he downed the entire twenty ounces in one swallow. He grinned as he finished it, and ended up tossing the empty bottle in the trash on his way to the doors.
“If he’s finally in a room,” John started as they walked inside. “Does that mean he’s not able to come home?”
“Not yet, I’ll let him explain it.” They followed Lucas to the elevators and since they all couldn’t ride up on the same one, they broke it up, and Lucas told the A’s to meet them on the eleventh floor. Lucas led the way off, and Bernie was as close behind him as her bum knee would allow.
They waited for the rest of them to arrive, and Lucas again led the way. He stopped at the nurses’ station and grinned. “Uncle Chuck’s family is here.” It was all he said, and the two nurses looked up and did a double take at the sheer size of the group.
“Oh, wow, there are a lot of you. Only four at a time, there’s not enough room in there. Is there someone here named Bernadette?”
“That’s me,” Bernie said as she stepped forward.
“He’s been asking for you.”
“I’m here now.” Bernie nodded, not knowing how she felt about Chuck asking for her, but she did feel her step lighten as she and the J’s followed Lucas down the hall.
CHAPTER17
