Page 89 of His Wounded Heart

There’s a pause. “You’re right, Mr. Faulks indicated he has no family. I see here that you visited him before. You and your daughter can come, but only for a limited time.”

“Why? When I came before I stayed for over an hour.”

“You’ll need Mr. Faulks to explain. I’m sorry I can’t provide you with any information.”

“Thank you. My other friend that I want to visit is on your floor as well. Her name is Violet Randolph. May I bring my daughter to visit her?”

“Absolutely, I know she would love to have visitors.” The nurse’s tone is very different when speaking about Violet, which means something is really wrong with Bernie.

“We have some homemade baked goods.” I cross my fingers that the firefighters haven’t eaten them all. “Can we bring some?”

“Sure, you can.”

“We should be there within the hour.”

“That sounds good,” the nurse says.

I leave to get Bella. After all the icing and chocolate she had on her from passing around the cupcakes to the men at the construction site, God knew what kind of mess she in was now after being at the firehouse with a dog. She might even need a quick bath before we head over to Pigeon Forge.

I laugh. At least life is never dull with my daughter around.

“Hello,” Bella says shyly to Violet.

This is the first time I think I’ve ever seen my daughter shy.

“Hello,” Violet replies. “Don’t you remember me? You and your Mama came up to visit me last year.”

“We did?” Bella asks as she moves closer to Violet’s hospital bed.

Violet reaches out with the hand that doesn’t have a tube connected to it. I’m happy to see she’s even stronger looking than she had been when I visited a few days ago. “Yes, you came to my cabin and went into my yard and picked some pansies, remember?”

Bella’s eyes light up. “Oh yeah! You paint pictures. I remember.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I got to sit on your porch swing with Mr. Luther. Where’s he?”

Violet looks up at me. I can see the pain in her eyes.

“He’s somewhere else right now,” I say. “Mizz Violet’s getting better and soon they’ll be together and she can paint again.”

“Will Mr. Luther swing and plant flowers?” she asks me.

“I don’t know, Honey. We’re going to try our very best to make that happen.”

“How is Luther doing really?” Violet asks me.

I dig in my purse for my wallet and pull out a couple of one-dollar bills. “Bella, can you run to the vending machine that we passed on the way to Mizz Violet’s room? What would you like to drink with the cookies that we brought you?”

Her body might not be completely healed, but Violet is sharp as a tack. “Bella, why don’t you get me any kind of cola they have.”

“R.C.? Pepsi? Coke? Dr. Pepper?” my daughter asks.

“Whatever is your favorite.” Violet smiles.

“I like R.C. I’ll see if they have that one. I’ll be right back.” Bella scampers out of the room.

As soon as she’s out of sight, I go over to Violet and take her hand. I start talking. “Luther is very anxious to be reunited with you. I’m going to take another video of you, this time with Bella. He’ll be relieved to see you on T.V. again.”