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The day before yesterday he’d sat down with Mercy, and they worked out a plan with the doctor. The nursing home for Saul was set up now, as well as an exercise program to keep him in shape. He also had a very strict diet that he was going to be on, and a pump to regulate his insulin for the rest of his life. Saul was not going to be happy about any of this.
Joel looked at his brother. Saul had awakened several times when he’d been there. Mostly he’d just stare at him, never saying a word, then close his eyes and turn so that the back of his head was facing him. Joel had learned not to say anything to him. He was sure that this was just another one of those times until Saul spoke to him.
“Where am I?” Joel told him. “You left me out there to die, didn’t you? You poisoned my food and made me ill.”
“No. Whatever happened to you, you did that all on your own.” Saul closed his eyes again and didn’t say another word. Joel got up and stretched—it was time that he left anyway. He was working a good job and having a blast at it.
Miley was still here working on strengthening her legs, so he stopped by to see if he could take her home. She was all for it, especially since he was taking her to lunch. As soon as she was finished up and had her shower, they were headed out of the hospital.
“Saul asked me again where he was. Then he accused me of leaving him out there to die. If I didn’t already have a dislike of the man, I would now, the way he keeps repeating himself.” Miley was walking well now. She still had a cane for her balance, which she was still getting used to. But he did help her into the car. He sat there on his knees after lifting her legs in and told her he was sorry.
“For what?” Joel told her. “Dad, I know that you don’t like him. I don’t either, for all the things that he was planning to do to me. That, I have to tell you, was a real eye opener. He laid out all the paper at the hotel to wrap me in, even putting my name on the sheets. But even before that, he wasn’t very nice to us. I remember him coming by the house. The things he said to you.”
“I love you, Miley. And I’m so very proud of you.” She kissed him on the forehead and told him to stop being sappy and feed her. “I can always depend on you to put me where I belong. All right, my dear, what’s it to be? Pizza, burgers, or would you like a sub?”
“I want to go to that pizza place that Remi is starting up. It looked good when I spell checked her menu.” She’d been helping all of them out a great deal lately, and even though she’d not wanted any money for it, she was getting a nice sized bank account for herself.
The place was busy, but mostly due to the staff being trained. There were two people for every table waiting on folks, and it was a little overwhelming. But Remi had decided to have too many at first—most were not cut out for food service, she thought—rather than to not have enough when it was time for the grand opening. If the soft opening—without advertising that they were there yet—was any indication, she was going to have a hit on her hands.
They enjoyed the pizza as well as the iced tea. Mercy didn’t drink coffee or any sodas, so he’d gotten used to drinking what she did. Miley drank milk—a great deal of it, as a matter of fact. Remi came out to sit with them and brought out a platter of different foods for them to try.
“Those are going to be twist ups. I’m going with a fifties sort of theme in here. I know there’s and old jukebox in storage that I’m going to bring here too.” They tried all the different flavors and gave all but one the okay. “Yeah, wasn’t sure about that one. I know there are a lot of people who like black olives, me included, but they’re not to everyone’s taste. Mercy said that we’re going out to the stash today. I haven’t any idea why we still call it that. It’s a frigging cave. Anyway. I have a few ideas that I’d like to bring back with us. I bought a house. Did I tell you?”
“Yes, Mercy mentioned it. She said that it’s really old and that it needs some work done on it.” Miley asked her if she was going to do all the work herself.
“No way. I have better things to do with my time than to put in plumbing again.” Miley asked if she’d done that before. “I think that we’ve all done just about everything at one point in our lives. Mercy and I were doctors together. It wasn’t my cup of tea, so to speak. I wanted to heal them all, but I realized that it wouldn’t go over well. Mercy just didn’t like it from the start, but she stuck with it longer than I did. I think she might still have her license. I remember that Esme was a pirate. She really enjoyed that.” That got Miley excited. Remi told her of all the things that she’d done that she could remember. It had been a long time.
When they were getting ready to leave, Mercy joined them. She had been scoping out a couple of places to put in a grocery store. The one that they had had in the town had burnt to the ground about five years ago. The need for one was great, as it took almost forty minutes to drive to the one in the next town over.
“I have two places that I think will work. And some of the pack have said that they’d help with the construction. That will be helpful all the way around. Income and a place to buy milk.” She took one of the twisters off the plate and spit it out on her napkin. “That is gross. Who would want black olives in their bread?”
Joel was still laughing as they left the restaurant. His cell was ringing as he was walking to his car, and he knew it was the hospital. Answering it, he was asked to come back to see his brother, as he was asking for him.
“He’s done this before. Is he awake enough to know that he’s asking for me?” The nurse assured him that he was indeed awake, and that they’d had to restrain him. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right there.”
They decided to go with him, Miley and Mercy. They were riding up in the elevator to his floor when Mercy asked Miley if she’d like to wait with her, give Joel time with his brother. She looked so relieved that he was glad that Mercy had suggested it. But he wasn’t looking forward to seeing his brother on his own.
Saul was yelling when he entered the room. The nurse was trying her best to put Saul at ease, but he wasn’t having any of it. He was telling her to shut the fuck up and to get his brother. Joel knew that he could do this, talk to Saul, because he was stronger than he’d ever been before.
Putting both his fingers in his mouth, Joel let out a whistle that even impressed him. But the room grew suddenly silent, which was what he wanted.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling out for you for an hour.” Joel simply sat down and asked t
he nurse to leave them alone. She ran out of the room like she’d been reprieved from prison. “Answer me, you fucking bastard. Where have you been?”
“Having a nice lunch with my wife and daughter. And I was here not an hour ago and you were still out. We have to talk, Saul. There are things you need to be made aware of.” Saul asked him when he was getting out of here. “You’re not. Not for a while, anyway. You’ve had some major surgery, and you’re still healing.”
Saul looked down at his hand but said nothing about the thick bandage around it, smeared in blood. Joel decided to wait on him to ask. It wasn’t going to change things for him to blurt it all out at one time.
“That wife of yours, she brought me here under duress. I’m going to sue her for everything that she has for doing that.” Joel waited for him to get whatever it was out of his system. “Well, jackass? Are you going to tell me what happened to my hand?”
“They had to remove one of your fingers.” Saul paled but said nothing. Joel leaned back in his chair as he continued. “It was infected from the hangnail that you had there. If you’d gotten help sooner, when it was offered to you, you might have been in better shape all the way around.”
Saul glanced at his legs but turned away. There was a tent-like thing over his lower half. It looked like his legs were having a strange and peculiar campout. Saul asked him where his wife was.
“In the waiting room with Miley. The police found the newspapers that you laid out to put her in when you murdered her. Why did you do that, put her name on each sheet?” Saul laughed, telling him so Joel would know it was from him. “Yes, well, that’s a moot point now, isn’t it?”
“You think so? I’m still going to hurt you, Joel. In a way that you’re never going to recover from it. I’m going to kill that daughter of yours and do just want I said, lay her in that open pit so that the rodents can get to her pretty face.” Joel felt his bird run along his skin. If Saul felt it, the magic, he didn’t mention it. “Then I’m going to take what I can from you before I kill off you and that wife of yours. Why she gave you all the money too is beyond me. But it will go a long way in making up for you making it so I lost my finger.”
