Hugh's Pain - 3. Chapter 3

“Money?” Hugh’s face must have taken on a look of complete disbelief. He simply couldn’t believe that all of this was about money. But… “Wait. They won’t get their money… Do you know who he is?”

Pat closed his eyes and nodded. “It’s been all over the news. Ever since he disappeared, his father has been to all the media trying to get any kind of help he can.”

“But, Pat, wouldn’t that make them―”

“Desperate,” he whispered. “Yes, it would. And angry, judging from the condition in which they left him.”

“But why leave him on the side of the road? That doesn’t make any sense. Why make it look like an accident and leave him to die? They wouldn’t get any money that way either.”

Pat picked up his coffee, started to drink, but set it down and pushed the cup away. He rubbed his eyes and the sides of his face with his palms. Hugh could see how very tired he was. The man could hardly stay awake.

Hugh stood and went over to help his brother to his feet.

“You should get some rest, bro. You look almost dead yourself.”

“Yeah, I will when Beth gets back. Someone needs to stay with―” he stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Hugh before continuing,”―with Jon around the clock. She’ll be here soon and I’ll get some shut eye then.”

“Jon? That’s his name?” Hugh’s gaze had wandered to the door, which until just then he hadn’t realized was open. Now that he knew, Hugh could hear the faint beep, beep of the machine down the hall.

“Yeah.” Pat started for the sink with his cup and saucer. “His name is Jonathon Saunders.”

Hugh’s heart skipped a beat and he felt a burn along the side of his face, deep beneath the scar tissue.

“Jonathon… Saunders? Saunders as in―”

“Yeah.” Pat’s shoulders slumped as he turned away from the sink. He didn’t meet Hugh’s eyes as he started for the medical wing. “Come on, Hugh. I set up a cot in his room. I guess now I know why you didn’t want to let go of his hand.”

“I didn’t know,” Hugh whispered as he followed his brother.

“It wouldn’t have taken you long, once you got a really good look at him. He looks just like his cousin. Funny… if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that he was Jason’s twin.”

Pat stopped Hugh outside the room where he’d left Jonathan by resting a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you don’t have to be warned about what you’re going to see, but”―he sighed and gripped Hugh’s shoulder tight―”try to remember that it isn’t Jason.” The last bit came out in a hoarse whisper.

Hugh’s shoulder went rigid under his brother’s hand. “Pat―”

“I know, I know.” Pat loosened his hold and walked into the room where Jonathan Saunders lay in a drug induced coma. “I just… I worry, Hugh. I remember all that you went through when you lost him. I don’t want to see you go through it again.”

Pat looked over the machines that seemed to constantly beep. He checked Jonathan’s pulse, his blood pressure, and squeezed his toes to verify blood circulation. All the while, Hugh stood at Jonathan’s head and gently ran a damp cloth across his oily brow. He avoided the stiff wrap that went around his head and tried to keep his focus on clearing the blood left on the bruised skin. Now that he was closer and had the light of the room behind him, he saw the remarkable resemblance between this boy and the one he’d lost only four years before.

Pat was right. Even with all the distortion of swelling around his face, Jonathon could have been Jason’s twin. He remembered hearing about the cousin, but couldn’t recall having ever met him. But, back then, Jonathan had lived across the country. There had some sort of split in the family that had taken place when the boys were very small.

Hugh wondered if, when he got a chance to look into them, Jonathan’s eyes would show the same sparkle. Looking at the broken body lying on the bed, he thought it would be more likely that his spirit would be also.

Hugh sighed as he felt Pat’s hand on his back. It was hard not to flinch under his touch, but he had learned to stay still and quiet around his brother. He didn’t want to scare Pat.

“He’ll be okay, Hugh.”

“There’s a lot of swelling around his eyes,” Hugh said as he dipped the cloth into fresh water and before he continued his cleaning down Jonathon’s throat.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Does that mean his eyes could be damaged? That he might come out of this blind?”

“You know it does,” Pat said with a hoarse tone that showed how much the whole situation bothered him. “There are questions, Hugh. I won’t lie to you there. All I can tell you is that his body, broken as it may be, will heal. I had to take a kidney, but plenty of people out there survive with only one. And the remaining kidney is strong. I doubt he will miss it.

“As far as his sight, or even his hearing, we need time to let him recover a bit. When I think he will be strong enough, I’ll bring him around. We’ll get our answers then.” Pat leaned against the wall, head back and eyes closed. “At least, we’ll get what Jonathan can give us.”

Hugh nodded and tossed the soiled cloth into a hamper. He looked around the small room until his gaze fell on a small electric cooler. Before he could walk away from Jonathon, Pat went to the cooler and opened it up. He took out several blue gel ice packs and placed them around Jonathan’s raised arm.

“Only fifteen minutes at a time. Fifteen on… ten off, there are plenty in the freezer compartment to rotate for as long as you are awake.” The sound of the small Honda could be heard as Pat spoke. “Beth knows what to keep an eye on, and I’ll let her know you are going to stay.”

Pat didn’t say anymore. He squeezed Hugh’s shoulder and left the room.

Hugh heard the murmur of voices in the kitchen seconds later and gave the small woman a nod when she entered to take note of the various machines. She went through a lot of the same paces Pat had gone through before going into another room. Hugh supposed she would rest there with scheduled visits to Jonathan’s bedside. Rather than use the small bed against the far wall, Hugh pulled a chair over to the left side of the hospital bed and sat looking at Jonathon’s face while holding his hand.

Hours later, Hugh stirred from a dreamless sleep to the sound of Jessica’s voice.

“Hugh. Wake up, love. I have some food ready for you in the kitchen.”

He lifted his head, wincing at the pain that had settled into the muscles of his neck and shoulders. He raised a shaky hand to the back of his head and pushed his fingertips into the muscles at the base of his skull.

“I was asleep,” he said with a tremble in his voice.

“Yes, love, you were. It’s nearly ten in the morning. I thought you might be hungry.”

Hugh removed his hand from the back of his neck when Jessica placed her hands on his shoulders. He forced himself to relax under her firm fingers as she began to work the hard lumps of scar tissue and stress.

As she massaged, Hugh looked down at the hand he had yet to release. He turned it over and traced the faint lines of its palm. He ran his fingers down each of the long, slender digits noting the lack of calluses in each. Though the hand was definitely a man’s, it was almost delicate in its shape.

Jessica stopped her ministrations to Hugh’s shoulders and neck. “Hugh, come to the house and eat.”

Hugh listened to her steps as they faded and lifted Jonathan’s hand to his lips. He kissed the backs of the fingers then laid it smoothly at Jonathan’s side and rose from his seat. Before turning away from the bed and leaving the room, he stared down at Jonathan’s face in a daze. He hadn’t slept a whole night without nightmares in four years. He questioned himself if maybe he could open his heart to this boy―this man―that looked so much like Jason, and yet not like him at all.

Hugh pulled his shoulders up, hearing the pop of his spine as it straightened and walked through the hall and into the kitchen. When he stepped through the doorway, he was met with a small tornado.

“Unca Hoo!”

He lifted the small boy up and hugged him.

“Hey, Toby. How’s my little puppy?”

Toby squirmed and giggled as Hugh blew a raspberry into his neck.

“No puppy, Unca Hoo, Iza boy.”

Hugh straightened his arms and held the boy out, still wriggling.

“Hmm, I don’t know. You sure do wiggle around like a puppy.” He set Toby down and laughed as the boy immediately ran around the table and climbed into his booster seat.

“Hungy, Mama.” Toby began to gnaw at the edge of the table.

Jessica brought over a plate with peanut butter toast and a cut up apple, but stopped at her son’s side. “Toby! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Iza puppy, Mama. Grrr.”

Hugh gave Jessica a sheepish grin and took the seat next to Toby where Jessica had placed a plate with eggs, ham, and biscuits with gravy. “Hey, puppy boy, let’s save it for later. Okay?” He leaned close to whisper in Toby’s ear. “How about we be people in the kitchen and puppies out in the yard?”

Toby stopped chewing on the table and looked up at his uncle with soulful blue eyes. “Pomise?”

“Yeah, kiddo, I promise.”

“K.”

Hugh smiled as Toby lifted his shirt and wiped his spit off the table.

“Oh, Toby, not your shirt.” Jessica lightly tapped Toby’s hands and used a washcloth to clean up the ‘puppy slather’. She moved the plate with his snack closer. “Here, eat your snack while Uncle Hugh has his breakfast. Maybe he’ll take you outside to make snow angels.”

“Yeah,” Toby exclaimed and started stuffing the toast into his mouth.

“Wow there, pup. Slow down,” Hugh said. “I can’t eat that fast.”

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Toby slowed his eating down to coincide with his own. For each bite Hugh took, Toby would nibble on an apple slice or bite into his toast. When Hugh took time out to drink from his glass of juice, Toby picked up his Sippy cup of milk and pulled a swallow. It went on this way until the meal was finished and Jessica took her son into the bathroom to clean up.

“He looks up to you,” Pat said as he came into the kitchen. He was dressed in a loose pair of sweats and long sleeved t-shirt. “He’s been talking non-stop about your visit all week.”

“I don’t know why Toby would look up to me,” Hugh said as he looked out the sliding glass door. He looked at the snow that had fallen the night before. They’d gotten almost a foot overnight.

Pat poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table across from Hugh.

“For being only three, Toby has amazing skill in judgment when it comes to people. I trust his instincts completely when meeting anyone for the first time.”

Hugh shook his head before standing to take his plate and glass to the sink. After rinsing them off and putting them into the dishwasher, he leaned against the counter and looked at the open doorway to the medical wing.

“When do you expect Jonathan to wake?”

“That would be anyone’s guess. I had Beth wean off the drugs that would keep him under earlier. They will most likely be out of his system in a couple of hours. After that it depends on his body and how much head damage was done.”

“So he could wake up today?”

Hugh watched Pat set his cup down.

“He could. You saw there was quite a bit of swelling and bruising on his face. And he was hit hard on the head, but I’ve seen worse, so I’m fairly confident that we won’t have to worry about a lot of head trauma. But I don’t and won’t know for certain until he wakes up.”

Hugh pushed away from the counter and took a cup of coffee with him back to his seat.

“Waiting is always the toughest thing,” Pat said.

Hugh smiled ruefully. “No. Not always.”

Pat didn’t answer. They sat in silence drinking their coffee until Toby came running into the room dressed in so much snow gear Hugh was amazed the child could move.

“Snow agel, Unca Hoo, go outside an make snow agel.”

Hugh chuckled at the bouncy boy and set down his cup. He lifted the bundled boy onto his lap and said, “Let me finish my coffee, puppy boy, then we’ll go outside. But you have to sit still so I don’t spill.”

“K,” Toby said and wrapped his little arms around his chest, at least as well as all the padding of his snowsuit would allow.

Hugh finished his coffee and took his nephew out into the back yard to play. They were outside less than an hour when Jessica called for them to come inside. She took Toby and motioned for Hugh to go down the hall.

Pat met him just outside Jonathan’s room.

“He’s awake.”