A Second Chance II: Life Goes On. - 12. Chapter 12

My God, how that boy made us proud of him, every time he opened his mouth. He was tired though, you could see it in his beautiful eyes. They looked so sunken and tired.

Mathew was now able to be moved to another more private room, or should I say a private hospital suite. They were built to accommodate families that needed a place to stay, in town, and still be close to their loved ones. So I took advantage of them. The suite had a couch that folded out into a double bed, a love seat, several overstuffed chairs, two TV sets (one facing the patients bed and the other facing the seating area of the room), and a private bathroom. The room was also large enough to have both boys' beds brought up, so, everyone soon gathered in the new room, number 404. To our surprise there was food service available to the rooms. It wasn’t the typical hospital food either; in fact it was quite good. The nursing staff was different as well, of course the cost of these rooms was, to say the least, quite high ... but where my sons are concerned, that made no difference what so ever.

I told Colt, “Son, just relax and soon Mathew will be better and we will be taking him home.”

Mathew was still asleep, they had been and were still checking on him, every few hours; running all sorts of tests. They brought breakfast in for Colt. After he ate, he just lay back on his pillow, and fell fast asleep again. The poor little guy was really out of it, so Mike and I, decided to go to the cafeteria to get some breakfast, ourselves. If I had to guess, I'd say we were gone no more than an hour, but when we entered the room again, it was so cute; I wished I had brought the digital camera. Colt had climbed into bed with Mathew, and was snuggled up with him. They were hugging each other in a loving embrace. They were beautiful together. I was just a little concerned about him being in the same bed, though, when one of the interns walked in.

I asked, “Is that all right for my son to be in bed with Mathew, our other son.” God, that felt strange, saying that for the first time.

He replied saying, “I don’t see any problem. I think it was Colt that asked me if it was all right to do it, and I told him it was.” He seemed to be a nice guy, and if he told my son it was ok, I guess he was a great guy. Then I smiled at him saying, “Thanks; I think Colt needed that as much as Mathew will, when he wakes up.”

I called Larry and asked him if he would go out to the ranch and pick up some of our clothes, and shaving gear from Julie. We had already called her, and she had our stuff ready. Mike and I were not going to leave the hospital without the boys. When he arrived with our stuff, Mike was the first one in the shower. We were tempted to take one together, but we played it safe; I took a quick one, next. After we showered, Mike opened the couch, so we could lie down and take a nap; God, we were both walking zombies. As we lay down, one of the nurses came in to check on Mathew.

She looked at us lying on the bed, "Well, it's about time you two guys got some sleep. We will try to be quiet when we come in to check on our little guys." I thought what a nice young lady she was. Then she left and we drifted off to sleep.

I guess it wasn’t too long after we went to sleep, when I noticed someone crawling up in between Mike and me. I opened one eye, cause I was tired, and, my God, Colt, in his hospital gown, was moving up the bed saying, “Pop, I miss you, and poppa Mike, too. Can I sleep for a little while with you?” I said, of course, son, just slide in here between us.” I just reached over, took one of the blankets, and placed it over all of us. Then drifted back to sleep.

I woke up when one of the nurses came in to check on our boys, she looked over at us and smiled saying, “How cute that is, I guess he is torn between being with you or his brother, right now.”

I told her, “Our son is a very loving boy, and wants to make everyone happy.” She just finished checking Mathew, and as she left the room, turning out the lights, she said, “Go back to sleep, y'all need it.” Even though it was daytime, the heavy drapes were pulled closed, making the room almost dark. So it was easy to just go back to sleep.

Mike was the next to get woke up by Julie coming in. He spoke saying, “Hello Julie, nice of you to drop by.” This woke me up, but Colt was still out of it. So I picked him up gently and placed him back in bed with Mathew. I was going to put him back in his own bed, but remembered he wanted to be with Mathew.

We quietly closed the couch, asking Julie if she would like to have a seat. I looked at my watch and, my God, it had been just a little over 24 hours since I had talked to Andy.

Julie said, “No, I'm fine, I just want to see your new son; I've heard a lot about him already. The whole staff here thinks both boys walk on water.” She was so sweet and grandmotherly. Then she walked over to Mathew’s bed and reached out and brushed his cheek with the back of her finger, and said, “So this is my newest grandson, Mathew. What a terrible way to be treated by anyone. The poor boy looks bad; how long before he can come home? Or have they said?”

I told her, “No word on that yet; he still hasn’t opened his eyes, or moved for that matter.”

“Isn’t that so cute -- Colt wanting to be with him.” I told her what the intern told me, and how the nurses treated the boys. And some of what Andy had told us last night. Also, what Lt. Lawson of the CPD told us as well. She was thrilled about everything except the condition Mathew was in. Julie stayed for a few hours but both boys were still sleeping. She just said, “I need to go; you tell them to hurry home. I'll fix them something very, very special.” She then went over to their bed and kissed both boys on their cheeks. Said her good-byes and left.

Mike was looking at the boys and said, “I never thought I would see Colt sleep this long. That blood transfusion must have really zapped him. I miss him so much.” Mike then leaned over and kissed Colt on the forehead, and then kissed Mathew on his cheek, saying.” I've already fallen in love with you, son.” He was tearing up.

Colt woke up, looking into Mike’s eyes and said, “I love you, too, poppa Mike.” Then reached out and hugged him. Then he looked over toward me, got down out of Mathew’s bed, came over to me, holding out his arms, and hugged me so tight, and said, “I love you too, pop. Has Matt woke up yet?" I shook my head no. "Why hasn’t he woke up, pop? Is he go’na be ok?”

God, how do you tell him? “He'll be ok soon, son; just give him some time; right now he needs lots of rest, and all our love.” Colt looked at me then looked at Mathew and ran over and hugged him the best he could without hurting him and said rather loudly, “Matt ... I love you, too; please wake up so I can tell you how much I love you.” My God, the flood gates opened again, my face was wet with tears. I got up and when to Colt who was still standing by Mathew. I reached out and took both boys into my arms, hugging them both. Then I kissed Colt on the forehead, then leaned over and kissed Mathew on his cheek. I told him, “I love you too, son; we aren’t going anywhere without you.”

Colt was standing by Mathew’s bed, and Mike and I were talking when we heard Colt say, “Hi Matt, are you awake?”

I jerked to look over at Mathew and so did Mike. My God, his eyes were open. “Hello, Mathew; can you hear me?” I asked. I was smiling at him, wanting him to know we loved him.

“Someone help me, please? I hurt real bad all over; please help me.” I pushed the call button for the nurse to come.

Colt started to say something when Mathew looked at me and said, “Aren’t you the man the took me away from my father that was hurting me so bad?”

“No, son, that was someone very special to all of us; when you're feeling better, we’ll talk all about it.”

Colt reached out and took his hand and said, “I helped save your life last night; I let them take a lot of my blood and gave it to you, so you know we are kind’a blood-brothers or something.”

Mathew looked at Colt and said, “I saw you in my dreams, too; you were laying there next to me with something like a rope hooked to me.” He then looked at me and said again, “You sure look like the man the helped me get away from my mean foster father ...” You could see the fear in his eyes when he said that.

A nurse came in about then and said, “Glad to see you awake, Mathew. How are you feeling?” She looked professional and wanted to really know what he needed.

“I hurt bad all over?”

“Son on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain, and 10 being unbearable or the worst pain, how bad do you feel you hurt now?” She was looking him right in the eyes.

“M..Maybe a 9 or 10” you could see he was twitching with pain, making his eyes water.

“Ok, son, I’ll be right back. And we’ll fix that pain for you.”

While she was gone, Colt said something he told him before, “Matt, I want you to meet, and to know our two dads.” First he pointed to Mike and said, “That's my poppa Mike,” then he pointed a me and said, “That's pop.” Then Colt walked over and took Mathew’s hand and said, “Matt ... I know you're just go’na love our pop and poppa Mike… And you ain’t never going to be hurt by anyone again, cause you're my new real brother now, and my blood-brother, too ...”

It was then, that the nurse came back in, with the pain medication for Mathew, but were we all very surprised, when in came Judge Franklin, at the same time. While the nurse was adding pain-killing medication to the I.V. tubing that hung above our son's hospital bed, Judge Franklin began to speak.

“Hello, is this the Andersen family suite?” He asked with a big toothy white smile. “I hear there's a new addition to your family. May I be so bold as to assume that this here young man is Mathew Nighthorse?” Not waiting for an answer he continued, “I was just downstairs, reading all the doctors' and CPS reports on this matter.”

God, I was thinking, is he going to hold court here? Poor Mike was shocked, just to see him here at the hospital, at 10 o’clock at night. Judge Franklin continued, “Looks to me like this is going to be another easy case; oh, how I love those types. Now that I'm done with my rant, how are your feeling, Mathew?” he asked.

Mathew spoke saying, “Who are you, sir?” He was somewhat scared of the judge's presence. The judge definitely had an overpowering aura about him.

“Sorry, son, I'm Judge Roy Franklin. Moreover, I'm going to see to it, that no one ever hurts you again, as long as I have anything to say about it, and it so happens, that I do, in this case.” God, how that man can take control of a situation is all everyone could think.

Mathew again spoke saying, “I'm hurting real bad, but the nurse just gave me something that's supposed to help me not to hurt so bad.” You could see that the medication was already starting to work. For he was not showing the pain in his face.

“Good, son; now, can you tell me what happened to you, please?” The judge said, as he pulled up a chair to sit beside Mathew’s bed.

Mathew blinked his eyes a couple times and started talking, “Well, sir, my foster father beat me all the time, and mom, well my foster mom, did too, only not as bad. I – I guess, yesterday, they really got mad at me; I told them that I was g --- ga --- gay.” My God, Mike and I were hearing this story for the first time, too, along with the judge. Mathew continued, “Well, that’s when they came after me with a broom handle that father made, to beat me with.”

I blurted out, “Jesus Christ! what animal could do that?!” I then said I was sorry for the interruption.

Mathew continued, “Well that’s when, I guess it was JC, as you are calling him.” He pointed in my direction. “Came into the house and hit my father, and pushed my mother away, then picked me up. Then we went somewhere, but, the funny thing is, that JC, over there, looks so much older now.” He looked at me, puzzled, then looked back toward the judge. "As we were going wherever he was taking me, he told me that I wouldn't ever be hurt again, that the people would love me. And care for me. He might have said more, but I can't remember anything more, except that I thought I had a dream about Colt and I being tied up, or something, with a rope between our two arms." As he finished speaking, he laid his poor head, back on the pillow, and closed his eyes, for a few minutes, but he wasn't asleep.

I had to speak again, saying, “Son, I have to tell you this, now, OK? And you too, Roy, you don’t mind me calling you that do you?” Judge Franklin replied with a, “NO, of course not.”

Then I continued. “That man that you're talking about, son, was my Uncle James, he and someone, so special to me, by the name of Charlie, helped you last night.” I was fighting back tears. “James brought you to our barn at the ranch, and Colt, here, found you and my Uncle James. James told us to help you, and take care of you, and, of course, we will do just that, if you want us to. I know you have a million things going on in your mind, but one thing, before all else, remember this ... Mike, Colt, and I have fallen in love with you, and you will never, ever be hurt again, as long as any one of the three of us is around. As for those two guardian angels, that helped you last night, they are still watching out for you. I don't think anyone will ever hurt you again." I was now crying, and believe it or not, so were, Roy, Mike, and Colt.

Mathew was looking at us now, not crying, but he had tears in his eyes; he had more of a 'total loss for words' look, or maybe a 'now what do I do' look. Then he began to speak, “Colt, you said we were brothers now, didn’t you?”

Colt answered saying, “You bet we are, Matt!, even blood-brothers! Because you got lots of my blood in you, now.” He was smiling.

Mathew again spoke saying, “Well, then, I want to be your brother, too.” Then he looked at Mike and me, and said, “And if you want me, I want to be your, son, too; can I call you pop and poppa Mike, too? I don’t like being called Mathew, cause that’s what everyone that hurt me, called me. I like being called Matt, like Colt calls me, is that ok?” He was looking down at the bed. Like he was ashamed of himself.

Mike spoke up saying, “My God, son, you can call us anything your little heart wants to, and you asked if we want you! My God, son, you are wanted! You are so very wanted! You will never be hurt again I promise you that!” All the time, Mike was speaking to him, he was hugging him, and when he finished speaking, he even kissed him on the cheek.

I told him, “Son, or should I say Matt, you are our son now, and that will never change, and, God, we do love you. Don’t you ever forget that.” I looked at the judge, as if to say, help me here.

Judge Franklin said, “Ok, Matt, that’s a nice name. I'll tell you, too, that you're going to be a member of the Andersen family, just as soon as someone’s attorney can take care of some legal mumbo-jumbo. How does that sound to you?”

“Thank you Judge Franklin, and all of you! Thank you! Thank you!” is all Matt could say, with a great big grin on his bruised face.

As Judge Franklin left he said, “This one is going to be very easy, you just have Harvey get the adoption petition to me as soon as possible, and I will hold a private court session, to handle it all. If Matt, there, is able to leave the hospital by Wednesday, we can do that at around 5 p.m. before I go home for the day. If not, we can do that after Thanksgiving. I kind of thought you all might want to celebrate something special, that day.” Then he winked at us and left the room.

Well, as faith and love would have it, Matt and Colt were both ready to go home by Wednesday afternoon. Of course, Colt was ready to go home, the day after Judge Franklin was at the hospital, but he, too, refused to leave his brother in the hospital alone. We also had Harvey prepare the court documents that the judge needed. Chuck also released Matt, and told us he would be on some medication, for a few months. He also told us that both boys would need to be seen by orthopedic specialists because of old injuries, and he was sure that both boys would need surgery, but he felt that Matt was the one that needed it the worst.

Mike had also gone out and bought both boys some new clothes, for the court hearing, today. Poor Matt, had nothing at all, the emergency room had cut all his clothes off of him, and Colt's were pretty bloodied up, so we trashed them as well. As we left the hospital, we thanked all the staff, and headed for the court house.

Harvey met us there and took us directly to Judge Franklin’s office, and it was big. No wonder he could hold closed hearings in it. Judge Franklin was not there yet, but Andy Higgans was there too, so we all just sat there waiting. Matt was nervous, as you could plainly see, but it wasn’t long before Judge Franklin stepped into his office. He looked at us and just smiled.

He started speaking saying, “Hello, Matt, how are you feeling today? You look a lot better.”

Matt responded saying, “Better, sir.” The poor boy was staring at his new shoes.

“Don’t be scared, son; no one will hurt you here, or ever again.” Judge Franklin said, and then continued, as he opened the folder on his desk, looking at the papers that Harvey had placed there when we entered his office. “I see everything here is in order. So let’s make this as short and sweet as possible. Andy do you have anything you want to say?”

“No, sir; the CPS recommends, this adoption be granted,” Andy answered. God, what a change I thought. He really did turn out to be a friend.

“Harvey, do you have anything more to add?”

Harvey spoke saying “No sir,”

Judge Franklin said, “Matt, would you please come up here, and see me for a few seconds?” Matt looked at Colt first, which surprised me, and then he looked at me. I just motioned for him to go up and see the judge. So he walked up to see Roy, with his head hanging. I thought, we need to work on his self-esteem. His self-confidence must've been beaten out of him.

Roy whispered into his ear, and then Matt whispered back into Roy’s ear. Then he came back to us, and sat back down.

“I just have to do that for the record.” Roy said. Of course, there was a court recorder in the room recording all of these proceedings.

Then he started speaking to all present, “I hereby so order, that this Adoption Petition of Justyn Case Andersen and Michael Earl Hendricks Andersen, known as the Adoptive Parents, and the minor child, known as Mathew Nighthorse, be granted by the powers of this court. In addition, be it further granted, that the said minor child be known from this date forward by the name of Matt Nighthorse James Andersen, with all the duties of a natural parent and child relationship. Therefore, by the powers vested in me, by the State of Wyoming, I hereby so order. Case closed." Then he hit the gavel.

After which he got up and came to us and hugged, and shook hands with Matt, Colt, Mike and me, in that order, and then said, “Congratulations! You make a great family. I wish all my work was this gratifying.” Then he left the room first, as is the custom.

We all just started hugging one another, including Andy and Harvey.

Then out of the mouths of babes, Colt spoke saying, “Our wonderful family is now four!”

Mike said, “With a pair of guardian angels to watch over us.”

I just shook my head and said, “Amen”