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Riley stopped, glaring at his brother like he was nuts. How many hundreds of times had he gone over this with Mattin hotel rooms, in breakfast joints, in the cab of the pickup on the road to somewhere else they wouldn't find Kat and the boy? BettyA
She was in the ICU at Davis Memorial. Her fight was over. BettyA
By that time, all they could do was keep her as comfortable as possible until her body gave out. He'd come by on morning rounds and she was lying gray and listless with a white sheet tucked around bony ribs. Her eyes flashed when she saw Riley; then she sent Virgil out of the room with a weak flop of her hand. Riley was surprised to see Virgil leave without a word of protest.
BettyA
You have a boy, she said. Kat had a child.
Riley pulled back enough to stare into BettyA
His throat was suddenly so tight and dry he could hardly speak. Are you certain?
She nodded, the effort causing her to push the morphine pump for another dose of relief.
Where did they go?
In that surreal moment, Riley heard his own question and thought it sounded comically matter-of-fact, like he was asking BettyA
Hang on, BettyA
Just tell me where I can find them.
She said something. He couldn't hear it. The anxiety ripped through him.
Again, BettyA
Matt shook his head, his smile widening. Not /exactly./ No?
Nope.
Then what did she say? No more of this bullshit, Matt. What's going on?
Matt put his hand on Riley's shoulder. BettyA
Riley's mouth fell open.
Kat and Aidan lived at 456 California Avenue until 1994, in a row house smack across the street from Patterson Park, in Highlandtown. She wasn't using her real last nameshe took on the name of the woman she stayed with.
Riley stared at his brother for a long, silent moment, as the events of the last year of his life raced through his brain. BettyA
And his son had been a five-hour drive away.
Did you hear what I said, Bro?
Riley nodded, awash in the randomness of it all, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. So he did a little of both.
It was impossible to sleep in this place. How was a man supposed to recover from having a balloon shoved into his groin if he couldn't get a decent night's rest?
Virgil lay awake in the hospital room, a sickening yellow night-light casting its glow on all the odd shapes around him. Somehow, being alone in the hospital felt a hell of a lot lonelier than being alone at home.
At least at home, there were no nurses giving a play-by-play on how it was a shame he had no visitors or flowers.
Even his old bat of a sister hadn't bothered to come see him. She had called and spoken to the Chinese doctor, so at least it appeared she cared whether he lived or died. But Rita might have done that only for show.
Riley Bohland had stopped by, but that was probably required because he was Virgil's doctor. All Bohland wanted to know was whether Virgil had heard from Kat.
He had no idea what was going on with those two, but her showing up had obviously fucked with Bohland's head.
Virgil didn't know what to do with himself, trapped in here like a lab rat. He tried to read the paper but couldn't stay focused. He tried to watch TV, but it put his neck at an uncomfortable angle. And since sleeping was out of the question, that left him a lot of time to think.
He could see how having two heart attacks might make a man reevaluate things. It's unsettling when you almost die. Fortunately, there wasn't a damn thing he regretted about the way he'd lived his life.
But he couldn't stop thinking about BettyA
BettyA
She was a simple woman who needed his guidance to stay happy and peaceful. She'd long ago proven she couldn't handle freedom, so Virgil gave her the structure she craved. The idea that there would be anything in her head that he hadn't put there left him uneasy. BettyA
So how come his doll baby had something to tell Bohland just before she died? How come she specifically asked that it never be revealed to her husband, her king?
For the first time in twenty years, Virgil wanted a drink. It was no coincidence that the craving had returned the moment Kat did.
Madeline studied the low-cut, fur-trimmed neckline of Carrie's wedding dress and realized three things simultaneouslythat it was not the same gown she had last year, that it really was stu
Too much cleavage? Carrie cupped her satin-supported breasts and sashayed her way to the kitchen sink and back to the table. I'm pursuing an understated, sexy look, you know? Smokingly hot, but in a Grace Kelly sort of way.
Carrie swished until the white satin train swept around her feet. I want Riley's eyes to absolutely bug out of his head when he sees this!
Madeline nodded, not sure what to say, thinking that Carrie would have no problem getting Riley's eyes to bug out because he'd get one look at the woman he'd told to get lost a year ago, all dolled up in her wedding dress, ready for a secret wedding where he was expected to be the groom, and his eyes would bug out just fine. Madeline became vaguely aware of the nausea creeping into her belly.