Tommy smiled in relief when Rita told him he was merely restrained instead of paralyzed. He would have figured it out on his own as soon as he was completely awake anyway, but knowing early saved him from any more panic.
"Is everyone else okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Everyone else is just fine, Sweetie. Conchita went for coffee, but she'll be back in a minute. Harold took Caroline home to get some rest. They'll be back later today. Margaret went to Fort Sam to fetch your doctor from there. She said she'd bring him back at gun point if necessary."
Tommy was smiling at what Rita said about Margie when a nurse came scampering into the room to answer the call button.
"Good morning, Mister Bledsoe, and Happy New Year. I'm Nurse Lopez. You are in the Intensive Care Unit of the Central Texas Regional Hospital in Brownwood. Let's see what the doctor ordered for when you regained consciousness."
She unhooked his chart from the end of his bed and scanned it quickly. Then she hung the chart back on the footboard.
"Okie-dokie artichokie, time to unhook you from the bed," she said cheerfully.
Nurse Lopez's good humor was infectious. She joked and teased Tommy the entire time she fussed over him. Rita Fricke also smiled indulgently as she watched the nurse take Tommy's vital signs. She and Theresa Lopez had been talking all morning as they waited for Tommy to come around. Theresa had eased her and Conchita's worries. She was easy to talk to, and listened in amazement as Rita told her Tommy's story.
Soon enough, Nurse Lopez cranked up the head of the bed, and Tommy was sitting up, sipping from a plastic cup filled with shaved ice and water. Connie was back by then, her relief palpable that Tommy was conscious and alert. Her eyes were red-rimmed from tiredness and crying. Tommy took her hand and reassured her that, except for a headache and blurry vision in his right eye, he was feeling just fine.
Rita left the room to call Harold to tell him Tommy was awake, and Nurse Lopez went about her rounds, leaving Tommy and Connie alone. Connie pulled her chair closer to the bed and kissed Tommy on the lips.
"I have never been as frightened in my life as I was when you got hurt last night, Baby. If it hadn't been for Rita, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown," she said softly.
Tommy pulled her head down onto his chest and gently stroked her glossy black hair.
"I think there must be a magnet in my head that attracts stuff to it," he said lightly, "I'm going to have the doctors check for that, first thing."
Despite herself, Connie giggled and hugged him tighter. Even in a situation as unpleasant as this one, Tommy found a way to make her laugh. The bravery he'd shown last night humbled her. She knew for a fact that neither she nor anyone else she'd ever met would have acted that unselfishly. Connie (she no longer thought of herself as Conchita) sighed and snuggled closer to him, mindful not to jostle him too much.
Margie Wilcox and Doctor Peter Giles walked up to the ICU nurses station shortly after one in the afternoon on New Years Day. Margie sagged against Peter in relief when the pretty thirty-something Hispanic nurse told her that Tommy was awake, responsive and acting incredibly normal, all things considered. Peter patted Margie on the arm reassuringly as he identified himself, and asked to see the doctor on duty.
Nurse Lopez paged the intern who had drawn emergency room duty for the holiday as she covertly eyed the distinguished-looking neurosurgeon. She ramped up her considerable charm and turned in on Doctor Giles while they waited. In the fifteen minutes it took the intern to arrive, Theresa Lopez had ascertained that Giles was recently divorced, unhappily single and bored with his life. What he needed, she decided, was something hot, spicy and Mexican. Margie thought she was going to have to throw water on them when the intern walked up, just to get them refocused on Tommy.
The intern was quite surprised that a high powered neurosurgeon would travel all the way from San Antonio on a holiday to examine the young cowboy. Giles complimented the intern for the fine job he'd done stitching up the scalp wound. Only an area the size of a quarter in Tommy's scalp had been shaved, and the six stitches closing the wound were small and tight knit. After a quick look at the wound, Giles gently teased Tommy.
"Lieutenant Bledsoe, I'm disappointed that you've damaged the plate I put in your head. Do you know how expensive titanium is?"
Tommy caught onto Doctor Giles's joking tone and shot right back.
"I'll pay for a new one when you remove the magnet that keeps pulling metal things to my head."
Of course, Giles's joking manner was his way of getting Tommy talking. Giles listened carefully for signs of slurring as he shined his penlight into Tommy's eyes. Tommy's speech was no worse than Doctor Giles remembered. His pupils reacted equally to the light, but his right eye tracked slightly slower than his left. It was the same story all down the right side of Tommy's body. His grip strength on that side was weaker, and his reflexes were diminished. All in all, Giles reflected, Tommy was in about the same shape as when he was dismissed from the hospital. The bullet's impact and the resulting seizure had effectively erased the nine months of slow healing that had happened to his brain since he was discharge from Brooke Medical Center. That was certainly not good, but it could have been far worse.
Giles very professionally pulled the intern aside and explained his findings. The intern appreciated the professional courtesy, and asked Giles to annotate Tommy's chart with what he'd found. Truth be told, the intern and Nurse Lopez were both relieved by Giles's visit, because they were ill equipped to treat a major brain trauma. Of course, Theresa Lopez had other reasons to appreciate Giles' visit, especially after the private chat they ostensibly had about Tommy's care. By the time Giles and Margie left, Theresa had accepted the neurosurgeon's invitation to spend a few days in San Antonio as his guest.
Tommy hadn't missed the flirtatious interaction between Doctor Giles and Nurse Lopez. When she walked back into the room, Tommy started teasing her.
"So Terri, when is he taking you out?" Tommy asked with a wicked grin.
Theresa laughed and gently ruffled Tommy's hair.
"Week after next," she answered, "but I'm only going out with him to thank him for seeing you on a holiday."
A slightly different conversation was happening in Margaret Wilcox's big Thunderbird as it rocketed down State Road 931.
"Thanks for doing this, Pete, I really appreciate it," Margie said.
"Not a problem, Margie, I'm happy Bledsoe wasn't any worse than he was. By the way, who was that striking black haired woman leaving his room when we arrived? She looked familiar somehow." Doctor Giles said.
Margie laughed and shot him a look.
"Jesus, Pete, you've developed a one track mind since your divorce. She looked familiar because she is Conchita Delgado, the actress. You won't have any luck with her, I'm afraid, she's in love with Tommy."
Pete's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Of course," Giles said, snapping his fingers. "I've seen three or four of her movies on late night television. She's not Katharine Hepburn, but she has a certain appeal. Wow, our young lieutenant seems to be doing very well for himself. I thought the young woman he saved was his girl friend."
"Actually, Tommy and Caroline, that's the girl's name, barely get along. Tommy was just being Tommy. He is quite an amazing young man, no matter what criteria you use. He has overcome so much adversity, that I don't have many concerns about him getting over this latest setback."
Giles looked at her questioningly as she went on about Bledsoe. Her voice contained something else besides admiration. Margie glanced sideways and blushed when she caught his look. She quickly changed the subject before he could ask her anything else.
Rita Fricke's brow darkened when Harold returned by himself later that afternoon. She was all set to express her anger, when Harold defused it by holding up his hand.
"Relax, Rita Maude. If Caroline doesn't want to be here, that's her business. She has a right to be upset, because she faced her mortality last night, the same way I did on Omaha Beach. She is also mortified that she treated him so badly and he still did something like this for her. Let her work all that out for herself," Harold said firmly.
Rita's frown immediately vanished as her husband spoke. As his words sank in, all the emotions she'd been holding in check for the last fifteen hours came flooding through. She gave a gasping sob and stepped into Harold's open arms. Harold held her and rocked her gently as she cried. That seemed to be his job today, as he had done the same thing for his daughter. When Rita regained her composure, she sent Harold into Tommy's room and headed to the ladies room to freshen up.
Tommy was happy to see Harold, happy in general, and specifically happy, because he was worried about Mama Rita. After they exchanged pleasantries, Tommy voiced his concerns.
"Mister Harold, can you take Mama home so she can get some rest? I'm fine now, so she doesn't need to be here worrying over me. Doctor Giles says I should be able to go home tomorrow, and Connie said she would come and get me. I'm sorry I'll miss tomorrow and Saturday, but he says I can go back to work on Monday."
Harold nodded and held out his hand for Tommy to shake.
"I'll do just that, Tommy-Boy, and I sure want to thank you for what you did."
Tommy clasped Harold's hand firmly and shrugged dismissively.
"Heck, Mister Harold, I only did what I knew you'd have done if you had been facing the right way. You taught me that a man takes care of his family, no matter what."
Rita caught the tail end of the conversation as she walked through the door.
"Like father like son," she said as she kissed them both on the cheek.
Connie Delgado and Theresa Lopez were yakking at the nurses' station while Tommy said his goodbyes to the Frickes. They were waiting on an orderly so Tommy could be moved to a regular room on the second floor. Connie was going up with him for a while and catching a ride home later. While he was being examined by Doctor Giles, Connie had made a phone call for Tommy. Betty Lou was thrilled with the news that Tommy was doing so well. In turn, Betty Lou called Becky Dierdorf and passed on the glad tidings.
Tommy was snug in a semi-private room on the second floor of the hospital by four o'clock. The second bed in the room was empty. At five, an orderly brought Tommy supper. Regardless of what else ailed Tommy, his appetite was just fine, so the friendly orderly snuck in a couple of extra deserts for Connie and him.
Just after supper, Tommy started getting visitors. The Crawfords stopped by for a few minutes, along with the Salazars. The two buddies and their wives were going to dinner at a new restaurant they'd heard about. Betty Lou showed up with Regina, Melody, Bucky and Becky Dierdorf right before Ben, Ramon and their wives departed. The newcomers all crowded around Tommy's bed, everyone talking at once. Everyone except Bucky also kissed him on the lips. Connie watched it all in bemused good humor. She knew she wasn't his only woman, and she was fine with that. She knew Tommy had it in his unique character to love them all equally.
Nurse Lopez walked in to tell Tommy goodnight as soon as her shift ended at seven. She did a double take at the five women grouped around his bed. All of the women were unconsciously touching him as they talked. Tommy saw her standing at the door and waved her in to make introductions.
"Nurse Terry, these are my friends. That's Betty Lou; this is her daughter Regina and Regina's best friend Melody. This is my friend Becky; she is studying to become a nurse, too. This guy is my best friend Bucky."
Theresa exchanged greetings with everyone and told Tommy she'd see him in the morning before he was discharged. As soon as she was out of the room, Nurse Lopez shook her head in wonder. It was obvious to her that Tommy had a relationship past just being friends with all four of the new women she'd just met. Too bad she wasn't the sharing type, she thought, or she'd be right there among them.
Betty Lou flipped up the third seat of her station wagon to make room for Connie, and they all headed back to Brantley at eight-thirty. Tommy had given Connie his truck keys, so Betty Lou dropped her off at the VFW hall to pick it up.
At eleven the next morning, Tommy was finally released from the hospital. The ward doctor had written him a prescription for a weeks worth of Darvon, and admonished him to take it easy for a week or so. Tommy had no trouble telling the doctor he would do just that, because his body still ached all over.
Connie had returned at nine that morning, so Tommy didn't have to wait for a ride home. An orderly pushed him out the door in a wheelchair and Connie drove up to the front of the hospital so he could hop into his truck. They drove home in near silence, their relationship mature enough where constant conversation wasn't necessary. Tommy sat in the passenger seat with his hand on her thigh as her strong legs pumped the foot pedals. Connie had dressed up for him in a slightly above the knee skirt and a nice v-neck sweater. She knew she looked wholesomely sexy, just the way Tommy liked.
Connie had a second reason for dressing as she had, a thirteen-year-old reason named Bucky Grimes. Tommy told her that Bucky was probably her biggest fan in the world, so she decided that the boy needed a special reward.
Tommy and Connie were barely inside the front door of the Grimes' house, when Rex came tearing in from the kitchen. Tommy dropped to his knees and gave his dog a hug as Regina and Bucky came down the stairs. When Connie saw Bucky looking at her, she bent at the waist and petted Rex also. Bucky's heart nearly stopped at the unobstructed view of her gorgeous cleavage he had down her sweater. Connie held her pose for a while longer, then stood up and nailed Bucky to the floor with a dazzling smile.
"Hi Bucky," she cooed sexily.
Bucky's tongue tripped over his teeth as he stuttered out, "Hi, Miss Delgado."
Connie put on a little pout for his benefit.
"I thought we were friends, Bucky. If we are, you should call me Connie."
Bucky blushed down to his toes, but nodded happily.
"Sure we are ... Connie," he managed to say.
Connie beamed him another one of her million dollar smiles and extended the manila envelope in her hand towards him.
"Good. Tommy said you are a fan, so I brought you a little something," Connie purred.
Bucky shot Tommy a look, but his friend wasn't paying the slightest attention. He was too busy with a joyfully yipping Rex.
Trembling only a little, Bucky reached out and took the envelope from her hand.
"Go ahead, open it," Connie said encouragingly.
Bucky unfastened the metal clasp and opened the envelope's flap. His eyes bugged out of his head for the second time as he feasted them on the photo in his hand. The photograph was a publicity still from one of her most popular movies. In the movie, titled Beach Bunny Blood, she played a California beach bunny who drew the eye of a certain vacationing Transylvanian Count. Her wardrobe for most of the movie consisted of the smallest bikini that the censors would allow. She had penned a note on the front of the photo, being careful not to write over the good parts. The note said, 'To my boyfriend Bucky, all my love and kisses, Connie'.
"Thanks, Connie," Bucky gulped.
Connie devastated him with another of those smiles, stepped forward and lightly kissed him on the lips.
"No, Bucky, thank you for being my number one fan," she said.
Bucky left then, dashing upstairs with a hurried goodbye.
"I have to put this some place safe," he lied, holding the photo up.
Starting that day, Bucky flogged his log dozens of times staring at that picture. He also won six dollars in bets with it, when his friends disputed his claim that Conchita Delgado, sex goddess, said she was his girlfriend.
Betty Lou drove Connie home. As soon as the women departed, Tommy went down to his room to catch a nap, Rex hot on his heels. Tommy hadn't slept well the night before. Being in a strange bed away from his friends and family had kept him awake. Tommy shucked down to his underwear and crawled into the bed. Before he could wiggle into a comfortable position, Regina came bouncing down the stairs, waving a newspaper. She plopped down on the bed with him.
"Did you see this?" she asked, pointing to the front page of the Heart of Texas Weekly.
On the front page, just below the fold, in bold sixteen point type it read, "Honkytonk Hero Does It Again." The article was the first full accounting Tommy received about what had happened on New Year's Eve. Tommy, being who he was, was saddened when he read that his assailant was being held in the high security wing of the Texas Hospital for the Criminally Insane up in Fort Worth. Tommy thought that what the war had done to Hershel Tompkins's brains was about a thousand times worse than what it did to his own.
Later that night, it was Betty Lou who came down the stairs and crawled into bed with him. Her intentions were to hold Tommy and help make him feel better, but just the opposite happened as she began sobbing against his chest.
"I was so scared, Tommy," she moaned. "The thought of losing you makes me sick to my stomach."
Tommy didn't reply to that, instead he stroked her trembling body and held her tight.
Tommy slept great Friday night, and woke up early Saturday morning feeling pretty darned good. He was alone in his bed, Betty Lou having left sometime during the night. The muscle aches from his seizure were about gone, and his right eye wasn't blurry at all. Tommy took a shower, got dressed, then he and Rex were out the door by seven o'clock. It was a cold, crisp morning in Central Texas, the hoar frost crunching beneath his boots. Tommy waited for Rex to water the flowers then headed out to his truck. He stopped at the Bluebonnet and picked up a large coffee and four fried egg with mayo sandwiches to go. A lot of people Tommy knew were in the diner that morning and they all inquired about how he felt. He liked that; he liked it a lot.
Tommy and Rex ate their fried egg sandwiches, sitting in the truck out side the feed store, before Tommy unlocked the side door to the warehouse and went in. It was chilly in the unheated space, so Tommy put his apron on over his denim jacket and grabbed the big three-foot push broom. The place had obviously not been swept since he'd done it three days ago. Tommy was heated up enough to be out of his jacket when Harold came bustling into the warehouse at ten till eight.
"What do you think you are doing, Tommy? Rita would kick both our asses if she caught you working."
Tommy laughed and pushed the pile of dirt and feed onto the coal shovel he used for a dustpan.
"Probably," he agreed, "but I'm finished now, so unless you tell her, she'll never know."
Harold doubted that, because Rita Maude Fricke didn't miss much.
"So come on into the store where it's warmer. We'll have a cup of coffee and talk about stocking the new sales area," Harold said.
The shelving units were mostly built by then, and the room had been painted. Quarter inch plywood and new linoleum was already installed over the heart pine plank floor, and bright fluorescent lighting was suspended from the ceiling. Harold was even talking about air conditioning the store with a swamp cooler that Ben Crawford had designed. Ben's idea used a big industrial five horse power electric motor, the propeller from an old airplane and a tower of cascading water. Ben reckoned that the thing would cool the building twenty degrees during the dry summer months.
Tommy came up with the idea of hiring Bucky Grimes as a stock boy. He figured that Bucky could work a couple of hours after school every day and all of Saturday morning. With Tommy, Juan the delivery driver and Harold pitching in when they could, they should be able to stock the shelves in only a couple of weeks. After that, Bucky should be able to do it by himself, working Saturdays and one or two afternoons a week.
"I know how tight you are, Mister Harold, so I'll pay Bucky out of my salary," Tommy said earnestly.
Harold laughed and clapped Tommy on the back. He delighted in his reputation for being close with a dollar.
"That's a great idea, Tommy! To show you I am in this with you, I'll only take half his pay from you, and pay the other half myself. We are partners after all."
Of course, Harold had no intention of doing that, but the story would really add to his reputation when Tommy started spreading it around.
Rita came into the store at nine and shot Harold a fish-eyed look because Tommy was there. Harold quickly informed her that Tommy was just visiting to discuss the new store. Then in a moment of high deviltry, Harold decided to torment his wife.
"Tommy had some really good ideas, too," Harold oozed. "Tell her about your idea for the stock boy position, Tommy."
Tommy nodded happily and laid it out for Rita.
"We are going to hire Bucky Grimes to help us after school every day. Mister Harold is going to pay half his salary and so am I, on account of we're partners," Tommy stated.
Rita looked back and forth between Harold and Tommy a couple of times, her expression unreadable, then sat down at her desk. As soon as she was comfortably seated, she picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. Tommy and Harold couldn't help but overhear Rita's side of the conversation.
"Hello Madeline, this is Rita Fricke."
Pause...
"He's doing fine; as a matter of fact, he's sitting here with me at the store."
Pause...
"Sure, I'll pass that along to him, but you'll be able to tell him yourself at church tomorrow. Listen, Maddie, the reason I'm calling is I seem to have misplaced Harold's life insurance policy, and I can't remember if it pays double indemnity or not."
Pause...
Thanks, I thought so, but I wasn't sure, and I've been worried about him lately. Who knows when one of his practical jokes might go awry and get him killed?"
The conversation was way over Tommy's head, but it caused Harold's face to contort as if he were Red Skelton portraying Clem Kiddlehopper.
After putting Harold in his place, Rita asked Tommy to have supper with them Sunday evening. It was Caroline's last day at home, as she was leaving for Houston and Baylor Medical School Monday morning. Tommy agreed because he could not refuse Mama Rita anything.
That night, Tommy took Becky Dierdorf to Brownwood for some Chinese food. Becky was returning to Dallas the next day to continue her nursing training. Between the Moo Goo Gai Pan and the Sweet and Sour Chicken, Becky told him how much he meant to her and how much she appreciated him. Then she took him to the Cardinal Motor Inn and showed him. She was gentle with him, but she drained him as dry as the Mojave Desert before she let him take her home.
At church Sunday morning, Tommy was relieved that everyone treated him as they usually did. In fact, New Year's Eve wasn't even mentioned, thanks to some advance work by Rita and Betty Lou.
Tommy drove directly to Connie's house after church. Sundays at Connie's were sort a tradition now. It was the most relaxing time of the week for him, as he and Connie just lounged around doing whatever struck their fancy. That particular Sunday, Tommy fancied making slow sweet love and Connie, mindful of his recent injury, was all for it. By the time he left at five that afternoon, Connie had done about the same thing to him that Becky had.
Supper at the Frickes was an enjoyable affair, because Caroline was acting more like the daughter Rita raised. She was polite to Tommy and she even displayed some of her mother's wit. After the meal, Rita shooed Tommy and Caroline out onto the porch while she and Harold saw to the dishes.
The young couple ended up sitting next to each other on the swing, Caroline tucked up under half his jacket. As they talked, Caroline saw what her mother had meant about Tommy being much smarter than anyone gave him credit for. She also began to understand that Tommy's contentment with his life wasn't because he lacked ambition. Tommy was content with his life because it made him happier than anything else he could think of doing. Part of that was the healing nature of the serene and uncomplicated pace of life in Brantley, and the rest was the people who made him part of their lives.
"You know Caroline, I don't see myself stacking Purina and sweeping the floor for the rest of my life, but I don't see me ever moving to the big city for the excitement either. I've never been to all the places you have, at least not that I remember, but you will have a hard time convincing me that those folks over there are better human beings than those around here. This place ... this life ... suits my soul. Why would I want to be anywhere else?"
Caroline Marie Fricke could only nod her head when she realized that, at that moment, she couldn't think of any place in the world she'd rather be than sitting next to him on that swing, huddled up in his jacket and looking up at the bazillion stars shining on Texas.
"I can't believe I waited until my last night to talk to you like this, Tommy. Now I want to spend more time with you, but I'm leaving tomorrow," she said dejectedly.
Tommy leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.
"You'll be back, and I'll still be here. When that happens, we'll start over again with a clean slate."
"Promise?" she asked.
"I swear," he replied.