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Melbourne kept a running tale about Tommy to his brother. Then Edgar was relaying it to Tabby. Tabby was really stressed out, and he didn’t blame her. Her own brother had tried to kill her and her little girl. They were the nicest people in the world, and he’d been stressing all day about him, too.

“They’re taking him to surgery to try and stop the bleeding.

They’re also looking into the blood bank to get him a transfusion or something.

I’ve never been a doctor, so I’m not sure what the protocol is about it.

” Edgar told him it had been too long for him, and he wasn’t sure anymore, either.

“He keeps talking to Fred out loud. It’s funny.

Fred keeps telling him that he’s mind speaking with him, but either he doesn’t get it, or he just doesn’t care.

Either way, they’re thinking that he’s lost a couple of marbles along with a lot of blood. ”

“Mr. Walsh, you asked to be notified if there was anything that you could do for Mr. Reader? Do you know your blood type?” He told him as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t donate any blood. “Well, if you know of anyone that could, I’m sure that it would go a long way in helping with his recovery.”

He told his brother what was going on. “Tabby can’t donate either. Can you imagine what they’d say when they try and get a blood type from her? It would be funny if not so dangerous to us, too.”

Melbourne went to the waiting room but kept a tab on the doctor doing the surgery.

He told his brother that things were going well in the surgery, and they were just going to make sure to stop the bleeding.

Once they had that done, then they’d take care of the ulcer that was eating away at his stomach.

“They’re thinking that there is so much damage done that they might have to take out a lot more of his stomach than they thought. If so, then he’ll have to have a c olostomy bag for the rest of his life.” Edgar said he’d not like that. “I don’t know that anyone would like that big brother.”

“Yes, you’re right. Tabby said that it would be worse on him, being that his image is everything to him. Thanks for being there with him, Melbourne. The press has been camped out at our house since he was arrested wanting a scoop or something.”

“I’m just glad I was around here so I could go by.

I mean, you could have done what I’m doing from where you are, but this makes it seem like you’re getting information from a nurse and not through our mind links.

” He laughed a little. “Fred is with me now. He looks more rested than he did when I saw him the other day. I hope that his few days off were a good time for him and his family.”

“I didn’t know he had a family, to be honest. But I also found out that the faerie with Earl has a family as well.

We’ll have to keep an eye on those little people to make sure that they’re getting family life as well.

” Melbourne told him that he was sending Fred home as there was nothing he could do for Tommy now that he was in surgery.

“Good idea. Yeah, that’s great. Tell him thanks for us, too.

He’s done a good job of keeping us informed about what he was up to.

I don’t know what we would have done had we not known about his bleeding sooner rather than later.

They said that Tommy had lost a great deal of blood.

Melbourne kept a running update on Tommy and his surgery.

Once it was determined that he’d not need to have a colostomy bag for him to live, they decided that he was going to have to follow a diet that would help him retain his weight at a good level as well as keep him alive.

Any more surgeries to his belly would be dangerous.

Melbourne thought that Tommy would abuse his health as he had done all along, and he’d be dead within a couple of years because of it.

Mr. Walsh, there’s a phone call for you.

It’s at the nurse’s station.” He thanked the young woman and made his way there.

He didn’t know who it would be as he had a cell phone, and his family would have reached out to him through their link.

Saying his name, he was no closer to figuring out who it was than he’d been before.

“You probably don’t remember me, but my name is Clara Winter.

We went to college together back in the fifties.

” He told her he was sorry, but he’d not gone to college in the fifties, but maybe she had mistaken him for one of his brothers.

“No, I’m sure that it’s you. We had chemistry together with Mrs. Banton. Please say that you remember me.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t. What can I do for you?” She told him nothing much, but she wanted him to find her granddaughter for her. “I don’t know what you think it is that I can do for you, Ms. Winter, but I don’t find missing people. I work with my family in businesses across the country.”

Reaching out to his family, he asked them if they might know who she was.

It was Sidney who got back to him and then reminded him that they had helped when one of the students had gone missing, and they’d found her body not far from campus.

Ms. Winter was talking about the girl’s body when he tuned into her conversation with him.

“Ms. Winter, my brother reminded me that it was another student who had gone missing at the campus in the state we live in, but none of them were students at the time.” She said she must have been mistaken and told him she was sorry.

“Don’t be. I can try and help you find her. How long has she been missing.”

“Five years. I know that it’s a long time to hold out hope that she’s still alive, but I don’t believe that she’s gone.

No one will help me find her when I’ve been raising her little boy since the last time I saw her.

” He asked her if she had any proof that she was still alive.

“She keeps using my credit card that I gave her that day to buy her son some milk and baby food. It’s never a lot, and I wouldn’t even realize it, but there is a charge on there for some gasoline, and I don’t own a car.

Nor do I know how to drive.” He asked her when that was.

“Last month. I only get my statements once a month or so, and I noticed it after the first time that it had been used. I think that she’s out there and afraid to come home. ”

“What would be her reason for not coming home?” The nurses were listening intently, and he decided to get Ms. Winter to call him on his cell phone.

Then, he wouldn’t be tying up their lines at the desk.

After making sure that she had the right number, he cut off the call and went back to his seat in the waiting room.

“I asked what reason she’d be afraid to come home. ”

“Her husband. He’s not filed for divorce because he said that he doesn’t believe in it.

He doesn’t have a thing to do with Caleb, but he does come around asking me if I’ve heard from her.

I never tell him that I do and that I think she’s hiding out from him.

” He asked if it was an abusive relationship.

“Yes, very bad one. He beat her nearly to death on their honeymoon when he realized that she wasn’t a virgin.

She swore to him that she was that she’d never had sex before him, but he wanted her to be hurting after sex—I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.

I could have just said that he beat her a great deal. ”

“That’s all right, Ms. Winter.” She asked him to call her Clara as she thought that they might be around the same age.

“I’m busy at the moment, but I’ll come and see you as soon as I’m able.

Give me your address and phone number, and when I have some time, I’ll come and see you at your house. Will that be all right?”

“Perfect. Daniel is in jail right now, so he’ll not know that I’m seeking help.

I had hopes that Rachel would come to see me while he was away, but so far, nothing.

The police told me that if she wanted to be found, she would be.

They think that she’s dead and that I’m a crazy old woman who doesn’t have anything else to do but to call them up on occasion.

I’ve given up on them finding her for any reason.

” After he got her address and phone number, he asked her to keep track of when she used the card, and that might lead them to find her.

“I told the police that, but they said I could have done it on my own. I don’t have a stupid car, I told the idiots.

That was six months ago, and I’ve been keeping track since then.

She’s used it for other things too. I get a running description from my card company on what it’s been used for. ”

She didn’t live that far from the hospital and figured that he’d go there and find out what he could do.

Perhaps he’d find that it was all just a scam to get him to come to her house, but he wasn’t worried.

He was a large dragon, after all. Closing the call, he told his brothers where he was headed in the event he might need them and left the hospital.

The house was a neat little row house with a nice front yard that needed a bit of mowing and some weeding.

It was not too bad, but it looked like it had needed it for a few days.

There were flowers planted along the sidewalk, with more flowers in hanging baskets hanging from the porch roof.

The color of the house, not at all like the white of her neighbors, was bright blue and stood out like it was supposed to.

He’d bet anything that she’d have no difficulties getting things delivered to her if she just said what color her house was.

There wasn’t another one on the street with any color at all.

He knocked on the door and was greeted by a young boy of about six, and his smile was as bright as the house and flowers around them.