Lost And Found

"Do the nurses know what you kids are doing here?" Lisa asked her father.

"Yeah, they're cool. After they heard what Mary did to your mother's lover when he came to kill me they'll pretty much let her have the run of the place," Robert replied.

"He was never my lover," Peg spit out between clenched teeth. "I have only ever loved you. He was my seducer."

A nurse came in, and by the time she had finished taking vitals, Mary was back in the room. She quickly got dressed, and Peg asked her to join them far a family meeting.

"We need to discuss the future," she began. "I am ready to head back home. I think the girls are ready too." They nodded agreement.

"It has been my expectation that now that the air has been cleared of suspicion and fear, that you, Robert, would come home with us. You are going to need physical therapy and we can see that you get the best available, as well as good follow-up care. Of course at first I, we, were unaware of your relationship with Mary. We don't want to see her go back to that camp, so the most logical thing seems to be that she come with us."

Robert and Mary looked at each other and smiled. From their expressions, it was obvious that they, too, had been discussing the future.

"Peg, it is very much like you to have the future planned and plotted out," Robert replied. "Yours and everyone else's. I don't mean that to be critical, you are a planner.

"Mary and I have talked, and we both agree that we have no desire to go back to sleeping under a bridge. And, although I'm not completely comfortable yet being around you, Peg, I have come to believe that you did not wish me harm. I must say I'm surprised that you were susceptible to Charlie's manipulation. But you believed he was a loyal friend, and he played the part well until his scheme started to unravel. Then he became more brazen and desperate, and revealed his true colors."

He reached across the bed and took Mary's hand.

"All that having been said, I accept your invitation to return to Ohio with you, and rebuild a relationship with my family." He looked at each of them in turn. "But things can't be as they were before." Looking at Peg, he went on, "We both have changed. We've both been the victims of betrayal - I just knew about it first and have had a longer time to accept it." Looking to Mary, he said, "But I was lucky enough to have had someone to catch me." He squeezed her hand.

"You, Peg, are new to the pain of betrayal. The guy you thought was propping you up was really setting you up. Mary and I, and our daughters, will try to be your safety net, and help you through what will be difficult times - because you are the real victim in our little drama. True, I've been sleeping under a bridge, but I got lucky and Mary saved me. Understand, I have harbored the pain of your betrayal - even if it wasn't true, I believed it - for so long I can't come running back to you.

"So at least at the beginning, we'll be friends. And Mary will be our friend. I don't know if you will want us in your house or someplace else close by. I guess time will tell how our relationships - the three of us - will sort out.

"One good thing has occurred as a result of all this. I have to thank you, Peg, and you, Lisa, for helping Mary to regain confidence and self respect. You have treated her as a friend, rather than as a burden, and she has made great strides."

And so they began the process of decamping back to Ohio. Robert and his crew had become such fixtures on his floor that the nurses and aides and doctors who had cared for him had a little farewell ceremony. Mary came in for special praise for her faithful attention to him, and, of course, for saving him in his moment of peril. Robert and Peg thanked all for their kind care, and Peg announced that her family foundation would be making a generous contribution to the hospital, to be used for the care of homeless patients who could not pay for the care they need.

With Robert's discharge papers came instructions for safe travel with his nearly healed injuries. There were prescriptions to be filled, and reports for doctors and physical therapists he'd be seeing when he arrived. Peg and the girls drove him and Mary back to the homeless camp to say goodbyes and to retrieve anything they had left behind. Robert gathered his friends around them and he made a little speech, thanking them for their friendship, and appointing Speedy to be the new "mayor." Out of sight of the others he gave Speedy the precious ATM card and whispered the PIN. "I will see that there is always some money in there," he promised.

The flight was uneventful. To help Robert with the pain of sitting with his sore legs and arms for the long flight his doctors provided some potent pain meds, so he slept most of the way. There was a moment of awkwardness as they boarded and both Peg and Mary assumed they would sit next to him. Not wishing to make a scene, Peg deferred to Mary - a gesture that would take on added significance when they arrived at home and decisions about sleeping arrangements were needed. Robert gently but firmly informed Peg that he would not be returning to the marital bed - at least not right away, and that he and Mary would share a room. Seeing how the announcement pained Peg, Mary suggested that she have a room of her own, no problem in the large house. "I think it's best if we all have our own space at first, until some things get figured out," she said. Peg was relieved, but also realized that she would have to accept the fact that she would no longer be calling all the shots in her home, as she had been for the past seven years.

Robert went to a headache specialist, who determined that the metal plate in his skull had been dislodged in the beating. Surgery corrected the problem to the point that his judgment and task-solving ability were restored, but he would likely continue to have headaches of lesser intensity for the rest of his life as a result of the injuries he had sustained.

****

Pedro, realizing that the payday he had been promised was not going to happen, drove south. He spent several weeks visiting brothels in Mexican border towns until he found Maria in Mexicali. It took a while to devise a plan to get her away from her gangster "owners," but he eventually managed, and they fled across the border. They finally went to ground and settled in Deerfield, MI. After having her treated for several STDs, they resumed having sex, and eventually married. They opened a taco stand and became pillars of the small community.