As Time Flies.....Chapter 1
Colin's House
Nora awoke with a pounding headache. She hadn't been taking her pain pills for what she thought was a couple of days, and her aching body was really feeling it. She felt groggy and incoherent but vowed she would stay awake as long as she could. She knew she had to get out of there, and soon. Her doctor seemed nice enough, but her lawyer instincts made the hair on the back of her neck stand up each time he came into the room. She knew there was something at least a little wrong. There was no way in hell there could be a problem with her insurance, and even if there was, why had no one come? That was the really puzzling thing, and Nora knew there was more to the story than the young doctor was letting on.
Nora also wondered why he called her Scarlet. Scarlet? Please! The only name she wanted to hear was Red. Where was Bo? Where was Matthew? Where was Sam? She remembered that the doctor told her she had been moved to a convalescent home. She could have sworn that she heard voices from time to time, buy why had she never seen a nurse? Nora was finally starting to feel hungry, and she wanted to ask for some real food. Her throat was getting better, and she was going to ask the doctor if she could eat. She lost track of how many days she had been there, but she knew it had to be at least a week. Plenty of time to notify her family that she was here, and not only was she extremely hungry, she was extremely curious.
The door opened and the young doctor came in. Nora turned her head to look at him. He seemed jumpy and preoccupied, but when he saw she was awake, he seemed to brighten suddenly.
"Scarlet, you're awake! How are you feeling?"
"Oh, just dandy, Doc." Nora's throat was still raspy. "I'm tired of being poked by this IV needle, and I could really go for some real food. If you thought bread and water was a dull diet, try sugar and water."
"Do you think you can handle it, Scarlet? You've been out of it for the last few days, but hunger is a good sign. Maybe some lukewarm soup would be okay. I don't want you to irritate your throat."
"Oh, I can handle it. What I can't handle is just lying here and doing nothing, not even eating. If you knew me, you'd know how much I love eating. And I'm tired of sleeping already. Oh, and Doc, now that I can talk a little more, what should I call you besides Doc? What's your name? You know mine, but I don't know yours."
"My name is Colin. Colin MacIver. You can still call me Doc if you like, and I'll keep calling you Scarlet."
"Why do you call me Scarlet? I don't like that. You know my name is Nora Buchanan. And where is my son? Where is my family? Why hasn't anybody come to see me? I'm ready for some answers and some food, and I don't really care in which order!" Nora's raspy voice was getting impatient.
"Now Scarlet, calm down. I can see you're a little edgy this morning. You must be hungry! Or, are you in pain? How about if I give you some pain medication, then I'll bring you that soup." Colin walked over to the dresser and took two pills out of a prescription bottle. He filled a glass with water from a pitcher beside the bed, put a straw in it, and lifted it to Nora's lips as he put the pills in her mouth. Nora swallowed. "I'll be right back."
As the door closed, Nora reached up and removed two mushy pills from under her tongue. She realized that she'd been put off again. What was wrong with her? She had cross-examined and extracted information from people much tougher than this doctor. He was sure liberal with the pain medication though! Nora fleetingly thought how good it would be to just go back to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. Her body was screaming as she feebly pushed the pills under the side of the mattress, and all the while she berated herself for letting him evade giving her answers again. Just wait till he came back with that soup. She was going to be ready!
The Gallery
Lindsay let herself in and leaned her back up against the door after she closed it. She let out a big sigh. Whew, that was close! Bo almost saw that stupid fax! She commended herself for her quick action at the police station, stuffing it into her purse and telling Bo it was a wanted poster of Will and she couldn't stand to see it lying around. She wished she had known about Nora long before she did. She wouldn't have let Colin even think of sending that fax to the police departments in the area. That was her stupid brother-in-law, though. Impetuous and always trying to look like a do-gooder. Thank God it was only a facades, but hopefully her sister didn't know that. Lindsay was relieved that she gave Colin that second check and gave a silent thanks to Roseanne. If Colin had any ideas about changing his mind, that check was sure to keep him in line, at least for a while. She needed to work on Melanie, and get her to see that she needed to stay married to the louse, womanizer or not.
Lindsay walked into her bedroom and lay down on the bed. The hair from the bedspread started tickling her nose, so she decided to take a shower. She felt restless. Things were not going the way she had planned. She started thinking about Melanie and wondering if she was glad they had found each other again. Melanie was so naïve and they had almost nothing in common. Lindsay remembered how much she had hated Melanie when they were children. She was 10 when Melanie was born, and she quickly found that she didn't relish sharing her father's attention. (How did you like that last minute editorial switch? LOL! I didn't know they were only half sisters until reading that MMT interview on the board today! LOL! Okay, back to the story…)
Lindsay knew it was classic Psych 101, but she had only slept with Colin to hurt Melanie. She felt like telling Melanie that it had really hurt her more because Colin was such a lousy lay! She still wasn't sure how she felt about her sister, but she knew she needed to convince Lanie how important her marriage to Colin really was. She also needed to convince Bo to get over his reluctance to find out about Matthew's paternity. She was this close to getting everything she so desperately wanted! As she stepped out of the shower, she heard the front door buzzer.
"Just a minute! Be right there!" Lindsay grabbed her terrycloth robe and ran for the door. She opened the door and belted her sash at the same time. Her face turned beet red. "Bo! What are you doing here? Is there news about Will?"
"No Lindsay, no news. I was worried about you, actually. You seemed so distraught at the police station, I just wanted to make sure you made it home okay."
Lindsay's hand flew to her wet hair, and she had absolutely no make-up on. She was mortified! She had never let Bo see her without her make-up. She didn't want to scare the poor man! "Bo, would you like a drink? You can sit down and relax while I change."
"Well, I was gonna go back to the station, but a drink sounds all right. Okay, I'll fix a drink for both of us. Go change, and I'll have the drinks ready by the time you're finished."
Lindsay went into her bedroom while Bo went to the bar. He grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and put them on the counter. He reached below to grab the vodka bottle when his back snapped. "Damn it! I hate when this happens. Guess I'm not as in shape as I think!" Bo chuckled to himself and tried to continue making the drinks but his back was aching too badly. He knew Lindsay always carried Advil in her purse, so he went to grab a couple. He knew she wouldn't mind. He opened her purse, trying not to look around too much. Women's purses scared him. He felt around, trying to discern the Advil bottle, and his hand closed around a balled-up piece of paper. "What's this?" He started to unroll the paper just as Lindsay appeared.
To Be Continued...
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