The Best is yet to Come - Part 7
Larry continued to play with Maddie as she repeatedly grabbed for his name tag. He smiled at her and she cooed back.
Nora: Larry…
Larry: (finally focusing in Nora) Yes…yes…(to Maddie) quite a mess you’ve made of your chart little princess!
Bo and Nora: LARRY!
Larry: (picking up the papers on the floor) She’s going to be fine…
The group released its collective breath in a huge sigh of relief.
Larry: (looking around at the concerned faces) I’m going to give you a prescription for Zithromax…an antibiotic…she has a pretty nasty infection in her right ear…
Stacy: What about the rash?
Larry: That is Roseola…a common infant/toddler skin irritation…nothing really to worry about…
Asa: So she’s ok?
Larry: She’s fine…(to Nora and Bo) follow the direction for the medicine, and I want to see her back in my office in five days…I’m going to get her release signed…and you can head home…any other problems…
Nora: What about the fever…the seizure?
Larry: Brought on by the ear infection…if the fever returns, I want you to rotate Tylenol and Motrin at four hour intervals…if it fails to go down, bring her back…but I think she’s past the worst of it…
Larry leaves as everyone gathers around Maddie making a
huge fuss of her. Within the hour, they head home.
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Nora heads down the stairs, running her fingers through her hair. Bo is sitting on the couch enthralled in the latest episode of CSI. Nora plops on the couch next to him.
Bo: (putting his arm around her) She finally asleep?
Nora: Finally…she thought it was all night play night…
Bo: That’s for me later (he smiles and kisses her on the cheek)
Nora: What time do you have to pick up Matt and Stacy?
Bo: He said he’d call…(kissing her neck) Red…(putting his best moves on her) why are you wearing my pajamas?
Nora: Because (yawning) they’re comfortable…and clean…I have to do laundry tomorrow (yawning again) I’m sorry sweetheart…(noticing him staring) it‘s not you…spending the past couple nights in that dman chair…at the hospital…(yawning) I can‘t wait to sleep in my own bed….
Bo: (realizing that sleeping was all he was going to be doing) I hear ya Red…(pulls her into his arms as they stare lazily at the TV)
Nora: Bo?
Bo: Yes my love (kissing the top of her head)
Nora: (smiling) We passed the test…didn’t we…
Bo: We passed this test…I am sure there are going to be plenty more tests…
As if on perfect cue, Maddie starts calling over the monitor.
Nora: I do believe she’s calling “daddy”…
Bo: I do believe sleep deprivation has made you delirious…that is clearly “mommy”
Nora: No….no…I distinctly hear “daddy”
Bo: (moving forward on the couch and letting Nora fall back) I dunno counselor…I think your leading the witness…the defense definitively recalls the call in question to be “momma”…
Nora: (putting her hands on Bo’s back to push him up) Ladies and gentlemen of the jury…if, indeed, the call in question is “Momma“…may I remind the Commissioner, if said child’s call is “Momma“…the Commissioner will indeed being doing nothing but sleeping later this evening…
Bo: The prosecution rests (Bo leaps off the couch and heads upstairs and warns) the defense will be held to its plea bargaining tactics!
Nora: In your dreams….
Bo: I heard that!
Nora laughed as she fluffed the pillow and laid back. She listened to Bo talking to Maddie through the monitor.
Bo: Now…my little princess…you have had a very draining two days…and you need your rest…no…daddy doesn’t want mister bunny…no…I don’t want blankie…come here…that’s it…put your head on daddy’s shoulder…close those little eyes…
Down on the couch, Nora let her eyes slowly close.
Nora: ( to herself) You are in the safest place in the world Madison Buchanan.
She smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
Bo came down after Maddie was safely in bed.
Bo: Red…
He looked at the couch to see her asleep. He took the blanket from the chair and carefully covered her. He knelt down and gently kissed her.
Bo: You sleep to my love….
He smiled as he walked into the study and sat down at his desk. He opened the top drawer and reached back, pulling out a yellowed envelope. He carefully opened it, removing the aged papers. He unfolded them and began to read.
“Nora….
If you are reading this letter, than I have met my demise. I am
sorry that you are finding out this information through a letter
rather than from my mouth, but in the end, it is better. I could
not face you, knowing that I have hurt you and your son the way
I have.
Nora, Matthew, I have taken something from you that I can never
give back.
Nora, I have taken your happiness. I knew from the moment I set
foot in Llanview that I no longer had any connection to you. I
knew that I really had no connection to you in Chicago, but it
was a dream that I kept alive in my head. I went out of my way
to try and steal you from the one man you truly loved, Bo Buchanan.
I am sorry.
Matthew, I am ashamed to admit that I have kept you from your
father, your biological father. I had no right to commit such
a devious act, and for such selfish and self serving reasons,
to control your mother, to keep her for myself when I had no right
to. You are the son of Bo and Nora Buchanan.
Please, all I ask is that you try to forget the horrible thing
I have done and live your lives the way they should have been,
the three of you together.
Sam”
Bo cringed at the “sincerity” of the letter, in comparison to the monster that Sam truly was at the end. Bo sat and stared at the letter for what seemed an eternity. SO much so, that he didn’t realize Nora had walked in and was standing behind him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned over him a bit.
Nora: I didn’t realize you still had that letter.
Bo: It keeps me grounded…makes me appreciate all that I do have…and how easy it was for a slime like Rappaport to take it from me..
He puts the letter down and places his hands over hers on his chest.
Bo: Sometimes I can’t believe how far we’ve come since then…
He pulls her around so she is sitting on his lap.
Nora: We made it Bo…we over came it all…we beat the odds…we beat death, we beat lunatics, we beat evil…we beat it all…
She runs her fingers along his neck, around to the back and into his hair. She slowly lowers her head and begins to kiss him.
Bo holds her around the waist, letting her control the mood, getting lost in her touch.
Nora: (drawing back and placing her hand on his cheek) I love you…
Now Bo pulls her gently back towards him and resumes the kissing.
Bo: (during the kiss) There is a real sexy quality about you in those flannel pj’s, Mrs. Buchanan…
Nora: (smiling) Are you getting turned on Commissioner?
Bo: Getting?
Bo’s cell phone rings. Both sigh as Bo unclips the phone from his belt.
Bo: Buchanan…
Nora continues to play with his hair and kiss his neck.
Bo: Be right there…
He hangs up.
Nora: (pouty voice) be right where?
Bo: Matthew…ready to get picked up…
Nora: (defeated and laughing) we are doomed to live a life of celibacy!
Bo: (standing up and picking her up with him) I highly doubt our lives would be considered celibate Red…
They walk through he study towards the front door.
Nora: Bo…it never fails…whenever BOTH of us are in the mood to be together…one or both of our darling children demands our immediate attention…
Bo: Tell ya what…I’ll go get Matt…drop off Stacy…you fill the tub…light a couple candles…and when I get home…you (pulling her into a deep kiss) can demand my attention all night long…
Nora: Sweet talker…
Bo: I’ll be back shortly…
Nora: I’ll be waiting…
Bo: ( smiling) you better be…(kissing her again)
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Nora walked back into the study. She sat down at the desk and began to fold the letter. She glanced at it quickly, never being able to really look at it in all these years.
Nora: I hate what you did to us Sam…but the ending result…was worth every moment of it…
She folded the letter, returned it to the envelope and left it under the blotter on the desk.
She turned off the light and headed upstairs.
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Bo: So…was it a good movie?
Matt: It was ok….
Bo: Did you watch any of it?
Matt: Pa!
Bo: (smiling at the obvious embarrassment of his son) Wha???
Matt: Pa…you don’t ask stuff like that…it’s…it’s…it’s gross!
Bo: Oh…like you have no idea….
Matt: Enough!!
Bo laughs as Matt turns to look out the window.
Matt: (to himself but loud enough for his father to hear) You want a full out itinerary??
Bo: You got one?
Matt rolls his eyes.
Matt: Can we please talk about something else…
Bo: Sure…you name it…(to himself, loud enough for Matt to hear him) you think your old man doesn’t know what goes on in a dark theater between a couple fifteen year olds?
Matt: DAD!!!
Bo laughs.
Matt: Real funny…how’s Maddie?
Bo: She’s fine…she was asleep when I left…
Matt: How’s Mom?
Bo: She’s fine too…
Matt: Cool….
Bo: Matt…we need to have a talk…
Matt: (shrinking down in the seat) Dad…I already know…
Bo: You already know???
Matt: Dad…Please…
Bo: Matt…there comes a time in every young man’s life…
Matt: Please….I’m begging you….
Bo: (looking at his son as if he was an alien but continuing) there comes a time in every young man’s life when he is old enough to start driving….
Matt sat up and sighed.
Matt: Driving?
Bo: Yeah…you know…driving…cars…
Matt: I just thought…
Bo: (smiling as he knew what his son was thinking…exactly the idea wanted to plant, he loved playing around with him like this) You thought….(faining disbelief) Oh Matthew!! Do we need to have THAT talk too??
Matt: NO!! No!!!
Bo: Anyway…your mother and I were talking…..
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Bo walked in to the bedroom after checking on Maddie. Nora was sitting up in bed, reading a magazine. Once Bo closed the door, she put her magazine down.
Nora: Where ya been sailor?
Bo: (taking his shirt off) talking with my son…
Nora: Hmmm…he’s your son…what are two plotting?
Bo: (taking his jeans off) nothing Red…you are so beautiful…(he climbs into bed and snuggles up near Nora)
Nora: (not missing a beat, grabs his arm and slightly pinches) out with it Buchanan!
Bo: Ow…ow…ow…Nora!
Nora: (letting go) He’s always my son when he’s in trouble…and he’s your son when you two are strategizing….so…what’s up?
Bo: (running his hand up her thigh and kissing her neck) nothing…can’t a guy find his wife irresistible?
Nora: (grabbing his face and squeezing his cheeks into a puckering face) Sure he can…after he tells her what he and their teen age son were talking about….
Bo: (talking through his squished mouth) cars…Matt wants to buy a car…
Nora: BO!!!
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The End
(for now)