The doctor was releasing Ely today. He was antsy, which I totally understood but his health and well-being was the number one priority for me. Chase, David and Seltzer had gone over to Mom’s house last night and helped her get the guest room set up for Ely. I would have loved nothing more than to have him share a bed with me, but I didn’t want to roll over in the middle of the night and accidentally hurt him. Plus, my room was packed full of boxes and the thought of him tripping or running into them scared me to death. The room he would be staying in shared a bathroom with mine. Mom said it was called a Jack ‘n Jill restroom. When I was a kid, I used to picture the characters from the children’s fairy tale as having shared one of their own.
“Ely, you have to be taken out in the wheelchair or they won’t release you,” I said when he again complained about having to ride in it. Sikes and Snipe where standing off to the side of his room, donning their usual stances, grunting amongst themselves. Ely finally relented, and the nurse and I carefully eased him into the seat. Mom was meeting us downstairs with her SUV. It would be easier to get him in and out of, and more comfortable than my dad’s old beater would have been. I really needed to get the shocks on that thing replaced.
Easton had done a press release earlier this morning, giving a brief overview to the media and fans of what had taken place. After that he, Diamond, Mickey, River and Benny flew back to Seattle. Snipe said the crowd outside the hospital was cut in half with their departure, but that there was still a couple hundred determined bodies remaining out there. The police had taken Ely’s statement but didn’t share more than what we’d already seen on the news outside of the fact we would both need to appear in court when the time came. I had Ely’s discharge paperwork with instructions to take him to his primary in ten to fourteen days to have his stiches removed. He said he didn’t have one, so I assured them I’d set him up with mine. Much easier to manage now that we were both covered by the same insurance provider. Another high five on the chart labeled Easton is a god.
Sikes walked out ahead of us, with Snipe following to the back. We had two hospital security guards flanking our sides with the rest manning the crowded exit. Ely had been watching the news in between resting since Sylvia turned it on yesterday, I’m sure mentally he’d convinced himself he was prepared. But the reality of it could still prove to be too much. This was what my life had become, once he was thrust into it would he flee?
Here goes nothing.
I drew in a breath as the automatic doors opened, thankful the screams had been kept to a minimum but the clicking of cameras and the number of cell phones thrust forward replaced it. Sikes opened the back door to Mom’s vehicle as a little girl, maybe around the age of ten, emerged from the crowd. A bouquet of flowers in hand, she thrust them out at Ely. As soon as he saw her face, his eyes glazed over, filling with tears. “Sadie,” he whispered.
“Love you, brother,” she said before disappearing the same way she’d come. Looking at her was like seeing Ely in his younger years I’d assumed. She too had the same long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Just as petite and adorable. The family resemblance was uncanny.
Saying something to Ely in front of the crowd wasn’t an option. I wasn’t risking giving some glory hound a story they had no rights to. We loaded up in silence as Sikes slid into the driver’s seat. Mom was way too nervous about hitting someone. Snipe followed behind in their vehicle. Ely’s face was glued to the window, bobbing back and forth, scanning the crowd. I’m sure he was hoping to catch a glimpse of his sister. Maybe even of his family. But if they were here, why hadn’t they come up to the room to see him? I can’t imagine how hard this must be for him. Taking his hand in mine, we pulled out of the entrance driveway and onto the main road. Keeping our hands together was my way of reminding him that I was there for him. Always. However he needed me to be.
Mom’s house was an older, slump block home in North Las Vegas but we’d kept it up as opposed to what some of the others in the neighborhood had chosen to do. The rental houses the guys and I got approved for were only about fifteen minutes away in a newer subdivision. Someday when I made enough money I was either buying her a new house or I’d build my own on a couple acres of land with a casita just for her on the property so we both would have our own personal space yet still be near. One day I hoped to have kids of my own and I wanted her to be a prominent figure in their lives.
Ely didn’t utter a single word during the drive home. When we pulled up, I was surprised to see Jordan and Leo come running out of the house.
“They came over earlier to help set up his room. Leo brought Ely’s clothes and stuff he knew he’d need. Jordan took over the kitchen and made dinner for everyone,” Mom said.
Snipe parked in the driveway behind us. Both he and Sikes came around to Ely’s side, opened the door and helped him out. I wrapped an arm around Ely’s shoulder, helping him inside.
“Well, this is home,” I said to Ely. “At least it’s the home I grew up in.”
“It’s perfect.” Ely smiled, embedding himself even deeper inside my heart.
The entryway and along the hall walls were covered with family pictures. Old school pictures of mine, pictures of my dad on stage and some of him and Mom. She was just as beautiful today as she was back when they married. Ely was currently trapped in the maze of photos, taking each one in as he passed them by. Mom had my school photos lining the top row from kindergarten until I graduated high school so you could see the natural flow as I changed from year to year.
Ely ran his fingers along the frame of one. “Awe, little Rhone.”
“Yup, I was in kindergarten there,” I told him.
“Oh my God, is this your dad?” Ely asked, looking from the pic to me, then back again. “You could be his doppelganger.”
I laughed. “Now you sound like Mom.”
“That’s because I’m right,” she said, stepping ahead of us and pausing in front of their wedding picture. I’ve never seen her pass it by, she stops every time as if it speaks to her and she silently answers it. “I’ll never forget this day. We hadn’t been dating very long but I fell in love with Sage the first time I saw him. He and my brother Tony were best friends, and four years older than me. Of course, I was just a silly little annoying girl to them back then. It was the summer I turned seventeen that I finally got Sage Horne’s attention. We married the week after I graduated, I was already four months pregnant with Rhone. I’d never been happier in my life.” She kissed two fingers, placing them against the glass before walking away.
“Maybe I get that from my mom,” I said aloud, not to anyone really. Just noticed a similarity and blurted it out. I may look like my dad, but my mannerisms were clearly my mother’s. Between falling in love the moment I met Ely, as she had with my dad, to kissing two fingers symbolically for him and so many more things in between. I was without a doubt, my mother’s son.
“Come see your room,” Jordan said, taking Ely by the hand, gently herding him away. Familiar voices wafted out from the kitchen, so I let Ely do his thing with his crew while I headed off in the direction to meet up with mine. Ely was home, he was safe so now I could take a deep, relieving breath and let him get acclimated. In my life…The merging of our two worlds.