Chapter 6 - The Awakening
Back at the hospital, the evening shadows were lengthening across the ward, casting warm amber light across the floor.
When Richard pushed open the door to Room 412, he found Michael reading a comic book aloud to little Helen, who was propped up against a stack of fluffy pillows, sipping warm chicken broth from a plastic spoon.
Her cheeks still had a pale, bruised quality, but the fever had completely broken. And when she turned her head toward the door, those impossible eyes—one blue, one amber—caught the fading sunlight.
She stopped drinking.
Michael looked up and grinned widely. “Dad! She said her first whole sentence to me!”
Richard hurried across the room, dropping gracefully to his knees beside the bed so his eyes were level with hers. His throat tightened with a knot of emotion so fierce it hurt to breathe.
“What did she say, Michael?”
“abes,” Michael said, laughing nervously. “She asked if you were the mean man who yelled at her in the restaurant.”
Little Helen stared at Richard for a long, quiet moment. She reached up with a thin, IV-tapped hand and touched the silver locket resting securely around her neck.
“You look like Mama’s picture,” the little girl whispered, her voice raspy and small.
Richard reached out, gently taking her tiny hand in his large, calloused palm. He felt a hot tear slip down his cheek, but he didn't try to hide it.
“I am her brother, Helen,” Richard said, his voice breaking. “And I am so, so sorry I wasn't there when you needed me.”
“Mama said you were busy,” Helen said simply, with the brutal, innocent honesty of a four-year-old. “She said you had too many silver spoons to care about people.”
The words felt like a physical blow, but Richard nodded, accepting every ounce of the punishment.
“Mama was right,” Richard whispered, kissing the back of her small hand. “I had silver spoons, but I lost my soul. From now on, it’s just us.”
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Michael leaned over, wrapping his arms around both of them in a clumsy, fierce hug that nearly knocked Richard off balance.
For the first time in fifteen years, the Morgan family was no longer broken.
