"It will get easier to talk. It's been nearly two weeks since the explosion. Give your voice time to come back," Lance told him.
Two weeks? Angus slowly looked around and as his vision cleared, he realized he was in the hospital. What the hell had happened to him? He tried to pull his hand free from Lance's grip so he could feel what was around his neck.
"I'll let go, but you need to keep from touching your neck. A piece of glass embedded in your neck and it's still healing. They want you to not touch it and limit movement until it's healed." Lance let go of his hand. "Should we call the nurse? He seems more with it this time."
"I'll do it. I think he's finally back." His mother reached and pushed a button that was tied to the rail of his bed.
"Back?" Angus asked, still confused.
"You've woken up a few other times but didn't do more than stir. This time you're talking to us. Are you in pain?" Lance asked.
Was he in pain? He wasn't sure. He was stiff, but not really in pain. He wanted to stretch, to sit up and move his legs, but even the thought of doing that wore him out. He was so weak and tired. "No," he finally managed to answer. "Dad?"
"He's at home. He suffered a broken leg in the explosion and it's hard for him to get around on crutches. I'm sure he'll come in as soon as we tell him you're awake." His mother pushed the hair back from his forehead.
It was then he realized he had a beard growing in. He rubbed his chin, wondering how that happened.
"You can shave once you can move around a bit, or I can do it for you." Lance smiled. "I knew you'd complain about it when you woke, but I couldn't do anything that might risk you moving too much. I kind of think you're sexy with a beard."
Angus smiled.
"Look who's awake." A woman in scrubs walked in. "I'll call the doctor and let him know. We've been expecting this." She moved to look at a machine beside his bed. "Everything looks good."
"Water?" Angus asked, still unable to raise his voice more than a whisper.
"Ice chips first. I'll get you some ice now. Once the doctor comes in, we'll see what she says about water and food. We'll want to make sure you don't have any issues swallowing."
Why would he have issues swallowing? His throat felt fine, other than dry and a bit sore. What exactly had happened to him? He glanced at Lance. "How bad?"
"It was really bad, but you've gotten through the worst and will be just fine. Do you want details now? Are you alert enough?" Lance linked their fingers together.
"Yeah." Angus hated not being able to talk. If he could just get some water and maybe cough, he'd clear his throat and not whisper.
"Not sure how much you remember. We went to dinner with Lizzy and Martin to welcome Jackson to town. There was an explosion during dinner. A huge one. The window shattered and a large piece embedded into the side of your neck. It was touchand go for a while. They managed to get you into surgery and stitch up your neck, but they had to keep you from moving for a while, so they induced a coma. A few days ago, they slowly started to bring you back. You've woken up a few times, but this is the first time you've been alert enough to talk or have a conversation with us." Lance leaned down and kissed Angus's cheek. "I nearly lost you."
Angus was stunned at what he heard, but it was the tears in Lance's eyes that told him exactly how serious things were. "Others?"
"Everyone is okay. Your mom had surgery to remove some glass from her leg, but as you can see, she's fine. Your dad got a broken ankle, but he's healing just fine. I had a dislocated shoulder and some cuts from glass, but nothing serious. Jackson and Megan are okay too. You were the unlucky one." Lance blinked back tears. "I thought I'd lost you. If it wasn't for Betty, you would have died."
Angus didn't understand. "Betty?"
"She held your spirit in your body so you couldn't leave. Do you remember her with you?" his mother asked.
Angus frowned. Was that why he had visions of Betty in his mind now when before he'd never known what she looked like? He could hear her voice in his memory, but not what she said. Then he did remember something. "She sang." He closed his eyes at the gruffness of his voice and wished the nurse would return with ice chips.
"She did." His mother laughed. "Not that it's anything new. She used to sing to you all the time when you were a baby."
"You started to leave your body, and Betty flew at you and forced you back in. She said she held your cord together until it healed so you wouldn't die." Tears escaped Lance's eyes as he told him. "When I say I nearly lost you, I mean it was that close."
Angus had flashes of memory of Betty, but they only confused him more. He closed his eyes for a moment, still so tired. He listened to his mother and Lance talk but didn't try to follow the conversation. He was having a hard enough time trying to understand everything they'd already told him. It wasn't long before he gave into exhaustion and fell back to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Lance walked into the hospital room just as they were removing Angus's breakfast tray. He'd been going home at night for a week now, confident that Angus was going to be okay. He still struggled to sleep alone at night, but it wouldn't be much longer before Angus was back by his side.
He still hadn't gone back to work but would soon. Today, Angus was being moved to a rehab center where they would work on building his strength back and making sure weeks of immobility didn't have any lasting effect on him. He still wore a neck brace to keep him from moving his head too much, but he was healing nicely.
"Morning." Angus gave him a huge smile.
