Page 86 of Grumpy

“I—” The man paused, looking sad. “Yes, I hope you will be. Thank you, Grumpy, Kelly. Thank you for at least hearing me out. I wish Maddie all the luck in the world, too. If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Morris was just reaching the foot of Grumpy’s bed when Kelly actually said, “Wait!” Grumpy had no idea why she was calling Morris back, but he trusted her.

“Yes, my dear?” Morris asked, barely concealed eagerness in his voice.

“There is one thing you could do for us,” Kelly said. When she glanced down at Grumpy, he saw an evil glint of mischief in her cobalt eyes. “Think you’re up for a picture?”

Which was how, over an hour later, Margery Bell received a digital photo of Grumpy, Kelly, Maddie, and Johnathan Morris, posed as one big happy family. For extra measure, Kelly also sent one via snail mail to ensure she received it.

Some in the club likely thought the revenge too soft or not vindictive enough, but it was for Grumpy. In his mind, his mother simply wasn’t worth it. Any more effort spent on exacting retaliation was time he could be spending with his girls, and for Grumpy, that was the best revenge he could think of.

* * *

When Dr. Buckner and the other specialist doctor finally arrived, they took Grumpy to a sterile room to do their own assessment of his condition. Rather than be relieved to have her hand back, Kelly felt like Grumpy had taken her entire arm with him. It had taken a lot to persuade him to let her go, but the specialists were adamant that she couldn’t go with them. Something about additional risks in the sanitation room. Though Kelly didn’t like it any more than Grumpy did, she was not willing to increase his risk of infection while they exposed his wounds and grafts.

The room was too empty without his bed. Kelly’s leg bounced in her seat, every nerve in her body shot. Pressured by her mom before she left on an errand, Kelly had already taken a shower and gone for a walk outside. Upon returning, she saw that Jackso—Splinters was now awake. The name change was going to take some getting used to. She didn’t know how the club did it. To her knowledge, none of them had slipped up in calling Jackson “Splinters” or Grumpy “Gimpy”. She knew they were just joking around to ease the seriousness of his injuries, and while they weren’t the most sensitive lot, they were not going to keep what some might consider a derogatory term as Grumpy’s new road name. In a way, their use of it showed their fear of nearly losing Grumpy once again.

Kelly kept back as the doctor looked over Splinters. He was groggy after being sedated two days, but the doctor seemed pleased with his results. She ordered another CT scan the next day to check his progress. For now, Splinters was to rest with minimal movement.

Maddie came in as the doctor was leaving. She, too, was showing signs of improvement. After conversing with Dr. Pedaleck in Mount Grove, Dr. Lisbon announced that she planned to discharge Maddie tomorrow with strict orders on her method of transport. Maddie was allowed out of her wheelchair for short, supervised spurts to stretch her legs.

Two of the club brothers were escorting Kelly’s mom to a local mall so Ruth could get clothes and supplies for Kelly and Maddie, to replace what had been destroyed in the tornado. Not wanting to get too much without knowing Maddie’s preferences, Ruth only planned on getting the essentials. The ol’ ladies were already talking about a shopping spree to help Maddie replace her belongings, once Maddie was feeling up to it.

A police officer had come by the day before with a small lockbox that had been found among the debris. It contained Maddie’s birth certificate, social security card, and her mother’s death certificate. While neither Maddie’s nor Kelly’s purses had been discovered yet, at least Maddie had those items. It would make replacing her license and other things easier.

Seeing that Splinters was awake, Maddie had the orderly push her over to his bedside, with only a rudimentary wave to Kelly in greeting as she passed. Kelly’s leg stopped rocking as she watched Maddie reach for Splinters’ hand. The smile Splinters gave Maddie was rough, but also extremely sweet. Maddie’s cheeks reddened, her eyes casting shyly downward. Kelly’s eyebrows rose as she watched the two speak softly to one another. As the orderly passed her on his way out, Kelly was tempted to follow, feeling like an eavesdropper on a private moment.

Grumpy might prefer her to stay, but Maddie was a grown woman, not a child. She was allowed to share an intimate moment with a man she clearly liked without witnesses. But Kelly also owed Splinters a thank you of her own.

Maybe in a bit. As quietly as she could, Kelly slipped from the room and closed the door behind her. Noise from down the hall drew Kelly’s attention, and caused her to scowl at the sight she saw. Kelly should have known that her definition of “essentials” and her mother’s were vastly different. Trailing behind the older woman like pack mules, Jigsaw and Pirate were loaded down with bags.

“Explain to me again why you didn’t bring any prospects with you?” Jigsaw griped at Pirate. While he wasn’t straining under the weight of the packages, his muscles bulged under his shirt. Much to the appreciation of the women, both staff and patients, in the hall.

Pirate pulled a wheeling suitcase behind him with one hand and the other gripped plastic bags in white knuckled fingers. His limp from his prosthetic leg, normally barely noticeable, was more pronounced. Aerial, Jumper’s German Shepard service dog, followed behind him with the handles of a bag in her mouth as well.

“Ma!” Kelly exclaimed, shocked. “What did you do? Buy out a mall?”

“Pfgh!” her mother waved her question off. Thankfully, she was using her walker and hadn’t accidentally left it behind on purpose. “It occurred to me that your shtarker and that meshuggeneh also needed things.”

Jigsaw leaned against the wall to take some weight off his arms. “We think she means Gimpy and Splinters, but we still have no idea what those names mean.”

Kelly felt a headache coming on. The fact that Ruth had given Splinters an affectionate Yiddish nickname was sweet, but might seem less so if Kelly translated it. Ruth was essentially calling Splinters insane or crazy, but in a reverent or cherished way.

“She does,” Kelly replied without offering a translation. Pointing to the large suitcase, she asked, “Why didn’t you just put everything in that to carry it?”

The smile Pirate gave her was tight, though he’d never be so rude as to voice his frustrations out loud. “Because it’s already full.”

Kelly’s jaw dropped. “Oh.”

Her mom waved this off. “Nit gedayget.” Which was her way of telling Kelly and the men to “never you mind”. “My neshomele needs comfort right now. She deserves all this and more, giving me my first grandchild and great-grandchildren.”

Kelly was happy to translate that one. “That’s her name for Maddie. It means ‘little soul’.”

Pirate put the bags down to flex his fingers. “That one I got. I don’t know how Scotty does it. From the second he met Bubbe Ruth, the two of them could speak clearly and he seems to understand the Yiddish without issue!”

Kelly smiled, picturing the mayhem her mom and Scotty could cause together. “I don’t doubt it. Grumpy’s still in with the specialists and Splinters woke up. Why don’t we see what you have here?”

She didn’t add out loud that she hoped she could find things that they could return. While her personal finances weren’t dire, she’d been off work for over a week now and there were other things that were going to need replacing. She wasn’t sure how her mom had paid for all this either. The checking account she shared with her mom didn’t have that many zeros in it.