you still mad at us for not telling you?” she asked.
“No, not mad, just embarrassed because I was too naive to see the truth for myself.” Turning to his father, Chad said, “Go on home. You have your interests there. I’ll find an apartment close to the hospital and will be perfectly all right. I’m used to being on my own now.”
“What about your apartment in Pittsburgh? And your car is still in the hospital parking lot in Ohio.”
“My apartment is paid up for the year and my housekeeper checks on it occasionally when I’m away. My car is leased, so I’ll get in touch with the company and have them pick it up. If I stay here long, I’ll lease another car.” Still holding his mother’s hand, he said, “It will be all right. I’ll come out of this a better man than I’ve ever been. Don’t worry.”
They crept out of the room like wounded, reprimanded children, and Chad hated to see them go like that. It was troubling to think that he might never feel the same way about them again. His family loyalties were going to be different whether or not he wanted them to be.
Chapter Three
Two days later, lying in his hospital bed, Chad heard a plane overhead that had apparently just lifted off from Columbus International Airport. The oval face of the clock on the wall opposite his bed registered the hour his parents’ plane should be leaving for Alabama, and he hoped they were on their way home. He breathed deeply, thankful for their understanding that he needed to be alone.
But he squirmed uncomfortably and a sense of inadequacy alarmed him when he realized how ill-equipped he was to deal with his biological parents. Neither Perry nor Lorene had come to see him since the day they’d discussed his birth with him. No doubt they were unsure of their welcome. Although he dreaded talking to Perry and Lorene, he would have liked to have seen more of Amy. She had become the most important person in his life, and he always felt like he was ten feet tall when she climbed on his lap, gave him a slobbery kiss, and said, “Chaddie, I lub you.” One of the nurses had told Chad this morning that Perry would be released soon, and he couldn’t let them go without making the effort of reconciliation.
He rang for a nurse to find out the number of Perry’s room, which was at the end of the same hall Chad was in. The nurse helped him put a robe around the hospital gown he still wore, and she walked beside him to Perry’s room.
“Please ring when you want to return to your room. The doctor wants us to watch you closely for a few more days.”
The door was ajar and Chad’s hand trembled as he lifted it to knock. Perry’s deep voice called, “Come in.”
Lorene and Amy were in the room, too, and he was glad to find the three of them together.
Perry was reclining in bed, entertaining Amy who sat beside him playing with a doll. Lorene was leaning back in the upholstered chair with her eyes closed.
“Why, Chad!” Perry spoke happily. “Come in.”
Lorene’s eyes popped open and she stood at once, started toward him, her face radiant, but checked herself.
“You look wonderful,” she said.
“That’s the way I feel, thanks to Perry.” He turned to his biological father. “And you must be doing all right, too. The nurse told me you’re scheduled to be discharged soon.”
“Yes. Our plane leaves at one o’clock tomorrow.”
“We’d like for you to go home with us. You and Perry could go to the same hospital for monitoring. It would mean a lot to us,” Lorene concluded slowly.
“I realize that, but I’ll tell you the same thing I told Mom and Dad. I have to sort out my future, and right now I can do that better alone. I’ll stay in Columbus for a while. I’ll try to come and visit you after that. I don’t know.”
Lorene’s lips parted in protest and Perry shook his head at her.
“We accept that. When you’re ready to talk, we’ll be waiting. Our past behavior doesn’t give us any right to interfere with your plans. We’ll be grateful for any part of your life you want to share with us. We don’t expect you to think of us as your parents, but we hope we can continue to be your friends.”
“I hope so, too,” Chad assured them in an apologetic tone. “It’s just that I’m a different person than I was two weeks ago.”
Lorene’s dark eyes searched his face, apparently looking for something she didn’t see. “Do you think you can ever forgive us?”
“I don’t know,” he said after a heart-wrenching pause. “I don’t know,” he repeated softly. His body trembled, whether from weakness or tension, he wasn’t sure. But Perry must have noticed.
“We’re grateful that you visited us today, but we won’t try to see you again before we leave, so let’s pray together.” He held out his hand. Chad took it and then picked up Amy’s tiny fingers, while Lorene took her place on the other side, gripping tightly the hand of her husband. Amy’s fingers wiggled under Chad’s touch, and he experienced a sense of belonging he had never known before.
“God,” Perry prayed. “None of us are the same as we were a few weeks ago, but we’re thankful that You never change. We are made in Your image. You breathed into us a living soul, which belongs to You eternally. For some reason You have upset Chad’s life, but I believe You still have great plans for him. Many people can play football, but there’s something that only he can do for You. Take control of his future as You have his past and help his parents and us to accept all of his decisions as Your will. Thank You for allowing me the privilege to give him life two times. Amen.”
Chad’s throat was too tight to say anything and unshed tears stung his eyes. He squeezed Perry’s hand before he released it to bend over the bed and give Amy a hug. He circled the bed and gathered Lorene into a warm embrace. He held her close for a few seconds before he turned and left the room, scurrying down the hallway as fast as he could, forgetting until he reached his room that he was supposed to call a nurse to accompany him.
Expecting to enter his room and crash emotionally, Chad cringed when he saw the man sitting beside his bed. Howard Crayton!
Bending an angry glance upon his agent, Chad demanded, “How did you get in here?”
Howard, a short, slender, wiry individual, vaulted out of the chair as if he was on a spring. He extended his hand.
“Meet your elder brother,” he said.
It took a few seconds for that comment to register, but when it did, Chad demanded angrily, “Did you sneak in here pretending to be my brother? Didn’t Dad tell you that I don’t want to talk now?”
“That he did, old buddy, but I’ve got offers for you that will far exceed your fondest dreams. Opportunities that would make a mummy want to talk.”
Chad’s hands shook, and he didn’t know whether the trembling was caused by weakness or anger.
“I’ve been searching around for ways to capitalize on your injury. You might get offers for endorsements. You’re the talk of the nation right now. I couldn’t wait to share this with you. We’re going to get rich, Chad.”
Stifling his anger, Chad leaned against the wall to support his trembling body. He wasn’t as strong as he had thought.
“Since you barged in here uninvited, sit down. If you remember there’s a clause in our contract stipulating that either of us can sever our association with a week’s notice. Forget capitalizing on my injury. It’s something I want to forget. I will not make any decisions until I can sort out what I think is best for me. If you don’t leave Columbus immediately, your one week’s notice starts today.”
Howard’s face took on a sickly pallor, and he dropped into the chair, deflated as a punctured balloon. “You can’t do that! Not after all I’ve done for you,” he