A Healing Peace

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Peter was still holding onto life two weeks later. He was weak and his pain medication had to be increased four days earlier. During the early evening, while Eddie was sitting with him to watch the news, he started moaning. Shifting positions and delivering booster pain medication did not ease Peter's discomfort. Jamie took it into his own hands and called the hospice nurse. Since then, Peter had been in less pain, much to Eddie's relief.

Lila and Joey were spending a lot of their free time at the house. Lila to see her grandpa, Joey had another reason. Molly Flannigan, Peter's day hospice nurse. Joey always managed to drop by the house while she was there. She was young, about Joey's age, Irish born and bred with the pale skin, green eyes, and auburn hair to go with it. She was sweet with a strong no nonsense attitude.

Joey arrived one afternoon to find only Molly sitting with Peter. He got nervous, his mother had been a fixture at her father's bedside since he'd been brought to the family home.

"Hey," Joey greeted taking off his overcoat revealing his gold shield and weapon. "How is he today?"

"He's sleeping," Molly replied, her brogue making the words sound like music to Joey. "Your Mum's gone upstairs to rest a little while. Apparently she was sitting up most of the night, I promised I would stay."

Joey nodded, "Thanks for taking care of my Mom. She gets focused on others and doesn't take good care of herself."

"No worries, I like to taking of people, but I'm not so fond of seeing a family with so many guns." Molly found the Reagan family's heavy heat a little unsettling.

"Well, I'm on the job, I just stopped by to see how everyone was doing." Joey sat in the other chair by Peter's bed. "Should he be breathing so deeply like that?" Peter was taking deep, heaving type breaths.

"This breathing is just part of the process," Molly replied. "He's transitioning into the last few days now, labored breathing, it might become noisy, a rattling noise in his lungs. It doesn't hurt him, it's just a little disconcerting for the family. He hasn't been awake at all today and I suspect he won't be regaining consciousness."

Joey sighed, "My mom is trying so hard to be strong."

"Your mother is a lovely woman," Molly replied. "Peter confessed to me many secrets when I was taking care of him. He did it for your mother, the money. He did it to make her happy, he didn't mean any harm to her."

"I know," Joey agreed. "I know he did. He adores her. When I was seven, my mom had breast cancer, she had a couple of rough times and I remember her being in the hospital really sick one time and Grandad came to stay with us so Grandpa could be with my Dad at the hospital 24/7. He wanted nothing more than to go be with Mom but she was more or less unconscious and my Dad needed Grandpa incase..."

Molly nodded, "They seem to have settled things. It will be better for them. TO have all of that talked out, easier on him, easier on her too. Try to be here as much as you can the next couple of days. There's no telling when exactly it will be but it's going to be soon. He's actively dying now."

Eddie heard voices from where she was resting in the bedroom. She got up and headed down in case her dad was awake and needing something. She saw Joey talking quietly with Molly over Peter's prone form. "Hi, Sweetie," Eddie greeted as she came down stairs. "You off?"

"No, just took a few minutes to stop in and checkup. Did you have a nice rest?" Joey hugged Eddie quickly and let her have his seat.

"Yes, and I'm so glad you stopped by. We'll see you on Wednesday right?" Eddie preferred their family dinners to the large Reagan affairs, it was much more intimate.