I'll Stay Me

Chapter Eighteen

Hank's POV

I walk out of Luke's room to go find Luke's dad. I go downstairs to the kitchen and see LeClaire sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee.
"Do you know where Tommy is?" I ask her.
"He should be out at the barn." She says looking at me.
"Okay, thanks." I tell her walking out the back door. I walk back towards the barn and see that the doors are open. When I get to the doors Tommy is at the end of the barn feeding the horses. I walk closer to where he is at.
"Tommy?"I say.
"Yes, Hank." Tommy says as he turns around to look at me.
"Can I please have your blessing to marry Luke?" I ask him, as I start to shake.
       "No, you cannot. I don't even want you with my son, I damn sure don't want you to marry him. He might realize he's wrong and find a nice girl." Tommy tells me.
      "Please, sir, I need to marry him. I love him so very much." I plead with him.
    "No, Hank." He says. I sigh and walk away. I sit on the porch swing and put my head in my hands.
    "Owww." I say to myself. My face is still really sensitive. I sit there for a while and just think about everything. I don't want to stay in Georgia. I hate staying in one place and Georgia isn't my home, but it's Luke's home. He wants to stay here so I'm going to stay here to make him happy.
     "Hank, sweetie are you okay?" Kelly asks as she comes and sits beside me.
     "I'm fine. I'm just, in pain and slightly depressed." I honestly tell her. I get up and walk inside, I decided to go talk to Chris about things and see what he says. I walk up the stairs and walk down the hall to where his room is. The door is open so I lightly knock and walk in, I shut the door behind me.
"Hank, is everything okay?" Chris asks me.
"No, and I would like your help." I tell him.
"Sure, what is the problem?" He asks me.
"Well, I went and ask your dad for his blessing but he said no. I don't know what to do, Luke means everything to me." I tell Chris.
"You could just marry Luke without my dads blessing or you can just wait it out until he comes around and ask him again." He tells me.
"Do you think you could influence him a little and help him see how much I truly love your brother?" I ask him.
" Of course!" Chris says, pulling me in for a hug.
"Can you drive me to the Kay Jewelers in town, please?" I ask him.
"Yeah, lets go." Chris says, walking out of his room. We begin walking downstairs. About half way down the stairs I stop and hold my back.
     "Hank?" Chris asks as he looks back at me
      "I'm fine, please give me a minute." I say as I sit down on the stairs. After a few minutes I get up and go to Chris's truck.
     "Okay, lets go." I tell him and climb in his truck.
       "Hank, why're you trying to hide your pain from everyone?" Chris asks, looking over at me.
       "I don't want to be the center of attention. Luke has enough to deal with." I answer.
         "You're so sweet." Chris smiles. We get to the jewelry store and go in.
         "Hello sir, can I help you with something?" The salesman asks as he comes up to me.
      "I'm looking for an engagement ring." I tell him.
      "Okay, what style do you want?" He asks.
      "Chris, what do you think? Would he want a girly style or like a more masculine? I mean he has been leaning more toward going more female." I ask.
"Maybe go for something in between?" Chris suggests.
"Do you have something that's more gender neutral, not too girly but not too manly either?" I ask the salesman.
"We do, they are right over here, there are about ten different styles and you can always create your own." He says walking over to a different counter.
"There are some with small diamonds in the ring and others that are more of a band for people who don't care about the diamonds." The salesman says, pointing to the different ones.
" I think I'll go with one that has a few diamonds in the ring." I tell the salesman.
"Okay, so you have these four options right here on this bottom row." He replies pulling out four different rings. I take a look at all of them and decide to go with one that has about six small diamonds around the outside of the ring.
" I think I'll go with this one." I tell the salesman.
"What size would you like the ring to be?" He asks me.
"Ten, please." I tell him.
     "Okay, the ring will be ready in around 4-5 business days." He informs me.
   "How much is it?" I ask.
    "$2,000." He says.
    "Oh dear God, Okay," I say and sigh.
     "You will pay once the ring comes in." He says. I nod my head.
    "Thank you." I smile as Chris and I walk out of the store.
     "Hank, do you have enough money for that?" Chris asks.
     "Between buying the ring and a house, barely, and I'm about to have to spend even more. Take me to the Emergency Room please."  I reply.
     "Why? Are you okay?" He asks as he places his hand on my back.
     "No. It hurts like hell. Everything does. I've been trying to hide it from Luke but I'm honestly just getting addicted to pills and can't handle it much longer." I tell him.
      "Why don't we get you home and let Luke know what's going on." He tells me.
       "I don't want him worried about me." I say.
"Hank, please? Besides I'm sure he is probably wondering where you are at. Also I have business to take care of." Chris tells me.
"Okay, fine." I tell him, sighing.
"Thank you." He tells me. Chris pulls in the drive and I get out and head upstairs to Luke's room. When I get up there I walk in and Luke is busy feeding Harper and Shelton.
"Hey baby, did you get done what you need to get done?" Luke asks me as I sit down on the bed.
"Not really, but yes. I still have one more thing I gotta do and I'll be set." I tell him.
"I think we should go out to eat somewhere, maybe on a date?" I suggest to Luke.
"That sounds great, but who is gonna watch the babies?" Luke asks me.
"Why don't we get your Mama to? I'm sure she would like to spend some time with them, plus your father and I aren't on the best terms right now." I say to Luke looking down.
"Okay, what happened?" Luke asked me. That's the last thing I wanted Luke to ask.
"This morning I asked your father something and well he said no. I'm just a bit disheartened, but everything will work out I promise." I tell Luke as I give him a kiss, before he can respond.
     "Are you hungry? Are you feeling okay?" Luke asks as I lay back on the bed.
     "A little, but I think I'm gonna take a little nap. Do you need any help?" I say.
     "No sweetheart, go ahead and nap." He says.
      "Can you do me a favor?" I ask.
      "Of course Love." He responds.
      "Bring me a half dozen of my damn pain pills please." I groan as I look up at him.
      "Hank! You're only supposed to be taking one every three hours. How many are taking?!" Luke says.
        "Um, babe don't freak out but I've been taking 5/6 every 1-2 hours." I answer in all honesty.
        "Holy shit, Hank." He says, looking at me in astonishment.
        "Luke, relax baby." I tell him.
      "I'm taking you off of these. You're way too dependent on them." Luke says as he takes my meds out of the room. After a few minutes he comes back in, and hands me a glass of water and a pain pill.
        " I hid the pills anytime you need one you're gonna have to ask me." Luke says sitting down on his bed. I nod my head and lay down.
             "I'm gonna go down and get some lunch." Luke says getting up and heading to the kitchen. I close my eyes and try to get some sleep. I finally fall asleep, but I'm awakened a few minutes later by a knock on the door.
            "Come in." I say. The door opens and Tommy walks in shutting the door behind him.
             "Hank, I've made a mistake and I'm sorry." Tommy says.
"What?" I ask, still half asleep.
"You have children with Luke, y'all should be married. I may not agree with you or you two being together but my son loves you a lot. You have my blessing." He says as he sits on the edge of the bed.
"Thank you, sir. That means a lot." I tell him as I try to sit up. I fail at it and end up laying back down.
"By the way, I saw him hide these." Tommy says as he pulls my pain medication out of his pocket and hands the bottle to me. "Tell him if he has a problem with it he can come take it up with me."
"Oh my lord thank you so very much." I tell him as I pour some of the pills in my hand. I don't even count them, I just take all the ones that came out of the bottle.
"I've seen how bad you're hurting. Luke may not, but the rest of us have, Hank." He tells me.
           "Thank you, again." I tell him.
         "Get some rest." Tommy says, before getting up and leaving the room. I slowly fall asleep again. 

Luke's POV

I finish eating lunch and head back up stairs to my room.  
             "Dad what were you doing in my room?" I ask him before walking down the hall to my door.
"I was talking to Hank. I gave him his pain medicine back, he is in so much pain it's not even funny." Dad answers.
"Dad! He can't be taking as much as he has!" I yell as I run into my room.
"Thomas Luther! Leave him alone!" Dad yells. "You haven't seemed to notice how bad he is doing but everyone else has. He's not okay."
"How many did he take?" I ask.
"A handful." He answers.
"Oh my God. What if he overdosed?!" I yell angrily. As I yell that I hear the babies begin to cry. I walk over to Hank and check his pulse and breathing.
"He okay?" Dad asks.
"He's still alive." I answer.
"Good, now leave the poor guy alone." He says as he walks out of my room. I get the babies and change them and rock them back to sleep. I then go sit beside Hank and rub his back.
"You're the love of my life Randall." I whisper and kiss the side of his head.