480 Hours

15 | Wine Me Up

Staff Sergeant Hogan

Concerned by her lengthy absence, I considered leaving the room to search for Margaret; but I could not tear myself away from my frail mother sleeping as peacefully as she could in the bed beside me. Thankfully, Maggie walked back into the room not ten minutes later carrying an empty bottle that I assumed contained coffee at some point. With a sad smile in my mother's direction, she asked "How is she?"

"She fell asleep a while ago and I didn't have the heart to wake her..." Under my breath I added, "Even if we were finally getting somewhere." Maggie gave me a questioning glance, but I wasn't ready to tell her how angry I was with my mother for not telling me she was dying. Maggie knew I had only found out a few weeks ago, but she didn't know how hurt I was by my mother's actions and I intended to keep it that way.

"You were gone a while; did you go home to get coffee?" She laughed, but her cheeks blushed ever so slightly, leading me to believe there was a story behind the heat in her cheeks.

"Oh no, just ran into Blake on his lunch break. The two of you really should get to know one another with how often you're here. If you need anything at this hospital, he knows who to contact or how to get it." It almost sounded as though she was rambling and embarrassingly enough, I almost felt hurt by the idea of her spending time with another man when I had asked her here to meet my mother.

"I'll keep that in mind." The phrase came out a little more sarcastic than I had intended, so to change the subject, I motioned towards my mom. "I'm not sure when she will be up again, so whenever you'r-" Although I had been attempting to speak in a hushed tone, her tired brown eyes slowly drifted open, making eye contact with Maggie first, causing a smile to appear on her face.

"You're back, how wonderful. Come, sit with me, Margaret!" She patted the spot next to her uncharacteristically slow, motioning the two of us to her bed. "So, do tell, do you kids have anything fun planned for the weekend? It is Halloween after all. Did you know that used to be Landon's favorite holiday as a child? He always insisted on dressing up and going trick or treating as a cowboy. In fact, up until he was about fourteen years old, he thought he was a cowboy!"

"Yes mother, then reality set in when I hit high school and met a recruiter that promised to make my all my dreams a reality." Having grown up in Texas, you were considered weird if you didn't aspire to be rodeo star at least once in your life.

With a joking laugh and a smile in both mine and Maggie's direction, she responded, "Sometimes I think I preferred my sweet cowboy to this callused marine. Don't think I didn't notice you avoided my question about plans this weekend; does that mean you actually have some?" She always had been too smart for me, but I didn't want to hurt Maggie's feelings by telling my mother I had absolutely no intention of leaving her side this weekend. I had promised Maggie I would think about her offer to accompany her to a party at her old school and as intriguing as the idea was, I had never intended on going.

"No mother, I do not have any plans." My eyes flashed quickly to Maggie who hid a frown from her face almost too quickly for me to see it. "I think Maggie is going to a party back at her university though." A slight smile reappeared on Maggie's face, but I knew she was disappointed that I would not be accompanying her.

"Oh, how fun! Where did you go to school Margaret?" My mother once again reached out and grabbed Maggie's hand sweetly while speaking to her. She had always been that way; able to make others feel comfortable in her presence. It had driven me nuts as a child as she was always wanting to be there to comfort me when all I had wanted to do was sulk.

"I went to Georgia State University just over three hours from here for graphic design on a full ride scholarship." I smiled in her direction with pride, yet surprised she had never told me the entirety of her schooling had been paid for, which was a huge accomplishment.