Fix My Feet When They're Stumblin'

Chapter 48

    "Brandon? Ronnie?! Brandon! What happened?"

    Tana burst through the open door, her voice shrill and panicked. Footsteps thundered down the hall toward them behind her - she had left everyone else in the dust. Ronnie looked up, bemused and alarmed, flapping his hand frantically to quiet her. Oh fuck, I never closed the door! Fuck!

    She froze, seeing Brandon safe in his arms, and closed her eyes, swallowing hard. "Oh, thank God," she sighed. Taking deep, steadying breaths, she leaned against the wall, slumped in relief.

    Behind her, Brandon's children filed in nervously, followed by Olivia, who pushed her way to the front and hovered at the end of the entry way, her hair disheveled and her face starkly pale. She glanced at Brandon, and spoke in a harsh, shaky whisper.

    "Ronnie, what happened? Is Brandon okay? Are you? Did someone break in? Our door is hanging open, so was this one, there's a hole in the damn wall here, and your suitcase has stuff flung everywhere, all over the room - same with these," she added, glancing down at the ramshackle pile of suitcases beside them, several of which still lay open where he rifled through them, searching for Brandon's medication.

    Ronnie shook his head, pointing at himself and then at the door and the suitcases, quirking his lips apologetically. The whole group sighed in relief as one, and the boys began to rush toward Brandon. Ronnie held up his hand to stop them, then held his finger to his lips, gesturing for silence and glancing pointedly down at Brandon nestled into his chest, sound asleep.

    "Oh, sorry," Gunnar whispered. He had come to an abrupt halt, and was looking around to make sure his brothers were obeying as well. He grinned brightly at his father as he slept, then milled uncertainly around the door to the room he would share with his brothers that night.

    Wordlessly, Tana waved at him and pointed to the boys' bags by the door, then to their room with a soft smile of thanks. Gunnar nodded and picked up his own bag, grunting as he heaved it into the air with both arms so that it wouldn't drag along the floor and disturb his father. One by one, the boys disappeared quietly into their room with their luggage, closing the door behind them.

    Ronnie watched them go and held his hand up to his ear, miming a phone, then pretended to type in the air. Olivia let out a tiny 'oh' of comprehension and retrieved her cell phone from her pocket, crossing the room and handing it to him.

    Behind her, Tana's wide, bewildered eyes were fixed on the wall by the door - out of Ronnie's line of sight, but apparently the wall was the proud owner of a brand new hole.

    Shit, guess I slammed the door too hard, Ronnie thought guiltily, wincing at the prospect of what the undoubtedly very loud noise had done to Brandon, already wracked with pain. Fuck. I was so loud. I was only making him worse. I'm so fucking sorry, Bran.

    Swallowing visibly, Tana swept her blonde hair out of her face, then looked to the care binder lying open on the bed, her eyes travelling over the many bottles of medication strewn across the middle of the bed. Finally, her anxious gaze came to rest on her husband as he slept securely against Ronnie's chest, wrapped in his arms. She smiled softly at him, sighing.

    Offering his own wife a grateful smile, Ronnie nodded to Tana and unlocked Olivia's phone awkwardly with one hand - the other belonged to Brandon for now. He navigated to her text messages, opened a conversation with Tana, made eye contact with her again, and began to type.

    'We've got to be quiet, I don't want to wake him up. He only JUST fell asleep, maybe half an hour ago. Maybe less - no clock in here. He's really fucking wiped out. Sorry, the door and the mess was all me. I did it. I panicked, I forgot to close the doors. Sorry.