With A Little Help Chapter 9
| With A Little Help | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 9 of 9 | |
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| Read this chapter | |
| Time frame | April 2005 - 2008 |
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Locations
- Bradstreet home in Dayton
- Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC
- Some place other than Brass Lantern, but still in Hawthorne, Michigan
Characters
- Army Casualty Notification Officer
- Nurse at Walter Reed
Summary
The Army brings word of Pat's injury to the Bradstreets. Cindy is frightened, but reassured that "stable" implies recovery.
Pat is despondent at the loss of a leg, knowing he'll be invalided out of the Army and without prospects. Cindy and Russ visit him at the Army hospital and have a difficult time getting Pat to belive they want to welcome him into their home. The couple admit that at Caitlynn's death had brought both close to suicide and Pat's visit gave "hope and new life and a new future. That is something we can never repay." Russ needs help with his agency and offers a job and Cindy confesses "There’s a big part of me that wants to make it, well, two husbands." They soon all agree to a plan that has Pat officially moving into a mother-in-law apartment attached to the house.
A few years pass until the twenty year reunion of the Class of 1988. Emily holst talks to Pat about his recent changes. Pat is settling in to his job and has made progress in using his artificial leg. We learn the Bradstreets have another daughter. Pat enjoys being able to spend time with the children. “It’s almost as if they were my own.”
