Pam POV
No. It must've been some sort of mistake. My ears must have been playing tricks on me. There's no way I just heard Eric call Sookie by my sisters name. Without moving a muscle, I shifted my gaze to take in Sookie's face. Her eyes were pressed closed, and her features indicated she was in deep concentration as she slowly breathed in and out. After watching this for a moment, I reached out and took her hand in mine. Her eyes popped open, she shook her head slightly, and whispered, "Come on, let's go home."
Once we were in the car and headed back towards home, I finally decided to break the anxious silence surrounding us.
"Sookie, what did…" but she interrupted before I could finish my sentence.
"Pam, it's fine. I'm not mad. Eric just had surgery, and he's doped up on pain killers. While he was completely out of it, he accidentally called me by your sister's name. It's fine. He most likely won't remember it, so I want to forget it happened as well."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could she NOT be upset at this? Sure, I understood what she meant about not being angry with him. If he'd been entirely lucid, it would've been another story all together. But, how could she just ignore that it even happened? That's when it dawned on me.
"That isn't the first time it's happened, is it?" I waited impatiently for her answer.
She sighed, and brought her hands up to cradle her forehead. "No, it's not."
By the tone of her voice, I could tell that she was quite uncomfortable with the subject. Normally, I would've said screw it and pushed for more information. But, the last thing that Sookie's body needed right now was to be stressed out. I would drop it for now, but, there was no way I was just going to let it go.
SPOV
The moment we got back to the house, Pam helped me change into my pajamas and got me into bed. My back and feet were aching, and I would've loved to take a nice warm bath. But, as exhausted as I was, we both knew there was too much risk of me falling asleep and sliding under the water, so I would just have to settle for a heating pad.
I knew that Pam wanted to talk more about what had happened at the hospital. I had hoped that it was something she'd never know about. But, the cat was out of the bag now, and knowing her, she'd find a way to get me to talk.
I smiled as I reflected on my relationship with my sister-in-law. Growing up, my cousin Hadley and I had been nearly inseparable. After she was killed, I stopped hanging out with my other friends, opting to stay at home with Gran and Jason instead. Sure, I made some friends in college, and I kept in touch with a few of them, but, I'd never found anyone that I felt I could pour my heart out to. When I fell in love with Eric, I didn't just gain a wonderful husband, but I'd gained a sister as well. These days, it seemed that Pam knew me better than either Eric or I did, a fact which irritated Eric to no end.
I allowed my happy thoughts of them lull me into sleep. When I woke in the morning, I could remember that I'd dreamt, but, for the life of me couldn't recall a single detail. I didn't have much time to wonder about it though, because I knew if I didn't get my butt into the bathroom, I'd be changing my sheets. I'd always laughed when pregnant women talked about how frequently they needed to pee, but I knew now that it was no longer a laughing matter. I'm convinced that Ryan is going to be a soccer player, and has decided that Mommy's bladder is his perfect practice ball. It wouldn't surprise me if he left me with internal bruising!
I pulled my hair into a ponytail, brushed my teeth and washed my face, and waddled my way back out to my bedroom. I wasn't surprised to see Pam sitting on my bed, with a tray full of food waiting for me. The very moment the aroma of French toast reached me, I could've died and gone to heaven. Pam smiled and winked, and I just laughed. She knew me well.
She helped me to sit up with about a million pillows behind me, and then placed the tray in front of me. I immediately picked up my two vitamins and chased them down with a large gulp of orange juice, and heard Pam mumble "good girl." Almost as soon as I had the first bite of glorious, sugary, cinnamony, syrupy goodness in my mouth, she started in on me.
"Spill." That's all she needed to say. She knew that I knew what she wanted to know.
I thought about stalling by chewing very slowly, but the large rumbling sound coming from my tummy at that moment changed my mind. As I put my fork back to the plate to load another mouthful on it, I looked to her and said, "Pam, it really isn't fair of you to want to have a serious conversation with me first thing in the morning, considering that I'm not allowed to have coffee until after the babies are born." I thrust another forkful of food into my mouth whilst waiting for her reply.
"Well, just another reason to be thankful that life isn't fair. Now spill!"
"Oh, alright," I said before taking another sip of juice. "Cindy and the kids were really on his mind at the end of April," I looked into her eyes very seriously, and knew that she was aware that I was referring to the anniversary of their deaths. "He had nightmares a few times and would call out to them in his sleep. When I tried to talk to him about it, he said he was ashamed of it because it made him look weak. And, even though I knew that was absurd, I didn't bring it up again. A few weeks later, he was running late to get to the club, and I had left a pair of shoes in the middle of the floor, and he kinda tripped on them. He said 'damnit, Cindy, you need to put your shoes away from now on, please,' and just left the room." I took another bite of food, waiting to see if she wanted to comment.
"And what did he say when you called him on it?"
Oh dear, this could get really ugly, really fast. "Well, um, I never told him."
"Sookie, why the hell not?" She was becoming more and more aggravated by the second.
"I honestly don't think he realized he'd done it, Pam. It was right when you guys were getting ready to open Valhalla; he'd been working long hours and not getting much sleep. I didn't want to add more stress on top of that."
She let out a long, deep sigh. "Sookie, I get that you're trying to be strong, and not let it affect you. Please believe me when I say that it's a noble thing to do. But, honestly, it's only going to get worse unless you guys talk about it. If he doesn't know it's happening, how is he supposed to make it better?"
I pondered that for a few minutes while I finished my French toast. Just as I was preparing to respond, my cell phone rang. I recognized the hospital phone number, and indicated to Pam that I needed to take the call.
"Sookie Northman," I said. Pam chuckled when she noticed that I still smiled happily whenever I said my new name.
"Mrs. Northman, I'm calling from Shreveport General Hospital. We just wanted to inform you that your husband's discharge papers have been signed, and the doctor said he can go home whenever you're ready to pick him up."
"Oh, thank you so much for calling. Someone will be there right away." I hung up, and told Pam the news.
"Ya know, yesterday was a pretty busy day for you, so I think that you should stay here and relax, and I'll go pick him up." Part of me was grateful for her offer so I could rest, but, I wasn't sure I could trust her. She must've guessed as much by my facial expression. "I need to touch base with him anyway about how to continue negotiating with our liquor providers. I'm sure he'll need to take off a couple of days to rest, but we can't afford to not be working on it, so he'll need to bring me up to speed on the issue.
It sounded kinda fishy, but, I decided to trust her. "Fine. Thank you. And, thank you for breakfast, too, by the way."
She stood up and walked towards the door, but stopped at the last minute and looked at me over her shoulder. "No problem, Sookie darling. What are sisters good for, if not helping out with problems?" Then, she left. And I had a sinking suspicions her conversations with Eric on the drive home would have NOTHING to do with the restaurant.
