In the emergency room waiting room, Frankie flipped through the pages of the People Magazine that featured the Bachelor on the cover. She wanted to immerse herself into the life of Arie Luyendyk and the many women that he had to choose from. All of them were beautiful of course, but Valerie was by far the best fit for him.

She was well-educated, funny and had an incredible sense of style. She and Arie were perfect for each other. Any idiot could see it. She just hoped that the producers of the show (and Arie) saw it too.

She wondered, not for the first time, what Arie and Valerie's children would look like. Certainly they would be the most beautiful children ever born (except for Frankie's kids of course. Yes, even Brick was a beautiful baby, once they met him, that is. She shuddered, wishing that they had never told Brick that horrible story. What kind of mother brings home the wrong baby from the hospital? And what kind of mother allows her middle child- her only daughter-to suffer a serious injury in the Frugal Hoosier of all places?

Angrily she threw the magazine across the room, not caring if anyone was around. If anyone had seen her and insisted that she pay for the magazine, she'd do it without question. But now all she could think about was her daughter and how much pain Sue was in when they left the store. No, she wouldn't cry. She refused to. It wasn't worth crying. Sue would be fine.

Her hand trembled as she fumbled to push the button on her cell phone. It rang repeatedly, making her more nervous with each ring.

"Come on, answer. Someone's got to be home." She muttered.

"Hello?"

"Axl?"

"Yeah. Mom? Where are you?"

She paused, wondering if she should tell her eldest son what had happened. Oh, it didn't matter anyway. He was going to find out sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.

"I'm at the hospital."

"Axl laughed. Mom, I told you not to drive so fast! What did you do, run over a family of ducks or something?"

She clinched her teeth, biting back a swear word. Was it okay to swear in a hospital? She wasn't sure. People prayed in hospitals, so why should it be any different than church? She made a mental note to ask Reverend Tim Tom.

"Axl is your dad there?"

"Yeah, he's here somewhere. But you never told me-."

"It's not me, all right? It's Sue. There was… an accident."

There was a slight pause. "Really."

"Yes, really. So please Axl, go and get your dad, okay?"

"What did the dork do now? She's always tripping and falling all over the-."

"Axl, Sue is not a dork! Just go, all right?"

The phone clanged on the counter and she heard Axl yelling in the distance. "DAD! Mom wants to talk to you! Something about the dork getting into an accident."

The volume on the television lowered and then she heard footsteps and Mikes's voice in the distance. "An accident? What sort of accident? And Axl do not call your sister a dork, all right? Now what sort of accident?"

No response which meant that Axl shrugged. She knew her kids too well.

"Hello?"

"Mike?"

"Yeah, what's this about an accident?"

"It's not me, I'm fine."

"Well, I kind of gathered that from what Axl said. So what happened?"

Frankie sighed deeply. "It's Sue. I wasn't there to see it, but there was a, well a sort of freak accident at the Frugal Hoosier."

"What sort of accident? Oh God, please don't tell me that you wrecked the car again! I told you over and over, you have to shift into-."

"I know how to drive, Mike! This is our daughter I'm talking about!"

Mike uttered something she couldn't quite hear and then said "Oh man… She's a good driver, but Frankie, Sue did take six tries to get her license. Maybe-."

"It happened IN the store, Mike! And it wasn't Sue's fault!"

"So what happened?"

"A tower of laundry detergent boxes fell onto her head and she fell onto the floor. She's in with the doctor now."

"What? How could you let something like this happen?"

"Me? Why are you blaming me? I was shopping for canned goods and Sue said she wanted to go to the Produce department to get some fruit. The next thing I know she's screaming for help. I ran over there and she had fallen underneath a ton of laundry detergent boxes!"

"Laundry detergent isn't that heavy, Frankie. You could have taken care of her at home."

"They were Family Size, Mike!"

Another pause. "Oh… Well, is she going to be all right?"

Frankie began to sob. "I don't know, Mike! She was crying like crazy, calling for her mother and-and-then…"

"Okay, Frankie, just calm down. You know what to do; cry then talk." Mike said. But Frankie couldn't do either. She just continued to wail.

"Frankie? Frankie? Look, just… stay there. The kids and I will be there in a few minutes, all right?"

Frankie nodded. "Mmm Hmmm…"

"All right, if Sue comes out of the… well wherever she is, just tell her… tell her we'll be there soon, okay?"

"O… Okay…" Frankie wailed. She hung up the phone and glanced at the floor where the People Magazine lay. She just hoped that Arie Luyendyk and Valerie wouldn't have to go through what she was going through.

The thought was meant to be comforting, but in fact it was not. It only made things worse.