With Clyde safely back in his stall, Joyce dropped to her knees beside Hopper who was still curled around his leg groaning in pain. A sheen of sweat had already started to appear on his forehead as he struggled to steady his breathing with slow, shallow breaths.
"Hop? Honey, can you hear me?" Joyce asked, the shake in her voice mirroring the one in her hand as she reached out to touch his shoulder. She quickly took stock of his body for any other injuries before she spotted blood starting to soak through his jeans, mixing with the dirt on the material at the point of impact left from Clyde's hoof.
With a sharp hiss, Hopper removed the grip on his leg, letting it straighten and slide limp to the ground. "Go get mom." He whimpered, his eyes closing to block out the pain when he tried to scoot to where he could lean against something.
"I don't think you should-"
"Joyce, please." He begged and balled his hands into fists at his sides in frustration when the tiny movement caused a searing throb to run up his leg.
Knowing they didn't have time to wait around for a better idea, Joyce jumped to her feet and took off running in the direction of the house.
"Mom!" She yelled, her legs propelling her down the driveway faster than her mind could keep up. "Mom, help!" She yelled again as she skidded around the tail end of Hopper's truck and reached the bottom step of the porch.
Mary swung the screen door open just as Joyce went to reach for it and froze at the look of panic on her daughter's face.
"Joyce, what's wrong? Where's Jim?" Mary asked frantically, her eyes quickly scanning the field in the distance.
Joyce sucked in a breath to calm her racing heart and grabbed Mary's hand, tugging her to follow. "He's hurt. Clyde got scared and kicked him. I don't know what to do."
Mary gently pulled her hand from Joyce's and quickened her pace, her motherly instincts kicking in at the mention of one of her children being injured. When they reached the barn, Mary's gut sank at the sight of Jim writhing in agony on the ground, his complexion a sickening pale color. "Oh Jim, Honey stop moving." She soothed and dropped down beside him.
"Mom," Hopper whispered, his features shifting slightly at seeing her. It was then that Joyce was reminded of just how young he really was. How young they both were. While Hopper played the part of pretending to have his shit together and acting like going to war didn't bother him, he was still only just a teenager and in that moment looked much like a frightened child.
As gently as she could, Mary rolled Jim's pant leg up his shin until she met resistance half way past his calf. The brief pressure caused him to instinctively tense, making the already overly sensitive area erupt with a burning sensation.
"Stop…" He whined, his hand coming out to grip his mother's wrist. "I can't. It hurts too much."
Mary frowned and twisted her arm to hold his hand, her thumb stroking over his dirt-covered skin. "Jim, I need to see where you're bleeding from."
Hopper shook his head, his fingers curling into the thigh of his jeans. "No. Mom...please."
With a sigh, Mary let go of his hand and started unbuttoning his flannel. "Joyce, I need you to move my car as close to the barn door as possible. Can you do that for me?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at the distraught teenager currently clutching the collar of her shirt.
Joyce blinked and gave a short nod, her stare lingering on Hopper's face a moment before turning and running toward the house once more.
"Which pocket is your knife in?" Mary asked Jim, already patting his jeans.
"Left...left pocket." Hopper murmured, leaning back slightly to give her access to grab it.
Flicking the knife open, Mary held it with her teeth and pushed his flannel off his shoulders. Once his arms were free, she worked quickly to get the material under his injured leg.
"Fuck!...Christ mom, warn me next time!" He cried, his fingers twisting into his hair to keep from hitting something.
Mary removed the knife from her teeth and gently squeezed his thigh. "Jim, look at me." She said, keeping her voice steady.
With a growl, he clenched his jaw and dropped his hands.
"I need you to sit as still as possible, okay?"
"Wh-" He started to question, but found himself hissing in pain instead. With the ease of a practiced surgeon, Mary carefully cut into the knee of his jeans. The sudden release from the confining denim caused the skin to swell around the remaining material like a can of busted biscuits.
By the time Joyce managed to get the car to the barn, Mary had tied a tourniquet with Hopper's flannel high on his thigh. The scream she'd heard upon opening the car door making her shiver as she took in the sight of Mary adjusting the knot.
"Joyce, help me get him to his feet." Mary insisted, wrapping Jim's right arm around her shoulders, while Joyce took the weight of his left.
At the slightest movement, Hopper cried out, his lower leg-pulling against his knee like dead weight when there was no longer anything under him to keep it steady. "Son of a bitch!"
"Honey I know this hurts, but you have to help us get you to the car. Push with your good leg while we pull." Mary instructed.
What felt like an eternity of slow steps and curse words later, they eventually got him settled into the car with his back against the door and his leg laid out across the seat. Joyce immediately reached for his hand from the front of the car while Mary slowly made her way down the bumpy driveway toward the main road.
"Hop, I'm right here," Joyce whispered, her thumb rubbing the skin of his knuckles. "Is there anything you need me to do?" She knew there really wasn't much she could do for his pain, but at the very least she could keep him distracted until they reached the hospital.
"Do you have my lighter?" He asked softly after a moment, his eyes still scrunched closed with his head against the window. "I need a cigarette."
"Absolutely not, young man." Mary scolded through her attempt in reaching Greg over the radio.
Joyce watched the vein in his temple pulse with irritation, his grip on her hand tightening. "For fucks sake mom! I'm bleeding all over your back seat and you're worried about me smoking?!"
Mary slammed the radio receiver back into its holster and glared at him in the mirror. "I'm worried about you going into shock!" The sudden rise in her tone caused Joyce to tense, Mary's worry finally evident in her expression after masking it for so long. "Just focus on staying conscious and keep talking. We're almost there."
Hopper slid his hand from Joyce's and pinched the bridge of his nose, his other gripping the material of his jeans to ease his shaking. Even if he refused to respond, Joyce still attempted to make small talk like Mary asked to keep him calm.
It didn't really matter anyway, Mary was already pulling into the emergency entrance of the hospital and two male nurses were carefully removing Hopper from the backseat of the car. Desperately grabbing onto his wrist to not lose him in the rush, Joyce hurried along beside his chair as the nurse wheeled him inside.
As they passed the lobby, Mary leaned down to kiss the side of Jim's head and whispered an 'I love you' before turning in the direction of the front desk. The last thing Joyce processed was feeling Hopper squeeze her hand two times, then a nurse was telling her she couldn't go any further.
Letting his hand slip from her fingers, Joyce watched as he was wheeled to the back, the huge wooden doors she wasn't allowed to pass slowly blocking her view as they clicked shut. A lump instantly formed in her throat, and no matter how many times she tried to swallow, the pressure kept building. Quickly gripping the collar of her shirt, she sucked in a deep breath and glanced around the small waiting room.
She could faintly hear Mary at the front desk arguing about needing to use the phone. The young blonde was trying to calm her down and get her to fill out paperwork for Jim to be properly admitted. An elderly man sat alone to her right with his face buried in a magazine, and Joyce suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on her.
Not knowing when her feet decided to move, Joyce found herself walking to the corner of the room and curling into a chair, her knees drawn to her chest with her arms wrapped around her shins. She dropped her face against her legs and started crying when reality finally sank in. None of this would have happened if she had just kept her mouth shut. It wasn't until the fight at the tree house that she realized just how horrible she had been lately. Now, Hopper was suffering because she cared more about her own insecurities than what he'd been dealing with. She should have been more supportive and paid better attention to his feelings, but instead, she acted like a spoiled brat and focused all of her energy on herself.
A hand touching her back caused her to startle and she lifted her head to see Mary settling into the chair beside her.
"Joyce, breathe," Mary said calmly, rubbing small circles across her shoulders.
Joyce hadn't noticed she was on the verge of a panic attack and her breaths were coming in shallow pants. She dropped her head back to her knees and shut her eyes, letting out a slow exhale.
"I need you to listen to me, Honey. Take a deep breath and try to calm down. I know this is scary, but Jim's tough. He's with the best doctors in Hawkins and they're going to do everything they can to give him the best care possible." Mary insisted, even though Joyce didn't miss the shake in her voice.
With a quiet sob, Joyce shook her head, still keeping her face hidden. "I'm so sorry mom. None of this would have happened if I hadn't upset him. He's never going to forgive me for this."
"This wasn't your fault Joyce, it was an accident. An unfortunate one, but you can't blame yourself. Whatever happened between the two of you today, you know Jim loves you, you're his everything." Mary removed her hand from Joyce's back and lowered it to place on her knee, squeezing it gently.
Joyce wrapped her fingers around her mother's and turned her head, her cheek brushing against Mary's thumb. "I was so mean to him…" She whispered and swiped at her eyes with her free hand. "He tried to give me this beautiful promise ring and I basically threw it in his face like it meant nothing. He lost his temper and it scared Clyde." She paused with a sigh, tears leaking against her jeans and their conjoined hands. "He didn't deserve this, and I don't deserve his forgiveness after how I treated him. I just hope...I hope…" There was a slight crack in her voice and she stumbled over her words briefly. "If we can't fix this...if for some reason he doesn't want to be with me anymore...will I still have you?...you and dad? Will I still be part of your family?"
"Oh Honey, shhh," Mary whispered and wrapped her arm around Joyce's back to pull her closer into her side. "No matter what happens between you and Jim, I will always love you. You will always be my daughter." Pressing her temple against the top of Joyce's head, Mary brushed a strand of hair out of her face and held her tighter. "Jim might be upset now, but the two of you will get through th-."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Hopper?"
Mary lifted her head away from Joyce and turned to see a man in bright green scrubs standing in front of them cradling a clipboard in his arms.
"I'm Dr. Alston, and I apologize for interrupting, but I need to go over Jim's condition with you to make sure we can get him into surgery as soon as possible."
"Of course," Mary said, reaching to take the clipboard from the doctor. Joyce peeked over her shoulder to inspect the sheet of paper placed at the top of a very small stack. It was a diagram of a leg that showed the different types of bones and their names, along with red marks and scribbles mainly focused around the area of the knee.
Dr. Alston grabbed a pen out of his pocket and moved to sit on the arm of the chair beside Mary, pointing to one of the red marks. "Unfortunately your son has suffered a pretty severe injury. He has a fracture at the base of his femur. His fibula was snapped in half, which was the bone that punctured his skin. There's a break in his tibia and he's torn his ACL, MCL, and meniscus."
Joyce swallowed and looked away to pick at her nails when she could feel her anxiety starting to claw its way up her throat. Sucking in a slow, deep breath, she curled her legs back against her chest and dropped her chin to her knees, silently watching Mary and the doctor out of the corner of her eye while trying not to panic.
"And surgery will fix all of this? He'll be able to walk without any problems?" Mary asked, a slight quiver in her voice.
The surgeon took his clipboard and got to his feet, shoving his pen back into his front pocket. "It'll take some time, but with the proper care and physical therapy, your son shouldn't have any issues with his recovery. He's still young and healthy, which makes this entire process much easier. I wouldn't be surprised in two years it was as if this never happened. If anything he may have a slight ache when the weather turns cold."
Mary let out a sigh of relief and wiped a hand across her brow. "Then please, get started as soon as you can."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hopper. I promise your son is in good hands. This will be a lengthy surgery, so I suggest you make yourselves comfortable" Dr. Alston flashed a half-smile and turned to leave, the huge wooden doors clicking shut behind him.
Mary reached down into her light brown purse that was resting on the sterile hospital floor and dug out her wallet. "Here Honey, go get you something to snack on." She urged, handing Joyce a crumpled ten-dollar bill.
"I'm not hungry mom. I don't think I could keep anything down even if I wanted to." Joyce confessed and attempted to hand the bill back to her.
"How about you get me a cup of coffee then? I'm going back to the nurse's station to try and get in touch with Greg again. You know how I take it." Mary smiled warmly as she got to her feet and headed toward the phone.
Joyce carefully stood, swaying slightly now that the adrenaline rush was waning and lazily shuffled toward the little nook with the words 'vending' inscribed in bold blue letters. Maybe she would get a cup of coffee to sip on as well. Who knows how long we're going to be here, she thought to herself as she inserted the wrinkled bill into the coffee machine and prayed it wouldn't reject the worn paper. A few minutes later and two piping cups in hand, Joyce returned to the seats she and Mary had previously occupied. Mary sat with her legs crossed, an expired gardening magazine in her lap. Holding out her cup, Joyce cleared her throat to gather her attention.
"Thank you, Honey. Come on, have a seat. Greg's out on a call so Flo is going to radio him to come to the hospital." She informed her calmly.
"Dad's going to be so pissed at me. Not only did Jim get hurt, but it's going to make Clyde even more skittish than he already was." Joyce sniffed, trying her best not to cry into the overpriced cup of coffee in her shaking hands.
"He's not going to be mad at you Darlin', concerned yes, mad? never. Don't get me wrong, he's probably going to give you a stern talking to about a healthier way of conveying your emotions, but he won't be mad."
"He has every right to be. So does Jim. God, mom I'm so stupid." Joyce groaned, sliding down further into her seat. "He was giving me that ring as a promise to come home, that he would come back to me, to you and dad, and I didn't even take it from him...I don't even know if he put it back in his pocket or not. What if he dropped it? I'll never be able to find it... And who knows how much he spent on it. Now it's probably buried under feet of hay or sitting in a pile of manure. What kind of girlfriend does that?" If it wasn't for the small smile at the corner of Mary's lips, Joyce would have fully broken down. She was already struggling to keep the tears pooling in her eyes from spilling down her cheeks.
"I did. Well, it wasn't a ring, but a necklace. When Greg and I were dating, a certain cheerleader at school had her eyes on him. You know how rumors start around school. Next thing I know, I'm being told that Greg was caught laying it on her one night at a pep rally. I marched right up to him, smacked him, and threw the necklace he had given me on our one year right into the trash can beside the hotdog cart. Obviously he dug through the trash and returned it, but I was beyond mad at him. Turns out the cheerleader started the rumor in hopes of breaking us up. The point is Joyce, he forgave me for losing my cool, just as Jim will forgive you."
"You can't be sure of that. He was so upset with me."
"He's a Hopper, he's tough. Not to mention that boy would strut buck naked down the street if you asked him to. Just give it a little time. Let him get through this surgery and start to recover."
The sound of boots slapping against linoleum suddenly filled the small waiting room. Looking up from their seats in the corner, Mary and Joyce both caught sight of Greg just as he spotted them. The freshly polished floor didn't allow him to turn as sharply as his body was intended to do, and instead his legs flew out from under him, bringing the big man down to the ground with a loud smack. Seconds later, he was back on his feet, racing toward them.
"Mary, Sweetheart what's going on? Is Jim okay? What happened?" Greg demanded, his expression full of fear instead of the embarrassment Joyce expected to see after the way he'd rushed into the room.
"He's in rough shape, Honey, but he's okay. He's in surgery now. Have a seat and I'll fill you in." Mary insisted, moving the cup of coffee from her hands and into her husband's.
Greg sighed, bringing the cup to his lips and grimacing. "Why is there milk in here?"
"Well, you didn't think I made a coffee for you when I didn't know when you would get here did you?" Mary laughed.
"Good Point. What's going on with Jim? How long has he been in surgery?"
"The doctor came out and had me sign for consent about forty five minutes ago. His knee is pretty bad off. Dr. Alston said he's going to need a lot of physical therapy to get full use out of it again. He also said that this will be a lengthy surgery, so I don't know how long we're going to be here."
"What happened though? What was he doing?" Greg asked.
"It's my fault dad. We were arguing in the barn...It startled Clyde and he kicked him. I'm so, so, sorry." Joyce whispered, dropping her gaze to the floor.
"What in the world could you have been arguing about that was so serious? You two never fight." Greg stated, finally sitting down on Joyce's other side.
"About him being drafted… I've been trying to figure out ways to keep him home since he got his letter, and I told him we should, you know… get married and then he wouldn't have to leave." She mumbled, still avoiding Greg's eyes.
"Jim didn't want to do that though. He didn't want to marry you just to stay home." Greg deadpanned.
Shock, followed by confusion suddenly washed over Joyce as she finally looked up at the only loving father she'd ever had. "How did you…"
"Who do you think took him to get that promise ring, Honey? He told me about a week ago what he wanted to do, so I took him to the jeweler."
"You took him?" She asked, astounded that Greg had given his blessing for a promise ring.
"Of course I did. I already consider you my daughter, and one day you're going to make Jim the happiest man in the entire world by becoming his wife. So yes. I took him to the jeweler and helped him pick out what we thought was the perfect ring."
Joyce stared at him in silence. Stunned for the first time in a long time.
"I'm guessing with the current circumstances you didn't accept it?" Greg asked, breaking through her inner monologue.
Ignoring her vision blurring, Joyce sighed. "I told him I didn't want a promise that he couldn't keep. Then he yelled and Clyde kicked him..."
The feel of Greg's arm wrapping around her shoulders was all it took to lose the battle on her emotions. The tears she'd been struggling to hold back quickly spilled down her face and onto her shirt.
"Shhh. It's okay babydoll. Everything will be okay. Jim will get through this. We just have to stay strong, alright? Come on now, rest your head and try to get a nap in. Jim will be out of surgery before you know it and then he can tell you for himself how much he loves you." Greg whispered to his daughter as he urged her to lay her head on his shoulder.
"Promise you'll wake me as soon as you hear something?"
"Scouts honor." Greg said with a smile and held up three fingers. Taking the now cold cup of coffee from Joyce's hands, he shifted to get comfortable in his chair for a long evening in the waiting room.
00000
Beeping. Steady, annoying, beeping. This was the first thing Hopper consciously picked up on. Followed quickly by intense pain that he didn't have words to describe. Drugs, he needed drugs, and not the bullshit they give you for aches and pains at school. God's honest drugs that would knock a moose off its ass. Trying to open his eyes, he let out a groan that could have woken the dead.
"Jim, Honey don't move. I'm going to get a nurse, just stay still." His mother's voice startled him slightly as he shifted his shoulders and carefully turned his stiff neck.
"You listen about as well as your father, you know that?" Mary scolded and made her way to the door, stepping out into the hallway.
Hopper's eyes carefully roamed the room, taking is his surroundings. The shades had been drawn, keeping out whatever light was outside, and a small rolling tray to his right was littered with vending machine wrappers and empty paper cups. How long had he been out? And most importantly, where was Joyce?
"Nice to finally see you awake, Jim." An unfamiliar baritone sounded from the foot of his bed.
Turning his head once again, Hopper blinked to steady his vision. A tall man in scrubs and a lab coat he didn't recognize was standing beside his mother.
"My name is Dr. Alston. I performed your surgery. You gave us quite a scare there young man."
"Not exactly my intentions." Hopper groaned as he attempted to sit up.
"Try not to move around too much, Jim. As you can see, you're in a cast from your thigh down to your toes."
Now that the doctor mentioned it, his right leg felt heavy as hell compared to his left. Looking down the length of his body, Hopper grimaced at the sight of the temporary soft cast covering 90% of his leg. "So when do I get this off?" He asked, moving an arm to rest behind his head.
"Oh, you're going to be in a cast for a few months at the very least."
"A few months!" Hopper yelled, causing the pain in his leg to radiate upwards into his hips. Letting out a gasp, he fist the sheets that were collected at his sides. "I can't be in the thing for months! I live on a farm, I have animals to tend to. I can't be down for more than a few weeks...Not to mention I have prom. I can't go to Vietnam without dancing with my girlfriend... I just can't." He pleaded and looked over at the doctor, a look of desperation in his expression.
"Right now all you need to focus on is healing that knee. I'm sure your girlfriend will have a dance saved for you, and I know your mother and father will be able to handle the farm in the meantime. As for Vietnam, we've already sent off your paperwork explaining in detail about your injury as requested by your father. It entails everything about the surgery and the estimated timeline for your recovery. If, and that's a big if, they still want to take you, you won't be able to go for at least six or seven months at the earliest. And pardon my french, but you would be a shit soldier if you couldn't walk three steps without falling down."
Hopper sighed and dug the heel of his palms into his eyes. How was it that his entire world could be turned upside down in a matter of seconds?
"The button on the right side of your bed is for pain. You're hooked up to a drip. Just hit the button when you need it. Keep in mind that everything in that bag is all you're going to get in the next 48 hours, so don't go too crazy with it kid." Dr. Alston nodded at Mary before turning to leave the dimly lit room.
His feet were barely over the threshold before Hopper's fingers were repeatedly pressing the small button on the side of his bed. He had a feeling that him and that little red square were going to become great friends over the next few days.
"Where's Joyce? Is she okay?" He asked, still trying to comfortably shift his body to face his mother.
"She's fine. She's at home with your father. They needed to shower and catch up on some sleep. You've been out for almost two days." Mary informed him as she sat down in what looked like the most uncomfortable recliner known to man at his bedside.
"Two days? I've been here for two days!?"
"Honey, your knee is in pretty bad shape. The surgery you had took almost eight hours. They've been giving you some strong pain medicine to keep you comfortable, which also happens to make you tired. This is the first time you've been awake longer than a few minutes since you came out of surgery."
"I guess that makes sense," Hopper huffed and tried to adjust the parts of his body that were capable of moving. When he started feeling the effects of the magical liquid behind the red button, he dropped his head back against his pillow and finally noticed the dark circles under his mother's eyes. "Mom, go home, get some sleep, and eat something that isn't pre-packaged okay? I'll be fine. I've got plenty of meds to make sure I do nothing but sleep for the next few hours anyway." He said, his eyes already getting heavy.
Mary laughed. "You sound just like your father."
"Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all." He chuckled in return.
"Try to get some rest. I'll make sure one of us is here when you wake up. I love you." Mary whispered as she stood from her seat and placed a light kiss to his forehead.
"I love you too mom. Thank you for always keeping it together when something happens to me or Joyce, or dad for that matter."
"That's what I'm here for Honey." She said with a smile, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze before turning to leave.
"Hey mom? Can You do me a favor?"
"Anything Honey." Mary promised as she hesitated by the door.
"Tell Joyce I love her when you get home."
A warm smile suddenly crossed her lips at his request. "I'm sure she knows, but I'll remind her. Get some rest dear."
The moment his mother was out of sight, Hopper exhaled all the air in his lungs in one long breath. Reaching for the button on the side of his bed, he smashed it three more times in quick succession and shut his eyes.
00000
The hardest thing about sharing a bed with someone every night, was trying to sleep when they were no longer beside you. Joyce was convinced that was her problem as she tossed and turned for the majority of the night. She didn't even think she had successfully slept a total of ten minutes without waking to roll over or blankly stare at the ceiling. When the sound of movement caught her attention, she sighed and crawled from under the covers. Grabbing one of Hopper's flannels, she threw it on over her thin nightshirt and headed downstairs.
Greg was already fully dressed and standing in front of the stove, a spatula in one hand, the other holding a folded newspaper to his face.
"Morning Dad." She called out across the room and stumbled toward the refrigerator, hoping a glass of orange juice would help relieve the headache she felt starting to brew in the back of her head.
"Morning Darlin', did you managed to get any sleep?" Greg asked as he began to add cheese to whatever was in the frying pan.
"Ehh. Not really. What about you?"
"Not a wink. It's hard to sleep when Mary isn't with me. I know that sounds stupid, but it's the truth."
Joyce hid a smile behind her glass of orange juice and took a seat at the table. "It's not stupid at all. Just goes to show how much you love her."
"Yeah, I guess you're right kiddo. I'm making some eggs and bacon with toast. It's not going to be like your moms of course, but it's edible."
"I'm sure it's fine dad. If Jim's cooking hasn't killed me yet, I doubt yours will." Joyce watched as he slid the food onto two worn plates and moved to join her at the table.
"Here's to hoping that it doesn't." Greg laughed as he began to shake salt and pepper over his eggs. He'd barely gotten the fork to his mouth when the sound of the front door opening caught both of their attention. After a few heartbeats, Mary walked into the kitchen, looking as tired as the two of them felt.
"Hey Sweetheart, didn't know you were coming home. Here, sit down and eat, I'll go make more for me." He insisted and got to his feet, offering Mary his seat.
"Thank you Honey, it's been a long night. Jim woke up before I left. He was in pain, which is to be expected, but they have him on a drip with some strong medicine. The doctor said he's going to be there at least a few more days before he can come home for extensive bed rest. He's not to do anything that requires moving on his own. So I'm going to be taking up his part of the chores." Mary stated as she stabbed a chunk of egg on her plate.
"You do enough around here as it is, I'll take care of it. Besides, I need to work on Clyde to get him used to people. Obviously he's not as sociable as we thought."
"I'll handle the chores. This whole thing is my fault anyway." Joyce said softly from her place across the table.
"It is not your fault young lady, and I don't want to hear you say it is again." Mary stated, taking a second to sip the coffee Greg had brought her. Joyce knew better than to argue when Mary used that tone, so she remained silent.
"We do need to talk about something important however." Greg said once he sat back down. "Jim's going to be out of commission for a while. I'm not worried about the chores and all that mess since I'll have to do more after the two of you graduate anyway, but we need to work on getting your license. I know you don't want to rely on anyone to take you from point A to point B for the rest of your life. So once things start to calm down we're going to have you drive around the farm some more to get you used to being behind the wheel."
Joyce panicked slightly at the mention of her driving. "What if I knock down the mailbox, or take out an unsuspecting chicken?"
Both Mary and Greg laughed at her worries.
"Mailboxes can be replaced, and we'll be sure to hide all the chickens before we get started."
Joyce sighed quietly and returned to pushing a piece of egg around her plate with her fork, knowing they were right.
"When I was leaving the hospital, Jim told me to tell you that he loves you Joyce. Just wanted to pass that along."
"I don't see how he still does. I was awful to him. Yelling at him for things that are out of his control. I'll be surprised if he still wants to be with me after all this mess." She confided to no one in particular.
"Don't be silly young lady, that boy loves you more than he's loved anything in his life. I doubt there's anything he wouldn't do for you. All couples fight Honey. When Mary and I were dating we had one about once a month, and look at us now. We've been married twenty one years, have two beautiful children, and a wonderful farm to call home. We couldn't be happier. All this will blow over before you know it, I promise." Greg concluded as he stood from the table and placed his plate in the sink. "Now, you two try and get some sleep. I'm going to go feed the animals, then go to the hardware store. We can all go see Jim when I get back home, sound good?"
Both women nodded and Greg placed a kiss to the top of Mary's head, before ruffling Joyce's hair. It wasn't long after the front door closed that Mary stood from the table.
"Come on Honey, you can sleep in the bed with me. It's hard for me to sleep when Greg's not there."
Joyce had a hard time hiding her grin at Mary's confession. It looked like everyone in the Hopper household had issues with sleeping alone. Too tired to argue, Joyce followed Mary up the stairs and hoped she'd be able to get at least a few hours of rest. The last conscious thought she had as she closed her eyes, was how similar Mary and Jim sounded when they were falling asleep.
