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Chapter 7: Carlisle and his son.

Saturday Afternoon

"Shelly, can you get me the Henderson X-Ray file? I want to see how the leg is healing." As a doctor specializing in hospital care, Dr. Cullen always viewed the whole patient, not just a single malady or injury. It made him a sought after hospitalist. He'd worked in three inner-city hospitals over his career, and now he was considering moving someplace less urban. He and his wife had liked the city lifestyle, but with the changes in his family, he thought it might be better to be off the beaten path, at least some of the time.

After rounds, he sat at the nurse's station, charting and chatting with the evening shift staff who were just coming on duty. He'd noticed the magazine in one of the nurse's bags as she stepped off the elevator.

It wasn't a really good picture of his son. It was a really good picture of his son's state of mind.

Edward was a throwback of sorts. He'd taken to manners and behaving like a gentleman at an early age, and it had stuck. Always a little bit of a romantic sort, he'd seemed happy enough as a child. He'd been on Little League teams and had played several sports in high school, he'd dated.

Carlisle thought his son was in love once. He'd bought a promise ring to give to the girl he'd brought home to Christmas his senior year. He hadn't asked for the ring. Still it had been nice to have a woman in the house for the holidays; it was the first one since Elizabeth had died.

Tanya and Edward had both been accepted to medical school. Carlisle had thought it was a done deal; all was well. He'd arrived on campus the night before graduation to take his son and Tanya to dinner.

He'd only taken Edward, after learning the truth. When presented on Valentine's day, with the delicate ring, chosen by his son, she'd broken down and confessed she hadn't really been in love with him at all. The final blow was her statement that she had started seeing someone else the previous semester.

Blind-sided and heartbroken again after losing his mother, Edward had put off medical school and had found himself bar-tending and joining in jam sessions at a local club.

Carlisle had given his son some space and time. He'd watched him pour his heart into his music, and that had seemed healing at the time. That fall, he'd had no idea what the next year would bring.

Edward and his little crew of musicians recorded a CD and were just getting a local following, when a music festival requested they appear as a featured act. Before he knew it, he was hearing his son's voice from the radio almost every day. One thing led to another. First a local, free publication had the band on the cover, next it was a feature in the Rolling Stones.

Now his son was on the cover of US magazine. Elizabeth would have been proud of whatever her son had wanted to do. Carlisle pondered what she'd have thought of the sadness that permeated most of his music.

As he finished his charting, he learned that the nurses liked his new song a lot. His music wasn't just on the independent stations any more; it was getting played on the pop stations, too.

It was still a little fun if one of the staff was just making the connection that his son was the Edward of Edward and Crew.

So, medical school was on hold for now. His music seemed to help people in its own way.

The band would be back in town in a few weeks. Carlisle decided it might be nice for some of his staff to meet his son and the band. Maybe someone would catch his eye.

Help heal his heart.

He pulled out his phone as he walked to his car.

"Hey son, I'm glad to hear your tour brings you back soon. I'd like to have you and the guys over for…"

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