Here is the next chapter….thanks for the great reviews! I really appreciate them a lot…the story will start to pick up shortly. If it will help I will post a family tree…let me know if that will be helpful. Amber
Chapter 3
Frank and Chloe got back to the house about 8:30. Frank let the girls talk for about an hour then insisted they let her rest. He had given Bess a gentle hug and shook Tony's hand telling him to call him if he needed anything. They promised they would and he guided his daughter from the hospital. Now they were home and when he opened the front door Callie came around the corner. She embraced Chloe and asked her husband. "Do they know anything yet?"
"Her medication level was a little off. They are going to make some changes. They were waiting on two more test results though. They'll know more tomorrow."
Callie kissed Chloe's hair. "Go get ready for bed sweetie."
Frank pulled Callie to him. "Is Luke okay? I think he may have strained something."
"He is a bit sore. I gave him some Motrin I was going to rub aspercreme on him but he declined that. Why I don't know."
"What about his muscle relaxer from the spring? Do we still have that?"
Callie smiled. "Yes…he didn't want to take that either…makes him sleepy. He's more stubborn then Joe."
A knock was heard at the door. Frank opened it and saw Tiffany Morton. "Hello Mr. Hardy…I left my sunglasses I think. Can I get them? I'm supposed to go to the beach tomorrow with my sisters."
Frank gestured inside. "Of course. It is always a pleasure to see you dear."
Luke came into the hall at that moment. Frank noticed the grimace on his face. Tiffany noticed too. "What's wrong with you?" She asked him.
"Pulled something in my back trying to help get Joy out of the water."
Tiffany narrowed her eyes. "Have you taken anything?"
Callie answered. "I gave him some motrin."
Tiffany said, counting on her fingers. "What about a heating pad? Or Aspercreme? What about the muscle relaxer from your pulled hamstring from track?"
Callie chuckled. "He didn't want me to put any aspercreme on him. I offered."
Tiffany crossed her arms at Luke. "She is your mother Luke not Typhoid Mary."
"But she's my mom…."
"SO! What about Matt? Your dad…?"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Dad just got here and Hannah and Matt are watching a movie. I don't really need it anyway."
Tiffany said nothing. She put a hand on Luke's back making him wince. She said, "Don't really need it huh…well go up to your room Mr. Tough guy."
Frank couldn't help but laugh. Tiffany was so much like Iola it was uncanny. It wouldn't surprise him in the least bit that she had intentionally left her sunglasses to give her an excuse to come back here to check him. Because he had been in obvious pain after Joy left. Luke still hadn't moved.
"Go now! Or else…" The glare she sent him made him listen finally. He grumbled the whole way.
She looked at Callie and shook her head. "Boys….what is it with them?" She saw the aspercreme on the loyboy by the door and grabbed it. Then she went up the stairs stopping at the hall closet. Callie knew what she was getting the heating pad. Next she stopped in the bathroom and came out a minute later with a medicine bottle and a cup of water. Callie knew it was Luke's muscle relaxer. Then she went to the second door on the landing and went inside.
Frank looked at Callie. "She is so much like Iola…I know you see it too."
Luke was sitting at his desk on his computer when his door opened surprising him. He saw the objects in her hands. "Baby I'm fine."
Tiffany didn't say anything to him. First she took out a muscle relaxer and handed it too him along with the water. He took it without argument. She tugged at his tee shirt and pulled at it. .
He stopped her mid chest. "Tiff! My parents are down stairs."
"They saw me take the aspercreme and grab the heating pad. If they were going to object they would have done it by now. Off with the shirt Hardy."
Luke sighed and removed the shirt slowly. Wincing as he did so. Tiffany looked down at him admiring his physique. Olivia may joke about him not having much athletic ability…but the truth is he was only the LEAST athletic of them all. Luke was a track and field star and his favorite events were pole vault and mile run. He was also an avid skier.
She squeezed some of the crème and started to apply it to his sore back. When she was finished she got him a fresh shirt and put the heating pad on the bed. She plugged it in next to the bed and made him lie down. She gently moved a piece of stray hair from his forehead. "The heat will help the motrin go where you are hurting most. Of course you knew that right."
Luke said nothing. He pulled her down for a quick kiss. "Of course I know that."
"Why are you being so stubborn then?"
"Because it is a treat to see you in a temper."
Tiffany scoffed and smacked him playfully. Then she saw her sun glasses on his desk. "You grabbed them from down stairs."
"I didn't want anything to happen to them." He beckoned to her with is finger. "Come here."
Tiffany went down and stopped when her face was just an inch from Luke's. Luke took her chin and watched as Tiffany closed her eyes and her lips parted. He closed the distance between them at last. He would have deepened the kiss if his door hadn't opened. They broke apart and looked at the door. Luke just prayed it wasn't one of his parents. He looked and saw his sister. "Don't you know how to knock Chloe?"
"Don't you know if mom or dad caught you doing that you would get the birds in the bees lecture? Mom wanted me to tell Tiffany she couldn't find her sun glasses."
Tiffany held them up. "That is because Luke had them."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Clever devel…anyway…Luke…thanks for saving Joy…I really." Tears fell down her cheeks.
Luke stood up painfully and pulled her sister in a hug. "I would do it for anybody I care about. Don't be scared Chloe."
"I'm not. I just wanted to thank you. I won't even tell mom and dad that you were kissing Tiffany on your bed."
"You'd better not if you want me to take you to the hospital tomorrow."
"Good night big brother."
"Good night sunshine."
Tiffany watched her walk out the door. "I'd better go too…my dad wanted me home by eleven it takes forty minutes to get to the farm." She kissed him and closed the door behind her.
Luke lay down with a smile on his face. How did he get to be so lucky. He was starting to doze when a knock jarred him back to full awareness. "Come in dad."
"How is the back?"
"Better."
"Good. If it isn't better in a couple days. I or your mother is taking you to the doctor. No excuses."
"Yes sir."
"So did Tiffany leave her glasses or did she have help?"
Luke only smiled. He knew his father knew the answer. Frank patted his son's knee. "I was young too once…just remember to use your sharp intellect that you got from your mom and dad and be smart."
"I am being smart…I know you don't believe me but…the only thing Tiff and I have done is kiss and hold each other. That is all I am ready for and all that she is ready for. How can I go to medical school and her to nursing school if we have an early bambino. We have plans dad and we are being smart. Scouts honor."
"Okay…good night." Frank stood up he watched as Luke's eyes closed. The muscle relaxer doing it's job. He saw that his son's computer was still up he shut it down and turned off the lights.