{"id":1666,"date":"2008-07-06T11:25:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-06T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beltdrivebetty.com\/wyzwmnsworld\/?p=1666"},"modified":"2010-09-29T18:27:16","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T01:27:16","slug":"chapter-75-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/?p=1666","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 75"},"content":{"rendered":"

the sound: <\/span><\/strong>AC\/DC \u2013 Thunderstruck<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Robert made it through the 48 hour critical period. A couple of times it was touch and go and a lot of the family spent their time praying \u2013 but in the end I became convinced it was more that his Mama had forbidden him to die than God having had anything to do with it.<\/p>\n

Mrs. K\u2019s backbone was apparently well renowned and it never ceased to amaze me how Dr\u2019s, Nurses, specialists, therapists \u2013 everyone jumped when that woman barked. <\/p>\n

It also surprised me as over time the lines between the \u201cgood\u201d and the \u201cbad\u201d members of the family blurred to become one large boisterous yet grieving group of people. People with history\u2026good, bad or indifferent\u2026no one was unaffected by David\u2019s loss and Robert\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n

Arranging David\u2019s funeral turned out to be quite the endeavor. There was the formal viewing, the wake for family and dignitaries, the pig roast for family, friends and bros, the cremation, the suggested interment and then the family ritual of disposing of the ashes.<\/p>\n

All the way through, Rosie spent most of her time at the hospital with her mother, so I had little or no assistance\u2026but for Grey\u2019s constant assurance that \u201cmoney was no object.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being told so for about the dozenth time I took the \u201cgo big or go home\u201d attitude and highballed everything. No carnations for this man\u2019s viewing and service\u2026only roses, peonies (Mrs K\u2019s favorite) and rosemary because I couldn\u2019t get my hands on the unofficial emblem of Ireland \u2013 the shamrock.<\/p>\n

I was in my glory though\u2026there\u2019s nothing like giving orders to make you feel like you are in control of your life. (little did I know)<\/p>\n

I scheduled everything for a week hence and was relieved when four days after the actual shooting it was announced that Robert and Mrs. K would \u201csee\u201d me at the hospital.<\/p>\n

I got Boomer (the escape artist who\u2019d ever so conveniently disappeared during the ruckus) to take me in to town and went in for a visit.<\/p>\n

For some reason, I was uncomfortable with the idea of seeing Robert in a hospital bed\u2026but maybe it was seeing Robert at all. <\/p>\n

I walked into the room to find Robert laying with his eyes closed and his mother sitting in the chair beside him, her ever present crochet hook dancing through the cotton. <\/p>\n

Without preamble, Mrs. K announced \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have?\u201d I squeaked<\/p>\n

\u201cYou girl, you will marry my Roibhil\u00edn and keep him out of trouble.\u201d Came the reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cah\u2026(gulp) marry?\u201d I squeaked again, and started to shake my head.<\/p>\n

\u201cah\u2026Mrs K?\u201d I began and looked over at Robert\u2026the only sign that he was awake was the little smile tuggin at the corner of his mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cyes girl?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2026uhm\u2026.that is\u2026.ah\u2026.I can\u2019t marry Robert Mrs. K\u2026.I don\u2019t know him!\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. K turned and gave me the most withering glance to date\u2026\u201dI didnae know his fadder when we wed\u2026that didnae stop us from hae\u2019ing all our bairns.\u201d She replied. \u201cIt took years\u2026but we came to love each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u2026uhmmm that\u2019s quite nice Mrs. K. \u2013 but nothing I do or say will keep Robert out of trouble and truly all I really want is to go home!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHome is it? Home? Why this is your home now child.\u201d Admonished Mrs. K<\/p>\n

\u201cnot likely\u201d I muttered under my breath \u2013 immediately beginning to make plans to get my ass outta dodge.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the sound: AC\/DC \u2013 Thunderstruck Robert made it through the 48 hour critical period. A couple of times it was touch and go and a lot of the family spent their time praying \u2013 but in the end I became … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4547,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions\/4547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}