“Want to hear some of the office dirt?”

“No.” She lay in her cast and closed her eyes, and he watched her, praying that she wasn't getting sick. It seemed a long time before she opened them again. And when she did, she looked angry, and he saw that there were tears in her eyes again.

“What's up, babe? Come on, tell Papa.” He sat down in a chair next to the bed and took her hand.

“The night nurse… the one with the funny red wig…” The tears slowly spilled over. “She said that when I go home…” Sam gulped down a sob and squeezed his hand, and as she did it Charlie was grateful that she could. “She said I'm not going home… that I'm just going to another hospital… in New York… oh, Charlie,” she wailed like a small child, “is that true?” He looked at her, wanting to hug her, like one of his children, but there was no way to put one's arms around the huge plaster cast or her surrounding machine, all he could do was hold her hand and gently touch her face. He knew he had to tell her the truth.

“Yeah, babe, that's true.”

“Oh, Charlie, I want to go home.” She sobbed in anguish and then winced at the pain.

“Don't do that, silly, you'll hurt yourself, but it's all right to cry. Just keep it down.” He tried to tease her, but inside he was sad at what was happening. For Sam, it was the beginning of a long, difficult road she had only just begun to travel. Her old life had ended in the flash of an instant, at the feet of a gray horse. “Come on, Sam, just getting back to New York would be a step in the right direction, wouldn't it?”

“I guess so.”

“Sure it would.”

“Yeah, but I want to go home. I don't want to go to a hospital.”

“Well”-he grinned at her lopsidedly-“at least we know you're not crazy. But okay, so you have to go to a hospital for a while, so what? I'll be able to visit you, and Mellie and Harvey and whomever else you want…”

“Not my mother!” Sam rolled her eyes and laughed through her tears. “Oh, shit, Charlie, why did this have to happen to me?” The smile faded, and the tears began in earnest again. For a long time he just sat there and held her hand, and then he said the only thing he knew to tell her.

“I love you, Sam. We all do. And we're right here with you.”

“You're such a good friend, and I love you too.” It made her cry more, but the nurse arrived then with her lunch.

“I hear you're leaving us, Miss Taylor. Is that true?”

“I'm trying to.” She smiled at Charlie. “But I'll be back. Under my own steam next time, just to visit!”

“I sure hope so.” The nurse smiled and left the room, as inwardly Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment he had been terrified that the nurse would give something away when Sam said “under my own steam.”

“So,” she looked at Charlie, sipping at some soup, “when are we going home?”

“Does Saturday suit you, or do you have other plans?” He grinned at her, immensely pleased. She was trying. Oh, God, she was trying.

“No, Saturday sounds okay to me.” She was smiling as she looked at him, and he couldn't, help thinking that the doctor had been right. When she was ready to know something, she would. He just wondered when she would be ready to face the rest. “Yeah, Saturday sounds just fine. What hospital am I going to, Charlie?”

“I don't know. Do you care?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“I'll find out.”

“Try for Lenox Hill. It's in a nice neighborhood, and it's near the subway. That way everyone I want to see will be able to come visit.” She smiled softly. “Maybe even Mellie.” And then, “Do you think she could bring the baby?”

There were tears in Charlie's eyes when he nodded. “I'll sneak her in under my coat and tell them she's yours.”

“She kind of is, you know…” She looked embarrassed. “Kind of… after all, she's got my name.” He bent over and kissed her forehead then, there was nothing more he could have said in answer without bursting into tears.

26

Charlie held his breath when the plane left the Denver airport on Saturday morning. They had Sam's orthopedic surgeon with them, as well as a young resident, two nurses, a life-support unit, and enough oxygen to blow them all the way to South America, but Samantha was slightly sedated, seemed very relaxed, and was excited to be going home. The doctor seemed pleased with her condition and had made all the necessary arrangements both at Lenox Hill Hospital and with an ambulance unit that would be waiting for them at the airport when they arrived. In addition they were getting special clearance all along their route and were making themselves known to air-traffic control from sector to sector. If Sam had suddenly needed help they couldn't provide in the air, they could have come down almost anywhere along the way at a moment's notice. Everything that could have been thought of had been, and all that remained now was to fly safely back to New York.