Carl the physical therapist tried Al on a walker today, and before he knew it he was scooting around the ICU.

It was astounding how fast he was progressing. He felt stronger every day, now that he was getting real food in him. At this rate they'd be looking to send him home and free up the hospital bed. He was going to the bathroom on his own with confidence, taking the handholds just in case; that was usually a sign that he'd be able to finish resting at home. The only question was how his head was healing up. He wondered how it looked under the bandages.

He was just finishing up another circuit of the ICU, waving at the nurses at their station as they cheered him on, when he noticed an older gentleman in an Oxford shirt and khakis under an open coat, looking at the names on the board outside his room. When the man noticed him, he straightened up and looked at him closely.

"Al," he said.

"Hello," Al said.

"Al, it's Richard. Your uncle."

Of course it was. The man was basically himself with white hair and more wrinkles, but he was still a handsome man.

"Hello," he said. "I take it my mother called you and let you know I was here?"

"She did," he said. "For the love of God, I hadn't heard her voice in years, not since Charles' funeral. It was a good thing Linda was away at the time and we could talk, because her revelation floored me."

"It did a number on me too." He didn't bother to mention that his revelation came to him from his father's ghost while he was in his coma.

They stood looking at each other for a minute before Al said, "I should probably sit down. Did you want to come inside?"

"Sure." He still looked shell-shocked, and Al felt a little sorry for him.

Richard opened the door and Al wheeled himself inside. He sat, arranging his hospital gown to cover himself up. 

"How are you feeling?" Richard asked. "I heard you were in an accident."

"Yes. I was in a coma for a few weeks. I'm up and about, now. Feeling pretty good."

"That's good to hear."

They both stared at each other for another minute before Richard said, "There's no handbook for this, is there? What to do when you find out the nephew you haven't seen for most of his life turns out to be your son?"

Al chuckled. "No, I suppose there isn't."

"I guess in hindsight it all makes sense now, why Charles never wanted us in the same room together. We weren't close but I never meant to hurt him."

"Were you and Mom in love?" Al asked, more directly than he'd intended.

He smiled sadly and said, "I don't know if our feelings ever progressed that far, simply because we were never free to let them. We only got together once, but I suppose once is all it takes."

Al nodded. "Thanks for coming here and reaching out, at least. I know this must be hard."

"It would be harder on Linda. I can't break her heart now. It was my one and only slip-up, and she shouldn't suffer for something that happened nearly fifty years ago."

"I agree. I think for everyone's comfort we should just keep this between you, me and Mom. Your wife and kids don't have to know. I'm not looking to make any new brothers and sisters, nor do I want a share of your estate."

Richard chuckled. "It wouldn't be much anyway. My children are much more successful than I am."

"Will you tell me about them? I'm not even sure I know all their names."

Richard smiled, relieved to be able to discuss a safe topic. "There's Richard Junior, my eldest son, he's fifty-five, now, and owns a vineyard in the Okanagan. He has two boys of his own, both in college. There's Daphne, my eldest daughter, she's fifty-two and a director of a charitable foundation for a library--"

"Which library?" Al asked, surprised.

"Vancouver," Richard said, surprised by his interest.

"I work at VPL," he said in amazement. "I'm not in the same department as she is, so we wouldn't interact, but... wow... I have a half sister working in the same organization and I didn't even know it."

Richard's face fell. "You did say you wouldn't try to reach out to them, right?"

Al nodded. "Yes. The last thing I want to do is distress them, since we're virtually strangers."

"Okay. Now, where was I? She doesn't have kids, but I think she's in a partner relationship with another woman, she doesn't like to discuss such things with me. Then there's Jason, my youngest son, he's forty-eight and a hedge fund manager downtown. He has a wife and two daughters, but I'm afraid he's taken after me and had an indiscretion with another woman, and his marriage might be on the rocks."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Al said, remarking to himself that this was the most common scenario where adultery was involved, that what he had with Rachel and Lauren, and Joe, apparently, was rare.

"Yes. Then there's Marie, my youngest daughter. She's about your age, what are you now...?"

"Forty-seven."

"Yes, that's about right... this is why Linda can never know. She was carrying Marie when Gladys and I..."

Al cleared his throat. "I see. Does she have kids?"

"Just one, a son. She divorced and is a single mother now."

"Again, I'm sorry."

Richard blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I should ask about you. Are you married? Kids?"

"I'm married. My wife's name is Rachel. We adopted two teenage children we'd been fostering back in September, Logan and Emma."

"How wonderful," Richard said, smiling warmly. "Were you not able to have your own?"

Al cleared his throat and was glad Rachel wasn't here. "It wasn't that. Rachel and I only married a few years ago. We didn't think we'd have the energy to raise children from infancy."

"Ah, say no more." Richard's eyes made the tiniest glance down at his watch.

Al saw the look and said, "I won't hold you here any longer if you need to go, but could I see you again, maybe when I'm out of here? Rachel would like to meet you; neither of us got the chance to have our dads at our wedding, and I think it would be nice for her to meet her father-in-law, plus you can meet the grandkids."

Richard looked uncomfortable at that, but he said, "I'd like that, yes. It would have to be while Linda's away, I hope you understand; I had to make up a story for where I was going today, just so she wouldn't know."

"Of course. I think this is going to take some time for both of us, getting our heads around this."

"Indeed." He reached into his pocket and drew out a business card, which he handed to Al. "I'm retired now, of course, but all my contact information is the same."

He looked at the card and glanced up at Richard in surprise. "You were also a psychologist?"

"I was," he said with a sheepish grin. "Charles specialized in the treatment of children, while I dealt with adults."

"Huh. Family affair?"

"Charles was my younger brother, and he kind of idolized me when we were younger. He followed me into the discipline because he didn't know what else he wanted to do, and wound up having a productive career and a good reputation with children." He sighed ruefully. "This is why my indiscretion with your mother was such a betrayal for him; he'd taken Gladys to meet the family because she was beautiful, and he was so proud of his achievement because he was normally such a shy man, uncomfortable with women even though he was good looking. Gladys and I connected immediately, and even though I was already with Linda at the time, we weren't married yet, and if either of us were braver we might have broken it off with our respective others and gotten together."

Al stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "It's odd. The man I knew as my father was never warm to me, and I always resented the attention he paid to the children in his care, wondering why he would never give me the same. Knowing what I know now, and hearing what you just said, I can't help feeling sorry for him."

Richard nodded sadly. "He wasn't a bad man, just very wounded, and I regret never having made any inroads toward a reconciliation before he died."

Al sighed and offered his hand. Richard took it and shook it firmly. "What do you think he would say if he could see us now?" Al asked.

Richard burst out laughing and said, "Nothing good, I imagine."

"Thanks again for coming," he said. 

Richard gave him one last smile before leaving. 

Al sat watching the door close behind him, then sat staring at the door for a long time. Richard's visit was completely unexpected, but he was happy he came. The man might have been uncomfortable at this first meeting, but he had a feeling he would warm up next time, especially if Rachel were in the room; she had a knack for brightening any occasion. And Al just knew he would love Emma if he met her; the man had four children, so he must have liked children, and aside from the one slip-up that conceived Al, the realities of a large family hadn't driven Richard and Linda apart. Emma's cheerfulness and lack of guile would charm him for sure.

It suddenly occurred to him that he wanted Richard to like him, to be proud of him, even. Maybe he didn't want to call Richard Dad and have him call him Son, but his muscle memory for seeking paternal approval had never disappeared, it seemed, so seldom had it been forthcoming from the man he'd called Dad all his life. He needed to make sure he didn't make a jackass of himself in front of Rachel and the kids if Richard met them next time.

Suddenly he wanted to walk again. He didn't feel tired yet. This must be another good sign. He used the walker to help him stand up, then carefully opened the door. He made another circuit of the ICU, and as he neared the hallway leading to another wing of the hospital (he wondered if he could venture even farther than this one,) he noticed Joanie walking down that hallway toward him. 

She stopped in her tracks when she saw him and brightened. "Look at you!" she said. "Already walking?"

Al shrugged, but he realized he was smiling goofily. Joanie could be rather charming herself. "With help," he said. "It was harder yesterday, but I had Rachel helping me a little."

"Oh. She came yesterday?"

"Of course. She's my wife."

Joanie nodded uncertainly. 

"I'm pleased you've come to see me again," he said, "but I don't know if I want to be your sounding board for complaints about Rachel again."

She sighed in resignation and said, "I came because I was off work but didn't want to go home. It's lonely without Joe there, now."

"I'm sorry."

"I thought, if your mother had come by, I could give her another ride home again. We have some nice conversations on the way."

Al smiled. "You're very nice for doing that. When I'm up and about, I'll do anything in my power to repay you."

She waved that off. "It's no trouble, really. It's on my way."

"On the contrary, it's a great kindness. I know Mom really appreciates it. You've filled in as a sort of surrogate child for her while I've been in here, so don't be surprised if she invites you in for coffee one night."

She chuckled and shook her head. "What have I gotten into? I barely get along with my own mother, how will I deal with two?"

He burst out laughing as he wheeled himself back to his room. She followed and opened the door for him. When he sat down, making sure not to flash her as he did, she said, "She told me about Agnes last time. You were almost engaged?"

He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I was smitten."

"Why didn't you follow her to the Okanagan?"

"Did Mom tell you about Dad getting sick?"

"Yeah. Still, I'm surprised you didn't try to make it work."

"If anyone's to blame, it's me. Call me a Mama's boy, but I couldn't leave my mother, not after Dad died, and I knew I would have to if I wanted to be with Agnes. She moved on, though. She married and had a family."

"Huh." 

She looked pensive, and Al asked her, "What is it?"

"Well, it's just... her husband... I think he's working at my detachment."

"Yes. Lauren told me she followed him from Queensborough, where Tej was showing him some properties, back to Langley, where he's renting an apartment. She discovered someone else was following him too, and ended up following both of them to your detachment."

Joanie nodded. "I know. Joe texted me the details Lauren got of the car that followed him."

"Ah. And?"

She blinked in surprise. "And what?"

"Did you talk to Joe?"

She shook her head stubbornly. "I'm not ready yet."

"Oh. Okay."

"But I feel like I have to convey some information I discovered, which I don't think you all know yet."

"Oh! Is that another reason you've come to see me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I just like talking to you. You don't have any emotional hold on me, not like Joe and Lauren. We don't owe each other anything. You're a disinterested third party, almost like a shrink."

Al chuckled. "Well, my dad was a psychologist. Maybe my talent for getting people to open up is genetic." He realized this was true now no matter which of the two brothers he called his dad.

"Ha!" she said.

"So, what did you discover?"

"So, yesterday I was in Langley City, in the Willowbrook Mall area, at the scene of a big accident that had shut the whole area down--"

"Oh, wow, really?"

"Yeah, and I was getting ready to shadow a fellow officer, because he's leaving soon and I'm filling in for him as media relations officer for the detachment--"

"You are?!" he interrupted, surprised. "Are we going to see you on TV?"

She sighed and said, "Yeah. I'm still nervous about it."

He shook his head in amazement. "Huh. I now know someone who's on TV."

"Anyway, while I was getting ready, checking out the scene, I discovered one of the cars involved in the accident was the same car that was following Patrick, that's the husband's name."

He felt his jaw drop. "Holy cow, what do you think that means?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was just an accident and entirely coincidental, but I don't know. I went to Langley Memorial Hospital with the detectives investigating the accident earlier today to talk to the people in the car, because they were injured so bad they had to be hospitalized."

Al sat up in excitement. "You did? What happened?" 

"Well, they were recovering from surgery and mostly out of it. There were two of them, both men. They were rather cagey with us knowing we were police, but they did admit they'd encountered an aggressive driver on the road before they ran into that light pole. They gave the description and plate number of the vehicle, and when we ran it, we discovered something troubling."

"What?" he asked breathlessly.

"The truck belonged to one Patrick Marinville."

"Holy shit!" Al nearly shouted, remembering just in time to keep it quiet for his roommate in the other bed. "What do you think it means?"

Joanie sighed and shrugged. "The thing is, Patrick clocked in for duty last night, and never once did he mention he'd been involved in an aggressive driving situation that caused that mess. Maybe he was embarrassed, or maybe he didn't want to get in trouble because it happened while he was off duty. We can't ignore this information, though. He could face discipline for not reporting this."

"I see. Could he be arrested?"

"That I don't know yet. There's one other thing, though."

"There's more?!" he exclaimed. "This keeps getting better and better."

She smiled sardonically and said, "I'm glad you're entertained."

"Sorry. It gets kind of boring here without a TV. What more did you find out?"

"The car those two men were driving. The plates were reported stolen five days ago. In Kelowna."

"Jackpot!" Al said. "His past is coming back to haunt him."

"It could be a coincidence. We'll know more once we run the IDs of the two men, see if they have criminal records."

"Still, this is incredible, Joanie!" he said, feeling more excited than he'd been in all the time since he'd emerged from his coma. Well, maybe seeing Agnes' face as soon as he woke up was amazing, but this... this was that old tingle coming back, the LSDC bug that many times in the past had led to mysteries solved and danger faced. Maybe the danger wasn't so great (it had sent him here, hadn't it?), but the one usually came with the other, and at least in this instance he was in the position of being a spectator, having only just graduated to a walker. There was no way he was getting involved in the intrigue involving his ex-girlfriend and her maybe ex-husband, but just hearing about it was enough to brighten his mostly monotonous existence here in the ICU.

"It is," she said, "but I probably went against procedure by telling you about it. This remains confidential, okay?"

"But... but you need to tell Lauren, don't you?"

Her brow furrowed. "Do I?"

"She gave you the plate number. She should know what's going on. Then there's Sunny."

She blinked in surprise. "Sunny? What does he have to do with it?"

"He's representing Agnes in divorce proceedings. Shouldn't she know if her ex is going to be liable for damages resulting from this accident?"

She sighed in frustration and said, "Okay, fine, I'll tell Sunny. He's a lawyer, right? He's bound by confidentiality, so he won't go blabbing."

He stared at her for a moment before saying, "You really don't want to talk to them, do you. Lauren and Joe."

"No," she groaned, kneading at the bridge of her nose.

"Look, you just said earlier that it was lonely in your house without Joe there."

"Because he moved out. If we could rewind back to a few weeks ago, before I found out about Rachel, I'd be happy."

He shook his head in wonder. "What is it about her that you find so threatening? She's smaller than you, and she can't bench press me like you probably could."

She shook her head dismissively. "It's not her physical attributes I'm worried about. She and Joe have this weird relationship that stretches all the way back to when they were kids and they wanted to marry each other. It's inside baseball, and I can't compete with it."

Al frowned. "Joe and Lauren have that same relationship, they are in fact married, and yet you seem to have less of a problem with Lauren."

"Because Lauren was good enough to share him with me. Rachel's the other woman, don't you see?!" Her eyes had that crazed look again, and Al could see a situation where she could do great violence if she didn't control herself.

"Okay. Okay," he said, hands raised in placation. "I think I can see where you're coming from. Believe me, it gives me no pleasure to picture them having sex."

"You get your own back though, don't you. You get Lauren, even if most of the time it's been without Joe's consent. What do I get? I have to stand by and watch the love of my life get his jollies with the woman he probably would have married if it weren't for Lauren..."

Al was horrified by what she'd just said, and even more horrified to see tears in her eyes. "Wait," he said, "did you just say love?"

She furiously wiped her eyes and said, "Fuck. Yeah. We weren't supposed to say it to each other outside my house, but we've said we love each other."

Al thought it amazing that love seemed to be blooming everywhere, when the arrangements they'd all made forbade it. "I don't know what to say," he said. "I'm sorry. This has gotten more serious than we'd all predicted."

"Is it any surprise?" she asked, flinging her hands up in frustration. "He lived with me for a few months. He nursed me back to health. How could we not have a connection?"

"If it makes any difference," he said, "I really don't think they're going to make a habit of getting together. I confronted Rachel on it, and she admitted that it happened, but she wasn't looking to repeat it, because she wasn't in love with him, it was just physical, an itch to scratch."

She huffed and said, "Well, she would tell you that, wouldn't you. You'd just confronted her with what I'd told you."

She had a point, and now he was worried.

Thanks for reading this far! Lots of revelations in this chapter, from two different sections of Al's life. If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If anything about hospital environments doesn't ring true, leave a comment and let me know; I strive for authenticity.

To return to Tej and her new client, and an eye-opening offer she makes to Lauren, click on "Continue reading."