Chapter 57: Being Helpful

Selen had successfully taken the longest shower she had in weeks. But for the past three hours, she found herself tossing and turning in her bed, unable to sleep.

She did not know if it was because of her conversation with Clancy, or because of the worry she had for Diana . After taking a dose of prescripted nerve pills, she was calm and slowly drifted to sleep. Before she fell asleep, she set an alarm to wake her up in a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Clancy had returned with Sarah and the boys. "Where is mommy?" Daniel asked no one in particular. "Sweetie, remember when I told you that your mom would be going to rest at home for a bit?" She asked him and he nodded yes in response.

"Well, she is currently doing that. Which is why we will be spending a few more minutes here with your sister. So your mum can have the house to herself" she said. "Yay!" The boys yelled at the excitement of spending more time around their sister.

They did not care if she slept all through their visit, as long as they were around her.

"Okay. Come on, let’s go wash up and then see Diana ," Clancy said to them. "Actually, Sarah can take them. Do you mind staying back for a while?" He said to Clancy. Clancy could tell that the energy had shifted and it was not the same as when he had left.

He let Sarah take them and walked to JK. "You paid the stay tab for Diana ," JK stated. Clancy nodded his head, "yes, she is my daughter" he stated.

"I know that she is. And I also know that Selen does not know about this. She would hate to feel indebted to you" he said. "But I have paid for it. And trust me when I say this, her being indebted to me is that last thing on my mind right now" Clancy said.

"It may be, but it will not stop how she will feel when she finds out" JK insisted. "Listen, I know how protective you are when it comes to Selen and the kids. But this has more to do with Diana than Selen" Clancy said.

"Okay, then you will have no problem telling her yourself then" JK said. "No, I was actually thinking that you could say that you paid it. I don’t care who takes the credit" Clancy said.

After JK confronted him, he wanted him to cover up so Selen would not try to return the money thinking it was some kind of persuasive bribe. Especially after their conversation less than an hour before.

"This is not the first time you’re doing this, is it?" JK asked Clancy. He noticed how smoothly the words rolled out of his tongue and his unchanging expression as well.

"You have done this before, helping her from afar." JK stated. He was good with people and he knew what he saw in Clancy. "Maybe, maybe not. It does not matter if I was the one who helped with the bills or if it was you. The point is that the tab has been cleared and also for the coming days" he said.

He did not answer JK’s question and that was all the answer he needed. "Maybe he was trying to atone for his sins and he takes these actions as some kind of penance." JK thought to himself as he watched Clancy walk away to meet with the kids.

As the sun began to set, Selen got up and headed back to the hospital. She called Sarah to bring them home so she could see them and maybe spend some time with them before going back to Diana ’s side.

"Mummy, you’re home!" David yelled as he ran to hug his mom. "Hey baby," she said to him and kissed his forehead. "Hey," she said and did the same to Daniel.

I thought we could eat together before I go back. What do you boys think?" She said to them as they went inside.

They both agreed and went up to change while Selen set up the table. She wanted to do it herself. She knew that Diana ’s hospitalisation would be affecting them as well. And she wanted to catch up with them, even if it was just for an hour.

When the boys came back down, they joined her in the dining room and began to eat. "So tell me, how is school?" Selen asked them when they finished eating. "Fine, my class writes a letter to Diana every day. We will keep them until she returns, so she can read them all, by herself" David said.

"Aww, that’s sweet," Selen smiled at their thoughtfulness. "Daniel, do you have anything that you would like to add?" She asked Daniel. "Is it okay to call him Dad?" Daniel asked, putting Selen in a shock induced silence.

She had not expected that question but she was going to answer as best as she could, "you are moving at your own pace, my love. You can choose to do that, but only because you want to and not because you feel you have to" she said to him.

Although it was Daniel who asked the question, David was very interested in the question and the answer Selen gave as well.

"He is nice. He said we could play baseball sometime soon" David casually said. Although she did not want him involved with her, she was happy that her boys had good things to say..

She had let him in their lives and their relationship with Clancy felt like her responsibility. So she liked knowing that they were treated well by him.

After that, they talked some more about various things that were happening in their lives and fell asleep.

After placing them in their bedrooms, she picked up the mail from the bag she carried from the hospital and sorted them out.

Some of them were invitations, some were "get well soon" cards addressed to their home, and a few from work. After sorting them by relevance, she was left with one envelope from England.

She opened it up and carefully took out its content.