Page 51 of Second Chance At Love

Henry had always understood her, Cora reflected. It was part of why she loved him.

Cora could admit that to herself now. She was slightly scared but she also knew that Henry would give her all the space and time she needed. He was patient, kind, and made her feel safe. He listened to her.

She understood now why he had left. At the time, Cora had felt like Henry had abandoned her. She had reasoned that he had given her space as a newly married bride to be with her husband, but still felt the ache of his absence. There was no way Henry could know how things had changed between her and Nate so rapidly.

Cora hadn’t known that he had loved her enough that he had to leave because it was too painful to see her with Nate. Sure, she had known Henry was interested in her, but she hadn’t known he had loved her even then.

She couldn’t undo the past, decided Cora. She could only change the present and work towards the future she wanted. She wanted that future to have Henry in it. Not in a relationship right away, she wasn’t fully ready, but someday soon.

With that warm thought, she drifted back to sleep.

It took time for Henry to be deemed recovered enough to return to Cora’s home. He had ditched the oxygen and walker but was using a cane. The physio department was making progress with his endurance and he promised to come in for numerous appointments. One of the physio people even jokedhe might make it back onto the track team if he kept up the good work.

Henry wasn’t quite that optimistic. However, he hoped to be able to do normal human things. Right now, he was seeing improvement which made him happy. Mostly he simply felt better. He wasn’t as out of breath, or as tired. It was a blessing to be on the mend.

Even though he was cleared to be home with Cora, Ben came with Max to help him into the house and get settled.

“Do you remember that time you put Michael on the billboard?” grinned Max as they all hovered while Henry made his way up the porch steps.

“You did what?” wondered Ben as he looked at Henry in concern. Ben was carrying Adam’s in his carseat and had the diaper bag.

“I was young and in college. Michael needed some fun, so I got a picture of him and put him up on seven billboards. I advertised that the city’s most eligible bachelor needed a date,” calmly explained Henry with a fond smile as Cora unlocked the door.

“He even put on there some reasons to date Michael,” mentioned Cora as she rolled her eyes. “I think one of them was ‘I’m rich’.”

“There was also ‘I open doors for ladies’ and ‘I save sea turtles’,” chortled Max.

“He did. I once had a turtle and was sneaking it into Aunt Rachel’s house and Michael caught me. He made me bring it back to where I found it,” dryly replied Henry as they all went inside.

“How do I not know this stuff about you?” wondered Ben with curiosity.

Henry shrugged. “I can’t remember what the last thing on the list of Michael’s attributes was. Anyhow, I also put Michael’s personal cell phone number on the billboard.”

“I think it was ‘I’m quiet but have a fantastic sense of humor’,” recalled Cora, tilting her head as she thought.

“He was getting thousands of calls,” grinned Max. “He honestly had no idea why until one day Michael saw one of the billboards.”

“What happened? What did Michael do?” questioned Ben. Cora took the baby and diaper bag from him.

“He pulled Henry out of class to speak with him,” responded Cora as she went to put Adam down for a nap.

“I honestly thought I might have gone a little too far that time,” sighed Henry. “He was so serious when he sat me down to talk. Michael had to get a new phone number. He made me promise to take down all the billboard advertisements. He told me that I needed to start behaving a little better and think about the ramifications of my actions. Then he smiled at me and said ‘please, don’t ever get involved in my dating life again’. At the beginning he had thought these people were applying for an open position at the Pharmaceutical company. So he told them where they could apply. The company got thousands of applications for the position of his girlfriend or even wife.”

“No,” breathed Ben in surprise.

“It was an HR nightmare,” chuckled Max. “Michael was pretty embarrassed when HR called him in to have a talk.”

Henry could well believe it. Michael was a very reserved person. Ann had helped him open up but he was still a very quiet person. At the time Henry had thought he was perhaps doing his cousin a favor. Now he realized it had been a step too far. “Thankfully he took the joke well. I had the billboards changed the next day and never pranked Michael again.”

“I can’t believe you did that,” replied Ben, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Henry will have to tell us what else he got up to some other time. Looks like you are getting tired, my friend,” mentioned Max.

“It’s been an eventful day,” agreed Henry as he led the way to his room. Ben followed him, making sure he got there safely.

“I am okay to walk around and do simple daily tasks,” dryly said Henry with a smile. “It’s okay.”

Ben shrugged. “If you need anything, I can help.”