by K. F. Breene
With effort I did straighten up, tried to stretch it out, and stopped immediately when the agony threatened to consume me. Denise was opening the windows, letting light in. She sat down in a chair set away from the other side of the bed. She noticed I was awake.
“I didn’t know they allowed you to leave your room." Her tone was frosty.
I leaned back against the chair, everything in my body moaning in pain as I did so. “They didn’t. I had to sneak and run.”
She nodded, a scowl creasing her eyes, then took up some yarn and started knitting. It looked like she was in this for the long hall, which didn’t surprise me in the least since it was her son. It seemed, though, that in her opinion “family only” did not mean fake finance. Thankfully she was too proper to rat me out. She probably thought I would pitch a fit if she told me to leave.
She was right.
I looked at William, depressed that there was no change. I got up slowly to use the bathroom. When I was through, I had a glance at myself in the mirror. I looked like a battered woman. My face was cut and scraped, like William's. My legs, too, and arms. I had intense bruising all over my torso, cut off by the white of wrapped ribs. I took a deep breath and was rewarded with something similar to getting punched in the side by a giant man wearing gold knuckles. I needed to breathe shallowly to stand the pain at all.
Back in the room I saw a stocky nurse checking William. She went about it in a quick, economical way that bespoke experience and efficiency. When she finished she saw me and frowned.
“And who are you?” she asked through firm black eyes. She had perfect olive skin devoid of makeup. Also a very stern expression.
“I am his finance,” I replied without reservation. I knew Denise would scoff if she was any other woman.
“And where did you come from?” She looked at my gown.
“Floor three, I think. They gave me a shot and hauled me that way, so when I woke up I came here.”
“Oh, you are the one Nurse Beals is filing a complaint about. It’s funny, the other nurse on duty said she didn’t see what happened. The ICU nurses said they didn’t hear the story, either. I guess it is your word against hers.” She gave me a pointed look. “What happened?”
“Oh. Well, when I woke up I asked directions. Magda wanted me to go to my room and tried to stick me with a shot of some kind. I slapped it away and ran. Well, tried to run. Then I came here.”
“Hmmm. Yes, she is prone of over acting. Well, let me have a look at you. The doctor was supposed to look at you today but you disappeared.”
I looked at Denise, which was watching the exchange.
“I don’t have anything on under this.” I tried to use a sheepish voice. Truth was, I didn't want Denise all up in my business.
The nurse turned and closed the door, then turned back to me with an almost patient, but unwavering expression.
I looked at Denise again.
“She’s a woman. She’s seen it before. Show me.” The nurse wasn’t mean about it, which made it really hard to hate her, but I wasn’t liking her all that well, either.
With a look at William, lying peacefully, looking like he got into a fight with Edward Scissorhands, I sighed and took off my gown. Denise hissed. When I looked at her, though, her face was straight. Her eyes were taking in the bruising and cuts all over my torso. Skidding across hard dirt did have its affects.
The nurse tck’ed and began checking my bandages. When she took off the one covering the horn gouge, she said, “Oh my, child.”
Denise hissed again, this time with her hand on her chest.
I looked down. It was a nasty looking black, blue and red gash in the middle of the left side of my rib cage. Around it was intense bruising.
So that was why it hurt so much.
“You need to have the doctor look at this,” the nurse said in a softer tone.
“Not unless he comes up here. I am not leaving William.”
The nurse stared at me with her expressionless black eyes. “No wonder Madga was mad at you.” She smiled to herself. “Well. I’ll see what we can do, huh? I’ll get you some better clothes to wear.” With that she turned and left the room.
I put my robe back on, slowly, and sat down wearily. My body felt like crap, my insides hurt worse from seeing William like this, and I was so fatigued I wanted to lay down on the floor and go to sleep. But I would not cry. I would be strong until he got better.
“How did you get those?” Denise asked with a slight tremble to her voice.
I looked at her in confusion. I couldn’t fathom why she would be scared for me.
I shrugged, then winced. “The bull wouldn’t leave William alone, so I distracted it. I had to get it to the gate thing where it could be locked in.”
“How?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, well, don’t tell him this, but I sorta jumped in and taunted it. I was doing it before I knew what I was doing, really. I knew what needed to be done and my body just reacted after that. It almost caught me, but my guardian angel Fred and his pack of bandits distracted the bull enough to give me time to get over the fence.”
“Then how did it get you?”
“It crashed into the fence after me and reached me through the bars. It had the advantage of being able to move the fence where I could just climb and jump it.” I laughed sardonically, the whole time still looking at William’s sleeping face.
“It must have been close.”
“It was a bit faster than me, I’ll say that much. It could really move! But the dogs got there, so no big deal. I made it. And he will make it.”
As I said the last line, I forced it out like a memorandum. I would sneak into Heaven and punch God in the face if William didn’t make it through this. I didn’t think God wanted that, so William was going to make it.
She lapsed into silence, as did I. It hurt to sit. But then, it would probably hurt to lie down, so I endured.
Stay strong.
Sometime later, it was impossible to say how long since I was trying to be dead with my eyes open, the doctor came in to check me out. Which was abnormal because I didn’t think they really veered away from their normal routine rooms. William’s nurse was damned efficient.
The doctor, in a bored tone, basically told me what I already knew, gave me some pain meds, and left. I could tell it was seriously anti-climactic for everyone but me. Rib was just fractured. Sure, that hurt like a bitch, but I wasn’t a wrestler or anything, so I just had to wait until it got better. Big freakin’ deal. Or so the doctor thought.
I threw the meds in the trash and sat down in my chair again. I needed a book. Where was my phone?
“Aren’t you going to take those? You look like you’re in pain.” William's nosey mother said form across the room, half-way through the scarf she was knitting.
“Nah. I want to have a clear head in case William wakes up. Plus, I am not overly fond of drugs. I might take some aspirin if they have it, though. I must remember to ask the nurse.”
We lapsed into silence again. More time passed. I dozed off and came to, then dozed off again.
I woke to people quietly talking. My head was against the wall and my neck was stiff…just like the rest of me. As I tried to move it, and it protested, I wanted to cry right there. I opened my eyes in self-pity and looked at William. He was still sound asleep, which was how I decided to think about him—asleep—so I rubbed my neck and looked around.
The room went quiet.
“Oh good, you’re up,” the nurse commented.
I rubbed my eyes. Adam, Tom and Denise were all watching me. I didn’t bother to notice their current emotional states because I hurt so bad I could barely move. In fact, if I didn’t have to move, I wouldn’t, but I was sitting, and my legs were numb, so a change in body posture was imminent.
“Nurse—what is your name?” I asked.
“Camille, dear.”
“Camille, do you have any aspirin?”
“Oh, now, you shouldn’t take aspi
rin with pain medication. Has it worn off already?”
“I am not a big fan of that stuff. I just need some IB Profin if this place has any. Don’t try to trick me with anything stronger.” I put a warning finger in the air.
Camille looked at me disapprovingly. “I’ll bring some in a jiff. Now, however, I need to change your bandages. Do you have that under shirt on?”
“Yes, but can the boys leave?” I aimed for demure, this time so nosey Adam wouldn't throw out an opinion. I didn't want him giving William his version of my state.
“Off,” was all the nurse said. She knew why I didn’t want to.
I sighed and gave her an evil glare.
“Now,” she said conversationally, “if you had just stayed in your room like a good girl, you wouldn’t have to go through this.”
“Still,” I muttered.
I took off the robe and rolled the tank the way the doctor had. And again came the gasps.
“Lord, Jessica.” That from Adam. Not like it should be a surprise; the guy helped fix me on the battlefield.
“Adam,” I said with warning in my voice, “If you tell William I looked like this before he is completely, and I mean completely, healed, I will make you look exactly the same. Do you understand me? You might not think me capable, so I will remind you that I am sneaky, and it will happen.”
“You shouldn’t have done it, Jess. You could have been killed,” Adam whined.
“William sacrificed himself for me once. Is it so strange I would do the same for him?” I was brooking no argument about this. Plus, if I hadn’t done anything, it might’ve been William that died, and that was a pain worse than I was currently experiencing. I didn’t think Denise needed to hear that.
“What happened, Adam?” Denise asked, quietly.
Adam sighed. He told the story. The whole thing. From how the bull reacted to how I jumped in and waived my shirt, getting the bull to chase me. How I leapt over the fence but still got the horn.
Apparently, I had moved so fast into the ring, and then with such determination to get out, no one knew how to help. They didn’t know what to do. All they could do was stare in horror as the bull chased me down.
“I thought it had her.” Adam shook his head. “I was in the ring by this time trying to get Willie stable, but I thought it had her. It was so close. Then those dang dogs came outta nowhere. I swear that Fred really likes her. He came running faster than the wind. He took a huge leap and reached near the top of that bull pen, Ginger right behind him, scrambled over, then the rest of them dogs followed suit. It was the craziest sight I ever seen. I didn’t know them dogs could jump so high.”
If he had ever listened to William drone on about them he would have.
“Just as that big bull was about to run Jessica down, those dang dogs tripped it up. Bitin’ at its head, legs, anythin’. They ain’t no cattle dogs, so they didn’t know where to bite exactly, but they jumped up at it and ran in front of it and the whole bit. Slowed it down enough for Jess to do a Superman leap over the fence. It got her, though. I saw her fly ten feet through the air after the dad-gum bull crashed into the fence.” He shook his head, looking at me.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat. I would have done it faster had I known the danger he was in sooner.”
“Madness,” Tom muttered.
I shrugged. Then winced.
“Women never get enough credit for heroic deeds,” the nurse said nonchalantly as she was doing up fresh bandages. I stubbornly nodded my assent.
Two more days passed in that way. I didn’t go into work, and didn’t really care if I got fired. I told Tom as much with an apology. He brought in a work laptop and said I could do most of it from here, and needed something to do anyway. That was fine with me.
Lump brought me clothes. She said she would have done it earlier, but the hospital had no record of me since I “snuck out,” and she had to get Adam to bring it all. Not being family, she didn’t want to intrude.
I still hurt so bad it was almost unbearable. My body hurt just sitting still, so moving to get more comfortable was out of the question. When it got too much I looked at William and leaned back against my uncomfortable chair. His pain overruled mine, and I was able to stay strong. Barely, but I managed.
At night I would lie in the rollaway bed they brought in, or just rest my head against his bed, put my hand in his, and sleep in the chair. Being in the bed meant I wouldn’t be right there when he awoke, so I only used that option when the pain was suffocating. The only other time I left his side was to go to the bathroom. Everything else was brought to me by whoever was visiting at the time.
Everyone was worried. William didn’t seem to be getting any better. He didn’t show improvement. Everyone but me. He would come around when he was ready. I felt it, and I told everyone this. I was so sure about him nearly there that even though they thought I was in denial, they allowed themselves to believe. To hope. His mom especially.
By this time she was my biggest fan. Her and I kept vigilance. Often she stayed late into the night, falling asleep in her chair. When she woke up with a stiff neck, she would kiss William, then to head home for a few hours’ sleep. She’d come back early with breakfast.
On the fifth day my bandages were taken off and left off. The nurse was worried about me, but said nothing except that I needed to remember to apply my salve every day for the bruises. I looked like a piece of abstract watercolor.
At the end of that day Denise, who was leaving for the night, bent over to kiss me on the head. She patted me softly and left without a word. I laid down my head, put my hand in his, and closed my eyes.
It seemed like ten minutes later that I felt a weird feeling. My brain, foggy and confused, pulled back sleep for a second to take inventory. All I felt was the pain radiating through my body. Letting the veil of sleep fall once again, I drifted--until my hand was squeezed!
My eyes snapped open, meeting a pair of beautiful blue peepers as deep as the universe. My heart started thumping. The pain in my body lifted immediately, numbed by my surprise and joy.
“William?” I asked tentatively through the darkness. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming.
“Hi, love.” His voice was hoarse through non-use, but it was him!
I put both my hands on his. He squeezed again.
“How long was I out?” he asked.
“Long enough to get some healing done. You are going to be okay.”
“That’s good. I don’t feel that great.”
“No. It’ll take time.”
“Did that bull just give up finally?”
I didn't even hesitate. “He did, yes.” It was the truth. Ish.
“Didn’t expect it from that one. Guess my dad was right.”
“Shhhhh.” I rubbed his arm.
“I love you, Jessica. I dreamt of you. I knew you were here waiting for me.”
I took a ragged breath, keeping my tears in check. “Of course I am here.”
His head still pointed at me, he closed his eyes again. When his breathing grew steady, I laid my head back down and went back to sleep, too. I thought about staying up, but then I would look terrible for tomorrow. William needed me strong, and I could only do that with sleep.
Chapter Ten
I awoke to a pair of ocean-oasis blue eyes looking at me. I had straightened up painfully, as usual, and looked at him, also as usual. It was then I saw him focused on me with a warm smile playing across his face.
“You are so beautiful Jessica. My angel.”
I didn’t really feel beautiful, but I smiled back. Before I could get two words in, the night nurse walked in on her last stop before her shift was over, and saw his eyes open.
She exclaimed, “Mr. Davies! You’re awake. Welcome back, young man.”
“Thanks.” His eyes returned to my face.
“I’ll just let the doctor know,” she said with a smile.
“I need to let your family know, William," I said, not moving. "Your mom wo
uldn’t forgive me if I didn’t. She’s not due to come in for another two hours.”
He nodded, eyes unwavering. I got my phone and sent a text out to everyone. I didn’t feel like calling. They would be by the phone anyway, so they didn’t need to hear my voice.
I went back to sit by William.
“Do you want to climb up here with me?” he patted the bed.
“I shouldn’t, baby. There isn’t much room there. You need space.” And it would hurt unreal bad.
He nodded.
We didn’t say much to each other, but he continued to stare. He would close his eyes for a while, then open them again, going right to me.
It wasn’t long before Denise and Tom came rushing in. As soon as Denise saw his eyes open, she gushed, tears falling. She ran over and kissed his face, bending over the bed, smothering him as mothers do.
Easing my hand out of his, I intended to move away for some family time.
“No, Jess.” William's voice was panicked.
I nodded and kept hold of his hand. His parents didn’t seem to notice.
Adam came in next and let out a big sigh of relief when he saw William’s eyes. He stood beside me and looked down on his buddy, so close they might as well be blood.
“Good to have you back, Davies,” Adam said with a grin.
William smiled, spared him a glance, then returned to me. He gave me a wink before leaning back against the pillow and closing his eyes.
“When did he wake?” Denise asked.
“He woke up once in the night for about five minutes. Then when I woke up this morning he was looking at me. I texted you all when he would let go of my hand.”
Denise nodded and looked at him again with tears in her eyes. Everyone was so relieved. Camille came in and congratulated everyone on the great news. She came up to me, as she had every day about this time, and raised her eyebrows.
“No Camille, I’m fine.”
“No Jessica, you will be checked until I deem you fine. Your shoulder is still not healed like it should be since you have been sitting in that God-forsaken chair these last five days. Neither is your rib healing as fast as it should.” Eyebrow raise.
