by R. Casteel
Ron once again had tears in his eyes. “Mr. Grey,” he said, “I don’t know how to thank you properly, but I have one question. Why?”
“Nonsense my boy, as far as thanking me, I’ll give you the same answer as Mr. Randall, build your hospital and run it the way you said you would. You pledged that before God, that’s good enough for me.
“As to why? A friend of mine, who I had known for years, had his mother in a hospital. She was on Medicare with no other insurance. Because of the red tape and his inability to pay, the hospital sent her home. He was too proud to come to me for help. She died at home in pain and suffering. Now I must be going, I’ll be waiting to hear from you, soon.”
They shook hands and Mr. Grey left.
“You know,” Dad said as he sat there with his arm around Mother, “I don’t understand what is happening around us. Three weeks ago if someone had told me these things would happen to change our lives, I’d have been convinced they were deranged.”
“We have a daughter in ICU a thousand miles from home, the doctors have hinted that she should not be alive, and are amazed that she is. None of the complications they feared have shown up.
“Cynthia’s family shows up out of the blue and the next thing you know, we’re building a hospital with all material at cost and no delivery expense. I do believe I see the hand of God in all this, from a snowstorm in the Rockies to turbulence over the Pacific. Even our eating at the Pancake House the same time as Mr. Grey, cannot be explained away by mere chance or fate.”
“That statement, Mr. Randall, might be scoffed at by some, but not by me. I believe you’re absolutely correct,” Ron said. “I’m going back to see how Kristina is doing. Charles, why don’t you join me?”
They went in to ICU and Ron started reading over the charts. He studied the monitors that displayed Kristina’s life.
Every beat of her heart, every little brain wave and muscle twitch was being preserved for further study.
It was still difficult for Charles to look at her. She still had all the tubes and wires hooked up, her face was all black from the broken bone they had yet to fix but somehow in the light of what Dad had just said, he was able to leave it all in God’s hands. Something he had not been willing or able to do six years ago.
Ron was taking a long time on the charts, then Charles noticed something, he seemed to be praying. He put the chart down and stood by the bed. He took hold of her hand and spoke near her ear, “Kristina, Kristina, can you hear me?”
Charles started to say something but Ron stopped him. He was watching one of the screens over the bed.
“Kristina, I know you can hear me. You need to wake up.” Ron watched one monitor especially close. “Kristina, your family is here.”
Charles didn’t know what he was watching but the line on the screen peaked. He looked over at Ron and saw that he was smiling. Charles looked over to Kristina and her eyes were wide open.
“Nurse!”
Chapter 10
A nurse came over and immediately started making phone calls. Within minutes, the room was full of doctors.
Ron was right in the middle of it all.
Kristina’s vital signs were checked and rechecked, readings from all the screens were reviewed and the process would start all over again.
“I’m going to tell Mother you’re awake then I’ll come back. Okay?” Charles started to turn away.
She held up a finger to stop him.
“What is it, Sis?” he asked.
She looked down at her nose with her unbandaged eye, then at Charles. Pleading like she used to as a pesky little girl in pigtails.
He bent over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll check.”
She looked so small and fragile. He felt her helplessness and her frustration.
“What does she want?” Dr. Baldwinn hastily inquired.
“Can you remove the air tube?”
Ron leaned over and looked into her eyes for a moment. “She doesn’t want to wait any longer.”
The air tube came out.
Then in a voice that was broken and raspy from the ventilation tube. “Hi Charles.” She went back to sleep breathing normally, leaving all the room in wonder with only the noise of the medical equipment breaking the silence.
Charles was having a difficult time trying to understand what he had just witnessed. He told the family what had happened, they were stunned, especially after the last couple of days. Mother started crying again, this time tears of joy.
The hospital staff asked Ron to stay awhile. An hour later, he came out. “They have moved Kristina out of critical to serious condition,” he said. “I suggest you all try to get some rest and come back later. She is sleeping comfortably and when she wakes up the staff will call.”
They walked out of the hospital, thanking God for the best Christmas present they had ever received, wishing everyone they saw a Merry Christmas. It was indeed a grand Christmas.
They got back to the hotel and Steven called the office to let the staff know the good news.
Howard called the ranch to tell them all that had happened.
Charles called the lawyers and started the paperwork that would begin a new hospital.
They met in the restaurant of the hotel for an early lunch, which turned out to be another lengthy affair. They were all tired but so emotionally charged that sleep would have been near impossible.
After lunch, they called Ron at the hospital. “Kristina woke up once, asked for some water went back to sleep. The doctors see this as a good sign and are further encouraged by her progress. They have decided that with her present recovery rate she should be able to have the bone in her face repaired in two or three days.”
They went to their rooms thankful for yet for yet another good report. Charles then called a friend and family member for whom they had designed and built a home, Senator Douglas George Shaffer of the State of Texas.
“Senator Shaffer,” he said, “Charles Randall here.”
“Charles,” he said, “it’s good to hear from you. How’s your sister doing? I hear she had a hard time in surgery.”
The Senator knowing about Kristina didn’t surprise him in the least.
“She’s doing better. Kind of you to ask.”
“Charles you didn’t call to wish me a Merry Christmas I’m sure,” he chuckled. “So, what can I do for you? And while we’re in private its Doug, now I’ve told you that before.”
“Well…Doug. Here’s what’s been going on.”
He explained everything that had happened up to that point. Starting the day, he had found Cynthia.
“Charles,” the Senator said, “if I understand correctly, you’re looking for financing for a hospital to be built in Rising Star. There are no plans, no contracts, no ground on which to build this hospital. You believe…all this has happened to you and your family for the sole purpose of getting Mr. Grey, Dr. Petterson and yourself together to build this hospital. Is that right?”
“Yes sir,” Charles answered, “that’s pretty much what I’m saying.”
“Charles,” after a long pause the Senator continued, “you know that I am a God-fearing man. You also know that God has blessed me. I’ll see what further funds I can locate to build this hospital.”
“Further funds?” Charles asked.
“I’m pledging two hundred thousand dollars towards the hospital fund. The money will be in your office tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Senator…ah, Doug.”
He hung up the phone and stared at it. Cynthia came up and put her arms around him. “What’s the matter, you look confused?” she asked.
“No, I’m not confused,” he said. “It’s called shock. Things are moving so fast I haven’t had time to grasp it all yet.”
“What things?” she felt confused even if Charles wasn’t.
“Your accident, my sister’s accident and how quickly she is recovering, the plans for a hospital and now…this.”
She moved around and sat on
his lap. “What happened?”
“That phone call was to Senator Shaffer. He just gave us two hundred thousand dollars towards the hospital.”
Cynthia didn’t say anything. She put her arms around him and cried.
They got ready for bed and she gave him a kiss. “I love you Char….”
Taking her mouth in an open hot kiss, he cut off her words and swallowed them. Backing her the short distance to the bed, he forced her knees to bend and she fell backward. He broke the fall with his arms and shoulders as his mouth continued to ravage hers.
As his lips and tongue left a trail of wetness down her neck to caress her breast, Charles’s fingers fumbled with her clothes and his. Sliding her panties down her legs, he knelt on the floor and buried his face within the hot moist folds of her womanly flesh. His tongue delved deep to lick the musky dew and she arched off the bed in response.
Her clit hardened and he suckled it to even greater size. Thrashing about on the bed as the passion built, her thighs moved against his face with increased frenzy. The short cries of pleasure she uttered drove him on as he licked and sucked the flowing juices from her hot flesh.
“No!” Cynthia pulled at his hair.
“I want you…Ah!” she gasped for air. “Inside me.”
In one fluid motion, he swung her legs onto the bed and rolled her over. Straddling her hips, he slid his hard length down the crack of her butt and slid inside her throbbing core.
With each pounding thrust, her sensitive nipples rubbed against the coarse bedspread. Harder and faster, his thighs beat against her tense flesh. Grabbing the material of the spread and sheets, she held on as the force of her climax took her breath away.
The people of Los Angeles might not have been able to see the brightly shining stars in the sky, but that was okay. Not only had they seen them, but also walked among them. They had soared to the heavens and bathed within their brilliant cleansing light.
Charles collapsed beside her.
She crawled out of her sensuous lethargy to curl up by his side.
Cynthia slept, with her head in the hollow of his shoulder. He lay there thinking about her declaration of love. The physical attraction was mutual between them and he enjoyed her company, but he wasn’t ready at this point to attach the ‘L’ word to their relationship.
She was smart, attractive and didn’t panic when confronted with difficulties. Besides being great together in bed, he wanted to get to know her better as a person. In the alphabet, ‘M’ came after ‘L’. That meant permanence, something he had lost before.
Am I willing to chance losing it again? Drifting into a restless sleep, his mind continued to churn with his dilemma.
Charles woke up about six. Things had been so hectic he was starting to forget what day it was. Was it the day after Christmas…or the day after that? His hand found Cynthia’s breast. Now, here was something that wouldn’t be easily forgotten. He set aside, for now, his resolution to distance himself from Cynthia, to slow their relationship down.
They were supposed to meet everyone in the lobby at ten-thirty to go back to the hospital. He threw the covers back and slapped her bare-butt.
“Unless you’re going to the hospital like that, better shake a leg.”
She stuck her tongue out at him as she headed for the bathroom.
“Did I ever tell you that you have a very sexy ass?” he taunted with a chuckle.
“Why thank you sir, and how about the front?” She put her hands under her breasts and lifted them up higher. She rubbed the nipples teasingly with her fingers.
She watched, as his penis stirred from its nest of hair and stretched toward his bellybutton. “I take it that’s your answer?” she said pointing to his hardened shaft. With a low throaty laugh and a shake of her butt, she stepped into the shower.
He glanced at the clock and swung his legs out of bed. As he pulled the shower curtain aside, her wet soapy hand reached out and her fingers wrapped around his dick.
“Took you long enough to join me.” She stroked his hard length and felt the tremors in his body.
Running her other hand up his chest, she circled his neck and pulled his head down to seal her lips against his. His tongue sought entrance and she felt the glorious heat of him fill her mouth. Breaking the contact, she looked into his eyes.
“I like the way you kiss. We don’t have much time, I want you.” She turned around and bent over, bracing her hands on the shower wall.
The tip of his erection touched her, sliding through her covering of hair. “Don’t be a tease, Charles.”
“Ah…yes,” she moaned as he slipped past the fleshly folds of her entrance. Impatience gripped her at his slowness and she thrust her hips back against his hard thighs.
“Ohh…wow,” she dropped her head as the sensation of his filling her swept through every nerve. Cat like she purred, grinding her hips against his.
Slowly, he withdrew sending a fresh wave of pleasure radiating through her. With his hands on her hips, he savagely plunged deep inside her.
She gasped. “Oh…God, yes!”
Charles held her still as the waves of heat faded.
“You want me to beg,” she whimpered. “Don’t stop, I want you hard and fast.”
She felt the tremor of his deep sensuous laughter deep inside her womb. Unwilling to wait, she began moving, drawing away from his body. Charles pulled her hips back hard against his.
Thus began the rhythm, the game of cat and mouse. She would move away and he would pull her back. The slapping together of wet flesh drowned out the soft rain like background of the shower. Each pounding thrust carried her higher and drove a moan from her lips.
Her legs trembled, the force of her climax ripped through her.
“Ahh!” her loud cry filled the shower. Leaning against the shower wall for support she felt the heat of his release join hers, filling her with liquid fire.
Pulling away, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, feverishly seeking his mouth.
At ten-thirty, they all met downstairs. Everybody looked refreshed; Karen looked like she had just been laid. Charles caught her attention, raised an eyebrow, and smiled.
With a brazen grin and a gleam in her eyes, she winked.
Ron had left for the hospital early. Seems he was taking a very personal interest in Kristina’s welfare.
After a light breakfast and a cup of coffee in the restaurant, they headed to the hospital.
A surprise awaited them at the ICU. They were allowed to go in two at a time. Kristina was awake and talking. Although her voice was still raspy, it was noticeably stronger. Her broken arm had been set and in a cast. Ron was sitting beside the bed holding her hand. Things were looking up.
Charles figured now was as good as time as any to spring the latest bit of news. “Ron, guess who I talked to this afternoon?”
“I don’t know, the Governor of Texas.”
“You’re close,” he laughed. “Senator Douglas Shaffer.”
“Kristina, the Senator asked about you.”
“You’re supposed to call him Doug.”
“Anyway,” Charles continued, “I told him about the hospital being planned, and he has pledged two hundred thousand dollars to get it started.”
His eyes opened wide with amazement and shock. Ron looked like he wanted to run around the building, shouting the entire way.
“I…Wow!” Ron looked around the room. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I saw you on the news this morning big brother. Who was that hanging on your arm? Is there something you haven’t told me?”
“It was Ron’s sister. Cynthia flew out with us.”
“Which, still leaves the question of why she was clinging to your arm. Last, I heard you were still living like a hermit. I sense a juicy story. Come on spill it. Where did you meet and how long has this been going on?”
“Why don’t you have Ron tell you? Mother and Dad are waiting to come in.”
* * * * *
> Mom had a big smile on her face when she came out of the room. She linked her arm through Ron’s and said, “Would you be so kind as to escort an old woman to dinner.”
He looked down and smiled, as they walked out the door arm in arm.
The next day Howard said they needed to be going, Ron had patients to see, and he had to see a buyer who was coming to the ranch to look at a couple of horses.
Ron had already said his goodbyes at the hospital, earlier that morning.
Kristina was moved to the Post Operative care unit, which meant they could spend more time with her. She was taken off the drugs they had been giving her that controlled the fluid in the brain and she had been scheduled the next day for her last set of surgeries.
The doctors had decided that she was strong enough to have the bone set in her face and have her tibia pinned. Mother and Karen spent most of the day with her.
Dad and Steven spent considerable time increasing the phone bill.
Cynthia and Charles went shopping.
They strolled arm in arm through the Beverly Hills district. Window-shopped in the different stores, and watched people as they hurried to exchange gifts they didn’t want or that didn’t fit. Finding a flower shop, they stopped and ordered some for Kristina. Lunch was in a small diner where they watched a couple of movie stars trying to avoid being recognized. Later they went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon making love and swimming in the pool.
At six, they met the rest of the family for dinner downstairs.
“I’m needed in the office first thing in the morning,” Steve announced. “Karen and I’ll be flying out around ten pm.”
“I’m going to go with them,” his Dad announced, “if Charles can look after mother.”
“Now just what in tar-nation do you mean by that?” she fumed. “I am not over the hill. Charles! Don’t say a word. You’re not too big to turn over my knee. I’ll manage just fine without these two thinking they have to play nurse maid to me.”
Cynthia headed to the room while he discussed the upcoming company projects with Steven and his dad.
