“It’s so quiet here today,” I observed as my nurse, Rosetta, a stout Italian motherly woman, took the tray of food from my bedside table.
“Well, bella, it’s the middle of the afternoon. Everyone’s already at work or coming back from work.” Her dark brown eyes were gentle. “I must say, you woke up late from your nap today.”
I nodded my head and smiled, “I did. Huh. Must be all that Italian chocolate chip biscotti that you keep sneaking in for me.”
She huffed, but her eyes were lit with humor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She proceeded to move the table to the side and checked the fluid in the IV bag to the left side of my bed.
Ever since I’d oomphed and aahhed over the chocolate chip goodies that she baked for my dad, I had a sneaking suspicion that she was feeding my addiction to them. As it turned out, my Dad helped her son get into a treatment study when he was 4. She didn’t have a stable job back then, but my Dad pushed the funders for the grant to include her son especially since he met the parameters of the characteristics of the research participants.
Everywhere I went, everywhere I looked, my dad had imprints of his legacy. As his daughter, it made me extremely proud that he’s helped so many people and has done so much good.
He had to fly to Mumbai for a speaking arrangement but he’d called in early this morning to greet me with a Happy Birthday. Mom and I were eating breakfast on the hospital bed when his call patched through. Mom had a previously scheduled engagement so she had to fly to New Jersey. She’d wanted to cancel it, but I put my foot down and convinced her to go. She’d made the last-minute arrangements to leave this morning after we ate the breakfast she’d brought from a deli in downtown L.A. Then before she’d left for her flight, she promised that we were going to celebrate when she was back. She even included my dad in the invitation to which my dad said yes.
And so my birthday morning started really great.
I’m sure everyone who turned 21 was looking forward to be able to drink alcohol legally.
Me?
One of my birthday wants was to have my parents be where they were now. Happy and satisfied.
They may never get back together, but it warmed my heart that they were more than civil to each other. Where there was coldness; now there’s genuine warmth between them. Where there was blaming each other all the time for past issues (mostly the blame came from my mom’s side), now there was polite understanding.
I could go anywhere to have a sip or two or five of alcohol-infused drinks, but times like these, when my parents showed genuine affection towards each other, I couldn’t get those from any drink. And I’d rather have these moments than anything else in the world.
“Do you have any plans for the weekend?” I questioned Rosetta who was now charting on the mobile computer as she sat down on the metal chair.
“Not really.” She answered and eyed me, her brown eyes were tender, “My son wants to take me to dinner, but that’s about it.”
Her son was now twenty-three, but you could tell from the look in her eye that he’d always be a baby to her. My dad didn’t even have a clue that he’d helped her son. Rosetta was introducing herself to me as my nurse and my dad walked into the room at that time. He’d shook her hand and when he’d said his name, she had that weird look on her face, as if she was trying to place him somewhere. Then she’d asked for his last name and he’d said, “Bridges.”
Before he could finish his words, she hugged him and tears fell from her face.
Then she told us about her story – how my dad paved the way for her son to be a part of the treatment that eventually cured him of his disease. Majority of the time, my dad was just a faceless hero to families who needed medical care and treatment. He never really meets any of the participants in the clinical trials for the simple reasons that they were conducted by his staff and he was just too busy. But he was the brainchild of all of it and from the get-go, his main goal was to find a cure for every childhood disease there was. I’m sure I fueled that dedication but even when I became disease-free, he continued his quest to alleviate children’s suffering.
I lifted my head to smile at Rosetta, “That’s great. I’m sure he’ll take you somewhere special. A special lady like you deserves the best of everything.”
Her face softened, “Thank you, bella.”
“I’m just telling the truth, Rosetta.” I said, “You’re a wonderful mom.” She’s the nurse who’s been assigned to me on a regular basis and we’ve formed a bond. She often heralded me with stories of how she raised her son as a single parent and I couldn’t help but show my admiration.
She smiled again, this time her eyes were getting misty, “Bellisima, grazie. Where’s that hunky boyfriend of yours today?”
I felt my face heat up.
Webb was indeed hunky, but I was still getting used to the boyfriend part.
“He had to go run some errands.” I’m not sure what errands they were, but that’s what Webb texted me early this morning. “But I’m sure he’ll come by today.”
“He’s a good egg.” She said and with a sigh, “Not only is he extremely attractive, he’s also very attentive to you.”
I could feel my face turning red. Webb was indeed very good-looking and so attentive.
So attentive in fact that when he was here yesterday, Rosetta caught us making out. He meant to stop by for a few minutes, but it ended being an hour because once his tongue found my mouth, he didn’t want to leave.
Goodness gracious, his hands were busy exploring the front of my hospital gown when Rosetta loudly coughed to announce her presence.
Instead of showing embarrassment, Webb merely flashed a grin at her, planted a chaste kiss on my lips, and stayed the whole time Rosetta was doing her daily assessment.
When she was done, he asked Rosetta if the doctor had cleared me for vigorous exercise already.
Rosetta had raised a brow and said, “What kind of vigorous exercise?”
Webb let out a hearty laugh before saying, “The kind that makes your heart pitter patter and your body sweat a mile a minute.”
To which Rosetta put up her right pointer finger in the air and shook her head, “No, no my boy. She can’t do the fun stuff yet.” She emphasized the fun stuff which clearly meant that she thought, like I did, that Webb was asking about sex.
At that point, I wanted the bed to swallow me whole. I wasn’t prone to these types of situations from Webb. He wasn’t one to ask questions like these –
“No intendevo…” Webb started then stopped as if catching himself speak in another language. He had a sheepish smile. “Signora Rosetta, I meant when can she start walking fast? And running fast? I just don’t want her to overexert herself when she goes back home.”
My accomodating nurse raised a brow, as if to say, “yeah right” but she didn’t push. She merely said, “The doctor said that she should be back to normal activities in another week. Maybe start slow then see how she does and hopefully, she’ll be back to top shape in no time.”
The conversation had ended when another nurse came in to talk to Rosetta and when they’d left my room, I slapped Webb’s hand who was inches away from my shoulder.
“You. You did that on purpose! Walking. Running. You’re asking about sex.” I pointed my finger at him, waiting for his denial.
His denial came out in short chuckles before his phone rang. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sunshine. Clearly you’ve been cooped up here for so long that your mind has turned dirty…”
He dropped a kiss on my forehead and excused himself to take the call.
I couldn’t believe that I was wrong. I honestly thought he was asking for Rosetta’s permission on when we could do the fun stuff again.
My mouth was still slightly opened, unbelieving that I’d misjudged his question.
Before walking out, his palm covering the speaker of his phone, he loudly whispered, “I was asking about when you could run, you know. But I was also trying to ask her when it’s possible for you to sit on top of me again. Naked.”
I wanted to throw the pillow at him for making me believe that I was wrong, but he was too fast for his own shadow. He’d ran out of the room before I could even react.
“Do you need anything before I leave the room my dear?” Rosetta’s query snapped me back from recalling the playful conversation with Webb yesterday.
“I think I’m good, Rosetta.” I raised the remote control for the TV and call light, “I know you’ll answer right away if I need anything.”
“Okay, I’m gonna go check on my other patients. I’m sure they’re missing me by now.” She gave me a big smile before stepping out of the room.
I looked around the room and saw the bouquets of red and white roses on the side table, close to the window. Webb brought me flowers everyday. Today they were roses. Yesterday they were lilies. The other day, daisies.
For every day that I’d been here, he showered me with fresh blooms. At night before he turned off the lights in the room and before he settled on the chair that converted into a bed, he gave the flowers to the nurses. The nurses saw to it that the flowers didn’t go to waste, they were donated to the hospital’s flower shop who distributed them to skilled nursing facilities around the area. The idea was raised by one of the charge nurses when she saw that I had a lot of blooms in my room.
I was approaching my eleventh day here so I said yes to the idea right away.
The last thing I wanted was to have the flowers go to waste when they could be used to brighten someone’s day. I never really had flowers by my hospital bed until now. The numerous times I was in the hospital during my childhood days, flowers were prohibited in the unit that I was in because they could pose health risks to the vulnerable patients.
Since I’d been moved to another floor, after having graduated from the intensive care unit, I could receive flowers now. The flowers made me smile. They reminded me of sunshine and life.
They were tokens of Webb.
The man I loved without reservations.
He saved me from a terrible fate, and gave me the chance to see the sunshine once again.
“Ohmigawwwwd,” Dyan exclaimed in a dramatic fashion. Her hands gestured wildly and her facial expressions were enough to send me into laughing fits which I was really trying to avoid doing right now because my muscles still hurt everywhere. Laughing was the best medicine, but it sure was a chore right now.
Mario gave her an epic eye roll. “Dy, you might want to keep your voice down or we’ll get kicked out of the room.”
“Yeah, we got passes to be here and if someone’s gonna go, it’s gonna have to be you, Dyan.” Denton swiveled his chair and his green eyes teased.
“I know. I know.” Dyan admonished the two men who had come barreling through the door. I could only have a max of three visitors at a time. It was hospital policy. I was in a private room at a medical surgical unit and if you added Webb and Liam, there were five people in my room right now.
Good thing Webb offered to leave for a few minutes with Liam to talk to my nurse about something. Rosetta had already left so the night nurse was just coming in for her shift. I hadn’t seen her yet. Once they came back, there would be five again in my 300-square feet room and it would be really cramped.
Webb had managed to get an okay to have all three of my friends here. He pretty much could ask for Pluto and the nurses would give it to him. I’d seen firsthand how he operated his charm on the nurses.
Who knew that Mr. Sulky was Don Juan in disguise?
One time, he was sleeping in a small chair with his body all cramped to fit into it when the night nurse saw him struggling to stretch his legs on it. He’d said it was okay but ten minutes later, an orderly came to deliver a bigger chair that transformed into a bed. Then the nurse brought three pillows and heated blankets to boot.
Another time, he’d mentioned that the room was cold. I’d actually complained about it, but my nurse, Lyla, had forgotten about it because she was busy. When Webb asked her, in five minutes the thermostat had been adjusted from the nurses’ station and Lyla had come in to check if everything was okay, with her dark eyes focused on Webb the whole time.
I was the patient here, but Webb was the center of attention.
I wasn’t complaining but hello, people. I’m the one in the hospital bed, not him.
I’d voiced it to Webb and the man just laughed. He shrugged it like it was nothing. He did say that it might be because they were scared of him because he carried his requests with an air of command.
Air of command, my butt.
They were all flirting with him.
I was confined to my bed, but I wasn’t blind.
I’d seen the way they batted their eyelashes at him, the way they gave him their Eclipse Winterwhite smiles, and the obvious way their voices changed when they talked to him.
All in all, it was really funny though. Webb took it all in stride. He was always nice to everyone, especially the nurses who took care of me, but not in a flirtatious manner. He saved all the flirting for me.
By the time I get out of this hospital, hopefully soon, I’d be boiling in a thousand degrees of need for him.
He touched me everywhere. Some were light and innocent touches but most were purposeful and meant to make me combust. Ever since I woke up from my induced coma, he had been very affectionate towards me. A different kind of affection.
I couldn’t wrap my finger around it, but it just felt like he was trying to show more. He was touching more. Saying more. Doing more.
The vent at the top of my bed made a noise and I started to shiver.
“Do you want me to grab your blanket?” Denton stood from the metal chair. He’d come here as soon as Webb texted all three of them – Dyan, Denton, and Mario – that I was in the hospital.
“Please,” I said, feeling the cool air surround my head again and the air traveled down my light green hospital gown that wasn’t any thicker than a thin blanket.
He brought the white blanket up to my chin and I murmured, “Thanks.”
Dyan pulled out something from the red and white bag that she’d been holding on to for the past thirty minutes. “It’s not much. I didn’t have time to order anything. I just came from the airport and I rushed here as soon as I got Webb’s text…”
I couldn’t hear her excuse because my eyes were glued to the lemon raspberry truffle cake that she’d unveiled.
A spoon appeared in her left hand and my mouth was instinctively watering.
“Happy birthday, A.” Her eyes glowed with joy. “I’m happy you’re alive and well. I can’t believe those bastards did this to you. I’m sure they got their due from Webb.”
I wasn’t quite sure what Webb had told them about the turn of events. We were on a school break so everyone had gone out of town and no one had any reason to think that this would’ve happened to me.
“Thank you, Dy,” I said, watching the way Dyan had scooped a big chunk of the cake for me and I moved my right hand to take the cake-filled spoon that she was offering. I still didn’t have full range of motion with my right hand, but I was getting there. Dr. Simms had explained that I had sustained partial muscle strains that could have led to sustained contractures which meant that I would have suffered permanent deformity if Webb and Liam hadn’t arrived when they did.
The combination of the drugs in my system and the position that I was subjected to for hours all led to my present condition.
“They should get the death penalty.” Denton’s eyes flashed in anger. “I should call my mom about this.”
I hushed him. “They’re going to get justice for what they’ve done, Denton. Please don’t get your mom involved in this.” There were already too many people affected by the Colombian drug lord, who I overheard Webb when he was talking to my father, was responsible for the target on my back.
Mario quipped, “I know people who know people, Athena.”
“No please.” I was being careful not to let the cake spill on my hospital attire. “I don’t want you guys getting involved. I really appreciate you being here and whatever Webb told you, please…that’s all you need to know. I don’t even know a lot and maybe it’s bad, but I really don’t think it’s going to help make things better. There are bad people in this world and they just happened to be after my dad and now, I’m caught in the middle of all of it. The last thing I’d want is for any of you to get into the thick of it too.”
“We’re your friends, Athena.” Denton vocalized, his hands moving to the pockets of the athletic shorts he was wearing. “We’re here for you.”
“Si,”Mario said, as he put his arms to the sides and rotated his neck, he must have been out playing sports before he came to see me because he was wearing a red and green shirt that had a logo of a popular soccer team. “We want to know.”
“Ohmigawd-ness!” Dyan started to say –
“Dyan, shhh…” Denton interrupted her before she went on hysterics again. Every time the topic of me getting kidnapped was brought up, she started to hyperventilate and a few seconds later, the screaming commenced.
“Is everything okay in here?”
Four sets of eyes turned towards the man walking inside my room.
He was wearing a black jacket with jeans and his hair looked slightly damp. His question was meant for all of us, but his eyes were trained on me.
Those beautiful blue eyes.
“Yeah.” Mario spoke up, “Dyan’s just being her usual drama queen self.”
Denton sniggered, “Usual? More like extra.”
Dyan said, “Hey hey. Shut it basketballers. Excuse me while I feel traumatized from my BFF’s kidnapping. It’s not like I get a call everyday from an Ex-Navy guy who just happened to be extremely good-looking and he just happened to call himself my BFF’s boyfriend and he tells me that my BFF is in the hospital.”
She inhaled a breath. Or two.
“I mean, look. You gotta give me some time to recover from the shock.” Her green eyes started to water, and her voice was on the edge of breaking.
I held out my left hand for her and she reached for it. “Dy, I’m happy you’re here. It’s a terrible thing – what happened to me…But I’m gonna be okay. Right now, I’m just thankful that I’m here to celebrate my twenty first birthday with all of you.”
The men didn’t say anything, but they didn’t look away. They weren’t scared of the exchange of tears between two women.
After giving us a few minutes to hug each other which was a little awkward because of my position on the bed, Webb’s voice suspended the silence.
“This is probably not the place you wanted to celebrate your birthday in…” He said as he walked forward to get closer to me and Dyan.
My eyes were locked with his as he reached over my right and pushed on the call button.
“But we wanted to give you something to remember this special day by.” It was the most words he’d ever said in front of my friends, and my heart was turning to mush because Webb projected an image that was badass and alpha.
Right now, he was showing a side of him that my friends never got to see.
I caught sight of Dyan’s face and instead of tears, she was now giggling and was she giddy?
A few moments later, three nurses entered the room and they surrounded my bed.
Denton called out, “Hey.”
And Liam, as if on cue, stepped in.
He was carrying a two-tiered cake that looked like it was going to topple over in his hands.
Then the singing started.
“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you…”
My eyes teared up because there were no words for this.
If you told me, ten years ago, while I was lying on my hospital bed, readying myself for another round of treatment, that I’d make it to now – I wouldn’t have believed you.
Not because I wasn’t optimistic.
But simply because when you’d given the last drop of your energy and you had to do treatments over and over again, life got to you. Life broke you down.
Then again, if I could have foreseen my future and saw this moment…
The man who saved me looking at me with loving eyes.
My friends singing off-key with the nurses who came to help me day in and day out.
Liam who was attempting to not ruin the cake before it got to the bedside table.
I would have told my future self –
It was all worth it.
All of it.
Worth it.
“This is the best I could do,” Webb said softly as he sat by the foot of my bed, while he gently rubbed the soles of my feet.
I gave him a big smile. “It’s more than I ever wanted.”
The TV screen in front of me was showing Th
he Notebook and on the small table beside him were four shot glasses. Two still had liquid inside them.
“I can’t sneak in alcohol –“ Which he’d never do, especially since I was still on meds. “So kale, passionfruit, and banana bits it is.”
It actually tasted great.
After I’d shared the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake with my friends and the hospital staff, Liam had brought in a cooler filled with these small yummy drinks.
I thought there were fifty of them, but now we were left with four since everyone had three of four shots.
The glasses had the numbers 21 imprinted on them and a big letter A for my name.
“Today was perfect,” I said, his hands were soothing and the rubbing motions were making me feel sleepy. “Thank you for bringing my friends over.”
They’d left two hours ago and promised to visit again in the next few days. I’d told them that I hoped to be discharged soon.
“Not a problem, babe,” he mused, his large hands gently kneading my legs, and I realized that his large body was almost falling to the floor.
“Move up here,” I commanded, he couldn’t really fit comfortably on the bed, but I didn’t want him injured if he fell.
“Babe, I’m fine. Get some rest.” He shook his head and continued to massage my legs. For a bulky guy like him, he had the most gentle hands.
“Do you think I’m going to be able to go home soon?” I’d been able to get up without much help. I walked twice around the unit yesterday without relying on the IV pole to support me as much as the first few times I walked. My body still hurt, but the pain was becoming less and less. “I heard Dr. Simms talking about discharge plans.”
“I think so,” he answered, taking his eyes off the movie playing on low volume. He’d thought it was corny before, but after watching it three times, he was getting conditioned to tolerate Ryan Gosling without throwing an insult or two about his lack of backbone. I argued that Ryan had a backbone, it was just the way Nicholas Sparks wrote the novel about a man who experienced the forever kind of love.
He continued. “Dr. Simms is ninety percent cool with you leaving here in two days.”
“Two days?” My voice hitched in excitement. “I get to go home very soon then.”
His hand movements on my bare legs paused, his eyes turned darker blue, and he asked, “Where’s home, babe?”
“Wherever you are, Webb.” I didn’t even hesitate to answer. It was what’s in my heart and my mind reconciled with it. “That’s where home is.”
A saw him take a big gulp of air, his Adam’s apple visible, his shoulders relaxed. “Good.”
He hadn’t said that he loved me, but I didn’t need the words because he wasn’t a man who let his words speak for his actions.
His actions were loud, deafening, and certain.
I felt his love everywhere –
The soft brush of his rough hands on my cheeks before I went to sleep.
The tired look in his eyes because he’d spent another night talking to Tony or to Liam or to the FBI or whoever was on the phone, trying to stop the bad guys from hurting me and my dad.
The weariness that he hid when he spent another day with me here in the hospital rather than in the comforts of his home.
The control that he displayed whenever he got the call asking to describe what happened to me, to explain the events that occurred, and to relive the pain that he went through to get to me.
Love, in words, was the easiest.
I could say, “I love you” and that would be the end or the beginning of it.
But love in action was harder –
It meant spending time with your woman, watching a movie that you didn’t like on her 21st birthday.
It meant hanging out in a hospital room rather than being out there, enjoying a nice day out.
It meant being present for me, when I struggled with the pain in my body and feeling the hurt when I screamed at night because I was scared that they would take me away again.
“Webb…” I didn’t see color around me anymore but I could still smell the lingering aroma of the yummy cake and the scent of his natural manly scent.
My eyelids were heavy and I’d spent all of my energy, but I wanted to get the words out.
“I know,” I whispered, as my right hand fell on my chest. “I know.”
I did.
Even my subconscious tendered no doubts.
He loved me.
All of me.