by Carol Jean
“Shower,” she whispers back. He squeezes her hand that’s starting to tremble. She can’t see anything. Nothing. She can feel her eyes move and open and close, because it hurts some. Nothing.
“Relax Judy; I’m sure you can’t see anything. I didn’t expect you to see. It’s like building a fire. It thinks about burning before it starts to burn. I’m going to put a light in your eyes to check for reaction.”
She can’t tell if he does or not. All she can feel are his fingers holding her eyes open. Another doctor, takes his turn and then another.
“Okay, that’s enough for today. Melissa is going to fit you for glasses. We’ll talk later.” He leaves and she hears two other people leave with him.
Melissa’s chattering and it’s annoying. Simon is very tense and she can smell his fear that she’ll be blind forever. When Melissa leaves Judy hears stressful voices outside the room.
“Not yet. Let me work with her. We’ve just started. If you go in she won’t have any chance.”
It’s Steven’s voice. He’s fighting for her?
Melissa comes back in and she hears Dr. Snider, “Two weeks, no more.” Annoying Melissa keeps chattering away like getting these heavy and probably ugly glasses are the coolest thing in the world. Steven is fighting for her.
She and Simon haven’t said anything, they’re just holding onto each other. When she’s put back in her bed and it’s quiet, Simon lays his head over her arm. She pulls her hand away and strokes his head.
“I’ve never felt your hair before. It’s really thick and feels good on my fingers. I love the color. Your hair is like black velvet.” She’s running her fingers through it when the door opens loudly.
“Okay, Deidre and I will work with you three times everyday. Since I can’t trust you to tell me when it gets to be too much, Simon I’ll need you to be present. First session today is in one hour.” He stomps out.
“Simon, why does Steven run a boxing club if he’s a doctor?”
Simon wraps an arm around her waist and lays his head on her stomach. She continues to stroke his hair and then his neck and shoulders. “You’re very strong and have great muscles. You feel stronger than you look in a suit. Do you workout?”
“I work with Steven about five times a week after he closes.” He mumbles into my stomach and it tickles.
“What do you do?”
“Run, weights, box.”
“Like me!”
“Steven kept talking about this girl he was training and how good she was doing. He once said that if he put her and me into the ring, she’d knock my lights out. He called her Judy. That was the first time I knew it was you.”
She felt Simon turn his head and look at her while still lying on her stomach. “Those glasses are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I didn’t think anything could be ugly if you were wearing it.”
She laughs knowing that her instincts were right and then spends the next few minutes, feeling his face memorizing every line and shape and fitting it to his picture in her head. When she traces his lips, he opens his mouth clamps down on her finger and sucks it.
“Simon!” She feels him bite down with his teeth. It doesn’t hurt but it ignites something deep in her belly. Simon quickly lets go of her finger and holds her hand close to his face. She can feel his breath.
“I make you quiver, Judy. That’s what you do to me, every time I see you. Kind of hurts doesn’t it?”
“Yes but it’s a good hurt. What does it mean Simon?”
He laughs kissing her hand. “It means my lovely Judy that I turn you on.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Simon tightens his arm around her waist and kisses her stomach. She can feel it through her bedspread, sheet and hospital gown.
Chapter 24. Simon Truths
“That’s enough. Judy’s had enough.” Simon is upset with the trembles he feels in her body and the sweat that is pouring off her.
Steven and Deidre stop immediately and Steven spends the next ten minutes taking care of her, checking vitals and inserting a short drip of muscle relaxant and a cool drink of something sweet and citrus.
“This is delicious, why couldn’t you have prepared this for me instead of all that green/gray sludge?”
“Different need, different drink. I made that for what you need now.”
“Thank you.”
“Go to sleep. We’ll be back in four hours.” Deidre kisses her forehead, Simon’s cheek and they’re gone.
“Simon go home, take a long hot shower, check your emails and make the calls that are worrying you. I feel fine and I’m getting sleepy, please go and take care of yourself and business. I feel guilty and I don’t like it. It’s causing me to stress. But come back in four hours, please.”
“I don’t want to leave you. It’s seems reckless.”
“Will you bring me something chocolate?”
“How about something cold and chocolate.” Simon seems to be getting into the creativity for new and different confection surprises for her.
“A sundae would be great, but hold the chocolate covered cherry. I was so angry over the one you sent me that I don’t want to remember it.”
“What are you talking about?” Simon’s upset.
“After the Sunday deli thing, you sent a huge sundae with a chocolate covered cherry on top. Your innuendos and the smirk on your face when I left, you looked mad. I figured you were getting back at me by insulting me for being a virgin. I opened the box on my desk and I almost shot it. I even had my gun out.”
Simon launches off the bed. “Is that what you thought?”
She doesn’t know what she said to get this angry reaction and then he’s in her face. She hears his anger even though his voice is low.
“Judy, for one I didn’t order the chocolate covered cherry, the guy who made it must have put it there. It seems reasonable that a cherry tops a Sunday and since my instructions were that everything had to be chocolate that was his solution. Secondly, I think its precious that you’ve never made love and will give yourself to only the person you fall in love with and want to marry. You don’t think much of me do you?”
Her voice is filled with tears and shame for her huge and apparently incorrect assumption. “We don’t know very much about each other, do we?”
Simon laughs and his voice softens to nearly a whisper. “No and may I remind you that it isn’t my fault. We’ve never communicated for more than four minutes at a time. How many times did I invite you to dinner and conversation, a play, a movie and a walk in the park? You decided who I was and decided I was a despicable womanizer without ever taking the time to know me. No, I guess we don’t know very much about each other, but I know I love you and as vulgar as it sounds I’m happy that I finally have time to get to know you now because you’re hurt and can’t get up to runaway from me.”
Simon sits back down on her bed and gently moves her head to his shoulder. “Go to sleep lovely Judy. I’ll only leave after you go to sleep.”
She opens her mouth to talk and his finger on her lips stops her. “Shhhh. Go to sleep.”
She’s only allowed in the wheelchair for a few minutes at a time, but Nurse Becky begged the doctors to let her get a shower. Carefully wrapping her casts and bandages, Becky used a hand-held shower head to wash her hair and let hot water run over her back and shoulders. She brushed her teeth as long as she wanted to. It was the best shower she’d ever had.
“Your handsome boyfriend left this with us to give you after your first bath. It’s the most beautiful night gown I’ve ever seen.”
Silk with lace and beads it’s light as a feather.”What color is it?”
“Carolina sky blue with white lace inlaid and three rows of pearls outlining the lace. It has a matching bed jacket and slippers. I can’t wait to see you in it.”
It took forever for Nurse Becky to redress some of her stitched places, band-aid all the others and dry her h
air, but finally Nurse Becky slipped the gown over her head and it flowed around her with cool silk that made her shiver. The bed jacket helped. She could feel the full sleeves that were long and wider at the bottom than the upper arm.
The bottom of the sleeve is long “V” Nurse Becky appreciated the design because they would be able to push it up for the blood pressure cup. She settled Judy into bed and put the slippers on her lap, so she could feel them.
“You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I’m sure that exhausted you. You should rest now. Your therapy is in an hour and ten minutes so you have time.” She giggles and leaves. Judy doesn’t remember anything until a soft kiss on her temple wakes her.
“I didn’t want to wake you but I couldn’t resist. You look like Sleeping Beauty waiting for my kiss.” Simon nuzzles her neck and whispers in her ear. “You are a princess and I will slay any dragon that comes near you.”
“Thank you Prince Simon. I love the gown. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had. Nurse Becky described it to me. This . . . you did . . . was so thoughtful and kind.”
“Hey that’s nothing. Wait until you taste this. Open.”
It’s cold, it’s chocolate, and it bursts into delicious icy orange syrup that threatens to spill out of her mouth and onto her gown. But Simon must have been ready. His mouth swoops over hers and enjoys it with her.
“Oh my God where do you get these wonderful . . . things?
“Well my lips are attached to my face, but the sweets are made especially for you by our chef. He’s having a blast thinking up sweet confections for me to give you.”
“I have misjudged you haven’t I? I was so taken by you at that meeting that you became my hero. You inspired me to create Stalwart Company and make it something wonderful.
“I never had a hero before you Simon. I talked to you all the time when I had hard decisions to make and you guided me not to be afraid and trust that I could do it. You said in that meeting, that most small businesses never become what they could or should because the dreamer behind it was a coward with no confidence or guts.”
She reaches for his hand and he takes it in his.
“I faltered lots of times, but you were there giving me confidence to be gutsy and brave. I would see you with beautiful women and you were laughing and having a great time and then more women and more women and I thought that you just used women and disposed of them when you got tired of them.
“I’m hopelessly naïve about love and relationships and knew you could easily take advantage of me. You were experienced. I ran away from you because I was afraid of you and all your sexual comments and the way your eyes pierced my heart and soul.
“When I realized you were going to ruin the deal with Wade and break my company, I came close to rolling over and giving up. You were my hero but I also wanted to go on your dates and spend time with you. You were dangerous for be in business and personally. You were going to destroy me one way or the other.
“Charlotte, my office manager, made me go to the governor’s charity ball and she insisted on that red dress and the hair thing. Steven and his weight lifters taught me to dance that day and Steven told me that being at the fancy party was the same as being on the streets, just more sophisticated and I should be myself.
“But the whole time, all I kept thinking about was that you would be there and I was going to dance with my hero.”
The door bursts open and Steven stomps in with Deidre right behind him. She hears him stop.
“Are we interrupting anything important? Oh my God, Judy you look beautiful.”
“Slap him Deidre,” Judy says and hears a slap.
Steven is happy, almost excited, with her massage therapy. “That’s one minute and forty seconds longer than the last time. It’s working Judy! If it wasn’t, you would have been able to stand less time. Don’t get all excited, it will probably be a week or more before we see any results. But this is good news, really good news.”
“So you think I’ll get my eyesight back?”
“Still possible and I’m going for that and to prevent any paralysis from your spinal injuries. I’ve designed this treatment specifically for your body, which I probably know better than you do. I’ll start moving your legs and arms and turn you over to work on the spinal area and get you into a whirlpool as soon as your stitches and casts come off.
“If you hadn’t been in great shape, you wouldn’t have survived that crash Judy.” Steven stops and clears this throat. “Your pre-existing physical condition saved you. Well that and all the green/gray sludge I made you drink.”
Simon seems to be upset over the Steven knows her body comment and the tension that sparked hasn’t gone away. “You never gave me any of those drinks Steven. I’m not enough of a good enough friend to deserve them.”
“You wouldn’t have tolerated drinking them Simon. You would have probably thrown it at me. But Judy is smarter than you. She knew I wouldn’t make her drink them unless they were good for her, plus I really enjoyed the face she made.
“Oh by the way, Judy, the governor thinks they taste good. He wants the recipe.”
“Don’t you dare give him the recipe. He won’t ever come back and you loose all his money.”
“He also wants to come and check on you. I told him I’d ask.”
“Ugh. Who wants to meet with a governor from a hospital bed?”
Simon is thoughtful, “I don’t know. It might be a good idea, if it’s setup correctly. You’re getting a lot of media attention outside this room. My P.R. director would agree to it.”
“What do you mean I’m getting a lot of media attention?” Fear rises through the warm comfortable bed and past Simon’s sweet and loving attention. “Simon, tell me what’s going on?” She’s trembling and her voice is loud and screeching.
“Your accident hit the news within minutes. That’s how I knew to go to you. I knew you didn’t have any family or anyone to take care of you.”
Steven clears his throat. Deidra speaks up. “There’s video footage of your spectacular flight through the air and crash. It’s everywhere, on every station and You Tube with a super good photo of you standing in a gray driver’s suit, holding a matching helmet and leaning against your car just before the crash. You look spectacular!
“The hospital has been giving updates on your condition twice a day. A nice looking older gentleman from your company, Franklin something, makes regular statements. Your picture with your car and the photo of you in a red gown holding up your gun at the governor’s ball is everywhere. Magazines, tabloids, newspapers, Face Book, You Tube and there’s even a blog and lots of Twitter action. You’re as famous as Amelia Earhart!”
Chapter 25. Dangerous
She wants to pass out, not because she feels like it but because she wants to go away and hide. She can’t run or jump into BB anymore and shoot off to someplace else, she’s trapped. Instead she cries from pure embarrassment and frustration.
“Go away. Everyone just go away!” she yells. She knows that sooner or later someone is going to track her down and find out where she came from, who her family is and how awful they are. Simon’s father said she was white trash and everyone is going to know that and Stalwart Company will be disgraced and her dad and brothers are going to find her and kill her.
“No. Judy. No we won’t. It’s time you stop running.” Steven’s voice is concerned but firm. He knows because she’s the one who told him.
“But . . .”
Simon’s voice is so soft she can barely hear him. “But nothing, I know what you are afraid of and so doesn’t Steven. Get over it and stand up and be who you’ve become. You are amazing and wonderful and to be honest, your history will clearly show how strong and determined you are to make something of yourself. People will admire your effort to overcome all that.”
“Judy, people need someone to look up to when things seem impossible. You have the opportunity to be that someone for them. I’m not saying that you flaunt it or
take advantage of it, but if faced with it you should acknowledge the truth of it.” She feels that Steven has moved closer as he talked. “I’ve never given you advice you couldn’t trust. You should listen to me now.”
“You both don’t understand. It’s dangerous!” She says every word and syllable slowly. “It’s dangerous!”
There’s a quick knock on her door and then she hears it bang against the wall and a bunch of people walk in. She jumps and reaches out for Simon.
“Miss Mason, I couldn’t wait any longer to see how you are getting along. Grace and I were worried about you and Grace picked out these flowers for you.” The governor says warmly and soft hands touch her, and someone puts flowers on her lap.
“They’re white roses just about to fully open, so they smell their best.” Grace says and kisses her cheek. “Tim and I are so sorry what happened to you Judy. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Judy doesn’t know what to say, so she doesn’t say anything.
“Well anything we can do, just ask and we’ll do it all right? We’ll have that lunch sometime real soon.” Grace is soothing and friendly but Judy’s glad she’s hiding behind large black glasses. Soft fingers push a stray hair off her face. “I’m glad you’re my friend Judy, and please know that I’m yours too.” Grace whispers to her.
The governor is talking to Steven and is introduced to his fiancé Deidre and then she hears him approach Simon and greets him. Simon gets off her bed to stand and she thinks Simon shakes his hand but doesn’t say anything and then the governor kisses her cheek, wishes her speedy recovery and they’re gone.
She starts to laugh, and then Simon, and Steven and Deidre and then it starts to hurt too much, she stops.
“Were there cameras here? I thought I heard them.” She’s stopped laughing and now she’s shaking in fear and even worse, she has no idea where her gun is.
“Yes,” Simon’s voice is stressed. “He was way out line Judy. I wanted to kick him out. That whole scene was so wrong. I need to take care of this right now. Steven go ahead start with Judy, I won’t be gone long.”