He helps to adjust the bed, so I’m sitting up a little and tells me to take a sip from the cup. The cup is filled with water and I take a bigger sip than what I was told, the water hits my stomach and I almost feel a little sick.
He should not be here with me. I don’t know if I should tell him what happened. I want to tell him that I saw Hanna kiss Travis, but I don’t want to be the person who causes a problem. What should I do? Hanna was cheating, but Jordan’s been after my attention. Did he know she was unfaithful?
“Why are you not with Hanna? Jordan, you should be with your her.” He looks down at me, and I can hear him let out a breath. He sets the cup down and takes his seat.
“Cara, you’re now going have to listen to me explain what I have been trying so damn hard to tell you.” I just stare at him. I guess I have no choice but to listen now. “Hanna was my girlfriend seven months ago. We had been together for only three months when I found out she was sleeping with Travis,” I’m instantly uncomfortable and let out a whimper when he mentions Travis. “I know, Hanna told me and I saw him leaving. Anyway, I broke it off with her, but something was going on with her father. He was receiving hate mail at home and work. Some were threats against Hanna. About a week after we broke up he asked me to protect her as a job. He offered me a nice amount of money to protect his daughter, and I accepted it.” He pauses, and I look at him completely confused. They have been telling a lie.
“I haven’t told Judge Winters that I won’t take the money now. It feels wrong, wrong because I failed at my job. And someone got hurt because of this job,” I can see his eyes fill with tears. No way. I cannot be seeing this right. Jordan big, strong, and all male Jordan is about to cry. “Cara, I’m so deeply sorry you got hurt because of me.” His voice cracks and I see a tear fall down his cheek. I cannot in anyway watch this man fall apart.
“Jordan this is not your fault. The blame lies with Travis.”
A nurse walks in and interrupts us. Jordan turns and brushes away the tear that had fallen. He’s just as I thought a strong man. The nurse asks me some questions, and then checks my eye and my hand. I take another sip of water. She says she will be right back to clean my eye. I just stare at Jordan for the few minutes.
“I want to go home Jordan,” I whisper. I don’t like hospitals. I hate hospitals. I think of Momma and how she would have talked to me about hating the hospital. This time, I think hating something is okay.
“Pretty girl,” he runs his hand down my cheek. “I know you want to leave, but I don’t think the doctor will let you. As long as you’re still here I won’t leave you, I promise.” I just nod at him. I guess I can be okay with that.
The nurse comes back and smiles at Jordan. For some reason, she’s getting on my nerves. She walks over to my left side and I can hardly see her. This makes me feel uncomfortable. I look at Jordan, and he’s just watching me. I realize he has never once looked at the nurse.
She starts to talk, and I try to give her my attention. “I am going to clean your eye and then put some drops in it. Hopefully, you will be able to open your eye more.” She is trying to be polite to me. I don’t talk to her. It’s not that I dislike her personally. I dislike nurses, and doctors, and hospitals in general.
She takes a wet cloth and gently wipes over my eye. It hurts, and I wince in pain. Jordan has sat down and takes my hand in his. I try to look at him without moving my head. I don’t know if I should say something. Even though it hurts a little with what the nurse is doing my hand is shaking.
Well, if I wasn’t nervous before I sure am now. His entire behavior towards me right now is nice. This is not the man I have forced myself to watch from a distance. This is the man that bought me lunch at Toni’s Sandwich Shop. I just need to wrap my head around the idea of him not actually being with Hanna. The only time I saw them together, it was a lie.
“Try to open your eye more for me.” I do. I don’t open it much, but I can kind of see that she is happy with what little I did. She looks a little blurry. “Good, now I am going to put two drops in your eye. This might burn some.” She places a drop in my eye, and it does burn. I grip Jordan’s hand and when she drops the next one that really burns. She wipes the area, and my vision is not great but better.
“The doctor said he would be in to check on you. I’m going to remove your IV. As long as you don’t throw up you should be fine without it. The IV was fluids to keep you hydrated and an anti-inflammatory medication. We can give you the rest later,” she explains as she looks at Jordan, and I want to smack her. “Make sure your girl only takes little sips of water.” Wait, did I hear her right? She called me his girl. I’m not his girl.
My head starts to pound again and I give up. She asks Jordan to move, and she removes the IV. She also removes the heart monitor from my finger. It’s then that I realize I need to use the bathroom and I just want her out.
I’m embarrassed I have to ask Jordan to help me. I can feel my face warm, and I hope he doesn’t see whatever color of red I have turned. As luck would have it, I look up at him with both eyes and he’s just smiling at me. Why does he constantly have to smile at me? The nurse turns to walk out of the room, and I take the opportunity to ask for help.
“Jordan,” I whisper so the nurse doesn’t hear as she walks away. “I need to use the bathroom.” I’m humiliated. This is just awful.
“Let me talk to your nurse and I can help you.” He catches the nurse outside in the hall. I can see him talking quietly to her. My body feels like I’m boiling. I really don’t like this. I know she was just being nice calling me his girl. I know what I’m feeling is not right. I’m more jealous of the nurse than I was over Hanna.
I stop watching them talk. What felt like a long time was only a few minutes. Jordan walks back in and grabs the remote for the bed. He adjusts the bed, so I’m sitting up more.
“We just have to be careful of your left hand and fingers. Wrap your arm around my neck. Your nurse told me you might be unsteady on your feet from the medication.” I do as he says. Once my arm is around his neck, he reaches around my back. I startle when his hand touches my hip through the gown. I cannot use my left hand to help myself up. I slide my legs until both feet touch the floor and with Jordan’s help, I stand up.
I’m thankful for the help because the second I stand the room starts to spin. I feel light-headed, and my stomach is starting to turn. He gives me a second, and I take in a small breath. It helps. I don’t want to be sick. That would be one more item to add to my embarrassment.
I notice I’m in a hospital gown. The back is open, and I want to cover myself. I can be ashamed, or I can deal with it; I choose to deal with it. I was born naked and should not be ashamed to be half naked now. Plus being ashamed now would do me no good.
“Okay, let’s get you to the bathroom.” Jordan walks me slowly towards the bathroom. I hate the fact that he had to help me sit down. I feel like a child.
Thank God for these awful hospital gowns. Jordan didn’t see anything, or I don’t think he did.
“Please turn around. It’s embarrassing enough that I needed the help. I don’t need you to watch me pee.” Thankfully he has some manners and walks out of the bathroom. He closes the door a little behind him. I can still kind of see him, but it’s enough to help me relax.
Relaxing is short lived when I go to stand up. My feet forget to cooperate with my brain, and I lose my balance. Jordan must have heard me because before I fall his hands are gripping my hips. I swear his hands are on fire touching my bare hips. Even with all the pain that I’m feeling, I can still feel my core clench. Great, I’m broken, colorful and now turned on. He’s still behind me and I look into the mirror to check out my face. It looks one hundred times worse than it actually feels. I can see Jordan staring at me in the mirror.
My left eye is a little swollen. The eye lid and a big area around it are almost black. The rest of the area is blue. My nose and a good portion of my cheek are bruised. I look great. Not.
“Hey, stop looking in the mirror and let’s get you back to bed.” I carefully turn with his help, and just stand there staring at him. He is a handsome man to look at. I can even see his eyes smile at me, his very sexy bright blue eyes.
“Come on pretty girl, you can stare at me all you want from your bed. I won’t have to worry about you falling if you’re lying down.” Well, who could say no to that? I can’t help the smile that crosses my face. Even though my cheeks hurt to smile, it’s better than feeling bad about my situation. Jordan helps me back into bed as the doctor enters the room.
“I’m glad to see my patient is awake and trying to move. Ms. Hanson, your nurse, Stacy, told me that she heard you wanted to go home,” he just said the best words I could ever hear. I may get to leave. “I’m sorry, but I would like you to stay until tomorrow.” I guess my joy is short lived.
“No.” I cry the word and look at the doctor and then to Jordan. “I want to go home, please. I don’t like it here. Please, can’t I go home?” I’m still looking at Jordan, and I can see hurt on his face. He knows he can’t help, and he’s unable to make this better.
“Cara is it… I want to keep you here just a little longer. We have someone who can wrap your wrist properly tomorrow morning, and I would like to keep your finger without a bandage until then.” I look away from the doctor and finally look at my fingers. I start to feel sick to my stomach when I finally see how bad my fingers look.
They look ugly and wet. There are a bunch of stitches. The stitches don’t look bad. My fingers just do. The area is swollen and red. I can see bruises on them. I start to cry looking at my hand, and I feel a light touch on my other hand. I turn to see Jordan.
“How soon can I go home?” I glance up at the doctor.
“We can try for tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Your wrist has a hair line fracture. We can wrap it up in the morning then properly bandage your fingers and send you home. Mr. Winters requested that you receive the best care. We have a specialist that can set your wrist with a special water-proof wrap.” The doctor walks around to look at my fingers. I turn to Jordan and hope he understands who the doctor is referring to as Mr. Winters.
“If you need anything for pain just ask Stacy and do ask her if you want something to help you fall asleep. You should rest.” He then walks out of the room.
“Jordan? Who is Mr. Winters and why would he want me to get the best care?” I don’t need some stranger to be in charge of my care.
“Judge Winters is Hanna’s father. He stopped by while you were asleep. He asked about your medical care, and I told him I needed to wait for you to wake up before any papers could be filled out. Then he left the room, and I got the story of what happened from Hanna. When she finished and he came back in, he said he took care of everything. He wanted me to thank you for saving his daughter. He said that you would not have to worry about your medical care. Then they both left.” He’s still holding my hand.
Jordan brings my right hand up to his lips. I’m not sure what he is planning on doing. If he does what I think he might do, my heart is going to stop. He kisses my fingers. Well, I didn’t die. I do think my heart stopped for a few seconds. I know I’m a shade of red if it can even be seen. Gosh, I’m very colorful.
We just sit there for a while not talking. I don’t want to talk I just want to look at Jordan. I finally notice that he is in a different shirt than from before. I don’t ask him why. Trying to understand anything more will just hurt my head.
Nurse Stacy comes back in and asks how my pain is. I have to rate it on the one to ten scale. I tell her it’s at a six. She asks me politely if I would like some medicine to ease the pain. I think about it and say yes.
“Jordan, do you know why I don’t like hospitals? Since Momma died, I have always refused to go to the hospital. It’s not the people I don’t like. It’s the whole idea of hospitals that I don’t like. They scare me. Momma went into the hospital asleep. I thought that they would wake her up. She never woke up.” I am nervous, and the fact that there is silence bothers me. I don’t even notice that I had started to cry.
“First off pretty girl, stop crying. The only thing you’re going to do is cause your eye to swell up more and then you won’t be able to see. And I know. I watched you panic when they brought you inside. Please don’t put me through that again.” He sounds broken when he talks. I don’t remember any panic from before, but I don’t think he would lie by the way he’s talking. I keep looking at my hand. He is rubbing his thumb across my fingers. In a split second, I notice Mommas ring is missing.
“Jordan I had on Momma’s ring at Jessica’s. Do you know what happened to it?” I try not to let the words I say sound laced with panic. Jordan lets go of my hand and stands up. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out my ring. He places the ring right back on my pointer finger. “Thank you so much.” I draw in a deep breath and force myself to calm down.
“Your first nurse took it off right after they sedated you. She handed the ring to me. I know it must mean a lot to you.” He kisses my finger. He needs to stop doing that, his actions are driving me crazy. The butterflies in my stomach have just taken flight again.
Of course, Nurse Stacy walks in with my medicine. I take it like a good girl, and lay back on the bed hoping the medicine will help the pain in my head. The medicine I take does better than that and helps me fall asleep.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jordan
I ended up getting a little rest after Nurse Stacy gave Cara some more pain medication. She needed the meds. I could see that she was trying to show she was not in any pain. I don’t understand why. There’s no reason for her to be strong in front of me. I smiled when she finally closed her eyes.
I woke up not long after I decided to close my eyes. The clock on the wall reads the time is almost 8:00 am. Cara is still asleep. I carefully remove her hand from mine and stand up. I need to stretch. My entire body is stiff, but being here for her is worth my sore muscles. She would have been a mess if I had chosen not to stay. I don’t think I could have chosen not to stay.
There is a soft knock on the door, and I turn to see Amber. She looks at me for some help with everything she is carrying. There is a tray of drinks in her hand, and a bag. Smells like she brought breakfast. I really have a wonderful sister.
“I brought coffee for you and me. Cara gets tea. There are bagels in the bag. The plain one with ham, eggs and Swiss cheese is for sleeping beauty. I did not forget yours dear brother: cheese bagel, bacon and eggs.” She is the best sister. I reach for the food, and she slaps my hand.
“I brought the food. Can you go to my car for Cara’s things? Take the elevator to the bottom floor straight ahead from the main emergency room entry doors you can’t miss it. There’s a bag in there of things she’s going to need to leave. I brought some toiletries for her and a dress. Luckily, I used a work connection to acquire some last minute items. Oh and I was told to tell you by everyone else, that you suck big time at texting updates.” She smiles at me, and I remember I was so wrapped up with Cara that I forgot to send a message to everyone.
“She woke up and started to panic. It wasn’t hard for me to calm her down, but she wouldn’t listen to her nurse and doctor. Plus, I had to use the manners mom taught me. They can all be mad and you can text them later for me.” I look at Amber, and we both laughed. I don’t know how, but our laughter doesn’t wake Cara up. I grab Amber’s keys and head to her car.
Cara
As I wake up, I can feel my stomach is aching. I’m so hungry and I can smell food. I feel someone washing my face, and I start to open my eyes. I was expecting to see the nurse, but instead I see Amber.
“Good morning, sorry if I woke you. Your eye had stuff on it. Your nurse Kevin was going to clean the area, but I asked if I could. I hope that’s okay. Oh, I brought breakfast; he said if you feel up to it you can eat. I brought you a sweet tea, but you can have my coffee if that’s what you would like.” I try to keep up with Amber, as she is tal
king super-fast. She must be nervous.
“Amber, you’re fine I was already waking up. My stomach was trying to tell me I was hungry. Thank you for cleaning my eye. They put some drops in it hours ago.” She smiles at me. I look around and do not see Jordan. But then he walk in with a bag.
“I have the bag. Morning, pretty girl. Amber I would like to eat now.” I look at Amber as she just shakes her head and goes into a fit of laughter. I can’t help but smile at her. I’m glad she is here to help lighten the mood.
I ask Amber to help me up. This time when I stand on my feet I don’t feel like falling over. I was able to walk to the bathroom, but again had trouble getting up after using the bathroom. I called for Amber, and she came in to help me. I look in the mirror before I walk out, and I still look just as colorful as before. My hair is a bit of a mess as well. I’m thankful I left it braided yesterday, or I might look similar to Medusa.
I walk out and sit down on the bed. Jordan is standing next to the bed. He has a tray with the food spread out. I lay back, and he moves the tray closer to me. I stretch my legs out, but he taps them. I look at him with a frown on my face, and he proceeds to sit on the bed.
I look at the food Amber brought and can see she brought my favorite bagel. My food looks to be cut up into smaller pieces. I swear I feel like a child looking at my breakfast. I look at Amber and she shakes her head at me. Jordan must have cut it while I was in the bathroom. I laugh a little.
“Thank you for cutting up my food into smaller pieces for me Jordan.” I giggle and grab a small piece. I’m really thankful he did cut it. I don’t think I could have eaten breakfast with one hand.
“I thought cutting the bagel into smaller pieces would be better than me feeding you.” He looks at me and gives me a wink. God, the things that little wink does to my body. My hormones are starting to act up, and that causes me to shift a little on the tiny hospital bed. I’m more thankful now that he cut up my food into finger pieces. I would have been embarrassed if he had to feed me. I am twenty-one not a helpless little child.
Forget Cinderella (True Loves Fairytale Book 1) Page 12