He stayed in the doorway and started to cry. What had he done? This was all his doing. He hadn’t been a good husband. He had gotten too involved in his work and forgot the most precious thing in his life, his loving and beautiful wife—the only woman he had ever loved. Their sexual bond was extraordinary and passionate. He could never love another. Now he had to decide whether she should live as a helpless invalid or be put out of her misery and allowed to die. Whatever his decision, he had lost his wife forever. He took another long drink, went into the room and fell onto the bed.
Carol stuck her head in Ric’s office. “I’m leaving unless you want me to stay.”
“No, go.”
She walked farther in. “I’ll get you some dinner.”
“That’s not necessary,” he said getting up. “I’m going to go home. I’ll eat there. Carol, there’s a memorial service at the hospital chapel tomorrow at eleven o’clock if you would like to come.”
She hugged him. “I’ll be there. Please, try and get some sleep.”
“I will. Thanks, for being here.”
She hugged him tight and then left.
The next morning Ric was up early again. He constantly looked at his watch, not wanting to be too early to the hospital. He didn’t want to upset Debbie. Somehow, he felt he annoyed her. At six-thirty he headed to New Haven. He peered through the gift shop windows when he got into the lobby; it was still too early to go up. He would get flowers to take to the memorial service, later. At seven twenty-five he walked up to the ICU.
Debbie was a bit sad that Gini hadn’t tried to breathe on her own since the day before. But she had to smile to herself when she saw him coming down the hall.
He signed in. “Is this a good time?” he asked Lisa.
“Yes, Dr. Young’s almost done.”
Ric waited for the doctor. Robert saw him and motioned for him to come to the room.
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s hanging in there.”
“Dr. Young, there’s a small memorial service in the chapel at eleven o’clock for the babies. I’d like you to come.”
“I’ll try to make it.”
Franco had fallen asleep fully clothed. When he woke up, the sun was shining brightly through the window.
He arrived at the hospital about ten o’clock. Debbie was just collecting her things to go to a consultation with Robert and Dr. John Meyer when Franco walked up to the desk and signed in.
“Mr. Legotti.”
“I’m here to see my wife.” His speech was slow with no expression.
“Of course. Dr. Young wanted us to let him know when you got here, but he’s in a meeting.”
Lisa came out of the back room. When she saw Franco had signed in, she immediately paged Robert.
Debbie took Franco. Once again, he got no farther than the end of the bed. He gripped the footrail tightly and closed his eyes.
“Would you like to sit next to her?”
He shook his head, then he turned around and walked out of the room. He went back to the nurse’s station and signed out.
Lisa looked at the sign-in sheet. “Wow, he stayed a whole three minutes!”
“See you later after my meeting,” Debbie said.
Franco stopped farther down the hall. Why was he unable to hide his emotions? He’d always been able to hold them tight. Being emotional showed weakness—that wasn’t who Franco Legotti was. He was always strong. He hated being weak. He hated being out of control.
Ric went into the gift shop after eating breakfast and bought a yellow rose to represent Gini and two white ones for the babies. The woman in the shop tied a pink bow around one and a blue one around the other. He took them into the chapel. Reverend Gilbert was already there.
“I got these. The yellow one is for their mother. Yellow roses are her favorite.”
“We’ll put them on this table.” The reverend moved some things around and placed the flowers next to a large Bible.
Franco walked up behind them. He had a framed picture of Gini. Ric had seen it on the hall table in the condo. He always loved that picture of her. Franco took two envelopes out of his jacket pocket and handed one to Ric. Franco opened the other one and took out a picture of each of the babies, which the hospital had taken before they died.
The reverend took all three pictures. “We’ll display them all here.” He rearranged the Bible and the roses.
Ric tried to hold back the tears, but he couldn’t. His breath hopped as he looked at the babies’ pictures. Jennifer looked just as he had remembered her in the pink cap and blanket. He could see the small creases in her cheeks.
Franco put his hand on Ric’s shoulder and gave a good squeeze. “They’re in a good place.”
After a few minutes, the two men sat in the front pew next to each other. Ric felt a gentle rubbing on his upper back. When he turned around, he saw that it was Carol. Everyone from his office was there. He got up and gave each a hug. It broke Carol’s heart to see him crying. He was always so cheerful, happy and funny. Now, he was broken inside.
When Ric got done greeting everyone, he saw Dr. Young and Dr. Nelson walk into the chapel together and sit behind Franco.
Reverend Gilbert gave a beautiful service for the two children who had died much too young. Afterward, Ric hugged and thanked all his staff for coming and for all their support. He also thanked the doctors and the reverend.
Franco went up to the table and picked up the pictures. “Here, Ric.” He handed Gini’s framed picture to him. “You can have this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I have one that I always carry in my wallet.” Franco lowered his head.
Ric took the three roses and walked up to the ICU. “Do you have a vase I can put these in?” he asked Debbie.
“Flowers aren’t allowed in the rooms in this unit,” Debbie said shortly.
Lisa walked up next to her and rubbed her arm. “How about we put them here on the counter.” She smiled at Debbie. “We can put them so Gini can see them when she opens her eyes.”
She took the roses and went to the back room for a vase.
“Thank you, Lisa,” Ric said still standing at the station. “Gini loves yellow roses.” He laid her picture on the sign-in counter.
“So that’s what she looks like,” Debbie said slowly, picking up the picture.
“Isn’t she beautiful?”
“Very. Classy.”
“She’s intelligent and can be really sassy. You’ll see.”
“I’m sorry this has happened to you, Mr. Santini; to her and the babies, to all of you. Sorry.”
She set the picture down and went into the small room. Lisa looked at Debbie as she came out. Ric had somehow moved her; she saw the emotion in Debbie’s face.
Ric was thankful he still had the love of his life. They would be together every day.
As Dr. Young was leaving the service, he told Franco they needed to talk.
Franco sat in the chapel with his head bowed for a long time. How could he decide whether she lived or died? She was his wife, and he loved her more than anything in the world. He knew he hadn’t been attentive to her the last year or so. His work had been so rewarding, and he got way too caught up in it. He thought she would be proud of him for all the good he was doing, especially for the children of the world who needed a better life. And now he was looking at nothing to live for. He had had a son he would never know, and the woman he so dearly loved was just hanging on—machines keeping her alive.
He thought about her lying on the bed with all the tubes and wires, her face so swollen he didn’t even recognize her. He didn’t want her to live like that. What kind of life would that be? She was always so full of spirit. The memories flooded his head:
He unzipped the bag, took out the green stone ring, and placed it on Gini’s left ring finger.
Her blue eyes were gleaming. “What an unusual ring. I will cherish this always.” She leaned over and gave him a passionate kiss.
&
nbsp; The memory of the moment was so vivid. She loved the ring he had had specially made for her, and he loved her response—the kiss, as if no one in the world meant more to her than he did. The kiss that he had so loved then and would always miss. He put his hand on his mouth, still feeling her sweet lips on his; he’d never forget them. Putting his head down, he stood to leave. Robert was standing in the back waiting for him.
Franco slowly walked to the door. He had to let her go.
Debbie was putting supplies away next to the bed when the machine made the noise. She picked up Gini’s small curled-up hand. “You fight, baby. I’m here to help you. Fight for your life.”
Be sure to read Life Changer - Forever Friends: Book 2 to find out how the friends cope with the tragedy that took the ones they loved.
About the Author
My name is Karleen Staible. I am a child of the 50s and 60s—1950s, that is; I’m not coming to you from the future—Sci-fi is not my genre. I write contemporary women with some romance in the mix. Life was simple in my younger days: no childproof anything, we never locked our doors, and my dad left the keys in the car so he could quickly respond to a fire with the Arvada Volunteer Fire Department.
Our street was a dead-end dirt road with seven houses. We played outside as long as our parents allowed us, and objected when we heard the call to go home at night. In the open fields, we played baseball or hide-and-go-seek throughout the neighborhood. And yes, we did drink out of the garden hose.
I lived in that same house from the age of two until twenty when I married my husband, Fred. After he graduated from college, we didn’t stay in the Denver area for very long.
He worked in the oil and gas business as an engineer. A few years after we married, he got involved with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and we were off to Algeria. And there started our expat lives. We lived and traveled all over the world, met many interesting people, and made friends who became family.
I learned to use the computer on one of our assignments overseas. I’m fascinated with the many things you can do on a computer, constantly learning new programs and techniques. I especially like doing special digital art, from video editing to designing my own book covers.
I can honestly say I’m in need of nothing. I have had a terrific life, have two wonderful kids, and great in-law kids who are happy and successful in their careers. Our two granddaughters are definitely the light of our lives. It has been a fabulous life.
My stories reflect situations and people I have met over the years. The characters are personalities of those people I encountered along the way, and the places are cities or towns I found interesting. My childhood upbringing and my heroes are also written into my stories. Each story has a social message: how women, or people in general, can empower themselves to deal with difficult situations.
My goal is not to make millions of dollars, or make my name famous; I just want to write books that everyone will enjoy reading and will want to read more of.
Thank you for reading Green Stone Ring from the Forever Friends series. If you’d like to read more background stories, go to http://kssnovels.com/adventure-in-writing/ and check out my blog.
I’d appreciate it if you would make a comment on Amazon about what you thought of the novel. Check out the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0772G27LJ
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