by Paul Preston
“It is very peaceful here. A great place to raise a family,” I said, staring at the ocean.
“It’s a nice piece of property. It’s already gone up in value… Listen, Edward, would you mind if we went inside? Several of our friends want to get a picture with us and the baby. Maybe we can continue our conversation a little later. Do you mind?”
“No, not at all.”
We went back inside. Several of the guests took their I-Phones and I-Pads out to take pictures of the new baby with his proud parents. Later there was a group picture taken of all the guests at the party and I was somewhere in the back, unseen. After Elizabeth helped her baby blow out the candles of his cake, I was among the first to leave. Elizabeth was busy entertaining the guests and passing out slices of birthday cake, so we just waved goodbye to each other from across the room.
I looked up at Mr. Bergman.
“I started getting sick a few months ago and ended up here,” I told him. “After I got my diagnosis I didn’t want Elizabeth to see me like this, wasting away in the hospital. I know it was wrong of me, but I turned off the cell phone and disappeared from her life. She had a child to take care of and a husband and I didn’t want her to remember me like this. I never saw Elizabeth Rose again.”
We sat together for a moment in silence. Several hours had passed since I started my story and I felt extremely exhausted.
“I really talked your ears off, didn’t I?” I said, lying back down on my pillow.
“You did indeed, Edward.”
He looked down at me with his kind eyes.
“I feel so weak, Mr. Bergman,” I said. “I’m afraid.”
Mr. Bergman reached out and placed his palm on my forehead.
“Go to sleep now, Edward. Rest…” my visitor said in a calm soothing voice.
I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep, feeling my friend’s hand resting lightly upon my brow.
Chapter Nineteen
My Life after Death
When I woke a note was left on my bedside by the ever solicitous Mr. Bergman. He graciously apologized for leaving to attend a previously scheduled appointment, but promised to visit me again soon. Alone with my thoughts, I missed Mr. Bergman’s company immediately.
The strange buzzing noise was back. I wasn’t as aware of it when Mr. Bergman was in the room with me. I wondered where the noise was coming from. Was it the medical equipment? The fluorescent lights? I shivered. Why do they keep hospital rooms so cold?
To drown out the buzzing sound, I watched the news on TV for a few minutes. Near the end of the broadcast my ears perked up when a short segment announced the films and actors nominated for the Academy Awards this year. I followed who got nominated and won each year to pretend I was still tangentially a part of the profession, I guess. Like most unknown actors, I clung to a fantasy in my mind that one day I would be recognized for my work in a play or movie and receive a Tony or an Academy Award nomination. Suddenly, I lost complete interest in which actor or actress got the honor this year and shut the TV off.
The nurse came in to draw my blood, poking me for what seemed like the thousandth time. Before leaving, she asked me if I’d prefer the lights to be out in my room. Yes, I said, give me darkness, total darkness, emptiness, nothingness. I felt weary down into the poisoned marrow of my bones. In the blackness I fell back asleep.
After waking up from my nap, I still felt extremely tired and weak. The nurse came in and asked if I was awake and I said yes. She turned on the lights and told me I had a visitor. Was it Mr. Bergman? The nurse opened the blinds and a woman entered through the rays of bright sunshine streaming through the window. She was dressed in a beautiful white summer dress, holding a bouquet of flowers and cradling a sleeping child in her arms. I waited for her feathered wings to unfurl and take me away.
“Happy Birthday, young man.”
It was her, my-costar, my one true love standing at my bedside in an aura of light.
“Am I in Heaven?” I asked.
“No silly, you’re in San Diego. Why the hell didn’t you call me to tell me you were sick, Edward?” Elizabeth asked.
I saw her gently put her baby into a carriage and close the top over him. A nurse appeared by her side and Elizabeth handed her the flowers which were placed in a glass vase. Elizabeth sat on the edge of my bed and leaned in close to me. Her eyes were watery and a lone tear slipped down her cheek. She put her soft hand on my cheek and brushed her fingers through my hair.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Edward?”
“I don’t know… I’m sorry. I should’ve called you. I wanted to call you when I got sick, but I didn’t want you to see me like this.”
“Edward, I’m your friend.”
“I know. I guess I didn’t want you to feel you had to take time away from your husband to take care of me—”
“Edward, I’m no longer married. Eric and I got divorced. It was finalized last week.”
“What?”
After hearing the news, I tried to sit up in bed. Elizabeth and the nurse helped me get more comfortable. The nurse gave me a fresh glass of water and I took a long sip before speaking.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s been difficult. When you weren’t answering my calls I should’ve tried to find you sooner, but his lawyers were watching me over the last few months, trying to dig up some dirt on me they could use in the divorce proceedings. I went to your old place downtown and was told you had gotten sick. I called around to a few hospitals. I’m glad I found you.”
“What happened? Why did you get divorced?”
Elizabeth looked down through the plastic window at the top of the baby carriage to check on her baby. As she spoke, Elizabeth slowly rocked the stroller back and forth.
“Eric and I had been getting along pretty well. Little Desmond had brought us closer together as a couple and were actually trying to have a second child. And then Eric found out about the adult video. He was invited to some kind of crazy party the Emergency Room Doctors had thrown at the end of their residency. In one of the rooms a group of guys happened to be watching some adult videos and Eric overheard one of them saying how sexy this one actress was. He joined the group as they were watching “In the Dungeon of Master V”, and he instantly recognized me. I had never met any of the ER doctors he knew, so no one else knew it was me in the film. Of course, he came home that night extremely upset. Even though it all happened before we were married he yelled at me, saying my poor choices jeopardized his career and reputation. He said some nasty things to me that night I’ll never forgive him for. We tried marriage counseling, but he couldn’t get over the fact that I acted in that video. Eventually he filed for divorce. Since I made the movie before we got married, the judge actually ruled in my favor. I got custody of Desmond and Eric gets to see him every other weekend. I received the house and he had to move out. He also had to transfer into my account a significant sum of money and pay 50% of his salary to me for child support. I hope it was worth it to him to break up our family over the silly movie.”
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”
“Me too. My parents got divorced and so did I. But at least I found you again, Edward. And now I never want to leave your side.”
She leaned over and gave me a light tender kiss. I shut my eyes and felt her soft lips upon mine. I breathed in the intoxicating feminine scent I remembered.
One of my doctors entered my room and stood at the edge of the bed. He cleared his throat and we stopped kissing.
“How are you feeling this morning, Edward?” he asked.
“Fine, Doctor. I feel much better now that my friend is here,” I said.
The doctor smiled and addressed Elizabeth.
“Have you told Edward the good news yet?” the Doctor asked.
Elizabeth smiled and shook her head no.
“I wanted it to be a surprise. Today’s Edward’s birthday,” Elizabeth said.
“Oh. Well, Happy Birthday, Mr. James. This should be a good pres
ent for you. When your Cancer Coordinator explained to me that no one in your family was willing to be a bone marrow donor, I thought of another possible treatment plan. We just got the result of your most recent biopsy and I’m happy to report the last round of chemo effectively killed off most of the cancerous cells infecting you. So now you’re qualified to participate in a trial with an alternative treatment. The stem-cells of a new born infant’s umbilical cord have been used successfully to treat diseases such as yours. Cord blood treatment has proven less prone to rejection by the host cells. Since apparently no one in your family is available to help you and there is no close match in the Registry, I think this alternative treatment should be used in your case. I’ve already ordered it and just need your signed consent form to begin treatment.”
“Isn’t that great news, Edward?” Elizabeth said, smiling.
I couldn’t believe my change of fortune. Elizabeth walked into my hospital room and brought me back from the brink of death.
“It is. What are we waiting for! Sign me up, Doctor!” I said.
I was given the cord blood treatment and the transplant was successful. I was kept in the hospital in a sterile room for observation to make sure there was no infection while I built my immunity back up. Elizabeth and Desmond visited me every day. The day of my discharge from the hospital was a happy time for me. As I left, I looked back once more at the bed I thought I’d never leave.
Elizabeth had prepared a guest room for me in her home where I continued to recover my health. Though I still had to wear a surgical mask, I slowly built back my endurance and strength by taking short walks outside in the neighborhood. Elizabeth and I were very tender to each other, but we never resumed our intimate relationship. We did sleep in the same bed, cuddling up with each other at night, my hands over her breasts, though I still felt too weak to engage in sex. Also I didn’t want anything to ruin the friendship we had together.
The greatest gift was that I was alive and living with my best friend in the world.
One day I returned from my walk and found Elizabeth staring intensely at her computer.
“What are you doing, Lizbeth?”
She looked up at me with wide excited eyes.
“Do you remember the film we made, “The Monastery”?”
“Sure. How could I forget the favorite movie I made with you?”
“Well, after I received the money from my divorce settlement, I decided to pay old Mr. Farnsworth a little visit.”
“No kidding. I thought he would’ve been beamed up to the Mother Ship by now.”
“No. He still runs that little seedy sex shop downtown. I had my lawyer draw up the paperwork to purchase the complete rights to “The Monastery”. I always thought it was a good movie and I wanted to see if I could get a distributer for it after all these years. He said he had thrown away all the copies of it, but I had saved mine. After some negotiation, he sold it to me for a little more than the amount he spent to make it, $15,000. He was happy to get the money. I spent some money to have it professionally restored and once it was ready I submitted it to film festivals around the world. Today the nominations were released on the Cannes Film Festival’s website. You want to take a look with me to see if it got nominated?”
My heart started pumping wildly.
“Sure!”
Elizabeth typed Cannes into her search engine and we both leaned forward, looking at all the films that were nominated for the 2013 awards. “The Monastery” wasn’t on the list. I didn’t really expect it to be, but it was exciting to look anyway. Oh well. I was thirsty so I got up and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. Elizabeth stayed at the computer. A moment later I heard her excited voice.
“OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! EDWARD! COME HERE!”
I had never heard Elizabeth shout out like that. I walked as fast as I could back into the living room, wondering what the commotion was about.
“Is something wrong with the baby?” I asked, worried.
“Look at this!”
Her eyes were transfixed on the computer screen. I slowly approached and squinted down at it. What I saw made the glass of water slip through my fingers. I remembered breaking a glass once in Elizabeth’s apartment, but this time, miraculously, the glass didn’t break when it hit the floor. I looked again at the screen again to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Along with several other foreign names I didn’t recognize, I saw the name “Edward James” under the category of Best Actor nominations.
“That… can’t be…” I said, feeling dizzy, my heart thumping in my chest.
“It is! You’re nominated for Best Actor at Cannes! The ceremony is next month!”
I saw her fingers fly over the keyboard. Within a minute she booked us round trip airfare to France. In a daze I went into the kitchen and came back with a paper towel to clean up the spilled water.
“Forget about the spill, Edward. Don’t you realize? You’re a famous actor now! You’re nominated for Best Actor! We’re going to Cannes!”
When the time came Elizabeth arranged to have Eric take care of their baby for a week and we flew to France and rented a fancy suite on the coastline, right across the street from the famous red-carpeted steps of where the Festival was held. The plane trip completely exhausted me. I was unable to leave the hotel room for the first few days of our trip. On the third night we took a walk along the boardwalk, seeing all the street performers and arts and crafts booths. We stopped and watched the kids play on the ride on a beachside calliope. I could tell Elizabeth was thinking about Desmond. I asked her if she missed him and she nodded.
“We’ll be home in a few days,” I said.
The next day I was tired again and couldn’t leave the room. Even though “The Monastery” wasn’t nominated for Best Picture it was screened for the public because of my nomination in the category of Best Actor. Later that evening after I finished my dinner from room service, Elizabeth rushed into the hotel room.
“Edward! I’ve got the best news ever! This man named Harvey Weinstein saw the movie and wants to distribute it in the US!”
“Oh my God! Harvey Weinstein?”
“Yes! He loved your performance in it. Maybe if enough people see it…”
“But I’ve given up my career as an actor, Elizabeth. I couldn’t even get cast in a small—”
“Are you kidding? You’re still in your 20’s! You’re nominated for a major acting award. You’re back in the game, Edward!”
It was only at that moment that it occurred to me that maybe I did have a shot at resuscitating my career. But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Just being able to get out of bed in the morning not attached to an IV was an accomplishment for me.
The award ceremony was the next day. Unfortunately, I still felt extremely weak and had trouble getting out of bed. I told Elizabeth I didn’t have the strength to leave the hotel.
“Really? You’re not going to attend the award ceremony?” she asked.
She walked over to me and slipped the nightgown she was wearing over her head. She looked just as incredibly sexy as I always remembered. As she stood by my bedside my mouth salivated, seeing her naked curved body once again. I felt a stirring within me I thought I’d never feel again and became aroused.
“You know, even though I had a Caesarian, my doctor said it would be safe for me to have one more baby.”
My eyes drifted from her full breasts and down her torso to the thin horizontal scar on her belly from bringing Desmond into the world. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the scar. She brushed her fingers through my hair, pressing me close to her.
“I want to have another child with the right person this time. With you, Edward.”
She pulled the bed sheet away, revealing my erection.
“Mmmm. It looks like one part of your body has fully recovered.”
Elizabeth leaned over me and took my throbbing erection into her mouth. I leaned back into the pillows and shut my eyes, feeling her wet lips and tongue suc
king on me.
“Oh, you beautiful sub.”
After a moment of licking and fondling me, she sat up and asked me to open my eyes.
“I have a surprise for you, My Lord…”
“What?”
Elizabeth removed her panties and turned her hips to me. My jaw dropped and lips parted when I saw it, written in a cursive French script across the seductive round curves of her ass.
The Property of Edward James
“Now that we’re back together, I am yours, My Lord, until death do us part. I had it done a few days before we left on our trip. What do you think, Mr. James?”
“It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” I said, breathlessly.
“I was hoping you’d like it.”
Elizabeth straddled me, slipping my erection into the moist shaved folds of her flesh. She bit her lower lip, tilted her head back, closed her eyes and rocked her hips gently upon me. It took only a moment and I couldn’t hold back, releasing my semen into her womb. I felt embarrassed that I came so fast.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little out of practice, I’m afraid.”
“Well then, perhaps we should give you a little more practice, My Lord,” Elizabeth said with a sexy smile.
After making love to Elizabeth, I felt rejuvenated. She helped me into my tuxedo and she put on the attractive sheer black evening gown she chose for the ceremony. Her arm around my waist supporting me, we made our way across the street and up the several red carpeted steps into the building. When I got to the top step I had broken out into a cold sweat. I was completely out of breath.
In the lobby, Elizabeth dropped me off on a couch and went to get us refreshment. She didn’t come back for several minutes. When she finally returned, I couldn’t believe who she brought with her. I stood up in shock, taking the glass of water from her. I tried not to drop it this time.