"I am sorry. I tend to get lost in thought." She uncrossed her arms and walked closer to Victoria. "Can you repeat the question?"
Victoria nodded and touched Madison's cold cheek with her finger. "Can you tell me about Maddy's condition?" Victoria looked at the doctor with pleading eyes.
"Maddy?" Dr. Hanes furrowed her eyebrows. Then, after two confused seconds, she realized whom Victoria was speaking about. "Oh yes Madison, sorry I seem to be lost in thought a lot today." She tried to shake the situation off.
"You were not one of the doctors who operated on Maddy, right?" Victoria scanned the woman with the most judging eyes.
Dr. Hanes looked at her and bit the side of her cheek. "No, I only assisted by handing Dr. Richards the surgical instruments. I am only an intern, so I haven't gotten that far as to actually operate on a patient." Victoria nodded her head and circled her finger on Madison's head wound.
The doctor stood firmly next to the bed as her eyes scanned over Madison. She blew out a breath and started to explain as subtly to make it less painful. But no words could make any of it easier. "The patient...” Victoria butted in.
"Maddy." She said sternly as if the doctor had some fault in Madison's situation. Dr. Hanes nodded feeling a bit uncomfortable identifying the patient as an actual person. It was easier for her not to say the patient's name as it won't give her an emotional connection. She was a very emotional person whose feelings tend to have gotten in the way of a lot of things and she often got very attached to cases brought into the hospital with the little time she had been an intern.
"Maddy," she took a deep breath, "as I have told you earlier has a severe heart condition, long term that it is impossible she did not know about it." She paused as she saw tears running down Victoria's face.
"She knew," Victoria whispered and stopped circling her finger on Madison's face. She leaned back in the chair and clasped her hand under her chin. "How could you tell that she knew?" Victoria asked. "I mean she couldn't have told you herself, look at her." She raised her chin pointing to Madison.
"Well, there is a heartbeat machine in her chest that is helping her heart to continue pumping. It has been in place for at least a few months." She paused and waited for Victoria's reaction.
Victoria nodded and closed her eyes waiting for the doctor to continue. Dr. Hanes took that as her sign to continue and she did. "The machine is doing its best to keep her blood flowing through her body, but she is still getting weaker by the day."
Victoria opened her eyes and asked, "So, she isn't going to get better?" The doctor nodded her head but before she could have spoken further the sound of a rude woman's voice interrupted.
"What do you mean by isn't going to get better?" Amanda looked at the two as she entered the room. "Are you trying to jinx my child?" The cold voice said.
Victoria shut her eyes again and got up from the chair. "I think you have done enough jinxing for one day," Victoria said bitterly crossing her arms.
"I think you have made her life a living hell already, you are dragging her into this life of yours." Amanda gestured her hand to the length of Victoria's body, "you made her sin and now she is paying for it." Amanda dropped her gaze from Victoria and looked at her daughter lying on the bed.
Victoria laughed, and all three women looked at her. "So, you are saying that I did this to her?" Victoria shook her head. "I did nothing. I did nothing because I knew she would never be with me fully because of you."
"Victoria." A barely audible voice was heard.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The voice made Victoria turn to come face to face with a woken Madison. She forgot about her argument just a second ago and knelt down by Madison's bedside.
That was until Amanda intruded. "Madison." The woman called, as she rushed over to her bedside shoving Victoria to the side when she fell back on her arse. She got up and looked past the devil of a mother to the woman she longed to wake up to every day.
Melody followed suit next to her mother as they waited for Madison to come out of her daze from just being woken up by their loud argument. "What is going on?" Madison asked looking around the room. The only person she longed to see at that moment was Victoria and when she spotted her love standing behind her mother, she tried to sit upright.
"Don't try to get up. You are weak right now." Dr. Hanes said but her eyes were focused elsewhere.
"Maddy, do you know where you are?" Her sister asked but Madison only looked at Victoria and paid no heed to the question.
"Victoria, what happened?" She asked ignoring the other two women before her. Her mother crossed her arms and spoke before Victoria had a chance to.
"Don't talk to that wretched woman," Amanda demanded and Madison shut her eyes feeling the sting of her mother's words. She felt so horrible that she couldn't have imagined how Victoria felt since the words criticized her.
"No fights please, Madison does not need stress at the moment. The stress is one of the main reasons why she is here." Dr. Hanes said but continued to look at the outcast woman with green eyes.
"Mom, can you please for once, just shut up and let me do what I want," Madison said as she tried again to sit up. The doctor then walked over and helped her to lie back down.
"I told you not to try to sit up, you will just make your situation worse." Madison crossed her arms and looked at her mother with pleading eyes.
"Okay, first off tell me why I am here so that I can go home." The women looked at her as if they couldn't explain the situation. "So, you know." She whispered. None said anything, and Victoria moved from behind Amanda and walked to the other side of Madison's bed. She was bolder than the rest.
"Why didn't you tell me, any of us actually?" Victoria ignored the wretched woman and placed her hand on Madison's own. She knew that Madison needed as much comfort as she could get, and no one was going to stop her from giving Madison just that.
Madison didn't answer. She bit down on her lip and looked at the ceiling as the tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
She squeezed Victoria's hand before looking at her mother. "I am not a fan of details and I doubt I even remember them but as you may already know I have heart failure." Her eyes shifted to her sister. "I have known for a little over a year I think." She took a breath before continuing. "Have been to the best doctors possible but it is terminal." Her throat hitched, and she squeezed tighter on Victoria's hand. "I am dying, and I came not only for the wedding but to say goodbye." The tears fell freely from her eyes as the same happened to the other three women. Amanda was more reluctant to cry but she didn't succeed since the teardrops fell.
"You should have told me," Victoria said looking at Madison's hand.
"And why should she have told you instead of me?" Victoria lifted her gaze and rolled her eyes at Amanda.
"Not everything is about you." She spat and took a deep breath before she said something else she would have regretted.
"Maybe not, but I have a right to know what is going on in my daughter's life more than a satanic bitch." Madison pulled her hand away from Victoria which made the woman furrow her eyebrows in confusion. ‘Was she taking her mother's side?’
"Can you all just leave please?" Madison said with her eyes closed and her teeth digging into her bottom lip.
"I am not going anywhere," Amanda said sternly. "That bitch should be the one leaving." She pointed to Victoria.
The doctor then found it was time for her to intrude. "Madison needs some rest. You should all go home and come back in a few hours."
"I will do what I want." Amanda stood firm in her place reluctant to leave. It would have seemed that she really cared for Madison but on most occasions, it seemed the opposite.
"I advise you to leave to give her breathing space, she doesn't need to be stressed out at this time and if you won't leave willingly, I will have security escort you instead." Madison opened her eyes and looked at the doctor who seemed to be her guardian angel at the moment.
"Do you know who you
are speaking to? I will have a talk with your boss."
"My father would be delighted to hear criticism about me." The doctor crossed her arms.
Amanda looked at the doctor bewildered and almost stomped her feet like a little child. If only she wasn't a woman of class and was wearing five-inch heels she would have.
"Fine, but I will be back." She looked at her daughter one last time before walking off.
"I will be back in a few hours and I will make sure to inform dad." Melody said, and she fought to urge not to let the tears that we are building up fall.
Before she could have walked off behind her mother, Madison grabbed her arm. "Don't tell him about my condition. I will tell him." Melody nodded and walked out the door almost bumping into the door frame since she was walking off while looking at her sister.
Victoria refused to leave but she knew she had to. She touched Madison's face and traced her fingers on her jawline before giving her a peck on the lips. "I will be back soon." She said more to herself than to the love of her life. Madison nodded and smiled.
"I know you will." Victoria retreated from beside Madison but before she could have made it a quarter way towards the exit, she heard Madison say something.
She turned and looked at the woman whose eyes were looking intently at her. "I am sorry, what did you say?"
Madison took a deep breath before repeating the words, "I love you." She said coherently enough for Victoria to hear while it was the second time Dr. Hanes did.
Victoria turned fully as she digested the words she longed to hear for so many years. She dreamt of millions of ways she would have said ‘I love you’ back but at that moment she was lost for words. She couldn't speak. It was like a frog was stuck inside of her throat.
Dr. Hanes watched Victoria's reaction and knew the woman was holding back confessing her feelings. It was evident how much she cared for Madison that the feelings they shared were mutual. "I should get home. I will see you in a few hours." Victoria quickly turned and wiped away tears and she quickly exited the room almost running out.
Madison shut her eyes tightly as she felt the pang of rejection take over her. She knew she could not expect much since she was dying and was being selfish, but she couldn't help herself.
"I am such an idiot," Madison said almost screaming and then started coughing. Dr. Hanes poured a cup of water and handed it to her which she gladly accepted.
"You are not an idiot." The doctor said looking at the floor. "Love is anything but stupid." She added.
Madison shook her head in disagreement. "I don't blame her." She bit down on her lip. "She deserves much more than I could offer her even if I had a decade to live."
Dr. Hanes then checked her heart rate and stability on the monitor before continuing. "From what I can tell she really loves you though."
"I know." The doctor looked at her bewildered and arched her eyebrow. "Don't give me that look." Madison frowned. "If she didn't love me, she wouldn't have put up with my mother just moments ago." She sighed.
"So, you just realized that she loves you?" Madison shook her head in disagreement.
"I think I have always known, but I kept denying it. I mean she had boyfriends one after the other since I have known her. It is pretty confusing, to be honest. What we feel for each other is indescribable to me and I don't blame her for trying to distance herself if she does, cause the thing is I will never be the person she wants me to be."
"And what might I ask does she want you to be?" The doctor took a seat in the chair Victoria was seated earlier.
"Well, it is what I want myself to be..." Dr. Hanes nodded her head as she tried to understand what Madison meant. "Brave." Madison whispered, "I want to be brave."
"You really should get some more rest." She said getting up and making sure Madison's pillow was fixed to her liking.
Before she could've left though, Madison asked, "What is your name anyways?" The doctor smiled and placed her hands into the pockets of her lab coat.
"Dr. Hanes." She responded thinking that Madison knew that already.
"I mean your first name. I rather not be professional."
"Oh okay. Courtney."
"Oh, your name is nice."
"Thanks, Madison."
"Call me Maddy."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Madison's eyes shot opened and she screamed the name of none other than the woman she loved. As she took in her surroundings, she was alone. Her throat was dry, and the tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She just wanted someone to hold, not someone but the only person she had ever longed, for but Victoria was nowhere in sight. She drew in deep breaths as she tried to get up.
"You are very stubborn you know." She looked up and saw Courtney standing by the door. Madison ignored the woman and continued to try to sit up but failed miserably since she barely had strength.
Courtney walked over to Madison and helped her sit up making sure that the IV tube was still intact. She also checked that the bandage on Madison's head was secured but knew it had to be changed soon. She would have sent in a nurse in an hour or two to do so.
"Your mother is outside. She didn't leave actually." Madison shook her head in disappointment. Her mother never knew when to back off.
"She can come in. Just tell her that I might get a heart attack if she stresses me out too much." Madison tried to joke but failed miserably. It was a true fact actually, one that scared Madison every day.
"I will go get her." Courtney smiled and walked out. Less than a minute later, the clacking of heels was heard and there walked in Amanda through the door. You would have thought that a woman whose daughter was in the hospital would have looked a bit more torn up especially since she had been stuck in the waiting room for over six hours waiting for Madison to wake up.
Melody followed along with the woman but no sign of Victoria. Madison cleared her throat knowing that her mother wouldn't be pleased with what she was about to ask but she didn't care. "Where is Victoria?" She directed her question to Melody since Amanda would have never given a straight answer.
Amanda scoffed and spoke before Melody had the chance to. "That wretched woman must have finally realized that she has done enough damage to this family and decided to stay away."
Madison shut her eyes tightly as she felt the sting of her mother's words yet again. "Well, this wretched woman is here." Madison's eyes shot open to see Victoria standing by the door. She looked more broken up than her mother and sister combined, well which didn't take much but it was evidence of how stressed out she was. Madison couldn't help but smile though, she was glad she didn't completely scare Victoria off. At least that meant that Victoria was not giving up on her, but that also meant that she was going to break her in the months to come.
Amanda crossed her arms and stood at her position at the side of Madison's bed. She was already warned by Dr. Hanes that it was harmful to create conflict in the presence of Madison, but it was difficult for her to keep her mouth shut, especially since she hated how the two looked at each other.
"Are you okay?" Madison asked, and Victoria nodded her head as she felt disbelief. The woman lying in the hospital bed was asking her if she were okay. Madison cared too much for others than herself. Sometimes it was good to be selfish, but it seemed that the word was not in Madison's vocabulary.
"How are you?" Victoria instead asked a question of her own. To the two it was like nothing had happened hours before and Victoria didn't chicken out after Madison confessed her undying love for her. At that moment both women were just worried about each other and wanted to feel the warmth of each other's bodies. Just to hold on to a moment where there was no pain but that was just wishful thinking.
Madison mustered up a small smile still looking into her love's eyes. She didn't care about her mother then, she just wanted to get lost in those green orbs. "I love you." The words slipped out as if it was always meant to be said. It definitely was not the right place for it since Amanda was right beside her with her jaw drop
ping to the floor, but Madison didn't care. She knew she had to say it before it was too late. What no one knew as yet was that she could have collapsed any moment. That was one little thing Dr. Hanes didn't explain to any of them, well since none of the doctors there knew.
Madison was weaker than she seemed to be and with further testing, the doctors would have found out. Her doctors back in New York already knew and advised her to be careful and try to contact her family members before it was too late. She took a while to digest it all and when she was informed that her sister was getting married she had the perfect excuse to say her goodbyes without it being suspicious. In a way, Madison didn't want anyone to know until it finally happened, and she didn't have to face the tears and pain that her family would go through because of her. She hated seeing her loved one’s cry or in pain, especially the love of her life whose teary eyes would kill her far worse than the heart failure itself.
Madison Pierce Page 8