She stared at him. “That’s not enough time. Greta will probably be going home next week, in a wheelchair. She’ll have weeks of physical therapy before she can live independently again. Her whole recovery could take months. I need to take care of her.”
“Can’t she afford a nurse?”
“That’s not enough. She needs me too. For the emotional support, among other things.”
“Well I’m sorry, Ms. Okafor, but family medical leave is only for family members. A parent, grandparent, spouse, or child. State law doesn’t require us to let you to take a leave of absence to take care of a friend. She’ll have to make do with a nurse during the day.”
“She’s not just my friend, sir. We’re in a relationship.”
“Congratulations, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“So I could only get leave if I were married to her?”
“You’re catching on. Now tell her I wish her the best, and I’ll expect you back here by next Monday at the latest. Your producer is already complaining about having to rework scenes Greta was supposed to be in. We can’t afford to be down a makeup artist.”
Normally, Abi would have been dying to stick around and find out the latest gossip on set, but today, she really didn’t care. A crazy idea was forming in her head, and she turned it over in her mind as she drove back to the hospital.
“Abi!” said Greta, lighting up as she came into the room. “Look what the studio sent me!”
“A fruit basket! Wow, it’s big.” Abi bent over to kiss the redhead. “That must have cost a lot of money.”
“I’m sure it did. I’ve been eyeing those pears…”
“I’ll get you one.” Abi unwrapped the cellophane and pulled out a shiny pear, handing it to Greta, who awkwardly put it to her lips and took a big bite, juice running down her chin. Abi hurried to the bathroom and came back with a cloth to wipe Greta’s face. At this point it just felt natural: giving Greta whatever she needed and trying to keep her from feeling embarrassed about needing so much help. She needed to be here with her for this. Three weeks wasn’t enough.
“Were you able to get leave?” Greta asked her.
Abi shook her head. “I talked to Barber, and he says they want me back right away. They only grant leave for immediate family members, so I could only get it if I were married to you.”
“Oh.” Greta looked deflated. “I was hoping there was some other way you could get time off...”
“Sorry, baby. There’s no other way.” Abi took a deep breath. “Unless…”
Greta looked up. “Unless?”
“Well, I know it sounds crazy, but…if we did get married, like right away, I could apply for leave. They’d give me at least twelve weeks.”
Greta stared at Abi. “You would want that?”
“Well, I imagined it happening differently, but yeah, I’ve known for ages that I wanted to spend my life with you. I just assumed until recently that you wouldn’t feel the same way.”
“I want to spend my life with you too,” Greta said softly.
“Yeah? So, you wanna do it? It wouldn’t be anything fancy, but at least it would be legally binding, and it would allow me to be here with you throughout your recovery.”
Greta looked thoughtful. “I’ll do it on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“Ask me properly.”
Abi smiled. “Okay.” She took what was left of the pear from Greta and set it aside, wiping the juice off the actress’s beautiful face. Then she knelt by the hospital bed, taking Greta’s left hand in both of hers. “Greta Lang,” she said. “I love you more than anything in this world, and it would mean so much to me if you would become my wife. So, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” whispered Greta, a tear slipping down her face. “I love you more than anything, and I will marry you anytime, anywhere. I would do it right now in this hospital room if I could.”
“I was thinking maybe we could book the hospital chapel,” Abi said thoughtfully. “And I need to get a license. But…yeah, let’s do it as soon as we possibly can.”
Greta grinned. “That sounds perfect.”
Abi moved back to the chair and leaned forwards to kiss Greta’s soft lips. She tasted like pears. “It certainly won’t be a fairy tale wedding.”
“No,” said Greta. “But it’s going to be perfect.”
15
Wedding Bells
Greta clutched her phone in her hand, eagerly awaiting the call she knew was coming. Sylvia and Lola had gone dress shopping, and they were supposed to FaceTime Greta once they had put together a “shortlist” of wedding dresses. They weren’t going to be real wedding dresses – those would need altering – but just white evening gowns. It was a shame that Greta couldn’t try on the dresses, but she wouldn’t be up to it even after her release from the hospital (hopefully later this week, if all went well and her lung didn’t collapse again), so she had to make do. Honestly, she was so excited to be marrying Abi that she was just happy to do it immediately regardless of circumstances. She hadn’t even gotten used to calling Abi her girlfriend, and tomorrow, she would be her wife! To some it might look like a whirlwind romance, but the reality was, they had been courting since the day they’d met. She had absolutely no doubt that Abi would make her happy for the rest of her life.
She still felt like she was dreaming, and there were moments when she wondered if Abi really wanted to marry her or if she just felt sorry for her because she was hurt so badly. But every time she thought that, she reminded herself of the story Abi and Lola had told of the romantic dinner Abi had been planning before the crash and the way Abi had flown straight to Peoria, frantically searching for Greta, determined to bring her home. She remembered so little about her stay in Peoria, but she did remember Abi being there every time she opened her eyes. She had to love her.
Finally the call she was waiting for came through. She excitedly swiped to answer the phone, gripping it tightly in her left hand. She knew if she dropped it she’d have to call a nurse to pick it up for her, and that could take a few minutes. Everything was easier when Abi was here, but she was out handling arrangements for the wedding right now. She’d applied for their license the previous day and talked to the hospital about booking the chapel (which wasn’t hard, since it usually sat empty). Today she was looking for an officiant and cake.
“Hello, Mother! Hello, Lola!” Greta said as the familiar faces appeared on her phone.
“Hello, darling,” said Sylvia. “We’re here in the dressing room with the gowns we thought you’d like best.”
“Here’s Dress Number One,” said Lola, holding up a conservative beaded gown. “I think it’s pretty, and it’ll cover up your chest tube and whatnot.”
“It has long sleeves though,” Greta pointed out. “I’m not sure I could get that on over my cast.”
“I was worried about that,” agreed Sylvia. “What about this one? It’s sleeveless and has a tiered skirt.”
“It’s nice, but it might expose too much. I have lacerations and bruises on my shoulders and arms.”
“How about this one?” asked Lola. “It has short, kind of fluttery sleeves. I’m sure you could get this on over your cast. It has a higher neckline, so it wouldn’t show as much.”
Greta scrutinized the dress. It was simple, yet elegant. It was pretty, but it wasn’t very sexy, and she wanted to look sexy for Abi. That wasn’t very practical at the moment, however. Clearly she had assumed the proper brace position before the crash, because her face and much of the front of her body had been largely spared serious injury, but her shoulders, back, and arms had taken quite a beating. Some of the bruises were so deep, they hadn’t even shown signs of healing yet. The lacerations were healing and the stitches had all come out, but the deeper ones, like the one on the side of her neck that had narrowly missed her jugular, were still quite obvious. She didn’t even want to think about the scarring.
“I think it’s perfect,” she said finally.
>
“You’re sure, darling? I want you to be happy,” Sylvia said.
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s very pretty, and it covers most of what I need covered.” She bit her lip. “My IV port will still show, and the big cut on my neck…”
“You’ll wear your hair down, and I’ll arrange it to cover those things,” Sylvia assured her.
Greta smiled and nodded. Abi already knew what she looked like, she told herself. But she kept thinking of the pictures. They had to frame at least one picture from the wedding and put it up in the house, but if Greta looked like a wreck in it, she would find it embarrassing.
“Maybe we could also get you a scarf to wear,” Lola said thoughtfully.
“Yes, or a shawl,” agreed Sylvia. “You can wrap it around yourself however you need to.”
Greta smiled. “That would be lovely.”
“We’ll call you back,” said Lola. “To Accessories!”
Greta smiled as she hung up the phone, but she had no sooner tried to lie back against her pillow than the phone rang again. This time, she didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?” she said cautiously. She knew a few reporters had tried to reach her to talk about the crash, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. She hoped one of them hadn’t gotten her number. If they did, she would just hang up, she decided.
“Greta!” said a familiar voice. “This is Sue from Peoria Memorial. How are you doing?”
“Oh!” said Greta in relief. “I’m doing much better since you last saw me.”
“I got your message that you’re marrying Abi tomorrow! How wonderful!”
“Yes, we have to do it quickly so she can apply for family medical leave from work. We’ve been in love for some time without admitting it, so we already know we want to.”
“I was delighted that you invited me. When I said I wanted to come, I didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“And we completely understand that you probably won’t be able to make it, but we wanted to extend the invitation. You and Dr. Khan took such good care of me when I was with you, and Abi says you two were the ones who treated me when I first arrived at the hospital, which means you must have saved my life.”
“Oh, you would have found a way to live no matter who was treating you, we could see that. You wanted to be here. But actually, Dr. Khan and I talked it over, and we are both able to get tomorrow off so we can fly in for the wedding. It’ll be a whirlwind trip for us, but we’d really like to be there.”
Greta gasped in delight. “I’m so happy you can make it! I know Abi will be happy too. She’s been so grateful for everything you did.”
“We’re just happy to see you two together. She was so devoted to you, and we all said she had to be the reason you were fighting so hard to make your way back.”
“She was,” Greta said softly. “I know she was.”
Abi came in right after she hung up. “There’s my beautiful bride!” she said, bending to kiss Greta. Greta felt her heart swell just at the sight of her. When Abi was here, it was easy to feel like everything would be okay.
“Did you do everything you set out to do?” Greta asked her.
“Just barely! I got our cake ordered: two tiers, one chocolate with mousse filling, one champagne with strawberry buttercream filling. And I bought a cake topper!” She reached into the shopping bag she was carrying and pulled out a small box containing a topper with two brides – one black, the other white with red hair. “I wasn’t going to get one, but this looks like us!”
“It does!” Greta said with a smile. “And the catering?”
“After I told Chez Gustav our story, they said they could cater dinner for us and our guests tomorrow as long as we can get them an exact number by noon, and the number has to be less than 25.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, but we’ll have two more than we were expecting. Sue and Dr. Khan are coming!”
“Are you serious? I didn’t think they’d be able to make it on such short notice!”
“Sue just called, and she said they would be able to fly out tomorrow!”
“Wow, that’s great! If they hadn’t taken such good care of you, I don’t know if we’d be having this wedding, so it’s only fitting for them to come.”
“I agree,” said Greta with a wistful smile.
“And look what else I got while I was out!” Abi pulled a little box out of her shopping bag and opened it to reveal two gold rings. “They’re just plain gold bands, it was all they had in stock in both our sizes, but sometime after you’re out of the hospital, I can take you to your favorite jewelry store and you can pick whatever fancy ring design you like best, and we’ll special order it. These will do until then. At least everyone can see we’re married.”
Greta broke into a grin. “We will be.”
“It’s hard to believe,” said Abi, giving Greta another kiss. “But after coming so close to losing you, I am so ready to make you mine.”
“I’m already yours,” said Greta with a playful smile. “But I’m excited too. Did you find an officiant?”
“I was sweating that, because all the justices of the peace seem booked up, but then one of the hospital people called and told me the Unitarian minister who sometimes volunteers at the chapel will be in tomorrow and should be free. I talked to him, and he said he’s done lots of same-sex weddings, interfaith weddings, not-so-very-religious weddings. He sounded perfect.”
“That’s wonderful!” said Greta. “So the wedding is on?”
“It’s on for four o’clock tomorrow, with dinner to follow in the activities room,” said Abi. “I am officially the luckiest woman in the world.”
Greta smiled shyly. “Even though you have to marry a woman in this condition?”
“Greta, I saw your plane crash on live television. I was terrified that I had lost you, and all I could think about were the things I’d never told you, the things we never got to do together. I couldn’t even bring myself to imagine the rest of my life without you. I sat by your hospital bed watching a ventilator breathe for you and wondering if you would ever wake up. Seeing you now, alive and getting better each day, finally being able to talk with you and kiss you…I can’t even tell you how grateful I am. You made it, you’re here, you love me, and somehow I managed to talk you into marrying me. I am the luckiest woman alive.”
“I think I am, but I won’t argue,” said Greta. “I just wish we could consummate, but I’m just not up to that kind of activity yet.”
Abi chuckled. “It’s okay, I can wait.”
“We will have sex though, won’t we?”
“Yeah of course, when you’re ready. I mean, I just assumed, since we’re going to be married…”
“Oh, I definitely want to. I think it’s going to be amazing.”
“How can you be so sure? I thought you’d be a little nervous about tying the knot without, ya know, taking me for a test drive. What if we finally do it and I’m not as good as you’d hoped?”
“I’m not worried. I think you’ll be excellent in bed. You have so much passion and intensity, and you’re so sexy…I’ve always been jealous of the women you’ve been with in the past.”
Abi laughed, ducking her head in embarrassment. “I’m glad you have faith in me.”
“Are you worried I won’t be good enough?”
“Not at all. Before your surgery, you told everyone you were going to find my G-spot once your hand was all better.”
Greta’s eyes widened. “I did?”
“Yeah, you said you were going to give me an orgasm like I’ve never had before.”
“I don’t remember that at all!”
“Well, I’m holding you to it.”
Greta laughed. “I’ll do my best, once my arm is better!” She looked Abi up and down, her eyebrows lifting of their own accord. “I’ll be happy to find your G-spot.”
“I don’t think I’ll mind finding yours too much either,” Abi said with a grin.
Greta gazed i
nto Abi’s liquid brown eyes, imagining those long fingers inside of her, and felt a surge of sexual energy in spite of her condition. “I can’t wait,” she breathed.
“I know,” Abi whispered back. Her lips met Greta’s, and this time there was a spark so strong, Greta moaned involuntarily. Their previous kisses had just been sweet, not sexually charged like this one. Greta felt a jolt of pain as her hips tried to rise of their own accord. Getting ahold of herself, she grabbed Abi’s hand and placed it on her breast. Abi’s thumb immediately began circling her nipple as if it had been waiting for this opportunity. Greta put her hand on the back of Abi’s head, pulling her closer, sucking her tongue into her mouth—
And then they heard the voices of their mothers in the corridor. Abi quickly pulled out of the kiss.
“To be continued,” she whispered in Greta’s ear, making shivers run down the redhead’s battered spine.
“I can’t wait to go home,” Greta whispered back. She would still be too fragile to do much, but at least they could make out without interruptions.
“Oh, Abi, I’m glad you’re back!” Lola said as she came into the room carrying a garment bag. “I got you a dress!”
“What? Mum, I told you not to buy me anything! I can just wear a dress I have at home.”
“Abidemi, it’s your wedding. You need a special dress. Come try this on.”
Groaning, Abi followed her mother into the bathroom. Sylvia came to the bedside carrying her own garment bag and a shopping bag, from which she extracted a beautiful shawl.
“It’s cashmere and silk lace, and it matches your dress perfectly. You can wrap it around yourself however you wish to cover anything you don’t want in your wedding pictures.”
“Thank you, Mom. It’s lovely. May I see the dress?”
“Of course, darling.” She unzipped the garment bag, and Greta reached out to feel the gauzy material.
“It’s beautiful. What is Abi’s dress like?”
“Well, I was a bit surprised Lola picked it out. It showed a bit more cleavage than I would have expected such a traditional woman to pick for her daughter.”
Survivor's Guilt Page 12