The Silver Lining (14 page)

“No.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“What would you know anyway?” I said, with bitterness.

“More than you think.” She adjusted all of the monitors, and stuck me with a brand new needle as she pulled the I.V. stand close. “Is this little attitude of yours going to be up and down on a regular basis, or is this just another emotional outburst?”

I ignored her question, and replaced it with one of my own. “Just out of curiosity, what’s the procedure when it comes to asking for a new nurse to attend to me?”

“Well, you can have Lina out there.” I painfully turned my neck to look outside of the room. A large lady with short brown hair sat at the nurse’s station. “She won’t break policy, just so her patients can go see their girlfriend. I guess that’s just something us horrible nurses do.” When she finished hooking me back up, she walked out of the room without a word.

I looked to my left to see my cell phone on the stand. I reached over with all my might and slid it with the tip of my finger until I could pick it up. I figured I should place a call to Mike at the bar to let him know what happened. I dialed the number and yawned, as I waited for him to answer.

“Blue Moon Bar,” Mike said, as he answered.

“Mike, it’s me James.”

“James, where the hell you been, bro? I left you five messages last night.”

“I was in a car accident. I take it you haven’t seen the T.V. I bet you they are all over this story. Emily was in the car too. A truck totally side swiped us. I’ve been in the hospital. I just woke up a while ago.”

“No I’ve been too busy to watch T.V. That’s crazy. Are you hurt badly? How about Emily?”

“I broke a few things, a few stitches here and there. My chest hurts and it feels hard to breathe, but I’ll be okay.” I cleared my throat. “Emily is…I don’t know.”

“What? What is it? Something bad happen?”

“No. No. She’s injured, but she’s okay. At least I think so.” I exhaled. “She’s pregnant.”

“No way. Did you know?”

“I didn’t. It’s too early in the pregnancy. I don’t think she knew either.”

“Wow. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts. How long are you going to be in there?”

“I don’t know. I have this crazy nurse. I’m afraid to ask.”

Just then the nurse walked by. “I heard that,” she yelled into the room.

My heart suddenly jumped.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll swing by tomorrow morning if you’re still there. Maybe sneak you in a beer.”

“A beer would be awesome.”

“No beer for you,” the nurse said, loudly as she walked by again.

What was her deal? I frowned. This was a joke, right? Am I being punked or something? I honestly was waiting for a camera crew to pop out and yell, we got you.

“I’m at St. Helens Hospital off of Fifth and Grand Street.”

“Okay. I’m glad you’re safe, bro. I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care.”

“Bye, Mike.”

I hit the end call button and let my head gently fall back against the pillow. I felt a throbbing pulse on one side of my temple, so I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I awoke to the sound of voices yelling “Code blue, Code blue.” Nurses were power walking around, some were even running down the hall from what I could see. My heart skipped a few beats, because I wondered if it was Emily. I gripped my hospital gown and sat up. My chest was killing me. I pulled my gown away from my skin and looked down. Black and blue bruises marked just below my collar bone. The doctor was right, the pain would get worse before it got better.

“Nurse…Nurse,” I shouted out.

She jogged in and placed her hand on her hip.

“Boy, what do you want?” There she was, looking meaner than ever.

“Code blue, is that Emily?”

“No. It’s Mr. Jenkins, if you must know. He’s ninety eight years old. Heaven keeps calling him home, and his family keeps fighting for him to stay here. Hell of a dilemma.”

A sense of relief washed over me, although my stomach was still in knots. I was driving myself insane in this bed, not knowing what was going on with her. The throbbing in my head kicked in again, along with a tight itchy sensation toward the back of my head. I raised my hand up and ran my fingers through my hair until I felt stitches. I then moved my hand to my eye. I ran a few fingers over my eyebrow where the skin felt tight. I had a few stitches there as well. A picture of Emily’s body slumped over in my car from the accident, flashed through my head. I closed my eyes tightly and gripped the sheet around me.

“You hungry yet?” she asked.

I flashed open my eyes and nodded.

She disappeared into the hospital matrix and reappeared holding a tray of something. She propped a little table over me and lightly placed the food tray on it.

“What the hell is that?” I asked, looking down at the mashed up mess before me. She scrunched her eyebrows at me.

“It’s food. Eat it. It’s easy to digest so you don’t strain your ribs on a bowel movement.” She tried to rush off like always. Maybe she had other patients to attend to or maybe I was just that much of a dick right now that she couldn’t stand to be around me for too long. Definitely the latter.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

She stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. “Glenda.”

“I’m James. You can call me James, instead of Mr. King if you want to.”

“No. I plan to call you Mr. King. James is too personal. I expect you to call me nurse, not Glenda.”

“Why even tell me your name then?” I was confused.

“I figured if I told you my name, you may be less of an asshole.” She quickly walked out.

I laughed, which just made every part of my stomach tighten up. It hurt to move and breathe, laughing was just torture, but I wouldn’t show the pain.

“I’ll still call you Glenda,” I yelled out.

“Doesn’t mean I’ll answer,” she yelled, back from outside my door.

Maybe Glenda wasn’t so bad. She was growing on me. I glanced down at my food and the smile instantly vacated my face. I could do this. I’ll just shove this in and pray I don’t die. It looked nasty and I just knew the taste matched the appearance. The food in prison, never looked this bad.
Just shove it in,
I thought. I placed the spoon to my lips. The smell was even worse. I opened my mouth and jammed the food inside. Okay. It wasn’t horrible, but it definitely wasn’t great either. I didn’t even know what I was ingesting. Was it soup? Was it meat? Was it gravy? I guess it didn’t matter.

My cell phone started to vibrate on my lap. I looked at the screen to see that my brother was calling.

“Hey,” I said, as I fumbled to eat and place the phone to my ear. Damn this one armed business.

“Oh my God. Are you okay, James? I am on the first flight out there now. Mother told me about the accident. I am freaking the freak out. I cancelled all of my plans. I am throwing stuff in my suitcase like there is no tomorrow. Are you hurt? Are you fine? How is the Doctor taking care of you? Did they give you pain medicine?” My brother was rambling on and on. I couldn’t answer any of his questions.

“James, are you even listening to me,” he said, finally taking a break to breathe.

“Yes I am. Calm down. Everything is fine, just a few broken body bones. Nothing to worry about.”

“Just a few broken bones? Don’t you dare downplay your injuries to me. I know you, James. You never complain about pain. You never did growing up. What about Emily?”

I was stunned. I didn’t think he knew. “Ugh. I don’t know. She’s recovering.”

“You’re both lucky to be alive. What’s the deal with you two anyways? You dating or just bed buddies?”

“Did you really just ask that? I’m not discussing this with you.” I looked down at the mush in front of me and threw the spoon into it. Bleh.

“Whatever it is, I think it’s fabulous.”

“Really? You don’t knock me, like Mom does for dating a house keeper?”

“You’re dating, I knew it! I saw her at the house. She’s a hot little number. I’m just saying if I were straight I would have hit on her too.” He sighed. “So what’s the deal with you two? Give it to me uncut.”

“It’s complicated.”

“I heard she’s pregnant. I bet it’s complicated.”

“I can’t do this, right now.” I groaned.

“Okay. Get some rest. I’ll be out there soon. Love you,” he said, and hung up.

I turned my phone off. I didn’t feel like talking anymore. I just wanted to see Emily again. I wanted to see life in her eyes. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and take away the pain she felt.
God, just let me love her. Please, let me love her.

I knew what today was, and because of that, a small gray cloud hung over my head. The hospital had kept me twenty four hours for observation due to my head injuries, but they had scheduled to release me today. A tiny sliver of me was happy about going home. I didn’t really want to leave, not without her. Part of me wished they would make me stay here, just so I could be close to her. Especially since I hadn’t had that much face to face time. I basically had to beg the nurse yesterday to take me to her room, which included a hell of a lot of groveling. Emily was more alert than the last time I had seen her, but not much. The visit was really brief since she had been in and out of consciousness. She was extremely tired and not feeling well when she was awake, so I let her sleep. Late last night she finally came to, completely. We called each other’s room a few times just to complain about our pain, and compare bumps and bruises. That’s all I had to go off of, and now I was leaving her here all alone and I hated it.

“Mr. King, You are free to go,” Glenda said, as she poked her head inside my room.

I smiled briefly.

She walked over to the bed, and placed her hand on my arm. “As soon as we get you dressed and I know who is picking you up, you’re good to go see Emily. She’s been asking for you.”

“She has?” I lifted my head up.

“Demanding little thing. She’s almost as bad as you.”

“I doubt that, Glenda.” I smirked while she laughed.

“You might be right. Here’s the clothes your mother brought when she came. Not sure they’ll fit that cast. I’ll be back in a second to help you get dressed. I just need to take a tray to Emily and tend to a few patients.”

As soon as she left, I started tossing my clothes on, beginning with my shirt and then my boxers. The underwear was a bitch, but it wasn’t too bad to one arm dress myself. Next I grabbed the pants. Shit.
Mission Impossible
here. There was a lot of wiggling and stretching on my behalf. I finally pulled them up partially on one leg. The cast was just too damn bulky. I kicked the pants off me in frustration watching them fall to the floor. I should have just waited for Glenda. That was exhausting. I stood up and hopped over to the wall and then the door. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! The pain in my leg was intense. I was sweating now. I grabbed the wheelchair next to the door and sat down. I was breathing hard as I wheeled myself to Emily’s room with my one good arm. I couldn’t even believe I just did that. Somebody please put me out of my misery. Label me insane and send me home already. The shit I do for this girl is beyond me.

“That boy is head over heels in love with you, girl. Don’t let him slip away. He’s one of the few good ones left.” Glenda laughed.

“He’s a very good man,” Emily responded.

Just then I turned into her room, but instead of entering smoothly like a white knight, I crashed my leg into the doorframe ruining a perfectly good moment or so I thought.

“Son of a bitch,” I shouted.

“What the hell is wrong with you, boy?” Glenda yelled.

I looked up to see Emily covering her mouth with one hand. “James?”

“I’m fine.” I waved my hand about.

“See, they don’t pay me enough to deal with this.” She walked over to me and fixed the wheelchair. “I can’t wait until you leave today. You’re like a thorn in my side that I can’t pick out. You don’t listen to anything, hard headed as hell.” She paused and looked down at my bare legs. “I take it the pants didn’t fit.”

“Don’t get me started on those pants. It was like fighting a snake, and before you say I should have waited for you, you take forever. I mean forever. Do you have any push or hurry in you at all? If I waited for you, I would have turned into dust. That’s how long you take!”

“Tell it to the congregation, because the pastor ain’t listening today. Good lord, you make my blood pressure shoot up. I’m going to tell your Doctor to sign those discharge papers as fast as he can.”

I smiled, as I watched Glenda sprint out of the room in a hurry for once. I wheeled myself closer to the bed. Emily was sitting up and dragging her spoon back and forth through a bowl of her own mush. Finally I saw it. There was life in her eyes. That sparkle that I missed was back.

“I wanted to see you before they discharged me.”

“I see that. Should I even ask how you got from your bed to here without help?” She smiled.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “How do you feel?” I asked.

“Like a truck hit me. Exactly like I should, I suppose.” She frowned.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? It was an accident. There was nothing you could have done different.”

“I just hate this. Look at you.” I let my hand graze her cheek.

“James, we should talk.”

“Okay. Let’s talk.”

Silence filled the air.

“I’m…I…The Doctor said that there is a…” She closed her eyes tightly.

“Baby,” I blurted out like nothing. “You’re pregnant. I know.”

She looked at me in shock. I watched her lick her lips and then breathe out slowly.

“You don’t have to do this. I mean, like be around. I don’t want to trap you. I don’t even know if I’m keeping the baby. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to stay with me because of the pregnancy.” She was rambling again. Her eyes were big and her mouth was running like a freight train. “I just want you to know that you can go.”

I shook my head. Ridiculous words were pouring out of her mouth more and more as she spoke. “Emily.”

“I didn’t plan this or try to get pregnant on purpose. It just happened. I was under stress and I forgot to take my pill that night we were together. I think it’s important you know that.”

“Emily.”

She ignored me. She wasn’t even looking at me now. She was just talking into the air at this point.

“I won’t make you feel held down in life by a child. The hospital gave me options.”

“Would you just shut up for one second?” I shouted louder than I wanted to. I took a deep breath in as she looked at me. A saw a bit of fear in her eyes. Her lower lip trembled.

“I want the baby. Our baby. I want it. All of it. Me. You. Us. Together like a family.”

“Really?” Her hand fell across her chest.

“Emily, I’m like this dumb, happy kid when you’re around. You bring happiness to me. It makes me feel good.”

She stared down at the white hospital sheet. Her hands were shaking.

“Look at me, Emily.”

She lifted her head and stared into my eyes.

“I would love to raise this baby with you.”

She smiled, and tears fell from her eyes. She reached over and grabbed my hand and nodded.

“Mr. King. Let me wheel you back into your room, because you are officially discharged, sir,” Glenda said, interrupting us as she walked into the room and grabbed my wheelchair, pushing me out of Emily’s room.

“Wait.” I fought.

“Emily is not going anywhere. She’ll still be there when you get done.”

I sighed and let my head fall back. “Is there a patient abuse form I can fill out?”

“Only if there is a nurse abuse one I can fill out as well.”

We both chuckled as she wheeled me into my room, and helped me dress into some scrub pants that I could wear home. Glenda was one hell of a nurse. Her strength kept me strong and her attitude was what I needed. She was straight forward and I liked that. I would definitely miss Glenda. The witty banter between us was amusing to say the least.

“Okay, Mr. King. I am off the clock and you are checking out. You have a good one. Take care of that girl.”

“I will. Thank you, Glenda.”

Just as she left, Dr. Holden came in. He was another doctor here who occasionally checked in on me. He smiled and looked at his chart for a second. “How are we feeling today, James?”

“Like gold,” I responded. I didn’t feel at all like gold. I was hurting, but I would never tell him that.

“I almost want to keep you another day, but I think you’ll do okay if we release you.”

“When is Emily Monroe leaving?”

“I don’t know. She has a different doctor attending her. You can ask up front when you sign your exit forms.”

“Okie doke.”

“Do you have a ride home? We can call you a taxi if needed.” The doctor kept writing on his tablet.

“No need. My brother is coming.”

“Good. Well, take it easy for a few weeks. Be sure to pick up your medication at the pharmacy. I’ll see you back in about eight weeks to get that cast off. Call me if you need anything.”

I nodded and he strode off. I wheeled myself back to Emily’s room this time with ease.

“I officially get to go home,” I said, as I entered.

She frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head.

“Liar. What’s wrong?”

“I just have all of these things running through my mind, these thoughts.”

“What things?” I licked my dry lips. She was giving me anxiety.

“James.” She gritted her teeth.

“What things?” I repeated. “You can’t just say that and not give a complete response.”

She looked away, and then back to me. I wheeled closer to her and used the bed to push myself up to a standing position. I turned around.

“What are you doing?” She knitted her eyebrows together.

I leaned at a slant with one leg bent and the casted leg straight, letting myself sink down until one of my ass cheeks barely rested on the edge of the bed. I scooted my butt back closer to her leg to get a better balance. I looked down at her to see she was fiddling with her hospital gown.

“I’m scared.” Her hand and voice shook. Her lip trembled as she stared at me.

“About?” I wondered if it was the baby or the accident she worried about.

“You. This baby. Us.”

She had concerns. I understood. We just went through some terrible shit, and now we were going to have a baby. I took her uninjured hand and placed it on my heart. “Close your eyes. You feel that?”

She did. I took a deep breath. Once I said it there was no going back. How did I fall so hard, so fast for this girl? It was unexplainable and crazy. We didn’t date for months or years. I didn’t take her out to a fancy restaurant and confess my love for her. We just kind of snowballed down a hill together and here we were. She was my silver lining in life and I was hers.

“I love you with every ounce of me. With every breath I take. With every beat of my heart. You don’t have to be scared, Emily.”

She opened her mouth.

“James! There you are,” I heard my brother shout from behind me. I swung around quickly, which caused a pain to shoot through my rib cage.

“Fuck!” I groaned, and grabbed my side.

“What in God’s good name are you doing out of your bed, and out of your chair? What type of facility is this that isn’t watching its patients?” My brother was in full freak out mode. Here we go.

“Stop.” I tried to say, but he was whirling around the room and shouting out to the nurses.

“Do I need to contact the health department? I will have all of your asses fired next week.”

“Chad, stop,” I yelled.

He looked at me surprised.

“I’ve been discharged already.”

“Oh, thank you, Lord. I wasn’t sure if they would let you go home today or not.” He stopped moving and looked at Emily. “Emily, I’m James’s, brother, Chad. I don’t know if you remember me. I don’t really get out to the King estate too often, and when I’m there my mother is usually making full demands to her staff on my behalf. I’m so sorry our mother Victoria is a raging tart.”

“Cranberry cookies and milk with ice in it. Of course I remember you.”

“Okay, this one is a keeper, James.” My brother smiled.

I looked at my brother, back to her and then back to my brother. I didn’t know why, but hearing that she made cookies for some other guy kind of rubbed me wrong, even if it was my gay brother. This love shit was crazy. I’m tripping. My brother shook his head at me, almost like he knew it bothered me. I pushed the image out of my head since it was as silly as it sounded.