They Say Love Is Blind (25 page)

They found their rings that very day and were told that they would be ready for pick up in about a week. They scheduled their final doctor’s appointment for the same day and then after the check up and the ring pick up, the
plan was to visit the restaurant and show
them
off
to
the family. Lee had already called everyone to a gathering and Tory suspected that he was going to propose again and this time present her with the engagement ring. She was becoming spoiled at his attention because she wanted him to do it again and again
.

Tory woke up that morning and coughed up phlegm into a tissue. She
ha
d developed a
nagging
cough that had
begu
n as a tickle in the back of her throat but had
gotten
steadily worse as the week progressed
. Now
her chest ached
from the constant coughing
.

Lee rubbed her back as she coughed
up a wad of mucus
. “That sounds bad. We’ll have the doctor write you a prescription for some cough medicine.”

She sat there for a moment catching her breath and kicking herself for foregoing the spirometer. But she had been active and didn’t think that it was that big of a deal. With a sigh she pulled herself to her feet and
got ready for her day.

The first stop was the rings and they
were perfect. Lee
refused to give her the engagement ring and she giggled knowing that her earlier suspicions were probably right and he was going to present it to her in front of his family this evening. She noted the curious looks of the other patrons and for
got to wonder what they thought
.

Tory drove them to the hospital, happy that it would be the last visit for the both of them until Lee had his casts removed. He was given a clean bill of health and
then n
ext it was her turn to get checked out
. However
her doctor wasn’t nearly as pleased with her progress as Dr. Hendrix had been with Lee’s.

“
Well, I believe that you’re developing pneumonia.” He removed his glasses and regarded her with an intense stare. “
Have you been using the
i
ncentive spirometer
?”

Tory froze. Lee frowned and tilted his head. “What is an
i
ncentive spirometer
?”

The doctor took a few moments to descri
be it to Lee and to explain it
s importance.

“So
it’s essential to her healing? Is that what you’re saying?”

Tory winced as
her doctor confirmed that it was. “
We’ll need to schedule a chest x-ray just to be sure. We better do a urinalysis and blood test first and that will determine the course of treatment.” He sighed. “Young lady, I need for you to utilize that
i
ncentive spirometer
as prescribed and to get some bed rest,
because you and I discussed in great length your increased risk of stroke or heart attack.
Okay?”

“Okay.” She said, properly chastised.
Why did he have to
say all of that in front of Lee? Couldn’t he have used some form of discretion?
Lee remained quiet as the nurse gave her a cup to pee into and then sent her to get her blood work done.

When she returned to wait for the
chest x-ray
she took in Lee’s stiff posture from his seat in the plastic office chair.
He still hadn’t said one word.
Okay, so he was not happy with her right now.

“You’re quiet.” She said
, attempting to thaw him out a bit
.

“You lied to me,” he said
flatly
.

Her mouth dropped. “Lee-”
Lied? What?

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“What?”
Pain, brought on by his words caused her eyes to widen.

“I need you to be my eyes and that doesn’t mean just telling me shit that you want me to know and not telling me shit that you don’t! How do you think it makes me feel knowing that you were ge
tting sicker and sicker and I didn’t kno
w why because you didn’t tell me?”

“But-”

“No buts!” He scowled and came to his feet, pulling his cane from
the pocket of his cargo pants. “Macey will pick me up. You go home, get that spirometer thing and you use it!” He walked out the door with lurching footsteps, tapping his cane loudly as he went.

“Lee!”

He ignored her and kept walking away. She watched him as the nurse returned with
a file in her hands
. She looked uncomfortable as she looked from Lee’s disappearing form back to Tory.

“Uh…this might not be the right time but congratulations. You’re pregnant.”

CHAPTER 1
9

“We obviously can’t give you a
chest X-Ray but we can do a rapid urine and mucus test.
”

Tory was staring at the doctor stunned. She’d been sitting in her hard little chair for the last five minutes speechless.
The doctor finally sighed. “Look, I understand that this is unexpected…and
probably
not
happening at
a good time. I’m sorry for anything I may have said…b
ut your pregnancy adds a new spin to this. Your body hasn’t healed from the accident. You have to take care of yourself. I cannot stress that enough. You can have a heart attack or stroke very easily.”

S
he clutched her stomach protectively and nodded. “I promise. I’ll use the spirometer-”

“And make an appointment with a prenatal doctor as soon as possible.
The tests indicate that you are very e
arly into your pregnancy
and
we need to make sure that you and your baby stay healthy.
” Tears
stung her eyes
.
The doctor reached out and took her
hand.
Her baby…
she could actually have a baby.

Tory suddenly realized something that shamed her as much as
contracting the venereal disease had.
She
really had doubted her ability to have babies. And if she had not been able to get pregnant, would she have ever told Lee? She didn’t know the answer to that and not knowing that about herself meant that Lee was pretty much correct in everything that he’d said to her.
He’d said that she didn’t get it…and she guessed he was right.

Tory spent hours at the hospital getting tested and treated for
what turned out to be
a mild case of pneumonia. Her doctor wanted to admit her in order to put her on an intravenous course of antibiotics but she begged him to allow her to go home. He met her half way and gave her a three hour I.V. and then released her. By that time it was well after six and she was nearly fit to be tied with anxiety and worry. In the hours that she’d had to sit and think while accepting the I.V.
Tory
replayed Lee’s words, examining them from all angles and she came to a difficult realization.

She needed to tell him everything about
her
rape
. Maybe he would
think that she was dirty for
having
an STD;
the
clap
,
and living with it for months
.
It was a stigma that she couldn’t live down, especially since her mother and father had to be told once she was emitted to emergency.
What if Lee looked at her with the same shock, disappointment and disgust?

Tory stopped
walking,
suddenly feeling overwhelmed as her past and present came crashing together. She took a deep breath and placed her hand on her chest.
That rape just kept happening over and over—even years later.
She climbed into her darkened car and
stared at nothing.

Tory
thought about just going home, using the spirometer and falling into bed in exhaustion, but she couldn’t allow Lee to go on being mad at her and she wanted to share the news about the baby. So she
decided to drive to the restaurant figuring that Macy would have taken him there since the family was meeting for dinner. She
thought about calling his cell phone first, just to make sure
of his whereabouts,
but couldn’t bring herself to do it. T
he idea that he would lash out at her was
just too much for her to bear right now. She knew that he wouldn’t do that in front of his family…would he?
Regardless, she was going to the restaurant because no matter what, she still needed to eat. She patted her tummy and felt a small grin tug at her lips. She had two to feed.

The street
was
lined with cars and it gave her a sense of
déjà as she hurried to the restaurant
. A chill ran down her spine and for a moment she thought about turning around and going back home. She was
emotionally drained, but her desire to see Lee over rule her good senses.
She hurried into the restaurant and was
relieved
to see that the host for the night was not Roz but a young man. He recognized her and greeted her with a smile.

“They are all gathered at their family table.”

She
thanked him and then hurried through the room and
searched for Lee
. She
saw him
at the oversized table,
having desert
with
his siblings.

Carlo’s wife, Katy smiled when she saw her. “You came! Lee, Tory’s here.”

She saw a shadow fall across his face
. Raphael, who was sitting next to his brother
collected his place setting and moved so that she could sit down next to him. She greeted everyone in a distracted manner and sat down next to Lee.

“Lee said you were sick.” Paulo
said
. “We wouldn’t have
eaten without you
if we knew you were coming.
Well there’s still food. There’s ALWAYS food,
”
he joked.

“It’s okay…”
She glanced at Lee who
said nothing.

Macy
filled a plate with food
and
then
passed it to her while Francie passed her a glass of wine.

“What are you doing here?” Lee finally
asked
.

She stared at him. “I was going to eat.”

He sat there silently, not eating, speaking or moving. Tory’s expression dropped. Rosalind
sat across from them
looking on
with interest.

“How did your doctor’s appointment go?” She
had the nerves to ask
.

Tory shot her a heated look. Why was t
his woman always around?! “Fine,
”
was her simple response.

Lee reached for his glass of water and knocked it over. Tory jumped up and reached for a napkin and began cleaning the spill.

“Tory,” he sighed. “Just…leave it.”

“I almost got it-”

“Tory. Go home. Do what I told you to do.”

The table grew instantly quiet. There was not a peep to be heard.

She blinked and stared at him in surprise. Her mouth opened but then closed. She dropped the napkin and slid her chair back and then rushed out of the room. Her face burned and her eyes stung. She heard Raphael exclaim that he should go after her and she heard his one word response.