“Did you see who’s in room 420? It’s that sexy publisher Todd Manning and his wife. You should have seen him on the news last night. He was standing there like a god. No shirt and the man’s abs were to die for.” Nurse Sandy Phelps exclaimed. “I wonder what happened, and why he’s here?”
“I heard his wife was found beaten in the woods last night. My mom said he attacked one of the reporters when they got too close.” Nurse Sally Forbes piped in.
“Wow, what I wouldn’t give for a man to love me like that,” replied Sandy.
“Susan Elliott was on when they brought her in, she said his wife almost lost the baby. It was touch and go for a while. Sandy, she also said the woman was whipped. It’s like something out of one of my romance novels. You know, the heroine is captured by the villain and the hero has to rescue her,” said Sally.
Laurel had heard enough. “Stop that this instant! How dare you stand and gossip about the patients like that. It’s our duty as nurses to preserve the privacy of our patients not spread tales about them all through the hospital. I have a good mind to call the supervisor and let him know certain young nurses are using the patient’s ailments for their own amusement. What happened to that poor woman isn’t romantic, it’s tragic. Now get to work. You both have your own patients to take care of, and if I hear anything about Mr. Manning and his wife elsewhere in the hospital, I’ll know exactly who to name to the supervisor.” She stood there as the two nurses dropped their eyes in embarrassment and returned to their duties.
Inside room 420, Blair woke up. For a moment, she just laid there listening to his heart under her. It was strange, usually she would be laying against his bare chest, but this time he was wearing some weird top. She opened her eyes and realized where they were. What she didn’t understand was why Todd was in a hospital gown? Then she felt the wires and heard the beeping indicating his heart was being monitored. Oh God, Todd. Something had caused him to have another heart attack. Gripping Todd’s hospital gown, she recalled the events of the previous night. Mitch capturing her and tying her up, then his hands all over her, beating her and taunting her. Just then Todd’s arm slipped off her shoulder and dropped down her back and she cried out briefly as the contact sent pain through her. She bit down on her lip to keep from screaming, as more memories returned. Todd holding her as she tried to explain, then the pain of something wrong with the baby. She had been so scared.
As if sensing her mom’s distress the baby kicked and Blair gave a small choked sob, grateful she hadn’t lost another child. Todd had saved her and their child, but he must have felt responsible, and it had taken its toll on him. Blair pushed the memories of Mitch to a deep corner in her mind, as her concern for her husband took precedence.
The minute she cried out, Todd had awakened and realized his arm had fallen against her back. “Babe, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you more pain.” He lifted his arm trying to decide where he could hold her that wouldn’t hurt. He finally rested his hand on her head and stroked her hair. “You’re going to be alright. Larry said you and the baby are out of danger. You’re just going to need to take it easy and heal.” Damn it, Todd, what are you thinking, just draw attention to what Mitch did. That’s really going to help her right now.
“Todd,” she spoke, “Why are you in the hospital?”
“Where else would I be? I’ve gotten too used to having you next to me, and couldn’t stand sleeping in our bed alone.” He knew where she was going with her question.
Blair moved gingerly and raised her head to look into his eyes. “Since when do you wear hospital gowns and electric wires in bed with me?”
He smiled sheepishly, “Oh those, I thought I’d try a new look.”
“Todd … What happened?”
“Babe, it’s nothing, I’m fine. I just had a little bit of a shock and my heart reacted. Larry just wanted to keep me in here to make sure there weren’t any recurrences.” He saw her eyes fill with tears. “Blair, what’s the matter? Really, I’m fine.”
“Todd, I could have lost you and the baby.” She broke down in sobs again, clutching at him.
Todd felt helpless and patted her head trying to calm her. “But, you didn’t. I’m okay and so is the baby. We’re all here safe and sound.”
Through her sobs, she cried. ”Are we? He’s still out there. He hurt me to get to you, and he almost succeeded. The man’s inhuman.” She was inconsolable, and Todd reached for the call button. Larry had said she needed to stay calm and this was anything but.
At the nurses' station, Laurel looked at the board and saw that it was Mrs. Manning’s bed. She hurried in to find Mr. Manning trying to calm his wife, and from experience, she could tell the woman was almost hysterical. Dr. Wolek had left standing orders to sedate if necessary, but she didn’t want to medicate unless nothing else would work. She walked to the bed. “Mrs. Manning, shh now, you need to calm down. You have to think of the little one you’re carrying, all this upset isn’t good for the baby.” She couldn’t help noticing that Mr. Manning’s pressure was going up exponentially, too. “You’ve got your poor husband frantic, too.” At the mention of the baby and her husband, Blair’s sobs began to lessen.
Todd looked at the woman, very grateful that she seemed to be getting through to his wife. He continued to rub Blair’s hand clinging to his gown and made small circles with his fingers on the back of it until he felt her grip loosen. As her crying lessened, he met the nurse’s eyes.
“Thank you,” he mouthed.
“Mr. Manning, you mustn’t fret. None of this was your doing. Mrs. Manning’s hormones are all out of kilter, and everything is just more emotional.” She checked the IV and noticed that Blair was settling down and appeared to have nodded off again. “She’s still got some sedative in her system and will probably sleep a little longer. I know Dr. Wolek will be down shortly to see you both. Now that she’s sleeping again, maybe you would like to have some breakfast. It would be better if you move to your own bed while you do, so she can rest undisturbed. I’ll also need to check on her wounds in a few minutes.”
Todd was reluctant to let Blair go but knew the nurse was probably right. He carefully slid back off the bed and laid Blair down on her side. The nurse helped by putting a pillow against her back to keep her from turning over onto her injuries. Then he wearily made his way back to his bed. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to help her.” He leaned back on his pillow and let his eyes close. He wasn’t even aware he had spoken aloud until his wrist was taken and the nurse answered his statement.
“I think you‘ll do just fine. She wants to be held by you, that’s a major step for many women after something like this. You’ll just have to be patient. It’s obvious she needs you. You just need to find a way to help her without letting it set you off,” the nurse took a moment to make sure his leads were still in place. “It won’t do her any good if you collapse again.”
Todd stared at her. “Excuse me?” It wasn’t often he found himself being lectured to by a perfect stranger, but he had a strange feeling he had just been scolded by the woman in front of him. She couldn’t have been more than five and a half feet tall. She wasn’t a big woman, in fact, she looked like you could bowl her over with a feather. She was slim, but her hand had a strong grip and her face was surprisingly young except for the laugh lines around her dark brown eyes. Close salt and pepper curls surrounded her head indicating she was older than her face suggested.
Laurel met his gaze. “I said, you need to take care of yourself so you can care for her. Now I’ll go see about getting you something to eat.” She smiled, pulled the sheet up to cover him, patted his arm and left.
“Wait, what’s your name?” Normally he didn’t care who the nurses were but this one had piqued his interest.
“I’m Nurse Rogalla, and I’ll be your nurse until you’re released today, Mr. Manning. I’ll be here tomorrow too if Dr. Wolek lets your missus go home.”
There was something in her speech that sounded so familiar. “You wouldn’t by any chance have lived in Chicago.”
She looked at him in surprise. “I was born there, grew up on the south side. Are you familiar with Chicago?”
“You could say that I grew up there, too.”
“Sometimes it’s a small world.” Actually smaller than he knew. She remembered him, having seen him long ago. A much younger man less than twenty years before, coming to see his father, who was dying. He wouldn’t remember her. She had been working at the desk when he had arrived with the police escort and asked where his father's room was. She had been assigned to other patients and had only remembered him because he had stuck around after his father's death and refused to leave the room. She had felt bad for him, that they hadn’t let him grieve. Who knew she would end up taking care of both he and his wife now. “I’ll see to that breakfast.”
A short while later she returned with a tray containing a bowl of cold cereal and milk, some scrambled eggs, bacon, a biscuit, some orange juice, and coffee. “Now, you eat every bit of that, you’ll feel stronger once you’ve eaten.”
Todd didn’t need any encouragement. His stomach had growled the minute he had smelled the food. He was about halfway through his food when the nurse returned to work on Blair. Suddenly realizing what that meant, his stomach rolled and he felt nauseous. He pushed away what was left of the food and swallowed hard, determined to keep down what he had already eaten. With sick fascination he gazed at Blair, praying she wouldn’t wake. He didn’t think he could take it if she started crying again.
Laurel put some medicine into the IV and then got her supplies ready. At his questioning look, she replied. “Dr. Wolek prescribed morphine for the pain, it’ll keep her from feeling uncomfortable when I remove the bandages and relieve any residual pain.”
Todd watched her like a hawk but marveled at the care she used when she took the bandage off. Blair reacted with just a small moan, yet didn’t wake up. Todd winced at the sound and took deep breaths as his breakfast again threatened to come up. From his angle, Todd couldn’t see Blair’s back and he couldn’t help admitting to himself that he wasn’t yet prepared to view it again. That image was seared in his mind. Unconsciously, his hand went to his cheek as he felt the mark Mitch had left on his face. He vowed then and there that Blair wouldn’t have to live with the constant reminder on her back. He would get the best plastic surgeon around to make sure that didn’t happen.
Laurel knew what had been done to the woman, but was unprepared for the extent of the damage the man had perpetrated on her. It was painfully obvious that the man had deliberately wanted a number of the scars to stand out from the rest. She managed to stifle the gasp she had started to utter, realizing the husband was watching. You poor dear, to have been in the hands of such a vile man, it’s a wonder you and the baby survived. She kept her thoughts to herself and applied antibiotic ointment carefully then put on the new bandages. She left them only lightly taped up because Dr. Wolek would want to have a look when he got there. “She’s doing just fine, Mr. Manning. Now you should rest some more if you can. I’m just a call button away.”
“Nurse Rogalla, thank you for your kindness to my wife,” Todd said simply and leaned back against his pillow and closed his eyes.
***
An hour later at Dragonheart, Sam opened the door to his parent’s room and found it empty. He ran back down the hall and opened his sister’s door leading into the common room between Starr and Hope’s bedrooms. He went up to Starr’s door and pounded. “Starr, Mom and Dad aren’t here. You said Mom would be back home, where are they?”
Starr turned over in Cole’s arms and groaned. “Cole wake up, Sam is outside my door. I need you to go into the bathroom. If he sees you, he’s sure to say something to my dad. I’ll get him back to his bedroom to dress and you can get down to your room.” She had been so grateful that Cole had been there when she and Jack had arrived home. He had taken her into his arms and held her as she cried for her mom and dad. She had explained everything that had occurred at the hospital and her father’s close call. One thing had led to another and they had ended up in her bed. “I love you, but now isn’t the time to test Dad.” She kissed him and grabbed her robe going to the door. “Hold on Sam, I’m coming.”
Cole rolled over and did as Starr asked. He knew it would be futile to argue. Todd was aware that he and Starr had resumed their relationship; but she was right, Sam could make things worse if he happened to mention that Cole and Starr had shared a bed. Things were working pretty good right now, he didn’t want to rock the boat. He reached the bathroom and partially closed the door, listening as Starr let Sam in.
Sam stood in his spiderman pajamas looking angrily at his sister. “You said Mommy got hurt and Dad was taking her to a doctor to get it fixed. Why aren’t they home?”
“Hey, they will be. It was just so late when they got Mom all fixed up, the doctor told them they could sleep there because he said Mom would heal better after a good night’s sleep. But I told you last night, that if they didn’t come home, we would go there to see them. You remember that, don’t you?”
Sam nodded and his anger went away. “Yeah, but they’re not here, so are we going to see them? I want to give Mom a kiss and help her feel better.”
“Yes, we’ll go see them but we have a lot to do first. You need to go get dressed and we all need to have breakfast and don’t forget, Rascal needs to go out too. Now you better hustle and get changed. Tell your brother to get up. The two of you can walk Rascal. Okay?”
“Okay, but Jack’s going to be mad. He hates being wakened up.” Sam turned, scuffing his feet as he walked and left the suite headed back to his room.
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