Thanks as always to Kitty, Mary, & Donna for all of their incredible help!
Day 4
Bella…
"Hey, Dr. C," I said happily and the old doctor laughed. "How are you doing this morning and how's my favourite patient?"
"It's been a good morning so far, hasn't it, Mrs. Cope?" He patted the elderly lady's hand. "She's been awake since I arrived."
I took off my coat and hung it on the back of the door, before sitting beside the bed. Dr. C was studying a print out. "What's that?"
"The nurses noticed an elevation in her heart rate during the night." He smiled. "Nothing to worry about."
"Were you dreaming about that handsome husband of yours again?" I picked up Mrs. Cope's copy of Little Women and found the last page I read. "I've seen those photos, Mrs. Cope. I bet he got your heart racing."
"We should be paying you for this." Dr. C laughed. "You're like a breath of fresh air in this place, Bella. Everybody loves you."
"I can't fault them." I waggled my eyes.
Dr. C was my favourite doctor on the Neurology ward by a country mile. We'd first met ten years ago when I lost my father to a stroke. Despite the bleak prognosis, Dr. C did everything he could to save him and I would be forever thankful for that. Because of him, I got a precious extra few hours to spend with my dad before he died and I was there to hold his hand at the end.
Ever since then Alice and I spent a few hours a week sitting with the patients who didn't have any family of their own. I preferred to read to them while Alice being Alice usually gave them manicures and combed their hair.
I'd been coming to see Mrs. Cope for almost a month and I'd grown really attached to her. I came here most nights with or without Alice. I was even planning to spruce up her room, but I needed my favourite doctor on side for that.
"Dr. C?" I asked him sweetly.
"Oh lord, what now?" He hid his face behind Mrs. Cope's chart. "The last time you batted your eyelids like that, I had to let you sneak a snake onto the ward and then try and cover it up when one of the nurses saw it and went nuts."
"It was for the benefit of the patient." I laughed. "He missed his pet and wanted to make sure it was okay. It's not like I meant for it to escape."
It had actually been a successful idea that really cheered up the patient. The nurse had come into the room to adminsiter his meds and and we hadn't been able to hide it in time. She ran out screaming at the top of her lungs that there was a cobra attacking her patient.
It was actually a Kenyan Sand Boa and I was assured it was harmless. Dr. C calmed her down and helped me sneak it back out... but he still liked to remind me of it whenever I asked him for a favor.
"I don't doubt your intentions are always good, Bella, but either way, I've come to dread you asking me for favours." He shook his head but couldn't stop smiling. I had him wrapped around my finger. "So what do you want?"
"Again, it's not for me, but for my wonderful patient," I reminded him. "I was wondering if we could get Mrs. Cope a Christmas tree? "
"You don't mean a plastic one I assume?" He sighed and I shook my head.
"There's nothing like the smell of a real tree, Dr. C. I can get one that doesn't shed needles and I promise it will be small. I'll put it in that corner away from the monitors and everything." I batted my eyelids and he chuckled. "Please can I?"
Dr. C hesitated. "I'm not sure the cleaning staff will like it very much."
"I'll take care of it, I promise." I turned up the puppy-dog eyes and he groaned.
"It's times like this I'm grateful we only ever had a son... you girls are far too good at that." He shook his head.
"Fine, get the tree, but I'm going to pretend you didn't even ask for my permission, and then you can't take me down with you."
"Thanks, Dr. C. You're the best!" I gave him a big hug and he laughed.
"You're a dangerous creature, Miss. Swan."
He left to finish his rounds and I settled in with Mrs. Cope. We were almost half-way through her favourite book and I was enjoying reading it again as much as her. I lost all sense of time and four chapters later I realised my audience was enjoying a mid-morning nap.
Just like my father, Mrs. Cope also suffered a stroke, but unlike my father, her prognosis was good. She'd need a lot of rehabilitation to recover just a fraction of her movement and speech, but she was a fighter and I knew she'd get through it. The doctors at the hospital were trying to find Mrs. Cope a place in a rehabilitation centre and they were hoping to have her settled in her new home before Christmas. I'd really miss her once she was discharged, but there were so many other patients like her who needed someone to care.
"We'll resume tomorrow," I whispered to her. "We're getting to the good stuff now and you have to be awake for that."
Talk about getting to the good stuff… I'd enjoyed another vivid fantasy about Santa and the closet last night, only this time Santa's beard was gone and it was Edward's face staring back at me. I'd crossed the line from fawning over a "moment" with Santa and imagining what a great guy he really was to knowing he was a really great guy that belonged to someone else yet still imagined having him as my own.
"Not that it's ever going to happen," I muttered to myself. "I'm just a wannabe man-thief."
More tomorrow, thanks for reading and reviewing.
Katy
xx
