Betty's First Trip To Rome - The Return - Chapter 14 Just like Swallowing a Pill
Midnight on Tuesday, a nurse, Daniel, and Renee were in the hospital ward's mother's room, a small room lit by cozy lamps with several comfortable sofas and chairs, a few coffee tables, two large windows looking over the quiet, darkened streets, and three large humming vending machines clustered in the corner.
Daniel picked up the tiny, sleeping two-day-old Marina from Renee's lap and laid her gently into the hospital basinet, ready for the nurse to wheel her away to the nursery.
"When can we take her home?" said Renee, her clothes crumpled, slumped on a sofa, tired from staying at the hospital day and night to bond with the baby.
"Soon," answered the nurse, "maybe tomorrow or the next day. We're keeping her in for observation while we wait for her color to improve. She's still yellow from neonatal jaundice but that normally clears up by itself in a few days."
"Is she going to be okay?" asked Renee to Daniel after the nurse left and they were alone in the room. "I want to be sure."
"She'll be fine, Renee," said Daniel. "The doctor said not to worry since there are rarely complications. Keeping her here is just a precaution. Should we go home for a nap?"
"I can't move," said Renee, chuckling. "You'd have to carry me."
Sitting down next to Renee, Daniel held her hand. "I could try that, but why don't we just rest here a bit first."
"Okay," said Renee, laying her head on Daniel's shoulder and closing her eyes.
Daniel pulled a bottle of pills out of his pocket and said, "Before you fall asleep, I have something for you."
Renee popped her eyes open, "Something good?"
"No," said Daniel. "Just a pill, it's time to take a pill."
"Oh, you filled my prescription?" said Renee, picking up her purse and reaching out for the bottle. "Thank you."
"No," said Daniel, holding the bottle out of her reach. "Let me take care of them. You're so tired. I'll give you one."
"Daniel!" exclaimed Renee, surprised. "You don't have to do that. Give me the bottle."
"No," said Daniel firmly. "It's no problem."
"Daniel," said Renee, annoyed, "you're worse than the staff at rehab. Don't do this to me! I just got out of all that. I hate it."
"I'm doing it for you," said Daniel. "The therapist said to do it this way."
"You're treating me like a baby!" cried Renee, exhaustion making her easily provoked.
"No, Renee," said Daniel. "I'm not. I'm just following his orders. I'm to keep the pills and see that you take them properly."
"What?" shouted Renee, glaring at Daniel. "You're controlling me now?"
Daniel put the bottle back in his pocket and petted Renee's hair gently, murmuring, "No, darling, no." Daniel continued to murmur quietly and stroke Renee.
"Oh, sorry," said Renee, calming down. "I suppose that sounded kind of paranoid."
"No, darling," said Daniel, lying. "I wasn't thinking anything like that."
"But I don't understand," said Renee. "I can't handle my own pills? I did before."
"It doesn't matter," said Daniel, soothingly. "It's only for a little while."
"You know I went to the best schools," said Renee. "I got better grades than Wilhelmina! Did you know that?"
"No," said Daniel, glad to have the topic of conversation changed but puzzled by Renee's non sequitur.
"I scored a genius level on the SAT numeracy exam," said Renee.
"Wow!" exclaimed Daniel, wondering why she was telling him this. "That's really great Renee."
"Daniel," said Renee emphatically, realizing he wasn't following her logic. "What I'm saying is that I am fully qualified to tell time and to count my pills."
"Oh," said Daniel. "It isn't about that."
"What?" exclaimed Renee. "Then what is it about?"
"Do you remember anything about the pills you were taking before you set the fire?" asked Daniel while watching Renee's face intently. "Tell me about those pills."
"There's nothing to tell," said Renee, becoming defensive. "Nothing!"
"Something was different," said Daniel. "Don't you trust me? You can tell me."
"No, nothing was different," said Renee, getting riled up. "I was just taking the normal pills."
"Renee, please admit it. It's important that you admit what you did."
"Oh, no, not you too! The therapist badgered me over and over about those pills," said Renee curtly. "Leave it alone."
"I can't," said Daniel, sadly. "Renee, darling, I wish I could, but I can't."
"Why not?" cried Renee, frustrated. "I wish he had explained to me why he was asking. And now you are doing it too! Stop pestering me."
"Renee," said Daniel, seriously. "It would be so much better for you if you'd just admit it."
"Admit what Daniel?" screamed Renee. "I don't know what you want me to say!"
"The therapist is waiting," said Daniel. "He's waiting for you to say it. It'll mean so much more to your recovery if you just confess."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Renee angrily. "But I can see you're hiding something from me. Why?"
"I'm sorry," said Daniel, distressed, putting his arm around her shoulders. "How can I expect you to be honest with me when I'm not with you?"
"So, you are hiding something!" shouted Renee, shoving his arm away. "Daniel, I trusted you!"
"I'm sorry," said Daniel tearfully, distressed by Renee's anger. "I don't want to let you down. I want to help you."
"Oh, Daniel," said Renee, reaching out to stroke his cheek, comforting him. "You're doing your best. I'm a wreck. What are you hiding?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you," said Daniel, sorry to have to keep secrets from Renee. "But I want to be honest. I don't know what to do."
"I want you to be honest," said Renee. "How are we going to survive if we aren't?"
"Okay," said Daniel. "But maybe I can tell you later, when you're rested. It's not good."
"No, now!" ordered Renee. "I want to know."
"Okay, I'm sorry," said Daniel. "The doctor told me not to tell you, but here it is. After the fire they took some blood tests from you. The tests showed you weren't taking your medication. It wasn't in your blood."
"No," said Renee, shocked. "That's impossible. It's a mistake. It has to be a mistake!"
"No," said Daniel. "No mistake."
"They must have mixed it up!" said Renee, irritated. "I didn't go off my pills! It's someone else's blood!"
"No, it was yours. And there was something else too," said Daniel, "something worse."
"What?" cried Renee. "What else could there be?"
"There was something in your blood that shouldn't be there. I can't remember the name of it but it was some chemical similar to speed."
"Oh my god!" cried Renee. "Impossible! I don't do drugs, Daniel. I can't explain how it got in there. I didn't take anything. You have to believe me."
"I want to believe you," said Daniel, taking Renee's hands in his and looking at her intently.
"I swear I'm not lying. Someone else is."
"No," said Daniel.
"Someone's framing me!"
"They can't be," said Daniel.
"God," said Renee. "Even I can hear how paranoid I sound. But I'm telling you, it isn't true. You have to believe me. It has to be a mistake."
"No, it isn't," said Daniel quietly. "I didn't believe it at first. I didn't want to believe it."
"Oh," said Renee, staring at Daniel, hands clenched into fists. "But you believe it now?"
"I made them prove it to me," said Daniel, dismally. "I made them repeat the test, and then do it a third time. I watched them take your blood. There was no doubt."
"I don't understand it," said Renee, shaking her head, confused.
"It's a fact."
"I don't know how," said Renee, bewildered. "How long have you known this?"
"Since the beginning."
"Daniel," said Renee, pausing to recall the day of the fire. "I don't know what to say."
"Come clean," said Daniel. "Just admit you switched the pills. The therapist said it'd be a big step in your recovery if you tell him you did it. He's waiting for it. He's waited a long time for you to say it. Just say it, Renee."
"I want to tell you what you want to hear, but I can't. I didn't do anything with my pills!"
"There's more," said Daniel.
"Oh, no!"
"Later, we found the pill bottle in your things," said Daniel. "Diet pills were in the bottle, not your meds. Renee, I think you're beautiful the way you are. You don't have to be thinner for me."
"That's not right!" exclaimed Renee. "I have no idea how it happened. Maybe the pharmacist tricked me."
"It's no good having thoughts like that," said Daniel calmly, rubbing her back.
Renee covered her face with her hands, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How can I make you believe I didn't switch my pills?"
Gently wiping her tears with a handkerchief, Daniel said, "Renee, you can't. I want to believe you but the facts are ..."
"It's a fact! Oh, Daniel, I have no memory of doing it," said Renee, sobbing. "I didn't want to do it."
"That's okay," said Daniel, soothing her until she stopped crying. "Of course you didn't."
Renee shuddered, "But I did it … why?"
"I don't know. Maybe we'll never know."
"I'm afraid, I'm afraid for Marina. I can't even take care of myself! I love her too much to put her in danger."
"It'll be alright. We'll work together," said Daniel confidently. "We just have to be very careful with your pills … okay?"
"No! I can't handle it. She's too precious. Daniel, why didn't you tell me this before? I'm not fit to take care of her."
"Yes, you are. I'll help you. Let me help you."
"I'm so confused," said Renee, forlornly. "I don't understand what happened to me. Help me Daniel! Please! You have to help me."
"I will," said Daniel, pulling Renee onto his lap and hugging her. "But you have to let me help you. You have to cooperate, let me give you your pills, take drug tests, everything."
"Okay," replied Renee, putting her arm around him, her trusting brown eyes looking lovingly into his adoring baby-blue ones.
Daniel kissed Renee sweetly and asked, "Will you take your pill now?"
"Yes, darling," said Renee, hugging Daniel, feeling safe in his arms. "I'll do whatever you say."
Daniel gave Renee her pill and smiled at her, cradling her in his arms, watching over her as she swallowed it and laid her head on his shoulder, soon falling into a deep, tranquil slumber.