CHAPTER THREE: ON THE ROAD TOWARD HEALING
When she awoke the next morning, her husband was up, dressed, and fixing them some breakfast. When she called out to Perry, he stuck his head out the kitchen door and asked if she wanted more than toast and coffee.
"That's fine for now. Did you sleep in the chair all night?"
"I wanted to be there if you needed anything."
"It couldn't have been very comfortable."
He was grinning as he brought coffee and toast into the living room.
"Look at who is talking. How many times where you curled up in a chair when I was sick or hurt."
"Touché"
Kissing her good morning he said, "I love a woman who is so agreeable in the morning."
"I love a husband who takes such good care of me. Are you going to the office today?"
"No, the office is closed until Monday. Gertie is handling all the calls that come in and you trained her well. After I get you settled, I will go out to the house and get the things we need for a few weeks here. Andrea is coming over to stay with you."
"Then I better get cleaned up. I know you will help me in the shower."
Picking up their plates and cups he said, "it will be my pleasure."
He helped her off with his pyjama top and they headed for the bathroom. She stopped at the mirror and took a deep breath. "Once these stitches come out, I need to have something done with my hair to cover where they shaved my head. The bruises are fading too they should be gone by next week."
As he prepared the shower Perry thought about how resilient she was and that he had seen her in tears the first time they gave her a mirror in the hospital. She was just as beautiful as ever, but Della was sure she was scarred for life.
"Let me make sure the cover for your cast is tight enough. We can't let it get wet."
Once she was in the shower, he made sure she was steady against one wall. He loved it when her body glistened from the water. More than anything he wanted to make love to her, but he gently washed her hair avoiding the area that was injured and then tenderly washed her body. Wrapping her in a big towel he caressed her as he dried her.
She leaned against him as they made their way into the bedroom. "Having your touch and not being able to reciprocate is much more difficult than I thought."
"Baby we will both have to be patient."
He settled her on the bed and brushed her hair. She settled back and watched him dress. This was her favourite look when he didn't have to wear the suit and tie which he hated. Finally, he helped her get dressed and resettled on the sofa.
"As soon as Andrea comes, I am going to head out to Malibu. Is there anything else you want me to pick up?"
"I'll probably think of something after you are gone but I'll call you there."
Just then the doorbell rang, and Andrea came rushing in to see how her best friend was doing. "You look like you had a good night."
Grinning at her husband she explained, "Yes I did. I had the best nurse maid in town."
Grabbing his jacket Perry said, "on that note I am going to leave."
"Oh Perry," Andrea began, "Paul wanted to know if you could meet him for lunch."
He looked at Della who nodded. "I'll give him a call and set it up if you can stay with my sassy wife."
"Of course, and I'll fix something for us too," Andrea agreed.
Leaning over to kiss her goodbye he told her, "now you behave yourself. Don't try to do too much."
"She saluted him with her good hand. "Yes sir."
"Baggage! He exclaimed as he walked out the door.
The ladies looked at each other and laughed and said, "Men."
"So how are you feeling?" Andrea asked her best friend.
Della explained, "it still hurts but I only woke up once during the night for pain medicine. I think I'm getting better every day."
"Do you think that you're going to want to go back to work soon?"
"The doctor said that I need to stay home all the next week, but Perry thinks I should stay home for the whole time until I start physical therapy."
"Della you're not going to be able to stand that. How are you going to convince him that you should be able to go back to the office?"
She smiled. "I'm going to remind him how he acted after he had his rotator cuff surgery. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to show up there and let him see that I'm capable of doing some work".
Knowing how stubborn her friend could be Andrea smiled and said," well that should be interesting to see."
"I'm going to cross that bridge when I come to it. I think he thinks that I'll be resting all day long every day. I need to get up and do some things even if it's only with my right hand."
"Well, your hand does look better it's not as bruised and swollen. The cut on your head looks like it's healing well and the bruises seem to be changing colours."
"By the way thanks for taking care of my rings. The first day I didn't even realize they weren't there, and I didn't know what did happen to them when I did become aware that they were gone. I was pretty upset when I found out that they had to cut them off." Della confessed.
Andrea asked, "I told Perry that would be the case. Where are they now?"
"Well, you know that we got the wedding bands when we had the ceremony in Bali and he got in touch with them to see if they could replace them in any way and they I don't know if he got a reply. My diamond was bought here in Los Angeles and he's taking it back to have it reset."
"When do you think you'll be able to get them back?" She wanted to know.
"They said in about a week or so. What is going on with you and Paul?"
"We are looking for a house in the suburbs," Andrea said excitedly.
"What did you have to do to Paul get him to agree to move from town?"
Her best friend grinned, "I told him he was going to be a father."
Della jumped up and hugged her friend saying, "I am so happy for you." Then as she bumped her arm she collapsed again. "Aah, that was not smart."
Andrea laughed, "How many times have we done things that were not smart. Are you okay?"
"It throbs but other than that I am so excited for both of you. When are you having the baby?" She asked as she took a pain pill.
She answered, "the doctor said in about seven and a half months."
"I can't wait to tell Perry."
"That is why Paul wanted to have lunch with Perry. I think he is still in shock."
Della laughed, "I am not surprised we both know he was player for years. When he asked you to marry him, I knew it was because you were so special."
"You know Del he was so great to me after the trial. * I don't think I would have survived without him, but I didn't think he would ever propose."
"It's great he picked my best friend, and he is a great guy. Besides I told him if he hurt you, I would hurt him."
They laughed knowing it was true and they were always there for each other.
By the time Perry got back they were eating lunch.
He said, "Della should you be up and around?"
"Perry I'm not an invalid."
"Did you talk to the doctor?"
Della looked at Andrea and spoke. "Thank goodness I'm not expecting I couldn't stand nine months of this overprotective Perry."
He raised his hands in a protective action, "I don't think I am going to win any arguments with the two of you. So, I will quietly retire to my den."
That is where Della found him an hour after Andrea had left. "Are you angry?" She asked.
"No, but you are a formable pair. I have learned to retreat quietly."
She sat down on the desk next to him. "What did you think about their news.
He raised his eyebrows at her. "I don't know who was more surprised me or Paul."
"Paul was surprised?"
"Della," he began, "I don't think Paul ever thought he would be married let alone becoming a father."
She thought about it for a minute and finally said, "I guess you are right he sure did go through the girlfriends."
They were each caught up in their own thoughts until Della asked, "how would you react to being a father?"
He looked up from his papers, "are you trying to tell me something?"
"Don't worry, no, but it may come up in the future."
"Well, I hope I would be excited, happy." He answered seriously.
She got up and told him, "well we don't have to worry about that for a while. It is time for a pain pill. I think I will go and lie down. What do you want to do about supper?"
"I was thinking of fresh fruit and vegetables that are easy to pick up, cheese, toast points with shrimp."
She leaned down and kissed him and said, "it sounds delicious. I would invite you to lay down with me, but the doctor said not too much activity for about a week."
"I can behave," he asserted pulling her onto his lap.
Della laughed, "so I see, and you are very tempting."
"I promise to be careful of your arm."
"Why don't you finish there, I'll change, and you can join me then," she suggested.
By the time he got there she was sound asleep. He kissed her forehead and straightened her blanket and went to the living room to read.
THREE WEEKS LATER
Della was up early and managed to protect her cast and take a shower. Perry had helped her wash her hair the night before. She was slowly dressing doing her best to get her underwear on with one hand. She hadn't awakened her husband because when he did get up, he was going to object to her wanting to go to the office.
Last week she had planned to go and was going to get ready after he left for court. She planned to take a taxi to the office, but it took so long to get ready that she was exhausted by the time she got dressed not to mention hot and perspiring. Her stitches had been taken out the week before, but her hair was still bald in spots. She called her hairdresser and made an appointment, rested, and cleaned up before calling a cab.
She was so tired when she had gotten home, she decided maybe she wasn't ready to go back to work. By the next week she was feeling stronger, and it was time to try to go to the office. She looked up when Perry came out of the bedroom heading for the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I thought I would go to the office with you. There should be something I can do. Besides the walls are closing in on me. I need to get out."
Rubbing his hands together Mason thought for a moment and asked, "if I take you to work will you promise if you get tired you will go home?"
Reluctantly she agreed thinking once she got to the office she could stall until she was satisfied that everything was going correctly. She had talked to Gertie regularly, but it wasn't the same as being there.
It was after ten when they finally arrived. Perry's desk looked neat and clean. Gertie was very organized and had trained Sharon to do her receptionist duties. "Everything looks great Gertie."
"Thanks Della. I do have a pile of bills here if you want to go through them and maybe you can get Mr. Mason to answer some of these letters."
Della laughed, "I'll try but I'm not surprised he was able to get out of answering them with you since I have such a hard time getting him to answer them. I'll be in his office."
Picking up the letter opener Della separated the correspondence into piles that could be thrown out, ones she could answer, those she needed to discuss with him, and ones he must answer himself. Getting Perry to go through these letters was always a chore.
It was going through the bills that she came across a receipt for the air express company that shipped her wedding band to Bali three weeks ago. She needed to ask her husband if he had heard anything about the ring.
The office staff had come in to say hello to her and ask how she felt. She was so glad her hair was looking so much more normal, and the bruises were healed.
When Perry came in just after noon he asked, "do you want to go home or to lunch?"
"Let's go to Clay's I can get a salad and you can have something other than finger food. Then we need to come back here and tackle the mail."
Perry scowled as he said, "I knew there had to be a reason I was glad you weren't in the office."
Getting her purse, she reminded him, "If you kept up with the mail it would not be such an unpleasant task."
"Let's go and talk about something else."
Della laughed, "Alright Mr. Grumpy. By the way have you heard anything about my wedding band?"
"Thanks for reminding me I need to give them a call."
As they let Gertie know they would be at Clay's Perry told her, "when we get back call Celuk Village Jewelers in Bali about Della's wedding band."
"Yes, Mr. Mason."
Clay and the staff at the restaurant were very happy to see Della as they had been long time customers of the restaurant. "Well, it was nice to know I was missed," she remarked.
"They missed your beauty and charm," her husband assured her.
"You are a smooth talker Mr. Mason."
He insisted, "I only speak the truth."
"It's your charm that made me marry you," she asserted.
He grinned at her, "is that the only reason?"
Getting up she said, "we can discuss that later."
Back in the office Gertie told the lawyer she would make the call to Bali. Half an hour later Mason was talking to the jewellers in Bali. He was very upset to find the ring never arrived there.
"Della gets hold of Paul and ask him to come down as soon as he can."
She put the call in and said, "He'll be here in five minutes."
It was less than five minutes when they heard Paul special knock. Della hurried to be the one to let him in.
He grinned at her and said, "It is so good to have you back Beautiful,"
She grinned right back and told him, "It is great to be back."
Sprawling out in the chair as he did so often the detective asked Perry, "So what do you need?"
"You have some contacts at L.A. Air Express?"
Paul nodded, "A couple. What's up?"
"I just talked to the jeweller in Bali. I sent Della's ring there to see if they can repair it or replace it. That was about three weeks ago Della has the receipt. It never arrived do you think if you could find out what happened?"
"Sure, Perry gives me the information and I'll see what I can find out."
Della handed him the paper and he got up and said as he left, "I'll let you know what I find out as soon as possible."
As the door closed his secretary said, "okay it is time to tackle the mail."
Perry groaned as he inquired, are you sure you can take diction?"
I will put my notebook on your desk, and it is my left hand that is injured."
Reluctantly he took the first letter from the pile. He didn't dictate as fast as usual. An hour later they were about three quarters of the way through when the phone rang.
It was Paul and he told the lawyer, "you won't believe this. The package went from here to Sacramento, from there it went to Montana for a couple days, then for some reason it landed in Atlanta, and it is just leaving New York City."
"That is the craziest thing I ever heard Paul. It is going in the wrong direction. Are you sure that's right?"
"I went down there myself and they showed me all the places it had landed."
"When do they think, it will get to Bali?"
"They don't know for sure, but they said they would check on it and try and have an answer for us by tomorrow."
Mason told him, "they better not lose it I made sure that I got insurance on it when I sent it. Thanks for your help just let me know when you know something. I'm not telling Della it will just give her something else to worry about."
When he hung up Della was just coming in from her office and had an anxious look on her face. "It hasn't arrived yet. Don't worry Paul will keep track of it."
"What are you talking about? It just can't be lost?"
Getting up from his chair he said, "get your things and let's go home. Give Gertie the dictation and I'll look at it tomorrow. I made sure if anything happened to the package it will come back to us."