-=*=-To Austria With Love -=*=-
Chapter X
Christy was brought back from surgery two hours after Neil arrived at the hospital. This time Neil's wait for his wife to awaken would be much shorter then it had been the past two times he had waited. In fact she was speaking to the orderly who was pushing the gurney back to her room. Neil felt extremely encouraged. As he had waited in Christy's room for two hours he could only think about the long, terrible wait's he had endured the two previous times she had surgery. But God blessed him with a *much* shorter wait this time.
Christy was speaking, but at first it wasn't very intelligible. "What's she saying?" Neil asked.
"I haven't the slightest idea!" The orderly answered. "She's talking incoherently at the moment. The anesthetic is still wearing off. They said in the recovery room it would probably be a little while yet before she starts to make sense. She's been saying something like Ruby Mae or something like that. Plus she's been saying something about 'no kiss'?"
Neil looked at his wife and smiled. "Ruby Mae is a friend of hers back home and I think I know what else she's trying to say. It's something I promised to explain to her a while back and I never did. Thank-you for telling me."
"I have no problem relaying what I understood." The Orderly said as a nurse joined him in Christy's room. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room while we put your wife back into bed."
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As the orderly and the nurse left the room, the nurse turned to Neil, "You may go in now Dr. MacNeill."
"Thank-you! Thank-you very much!" Neil replied anxiously.
"I'll warn you, she has a lot to say!" The orderly laughed.
"You don't know how happy I am to hear that!" Neil declared as he walked back into the room once again.
I drifted in and out of consciousness the rest of the day. Though my head hurt, it was far from the excruciating pain which had overtaken me during the night, or early in the morning. I felt rather well when I was awake. I was given pain medication though to prevent any further agony. It wasn't until the following morning that I finally felt strong enough to speak with my husband about all that had occurred during this last operation.
Neil gingerly sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand in his. My eyes were open and I smiled at him. He smiled back. Leaning over me he kissed me softly. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened Sweetheart. This was my dream, not yours. I shouldn't have begged you to come with me." He said quietly, as the tears began to fall he placed my hand to his lips.
I reached up and brushed the tears from his cheeks.
Stunned, he looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "Christy what are you doing?"
"Brushing the tears from your face." I smiled shyly.
"But how did you know they were there?" Neil's eyebrows knit together in a questioning expression.
"I could see them. You have one more there on the right side of your face next to your mouth." I announced with a playful smile.
"You can *see* them, Christy!?!" Neil nearly yelled as his face lit up with exuberance. I nodded my head slightly, though it hurt to do so. "Oh! I wish I could pick you up and twirl you around the room Sweetheart!"
"I wish you could too, but the way my head feels I'm afraid it might fall off!" I giggled slightly.
With that Neil placed his cheek against mine, his hand on my opposite cheek. With tears flowing we cried together. Over and over Neil kept repeating, "Thank-you God! Thank-you!"
After a few minutes Neil sat back and looked at me, his features spirited and a beautiful smile on his lips. I looked at him groggily, but happy and excited.
Glancing around the room with my eyes squinting against the light, I asked, "Are those flowers from you?"
Neil chuckled. "Yes! I nearly killed them worrying about you yesterday morning. I thought they would make the room smell nice for you… Since you always smell like flowers, I thought you'd enjoy them. But now you can enjoy the sight of them as well!"
I smiled up at Neil and whispered, "Thank-you…" as I drifted off to sleep once again.
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Dr. Friese and Dr. Fuchs both confirmed the return of my eyesight, though I was a bit color-blind they said it had the possibility of returning as time went by. But I didn't really care! Even not being able to see some colors was extremely better then not being able to see anything at all!
Neil was rejoicing, as was I, though in a much more subdued manner then Neil I must admit! If I had tried to be as enthusiastic as Neil, I would have been dreadfully sorry I had ever made the attempt! I didn't have a headache as I had with the operation a few days ago, but the incision was painful, especially since its being reopened.
There were so many things Neil and I could do together now that we hadn't been able to do before! I wanted him to take me on long walks when I got stronger so he could show me all the sights which he had described to me since our arrival.
My greatest joy was seeing my handsome husband's smiling face! I loved him so much!
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On the day we were hoping to have confirmation my release from the hospital, Neil sat in my room as we awaited the arrival of Dr. Friese. Neil had looked troubled since his arrival this morning. Finally with some prodding from me he allowed the problem to pour forth.
"Christy, I can't help it. I feel so guilty for bringing you here! All that you've endured because of *me*!!"
"Neil, if I hadn't come here I may have been blind for the rest of my life! How could I ever be angry with you for bringing me here and giving me my sight back?" I paused a moment. "Now I'll be able to see our baby when she's born!!" I smiled at Neil and his reciprocal smile was somewhat reserved.
"Christy! You're not going to allow me to live that down, are you?"
"That's because you were right! I know it. Down deep inside I just know you were correct!"
"Well, we'll see Sweetheart! For now I'm just glad to have *my Christy* back! Alive, healthy, whole, and sighted! Plus the fact that you are more beautiful then ever only adds to my joy!"
"Oh Neil! I can't tell you how pleased I am to *see* you again!" I looked closer at him. "You've had your haircut!?!"
Neil laughed. "Yes Christy. For quite sometime now in fact! I almost forgot I had it long at one time!"
"Well, it seems like only yesterday to me." I admitted. "That's the way I remember you, so that was the picture I always had of you in my mind."
"Oh yes." Neil began. "When you came back from surgery you were asking about something which I had begun talking to you about while you were unconscious back in Asheville, after you first fell from the horse… I said something to you, to the effect that I was standoffish and I had only kissed you one time, for a reason. You seemed to want to know the reason when you came back to your room this last time, do you want me to finish what I was going to tell you back then?"
"If you wish to tell me about it, sure, I'd like to hear it." I smiled. "Besides I love watching your expressions as you speak to me."
Neil smiled shyly and went on with his explanation. "Christy, when Margaret and I met, we had an intense physical attraction to each other. We didn't wait for our wedding night to act on the urges we felt for one another." He paused a moment, I think he was blushing, but I wouldn't acknowledge it if he didn't. "I felt a physical attraction to you also. Having done everything wrong where Margaret was concerned, I knew I had to force myself to keep my distance from you. You were an innocent young woman and I didn't want to hurt you, or your feelings. In my heart I knew you were meant to be my wife. I wanted our wedding night to be something extra special for both of us. That's why I kept my distance. I wanted even your kisses to be something new and exciting to me. Maybe I carried it to the extreme to some degree, but I thought it was far better to err on the side of caution then it was for me to make the biggest mistake of my life, all over again!
"You and I have something together that Margaret and I never had--never could have had! We're alike, you and I. We have the same passions and the same drive. Plus you have something I don't have, self-esteem. I had arrogance, but it's not *nearly* the same as believing in yourself." Neil smiled at me. "You build me up when I'm feeling low. When I can't seem to believe in myself, you always believe in me! No matter what. That's something I can't live without! You've been like an angel to me! You showed me the way back to God, and myself. I don't need to be arrogant any longer… I love you more then words could ever say Christy Rudd Huddleston MacNeill!" He took my hand and kissed it again, and then he leaned toward me and kissed me gently, but lovingly on the lips.
I brushed the unruly hair from his face and said, "I love you too, Neil MacNeill! I've meant every single thing I've ever said about you, because I've always spoken the truth. You are special to me. Don't ever think that you *dragged* me here to Austria, because nothing could be further from the truth! I came because I couldn't stand the thought of your going alone… because I couldn't stand the thought of you being thousand's of miles away--from me! And there was no way I could even speak with you!! I can't live without you either! I would have been devastated had you come to Austria and left me behind!
"I only had a short time left at the Perkins Institute and I would have graduated. Then what would have become of me?" I wanted to cry at the thoughts which were going through my mind at this moment. "I didn't--I *couldn't* go back to living with my parents; to become a pampered blind girl who all of my parents friends felt sorry for! And a person who all of my old friends didn't want anything to do with because I wasn't 'like them' anymore! You love me unconditionally! Blind or sighted you loved me the same and treated me as if I had never changed! I can't thank you enough for that Neil! You made me feel like a *person* when so many other people treated me like an object… Just like the gossips at the party last week…"
Neil leaned forward and rested his cheek against mine. "They can eat their words now Sweetheart. Because you are going to do greater things they ever imagined accomplishing in their lives!" He whispered in my ear.
Just then a knock came at the door. Neil quickly sat back in the chair beside my bed, still holding my hand, he called, "Come in!"
Dr. Fuchs entered. He stood at the foot of my bed resting his hands on his hips. "Well, young lady! It seems you never cease to amaze people, do you?" He smiled.
"No she doesn't, Doctor!" Neil chimed in.
"I didn't do anything, but trip over my own feet and fall down the stairs!" I said as my face blushed.
"Well, that was enough to bring about all of this!" Dr. Fuchs said as he waved his hand from my feet to my head and back again. "Without your fall we may never have found the adhesions and scar tissue left from your first surgery. After removing them I had a pretty good idea you might get your sight back again, but I was not positive. I wanted to give you time to prove my point." He paused. "The headache which you had the other evening, or should I say early in the morning, was caused by a blood vein which had been sutured, but began to leak. It was leaking probably most of the time since the surgery, but the blood built up to the point where it was causing you excessive pain before we knew what was going on. This time everything was checked, rechecked and checked again before they closed you up. I think you have seen the last of your headaches. I cannot guarantee you will *never* have another headache again, but the excruciating ones which you experienced in the aftermath of the first surgery should now be history."
"Praise the Lord!" I said, although I wanted to shout! "When do you think I can go home?"
"I would say probably a full week from the day of your arrival. You want to be strong before you walk out that door."
"I know." I began. "But I've never *seen* my home! In fact there are so many things that I've never seen. All of Austria for one thing. I want to go out and *see* the world!!"
"You will, I promise, but not until I believe you are healthy enough to do so, agreed?"
"Agreed!" Neil declared. I felt like pouting, but didn't!
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End of Chapter 10.
Chapter 11 Coming Soon!!
