In the morning that followed, Elena woke up and found herself laying down in a warm bed. Slowly, she opened her eyes and realized she was back in her room. A pale grey light was coming in from her window. Elena blinked a few times and slowly turned her head right. Anton was sitting in a chair, looking at her.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked him.
"Nothing's wrong", Anton answered her.
"What are you doing?"
"Watching you sleep."
Elena paused for a minute. She looked to her left and then looked back at Anton. "Have you been watching over me all night?"
"Yes, I have."
"Why?" Elena asked him.
"I was worried about you", Anton answered her. "After our conversation last night, you passed out from emotional distress. I was able to revive you for a minute, but then you fainted again. As I was putting you to bed, you started talking in your sleep."
"What did I say?"
"You said my name and then you asked me not to leave you."
Elena was silent for a minute. Even after everything that happened between them, he still cared about her. By his own decision, Anton was scared enough for her that he decided to stay by her side all hours of the night. This told her something about him.
Anton stood up and walked over to Elena and sat down on the bed and carefully took hold of her broken wrist, slowly turning it over and checking for any signs of improvement.
"Does it hurt?" Anton asked her.
"I don't feel much", Elena answered.
Anton placed a hand over the left side of her ribcage and told her, "Breathe for me."
Elena took a slow breath and exhaled deeply.
Anton looked at her and said, "I think you're gonna be all right."
"Does this mean were squared or engaged?" Elena asked him, jokingly.
Ignoring her attempt at humor, Anton tucked a loose strand of hair behind her left ear and said, "I want you to stay in bed and rest today."
"Do I have to?" Elena asked him, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Yes. I'd like you to", said Anton.
"Okay", Elena whispered.
"I'll be back in five minutes", said Anton. He stood up and walked out of the bedroom.
Elena sat up in bed and waited for him to return. As predicted, Anton returned no more than five minutes later. He came into her bedroom with a tray of food and placed it over her lap.
"What's all this?" Elena asked him, curious all of a sudden.
Anton sat down on the bed and told her, "I figured you'd be hungry."
Elena gave him a faint smile at his response.
Before she could pick up the fork, Anton snatched it away from her and insisted on feeding her himself.
"Look", said Elena, "if this is your way of apologizing to me-"
Anton looked at her and said, "This isn't an apology. You need to keep up your strength, Elena."
Elena did not argue with him any further and allowed Anton to feed her a few bites of scrambled eggs and some spam. A minute of silence passed between them.
"Has anybody called?" Elena asked him.
"No", Anton answered her, setting the fork down. "Why do you ask?"
Elena shook her head and said, "No reason." She lowered her eyes and helped herself to a drink of milk.
Anton stared at her a minute with unconvinced eyes. "You're lying to me."
Elena brought her gaze back to meet with his. The turquoise of her eyes seemed less brighter and had a scared look in them.
"What are you hiding now?" Anton demanded, his low voice deep and authoritative.
Elena set the cup down on the tray and asked him, "Did you make any calls to the house while you were gone?"
Anton knew what she was referring to and admitted, "I thought about calling you, but I knew you were still upset. I thought about leaving Brainerd forever and never coming back, but then I couldn't stand the thought of being away from you."
Elena looked down and placed her left hand over his right. She looked at Anton again and asked him, "Can I ask you something about your criminal past?"
I'd rather you didn't, Anton thought to himself. Instead, he said to her, "If I told you anything more than what you already know, you wouldn't think of me or look at me the same way ever again."
"Please?" Elena begged him, softly. "Just for my sake?"
Anton slowly turned his head left and looked away from her, not wanting her to see the self-loathing in his eyes. "What is it you want to know?"
"Did you ever kill any women?" Elena asked him. Her voice sounded shy and quiet.
"The last person I shot was a woman", Anton answered. "Her husband had the chance to save her, but he decided to use her to save himself. It was his greed that led them to their deaths."
Elena lowered her eyes again and tightened her lips upon hearing the last sentence. She detected the sadness in his voice and wondered how he must have really felt when he encountered his last victim. An innocent woman who had done no harm to no one, and yet still had been thrown into the path of an early death. For a hitman like Anton to keep his word about killing her was bad enough, but for the woman's own husband to put her in harm's way was too much even for Elena to comprehend, let alone understand.
"What about children?" Elena asked him, afraid of his answer.
Anton was silent for a minute. He looked back at Elena and stood up slowly, glaring down at her with threatening eyes. He was offended by her question.
"You think I would ever do anything to hurt Sophia?" Anton asked her, sounding dangerously calm. "Is that why you're asking me? Children are innocent until they reach a certain age, Elena. I have seen children die in front of me, but they did not die by my hands. You know how many I watched die during the war?"
"No", said Elena, shaking her head slightly and looking terrified.
"317", Anton answered. "It's one thing when a child looses a parent, or even both, but to tell a mother I could not save her son or daughter is another. Do not think I enjoyed it, Elena. If anything, it hurt."
With that, Anton picked up the tray and turned to left.
"Anton, I didn't know", said Elena. He stopped in the doorway and listened. "I'm sorry you had to witness that."
Anton turned his head left and looked at her, not saying a word. He looked away from her again and existed out of her bedroom.
Elena tilted her head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. She let out an exasperated sigh and said to herself, "Way to go, Olmsted. You just pissed him off."
After an hour or two of reading her Bible, Elena walked out of her bedroom and down the hall and out into the living room. Anton was sitting on the couch with his arms folded. His feet were on the coffee table. Elena looked to her right and saw the television was on. John Wayne was having a conversation with Kim Dirby.
Elena looked at Anton and asked him, "What are you watching? John Wayne?"
"True Grit", Anton answered her, not taking his eyes off the screen.
Elena walked over to Anton and tapped his knee. He placed his feet on the floor. Elena sat down on the left side of the couch and scooted over closer to Anton.
"You're not going to question me again, are you?" Anton asked her, sounding uninterested.
Elena leaned her head onto his shoulder and said, "Not today."
Anton turned his head left and looked at her for a minute. Elena did not notice it. He focused his attention back to the television. They sat there in silence.
Just as Glen Campbell was about to save John Wayne from being shot and killed by Robert Duvall, the phone on the sidetable drawer rang loudly.
Elena jumped in her seat and gasped in surprise. She looked at the phone and then looked at Anton and asked him, "Can you turn that down, please?"
Anton picked up the remote and muted the volume, while Elena reached over with her left hand and answered the phone.
"Hello?...Yes, Dr. Benedict...Uh-huh...Uh-huh...Yes...Yes..." Elena paused for a minute and looked at Anton. She looked away from him and continued talking with Dr. Benedict on the other line. "No, no, I'd loved to pick her up. It's just that I'm...Oh, you heard, huh?...Uh-huh...Well, what if Marge picks her up tomorrow?...Uh-huh...Okay. First thing in the morning?...All right. Thanks a lot, Marty...Yeah, you too. Bye."
Elena hung up the phone and slouched back. She ran her hand through her hair and tilted her head back, breathing a sigh of relief.
"What was that all about?" Anton asked her.
Elena turned her head right and said, "Did I forget to tell you Sophia was coming home? Dr. Benedict said he went over her charts and said she was strong enough to come back home by the first of August."
"You mean tomorrow."
"Yes." Elena looked away from him and stared at the ceiling again. "Marge is gonna pick her up first thing in the morning and bring her here. I'd do it myself, but my car is at the impound."
Anton stared at her for a minute, studying her. "I don't think what happened to you was an accident. The driver in the Ford Custom drove into your vehicle on purpose."
Elena shook her head and said, "I should have known it was going to happen. Sophia tried to warn me, but I didn't listen to her."
"What are you talking about?" Anton questioned her.
Elena looked at Anton and sat up straight. "When I told Sophia I was going to leave early and call the cops on you, she said that if I left the hospital, I was going to have an accident. I was angry at you and I got mad at her in return." Elena paused for a minute, tears starting to fill her eyes. "She tried to warn me, but I didn't listen to her."
Anton remained silent and said nothing.
Elena lowered her head and felt hot tears starting to spill from her eyes and covered her trembling lips with her left hand, trying to muffle a sob.
"Elena-"
"Look, I know you don't like seeing me cry, but-"
"No", said Anton, placing his left arm around her. "Come here."
Elena scooted closer to him and leaned herself against his chest, sniffling and crying softly. Anton held her in his arms and placed a hand on the back of her head, running his long fingers through her hair.
"The important thing is that you're still alive", Anton said to her.
"But I should have listened to her, Anton", Elena whispered through her tears.
"It doesn't make any difference now", said Anton. "Nothing you do can erase the line which has been drawn. It's already been done. I don't want to say you brought this onto yourself, because you did, but I'm glad you survived it."
Elena licked the saltwater from her lips and took a deep breath. "Now you're just being mean", she said.
Anton looked at her and placed a hand under her chin. He slowly lifted her head up and brought her water-filled turquoise eyes to meet with the dark brown of his.
"Perdoname, mi amor", said Anton. "No quise causarte tanta tristeza en tu corazón."
Elena shook her head and told him, "I have no idea what you just said."
Anton gave her a hint of a smile and took her hand into his and helped her to stand up. "Come on."
Anton led Elena down the hallway and brought her into the bathroom. He turned on the tap and tested the temperature of the water and let the tub fill up. He then turned to Elena.
Just as he was about to assist her with removing her nightgown, Elena gently grabbed at his wrist and asked him, "Could you turn around, please?"
Anton stared at her for a minute, thinking. He did as she commanded and turned around to face the wall while she undressed herself. He understood her reasons in asking for some privacy, but thought it foolish of Elena not to trust him with helping her.
Soon as he heard her submerge herself, Anton turned around and saw Elena was now sitting in the tub, holding her knees up to her chest in the hopes of hiding her breasts from him. She avoided his gaze.
Anton turned off the tap and took off his denim jacket and hung it up on the back of the door. He pulled up his long sleeves and picked up a plastic bowl from off the counter and sat down on the edge of the tub next to Elena. He dipped the bowl into the water and filled it to the brim. Just as she had done with him before, Anton placed a hand over Elena's eyes and poured water over her hair. He repeated the same action twice, careful not to get her cast wet. He set the bowl aside and washed her hair with shampoo and conditioner, gently massaging her scalp with accurate finger strength. The touch and movement of his fingers was almost enough to put Elena to sleep. Anton rinsed her hair twice and used a washcloth to caress her back with a sweet-smelling soap.
He laved the washcloth with more soap and was about to reach down between her legs, but Elena grabbed at his wrist again and shouted, "No!"
Anton looked at her and said, "You need to let me do this."
Elena took the washcloth from him and said, "I can do this part myself."
Anton said nothing, but stood up and rolled his sleeves down, sighing to himself. He turned around and picked up his jacket and went out and closed the door behind him. Elena wasn't sure if she had offended him or not, but she wasn't about to let Anton handle her in that way, no matter how much she needed his help.
After she was done with her bath, Elena stood up slowly and stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel from off the rack, wrapping it loosely around her body. She picked up a hairbrush from off the counter and went out and walked into her room and sat down on the bed. She sighed to herself and proceeded to brush her hair with her left hand. She did not care for it.
"Do you need help with that?"
Elena turned her head right and saw Anton was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. She looked away from him and set the brush down and said in a hushed voice, "Yes, please."
Anton walked over to Elena and sat down on the bed and picked up the brush and held Elena's hair in one hand and proceeded to brush her hair, using slow and gentle strokes. Neither one of them spoke for three minutes.
"You know I would never do anything to hurt you, don't you?" Anton spoke to her.
"I'm aware of that", Elena whispered, softly.
"I know you are", said Anton. "But if we can't trust each other, then there is no point in us trying to be together."
Elena did not know how to respond to that. Once again, the truth of his words stabbed through her heart like the sting of a sword. She kept herself silent, afraid of offending him again.
Once he was done, Anton stood up and went over to the tall dresser and set the hairbrush on top of it and opened the top drawer. He closed the drawer again and walked back over to Elena with a loose T-shirt and sweat pants and sat down on the bed and started helping her into her clothes. Elena did not protest, but she did feel it ironic that he was now the one taking care of her.
After he finishing dressing her, Anton stood up and helped Elena into bed, pulling the sheets over her to keep her warm. Anton looked at her and stroked the top of her head and said, "You need to rest, Elena. You'll feel better after you've slept."
"Okay", Elena whispered.
"I won't be far if you need me."
With that said, Anton turned around and walked out and closed the door behind him.
Elena lied there for a minute, thinking. Evil and dangerous as he was, or used to be, the once-deadly assassin known as Anton Chigurh had now become the nurse's own personal health care provider. Everything about him articulated something calm and methodical about the way he moved and performed certain tasks, but still left in the mysteriousness of his character. Whatever humanity he had left inside him, he allowed himself to show it to her and her alone. Although she had been angered upon discovering who and what he was, Elena no longer feared him, nor was she afraid of him.
When she woke up an hour later, Elena sat up slowly and looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was fifteen minutes past twelve. She stayed in bed for most of the day, never leaving her room except to use the bathroom. She sat up in bed with a pillow propped behind her back and picked up her Bible and read to herself. Every half hour, she looked at the clock to see what time it was.
At 4:21, Elena walked out of her room and went into the living room and looked into the kitchen. Anton was standing over by the stove, preparing a small meal of fish and rice for their dinner. Elena walked over to him and hugged her left arm around his middle.
"You're awake", said Anton, not looking at her.
"Yes, I am", said Elena.
Anton looked at her and said, "Why don't you take a seat? I'll be with you a minute."
Elena released him and walked over to the table and sat down in a chair.
Anton loaded two plates with food and walked over and set them down on the table and sat down in a chair opposite from Elena. He reached into his pocket and handed her a white caplet next to her plate. Pain reliever.
Halfway through the meal, Elena looked at Anton and said, "Can I ask you something?"
Anton looked at her and asked, "About what?"
"It's nothing personal", said Elena. "It's just that Sophia's coming home tomorrow and I know she's gonna want her room back. If it doesn't offend you, I was just wondering if we could...If you wouldn't mind, that maybe we could...you know..."
"You're suggesting we sleep in the same bed together?" Anton asked her.
Elena paused for a minute. "If you wouldn't mind", she answered him.
Anton looked at her for a minute and said nothing. Elena was afraid she might have crossed over another line with him, until Anton focused his attention back onto his plate and told her, "I will think about it."
After dinner, Elena and Anton went into the living room and watched the news. In the midst of watching a Charlton Heston movie, Anton looked at Elena and agreed to sleep in her bed with her.
At 7:30 p.m., they went into Elena's room. Anton sat down at the foot of the bed and took off his boots and socks, while Elena walked around to the right side of the bed and pulled back the covers and lied down. Anton stood up and took off his jacket and went to hang it up in the closet. He then walked back over to the bed and lied down next to her on the left side.
"Are you warm enough?" Anton asked her.
Elena looked at him and said, "Yes, thank you."
Anton looked away from her and focused his attention up toward the ceiling, lying there in silence.
Elena lied there staring at him for a minute. She did not know what he would think if she asked him if she could touch his face, but then something else came to mind.
"Anton?"
"What?"
"You said you'd never do anything to hurt me, right?"
"Yes, I did."
"Can I trust you to hold me in your arms?"
Anton said nothing, but turned his head and looked at her, wondering why she asked him that. He knew the answer just by staring into those beautiful eyes of hers he loved so much.
"You wish for me to hold you in my arms?" Anton asked her, his voice was soft.
Elena blushed in the dark, though he could not see it. "Yes, please", she whispered.
Anton sat up in bed and helped the young woman turn over onto her right side. Elena rested her right arm onto her pillow, favoring her broken wrist. Anton lied down next to her again and placed his left arm carefully around her waist, holding her close to him. Elena closed her eyes and sighed in content. It was the first time she had ever been held close to a man before. And even though she was lying in the arms of a once-dangerous criminal, it was the first time in days she felt safe and secure.
"Anton?"
"Yes?"
"Did you really mean it when you said we should learn to trust each other?"
Anton was silent for a minute. "I'm not asking you for anything. Only your trust."
Elena did not speak to him anymore that night. Within minutes, she had already fallen asleep.
Anton lied there in the darkness, listening to her quiet and delicate breathing. Like Elena, he, too, thought about the ironic nature and outcome of their current situation. Just like how she had been a rescuer to him, the ex-hitman felt himself a guardian and protector of the woman who saved his life.