Chapter Thirteen
Jaime was feeling discouraged – and a bit sullen. When Rudy returned from his meeting with Oscar and Steve, the first thing he did was look in on her. She had tossed the blanket to the floor and was staring at her legs. "Maybe you could make me some new ones?" she proposed, without looking up. "This pair is ready for the scrap heap."
Rudy sat down next to the bed and readjusted the blanket over his patient. "It isn't your legs that are the problem, Honey," he reminded her gently. "It's the nerve endings they're attached to."
"Yeah, well, toss them on the scrap heap, too."
"The nurses tell me you skipped your lunch today," Rudy persisted.
"Guess I wasn't hungry. When can I see Michael?" Jaime asked (already beginning to pout at the anticipated answer).
"How about the day after tomorrow?"
"Really?" Jaime's mood immediately brightened....but then she grew very pale. "Does he....know I'm coming?"
"No. Do you want us to tell him?"
"Yes. No. I – I don't know." Jaime fell back on the pillow and Rudy could see that she'd begun to tremble.
"Honey, no one is forcing this. If you don't want to see him -"
"But I do! I just...have some thinking to do first."
- - -
Jenn (alerted by Steve about Jaime's impending visit to Michael) tried to smile as she walked into the room. "You still aren't eating?" she stated, eying Jaime's untouched meat loaf and mashed potatoes from dinner.
"There's a brick in my stomach," Jaime told her.
"I guess so. Steve told me what's going on – are you alright?"
"I think so....I'm...not sure," she admitted.
"You don't have to do this, you know. You don't owe that monster anything -"
"That 'monster' is my husband!"
"Jaime -"
Jaime's eyes brimmed with tears. "If I turn my back on him, who does he have left?"
"He nearly killed you!"
"Maybe he can be helped," Jaime said almost pleadingly. "Maybe even cured..."
"And maybe we'll have 90-degree heat tomorrow to melt away all the snow, too," Jenn snapped. "Look, I know how confused you're feeling right now – but you need to get things straight in your own head before you go to see him. Otherwise, he'll just walk all over you. Maybe you need a little more time."
"He needs me!"
Jenn shook her head. He needs a good swift kick in his nether regions, she thought to herself.
- - -
Finally, it was time. Steve lifted Jaime into her new wheelchair (one which they all prayed was only temporary) and he and Jenn joined Rudy and Jaime in the van that took them to Maryland.
The hospital was nothing like what Jaime had pictured. For one thing, it looked more like a private home – albeit a large Medieval one - surrounded by a tall, imposing fence. The guards were expecting them and with a flash of the driver's security badge they were admitted to the grounds. Jaime shivered in the well-heated van.
"Are you sure about this?" Rudy asked one last time.
"No. But let's do it," she responded.
Steve and Jenn waited in the small lounge just down the hall from Michael's room and Rudy slowly wheeled her to the door. He placed a reassuring hand on Jaime's shoulder as the guard worked the locks to allow them inside. Michael sat facing the window and didn't react to the sound of the opening door or the re-clanking of the locks that left the three of them alone together. Rudy wheeled Jaime's chair a little bit closer but still out of harm's way and then stepped toward the window, facing Michael. "I brought someone to see you," he announced.
Jaime's voice, when she finally found it, was tentative and unsure. "Michael....?"
- - - - -