Part 6.1 – The Best Shower Ever

Kathy kept her word, and shortly after noon Dr. Moultrie and his permanently sour expression entered room three-ten and announced that he and Dr. Spencer had 'conferred' and that Della would be moved to the fifth floor for the remainder of her recovery. Every member of her family, including Perry, were in the room at the time, and there was such an eruption of celebration that nurses rushed in, frantically waving their hands and shushing the noise.

Perry had been holding Della's hand during the Doctor's announcement, and continued to do so as her mother, aunt, and brothers pelted the taciturn doctor with questions. He smiled down at her. "I think Kathy regularly walks all over that man's back."

"She's always had a take-charge attitude," Della confirmed with a grin. She was so darned happy to be out of the oxygen tent she couldn't stop grinning. Knowing that she would be leaving the C.C.U. soon elevated her happy mood to ecstatic.

"You two must have been something else together."

"We cut a pretty wide swathe," she admitted. "The boys knew they couldn't easily win an argument with us."

"And that holds true to this day."

"You win plenty of arguments, darling."

"In court," he retorted, and kissed her hand.

Her mother broke away from the little gathering around the doctor and nurse Cynthia and approached them. "Della, honey, you're getting out of here! Cynthia thinks there will be a room available by two o'clock. Isn't that wonderful?" She reached out and brushed her hand over her daughter's cheek. Then she looked up guiltily at Perry. "I told them we wanted a private room. That's all right, isn't it?"

Perry smiled. "It's perfectly all right. I would have insisted on a private room as well."

Alice moved her eyes from his to Della's and back again. "What have you two been whispering about?"

"We were arguing about arguing. I lost." Perry's eyes twinkled.

"I should certainly think so." Alice's eyes twinkled right back at him.

Della wriggled to get comfortable against the six pillows that propped her into a sitting position. It did her recovery good to see her mother and Perry getting along. She even sensed a change in the way her brothers treated him. There had been a couple of references to dinner and drinks in the kitchen and a disapproving comment from her mother about how late the men had stayed up the night before, but it was all good-natured and just another reason for her to be happy this day. She wished Kathy could be here instead of the unsmiling Dr. Moultrie, or 'Dr. Moldy' as Mae had dubbed him, but she understood her friend had to attend to her marriage whenever possible. The first new case Perry had handled after hiring her was for a senior resident at Cedars-Sinai named Christopher Sadler, and the hours he described spent at the hospital were brutal. He was their friend and doctor to this day after Perry secured the return of family heirlooms his fed-up wife had removed from their home, in effect holding them for ransom during their divorce action. Della would hate to see Kathy's marriage come to a similar end.

The next few hours were a blur of preparations to move Della from the C.C.U. ward to a private room with a western exposure because Della preferred sunsets over sunrises, Mae pointed out, and Jamie and Robbie made long-distance collect calls to their wives with the good news. Jamie's wife Rachel was expecting their fourth child, Alice's seventh grandchild, and this pregnancy had been more troublesome than the previous three. Alice insisted upon staying for the duration of Della's recovery, and since both Jamie and Robbie owned their own businesses and could be absent without using up allotted vacation days, and Rachel insisted she was fine and that Jamie should stay a few more days, it was settled: the house on East Carmelo Avenue would be full to capacity. Alice and Mae made out a grocery list to stock the kitchen for the coming week, planning out meals and putting together a schedule of nearly round-the-clock care for Della, while Jamie and Robbie listed handiwork and chores they would tackle around the house.

Perry made a personal note to buy more bourbon.

Della merely smiled and squeezed his hand every so often. She had spent the greater portion of her life enveloped in a practical take-charge, planned out atmosphere, where stoicism and devotion to family ruled, but she knew what was going on before his eyes was foreign to him and made him uncomfortable. He had for so long been a loner without close family ties, doing what he pleased in the moment. Since meeting her, his life had stabilized, but he still chafed at conventionality and routine. Since meeting him, her life had been thrown into disarray, and she had learned that spontaneity could be quite thrilling if surrounded by order. Their differences complemented each other, rounding out personalities that had been in danger of leaning too far in one direction.

By two-thirty, Della had been transported via wheelchair to the fifth floor, coincidentally to room five-ten. The wheelchair initially offended her because she was anxious to walk, but after being helped from the bed and realizing her legs, weakened by days of lying in bed and the quick, severe weight loss, could not support her, she allowed Joe the orderly to wheel her from the room. Her scowl was mostly for show, because she didn't want anyone to see how upset she was by her body's weakness. The only good thing about her legs collapsing beneath her was that Perry had caught her in a longed-for embrace.

By four o'clock, Della was completely settled and a parade of nurses and technicians who had stopped by to introduce themselves to her (as well as to meet the much gossiped about Perry Mason), had drifted away. Della's eyes were droopy and she began to yawn, so Perry handed his car keys and money to Robbie, insisting that they all go to the grocery store and then back to the house. He would stay with Della for a bit longer and then take a taxi home when Della fell asleep. Agreeing that dinner would be at seven o'clock, Della's family one-by-one kissed her good-bye and trouped from the sunny hospital room.

Della heaved a sigh of relief and Perry shot her an amused look. "I'm glad you did that," he said. "I didn't know if I should or not."

"They're wonderful, but they wear me out," she told him through a big yawn.

He settled himself on the edge of her bed and placed his hand on her forearm gently. "I've often said the same about you."

"But I wear you out in different ways," she replied wickedly.

Perry laughed. "Yes, my dear, you do." His hand moved from her forearm to her hand and pulled her toward him. She eagerly melted against his chest, sighing once again. Then she suddenly straightened and pushed away from him.

"I'm disgusting," she announced. "I haven't had a real bath in five days."

"You are a bit greasy. I thought you might slide right through my arms when your legs gave out."

She wrinkled her nose. "You didn't have to say that," she complained. "I wonder when the nurses will come back and help me take a shower. Hand me the call button, will you?"

A gleam found its way into his eyes. "We don't need the nurses," he told her quietly.

Her eyes, large and round, stared at him. "What are you thinking, Mr. Mason?"

Perry pulled down her covers, slid his arms behind her back and beneath her legs, and lifted her slight weight effortlessly. "I'm thinking that I have the most experience in giving you showers, so it's only right that I should be the one to give you one now."

"No," she protested, a deep flush flooding over her face. "I'm so ugly…I don't…Perry, please, I don't want you to see me now."

Perry gently set her down on the shower chair in the bathroom that was aqua ceramic tile from floor to ceiling. A showerhead with a flexible metal hose was clipped to the wall above a drain in the floor. He squatted in front of her, hands on her knees. "Della, my precious girl, you could never be anything but beautiful to me." His voice was tender but firm, his eyes adoring as they caught and held her gaze. "Let's get you out of this awful hospital gown and wash off all the slimy glop they put on you."

Della felt a single tear slide down her cheek. "Well, when you put it that way…" She allowed him to untie the hideous gown but not to remove it as she directed him to take off his shirt, shoes and socks and to roll up his pant legs first. He reveled in her bossiness, the practicality she had not so long ago lamented in her family emerging full-force. When she was satisfied with his preparations, he turned on the water and tested it, raising his eyebrows in question. She nodded, and pulled the gown from her body.

Perry, who thought he had prepared himself for her thinness, nearly gasped. But he knew if he made any shocked sound, gave her any sad or sympathetic look, or God forbid said anything outright about her appearance, she would close into herself immediately. Naturally svelte, Della didn't have much spare weight to lose, and her illness had taken every ounce she had and then some. Her skin stretched across bones that he knew existed in the human body, but weren't meant to be seen so starkly. He could tell she was self-conscious and distraught, and decided that the shower should be conducted in silence.

As the warm water sluiced over her shoulders and Perry's gentle hands carefully massaged soap onto her illness-ravaged body, Della closed her eyes. She had known it would be shocking to see her skeletal frame, as she had felt her frailty intensely since regaining coherence, but the reality was much worse than her imaginings. She also knew from the look in Perry's eyes that he didn't care about her appearance. He wanted her to be comfortable and would make sure that she was. Della didn't think it was possible to love him more than she already did, but seeing him like this, shirtless, pants rolled up to his knees, eyes intensely blue with his own feelings for her, she knew she was wrong, that she was capable of a love so deep her every breath depended on it.

Perry took his time soaping her, massaging her sore and weakened body, his hands gentle as butterfly wings on her translucent skin. Her physical fragility made him want to cry, but the strength of her will, the depth of her character held back any tears that threatened. As strong as she was, she would crumble if he did, and that couldn't happen. His hands massaged her scalp and she moaned with pleasure as he washed away the powdered hospital shampoo along with the memory of the past five days.

As he dried her, she placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him sweetly. He had never received a more deeply felt thank you in his life. They stared at each other for a long time, then Della shivered and he resumed his task quickly. No having given much thought to what she would wear once her shower was completed, Perry was relieved to find a thin white terry cloth robe hanging on a hook behind the door. It was large and wrapped around Della nearly twice, and he joked about not being able to find her in it, but it would do until tomorrow when he would bring her own flannel nightie and robe because he never again wanted to see her in a hospital gown. He re-dressed himself quickly, pleased that he wasn't too wet from splashed water.

She didn't protest when he lifted her and carried her from the bathroom, and sighed with contentment as he seated himself in the bedside recliner and cradled her in his lap. She battled weariness for several minutes, then gave up and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming even, but still rattling in her chest. He finger combed her damp curls idly, nearly delirious to be holding her in his arms again. It was this scene that greeted the nurse assigned to her for the night as she bustled in to check on the patient. Stories about this couple had preceded them, and to her credit, Elise Franklin hardly let her surprise show.

"I see you've made my job a bit easier," she whispered to Perry, with a smile.

"She was uncomfortable," he whispered back. "I didn't want to bother anyone…she doesn't have to put on another gown does she? She doesn't like them, and frankly, neither do I. I'll bring her own things tomorrow, but can she wear this robe until then?"

Elise nodded. "I think we can allow that if she's more comfortable. This stage of her recuperation is about comfort and rest."

"Good," Perry said with a satisfied nod of his own head. He had liked every nurse in the hospital and thought that a donation to their next fund drive would be appropriate and much appreciated.

"However," Elise continued with a slight edge of sternness, "She'll have to be woken up in about an hour for dinner. If she wants to get out of here as quickly as I think she does, she'll have to eat."

Perry grinned and Elise went weak in the knees at the sight of his dimples. In her opinion hospital gossip hadn't done the man's appearance nearly enough justice. "Oh, she'll eat," he laughed. "You might want to bring two meals."