Chapter 6

Ricky opened the door for Lucy and helped her walk in. He hadn't wanted to leave her side at all, from the moment she woke up to the current moment they were in. He remembered the vows he kept making while she was unconscious and he was determined to stick with them. He walked over to the couch and sat her down, making sure that he was right next to her.

"How ya feelin', sweetheart?"

"A little tired. I feel like I could close my eyes right here," said Lucy, as she leaned her head on the back of the couch.

"Why dun't you go to bed, then?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine right here with you."

The couple cuddled on the couch for what seemed like forever. After everything that they had been through in the past week, this was what they were looking forward to. Some quiet time together, just the two of them. Ricky began to stroke Lucy's arm, but felt her tense up at his touch. She had never done that before and didn't know why. As he was trying to figure out why she reacted to him like that, there was a knock on the door.

"Whoever this is, I'll tell 'em to come back later," said Ricky, with a bit of agitation in his voice.

"Ricky, if it's someone visiting, let them stay. It would be rude not to."

Looking over at his sweet wife, he winked at her and kissed the air in her direction. He couldn't believe that after all she had put herself through and after everything that followed, she was up for entertaining guests.

"Hi Fred, hi Ethel, how are you?" asked Ricky, faking his politeness.

"We're fine," said Ethel, "we just wanted to see how Lucy was doing."

"I'm doing great. We just got home from the hospital."

"Oh, well, if you just got home, we can come back another time. You must be exhausted," said Fred.

"Oh no, I'm feeling wonderful and we would love it if you stayed with us. Kept us company for a little while."

"Oh...ok," said Ethel, very suspicious of why her friend wanted her to stay so badly.

Ricky had the same idea that Ethel did. He thought it seemed like Lucy didn't want to be alone with him. Ricky knew that she wasn't in any position to be intimate, but just be alone together and hold each other. That wouldn't be bad at all.

Lucy chatted up with the Mertzs for a while and talking about anything that would come to her mind. The only thing she wouldn't talk about was what had just happened to her. When it came to her diet and her stay in the hospital, she would conveniently avoid conversation. This made Ricky sense that something was wrong and that Lucy was hiding something from him. He was determined to find out what was wrong, but not with Fred and Ethel here. He gave Fred a signal that he it was time for them to go and Fred picked up on it immediately.

"Well, Ethel, I say it's time we give this poor girl some time to get some rest. She's been through quite a bit."

"Yeah, you're right, Fred. Let's go. Lucy, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, no, please stay. I would love it if we could keep talking, you know like we always use to."

"Honey, we can't do that. You just came home from the hospital and you look really tired. We'll talk to you tomorrow after you've gotten some rest."

"Well, if you really have to..."

"Yes, honey, they really have to, so we'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping over and checking on Lucy. Bye!" said Ricky.

"Ricky, what was that all about. I wanted them to stay!"

"Lucy, it was time for them to leave. I think you an' I need to talk."

Lucy looked at her husband suspiciously. She knew what he wanted to talk about, but she didn't want to. He was going to ask her what happened to her while she was in the hospital and she didn't want to talk about it.

"You been actin' weird an' I wunt to know why!"

"I have not been acting weird. I just came home from the hospital and I'm tired, so pardon me if I don't feel like talking."

"You din't mind talkin' to the Mertzs just now. In fact, you couln't stop talkin' to them, so you mus' not be that tire!"

"Ricky Ricardo, you listen to me. I don't feel like talking to you because I know what you want to talk about and it's something that I don't want to. You want to talk about what happened to me in the hospital and especially what happened to me while I was unconscious. Well, I don't want to talk to you about it because I don't think you could understand. Please respect that!"

"Lucy," said Ricky quietly, as he walked over to her, "I could try to understan' if you jus' talk to me. Please, jus' talk to me."

Lucy hesitated and took a shaking breath. She wanted to, she really did, but it was so painful at the end to think about, that she didn't want to talk about it.

"I can't, Ricky. Please, don't ask me again," said Lucy, as she walked out of the room and into their bedroom.