/Henry/
I took a deep breath and murmured, "I'll think about it," as I brought her mouth back to mine. She chortled and then bit the bottom of my lip as a warning. I cocked my head slightly to the side and said, "Okay, no biting." I leaned in close to her mouth and murmured, "I guess I can marry you again," while grinning like an idiot.
She exhaled a congratulatory breath as she reattached her lips to mine and brought an end to the conversation. "Good boy."
Just as I was getting really into it, she pulled away after a couple of minutes, but I guess I couldn't exactly lay here making out with my wife for the entire afternoon. When I was reminded that we are not officially married, a wave of regret washed over me. However, I knew that this was something that could be readily remedied if she decided that she wanted to get married once more. I would delay it for a short while, however, to make sure that was what she truly desired. I didn't want to force her to be dependent on me if she wasn't interested in doing so.
She flashed a grin before shifting her position on the bed and reaching below her hip with one hand to bring out a pin bearing the inscription "C & R, Best Friends Forever." When I was seven years old and got a badge maker for Christmas, I gave it to her as a gift. I took the time to manufacture it for her. She chuckled as she affixed the badge to the front of the hospital gown I was wearing.
I couldn't help but grin as I said, "I was such a geek when I was a youngster." The fact that she has been holding onto that for all of these years is actually quite embarrassing.
She gave me a grin and said, "Even as an adult, you're still a nerd!" She gave me the middle finger and then proceeded to get the shoe box that she had earlier thrown against the wall. I gathered up all of the worthless junk that had been scattered on my lap and put it away. There were things that I don't even remember, and there were things that I couldn't understand why she'd retained in the first place. I was observing her with interest while holding up a stone.
She gave me a friendly grin before taking it away and placing it back in the container. She stated this while shrugging her shoulders and adding, "You brought that back from the beach for me when you went on vacation one year."
I couldn't help but crack a grin at the thought of how very thoughtful it was of her to keep all of this stuff. The fact that Samantha had preserved all of these things simply because she was reminded of me made me feel like an immensely unique and special person. She was getting close to finishing placing it back into the box when the phone rang. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a wad of folded tissue.
"Please reassure me that this doesn't date back to when I was sick with a cold or something...." I gazed at it with revulsion in my eyes.
She let out a chuckle while shaking her head. “Nope! Open it and see."
I grimaced and opened the tissue while saying a silent prayer that it did not contain anything revolting. I stared at the object in the middle, which appeared to be a small white thing, but I had no idea what on earth it could possibly be. When I prodded it with the tip of my finger, it was firm and untextured. "Samantha bear, what do you make of this?"
She had a good giggle and then bit her lip. "I recognise that tooth," she said.
I let it fall onto the mattress, and as quickly as I could, I withdrew my hands away and wiped them clean on my clothes. “Seriously? That is revolting! I don't understand why you took my tooth. Where did you even obtain it anyway, if you don't mind my asking?"
She flashed a grin before taking the tissue in her hand and gently repositioning the small bump inside without touching it. You handed it on to me. " Do you remember how I was trying to put together enough money to buy the Malibu Barbie doll?
I was complaining that it was taking me an eternity to save the money I got from my allowance and that the stores were going to run out...... You went home and pulled out your wobbly tooth, and then you gave it to me and told me to put it under my pillow and pretend it was mine so that the tooth fairy would give me some money to put towards the doll. "Well, you went home and pulled out your wobbly tooth, and then you gave it to me and told me to put it under my pillow and pretend it was mine."
I laughed, did I? I don't actually remember doing that, but it does sound like something I might do. I guess that's saying something! "Wow, you were a great friend, weren't I?" I made a joke.
She gave me a friendly smile before placing the box on the chair, after which she climbed back onto the bed with me and wrapped her arms around me in a tender manner. She hushed, "the best," as she planted another kiss on my lips.
We lain there for a considerable amount of time, looking through all of the worthless trash that she called treasure, and her explaining to me what some of the more bizarre things were and what they meant. The nurses and doctors came and went, and eventually I was given some pain medication, for which I am glad.
After almost two hours of idle chitchat, she eventually turned her attention to me and gave me a meaningful look. My stomach lurched; was she going to take it back at this point? Was she going to tell me that now that I couldn't walk, she wasn't sure if she could still love me?
"Baby, is it possible that we could talk about something?" She spoke in a hushed tone, clearly expressing her unease.
I was unable to talk due to the knot that was forming in my throat, so all I could do was nod.
“Ok so….” She began, the tip of her nose pulling into a little wrinkle in the way that it did whenever she was thinking about something extremely challenging. "I was thinking about your parents," the other person said.
I could feel the tension leaving my body as I realised that this wasn't about us but rather about my parents. "Samantha bear, I don't really want to talk about it right now," I said.
I'm not even going to talk about them right now because I was so angry with them. They arrived here earlier, and I couldn't even bring myself to yell at them, to blame them for leaving the surgery and maybe jeopardising my chances of walking. I couldn't bring myself to do either of those things.
I had no interest in seeing them, I had no interest in talking to them, and I didn't even have the energy to engage in a debate with them over the matter. Because of their choice, I am in this predicament. I am aware that there is no way for me to know for certain whether or not the operation would have been successful if I had undergone it earlier in the day; yet, those few precious hours may have made all the difference in the world.
She played with the badge as her hand moved across my chest in a stroking motion. "Henry, I am aware that you are upset, and the good Lord knows that I am as well...... However, they did not halt it with the intention of causing you harm. Look, I'm not trying to argue their side because I'm so upset with them that I can't believe I'm even having this conversation with you about it. I just don't want to. However, just take a couple of days to mull it over, and don't make any stupid decisions since they care about you.
I heaved a sigh and gave a slight nod before saying, "Shall we just drop it, Samantha? I just don't want to think about them right now. I really don't want to." I reached over and lightly stroked the bed that was adjacent to me. "Come on over and lay down with me for a while."
She gave me a friendly grin and then plopped herself down next to me on the bed. She was being quite cautious around me; her movements were slow and methodical, as if she was afraid to move the bed in case it harmed me or something. I could see the anguish and concern written all over her face, but I managed to suppress a smile as I looked down at her.
When she noticed that I was staring at her, she questioned my behaviour by asking, "What?"
I heaved a sigh and told Samantha bear, "You don't need to be so careful of me. I mean, it's not like I'm going to get sick from it or anything, is it? You may accidentally step on my foot, and I wouldn't notice unless you told me about it. I attempted to make it sound like a joke, but even I was able to detect the disappointment in my voice. I truly was making an effort to maintain a cheerful attitude, but I had no idea how I was going to deal with the fact that I would never be able to walk again.
The inability to perform seemingly insignificant tasks for Samantha, such as pushing the shopping cart or bringing the goods to the car when we went to the store, were things that other people took for granted and never even gave a second thought to until they were taken away from you. Now everything was going to change, and nothing would ever be the same again. Nothing could ever stay the same.
She scowled and then looked at my legs before saying, "Henry, you need to quit imagining the worst." Wait a little little longer, all right? She begged me to reconsider.
I feigned a grin and nodded in agreement before planting a kiss on her head. “Ok. I'm feeling quite worn out, Samantha. Would you like to share some sleep with me for a while? I inquired, concealing a yawn in the process. According to what she had informed me, I had been in a coma for 27 hours straight, then knocked out for six hours, then slept the whole night; thus, I ought to have had enough sleep by now; but, I could feel the weight of my eyelids getting heavier.
"Of course, sweetie." She leaned in and kissed the side of my neck as her hand found mine and grasped it firmly. Even if I forced myself to do so, I was unable to stay awake.
I awoke with something pressing heavily on my crotch, and I moaned a little as the aching pain in my back continued to get worse. I sighed some more. Because my entire body was beginning to hurt, I figured it was time to take some additional pain medication. How long had I been asleep? I made a slight adjustment and then tightened my arm over Samantha in an effort to draw her in closer to me. Because I knew this girl like the back of my hand, I was able to determine that she was still asleep because of the slow and steady rhythm of her breathing that was pressing on the side of my neck.
She stepped closer to me, making the heavy thing that was pressing on my crotch travel farther down, where it now presses on my thighs, which in turn makes the ache in my back even worse.
I moaned and was ready to wake her up to urge her to get the doctor when I suddenly became aware that I could actually feel a weight on my legs. At that moment, I came to the conclusion that someone was sitting on them. I brought my head up and stared at the ground, a little taken aback. It appeared that Samantha's leg was resting atop mine. The weight of her leg, which she had carelessly draped over me while she was sleeping, was truly noticeable to me. I was able to sense it! What the hell!
My chest was suddenly overcome with excitement. “Samantha!”
Because I had practically yelled in her ear, she jolted awake immediately and leaped so far that she came dangerously close to falling off the bed. “What? She yelled out, "What's wrong?" while staring at me with her eyes widened.
I couldn't help but laugh as I looked into her huge eyes, noticed the lines of sleep that had formed on her face, and noticed how wrinkled her clothes were. She had never appeared more stunning in her entire life. I'm not sure how that worked, but whenever I woke up and saw her in the morning, I had the same thought in my head. I don't know how that happened.