Page 32 of First Comes Marriage
I wake up again to Jolie going toe-to-toe with an aide, who has her arms full of towels and a clean gown. “And I told you thatIwas going to bathe him. The doctor said I could once you wrap his legs in the protective shields so they wouldn’t get wet andalso cover his arm with the clear plastic shit y’all use. There’s no way that anyone besides me is going to see his private parts.”
I smirk because I like this fiery side of her. She’s showing mama bear tendencies that I find uniquely attractive. I also appreciate that she’s trying to protect my privacy that way because I’m sure I’ve been on display whenever Jolie hasn’t been around based on the way my legs have been elevated.
As if she can read my mind, she turns and smiles at me, then says, “While you’ve been in your stirrup pose, I made sure a blanket covered you, so you weren’t exposed. You’ve had a catheter in, but they don’t need to see your dick to access the output, and when I talked to the charge nurse, as well as the doctor, they agreed. Now you,” she snarls, turning back to the aide, “do your fucking job to get him ready then get the fuck out of his room. I don’t want you back. I’m more than capable of helping him shower and getting him cleaned up. I’ll even change his sheets since that’s not been done since he arrived.”
No wonder things feel gritty to me; I’ve gotten spoiled living with Jolie. She changes our bedding weekly, sometimes twice a week if she feels they need to be changed out, so I’m now used to sleeping on clean smelling sheets. But they haven’t changed mine since I’ve been here? That’s kind of disgusting in my opinion. I’m pretty sure they have medical equipment that they could use to lift me up long enough to change the fucking bedding and I’m going to ask my doctor about that before I leave.
“Oh, my God,” I groan as the hot water sluices down my head to my shoulders, chest and back. Jolie’s behind me, wearing abathing suit, more’s the pity, while I’m relatively naked, since both legs are encased in clear garbage bags and my arm has a waterproof sheet covering it. I mean, I’m sure they’re not really trash bags, but that’s what they resemble to me.
“You’re sure you’re okay with me shaving your head?” Jolie asks. “I mean, all of the gashes have healed so that’s pink skin now, but I’m sure the bristle is driving you crazy.”
“You shave your legs? That’s how you’ll shave my head. And, sweetheart, if you nick me, please don’t worry about it, I do my fair share of that as well,” I tell her, just enjoying the warmth of the water touching me.
I had bed baths, and they had some kind of special wipes for surgery patients, but it’s nowhere near the same as hot water and soap or body wash. Jolie brought mine, so I’ll even start smelling like myself. It’s a small thing, but yeah, I need it.
“Okay,” she whispers. I hear the sound of the aerosol can with the shaving cream I use, then feel it being applied to my head with her gentle hands. “You ready?” she questions.
“Ready, Freddy,” I tease. “Then, I’ll wash the front if you’ll wash my back.”
She giggles just as I feel the first swipe of the razor. Sitting stock still, I let her do her thing while I just let everything that’s happened from what I gleaned after reading the news reports online float through my head. Oceanic’s lawyers have already filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit on both mine and Rex’s behalf, as well as theirs, since the explosion effectively totaled one of the company's helicopters, plus with the multitude of injuries I suffered, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to return to work. Rex will, but he has to go through the FAA’s medical exam firstbefore they’ll reinstate his license due to the brain bleed. We also both have a Worker’s Comp claim going on. Jolie has been on top of all of it, plus she’s keeping her pulse on the goings on at home. This tragic event will likely set Rex and I both up for life. The magnitude of the loss of life, however, breaks my heart. So many families have lost loved ones because of a greedy asshole. I can’t blame Driller per se, because he was only acting on the orders he was given. No, the blame for everything rests solely on the owner of the rig as far as I’m concerned, and I’m pretty sure this event will bankrupt him as well as his company. Good riddance to bad rubbish. He’s the reason there are occasional oil spills, and I have to wonder if the money he’s made was worth losing more than two hundred souls.
“Were you sincere?” she asks out of the blue. “I mean, when you said what you did?”
“What are you talking about? What did I say?” I query, confused as fuck.
“You said you’ve fallen in love with me,” she quietly whispers.
Glancing out of the side of my eye, I look in the huge mirror, and she’s hunched over, biting at her bottom lip as her cheeks that are pink from the heat of the shower darken. I instinctively know it took a lot for her to ask me that.
“Wait… I said that out loud?” I ask. “I heard you talking about camp and Abuela and Nonna, and I was thinking of the things I regret. I didn’t realize I was talking out loud because I couldn’t open my eyes!”
“Well, you were kind of mumbling, but because of where I was sitting, I heard it clearly. It’s okay if you didn’t mean it, Dex,” she murmurs. I feel her wipe a wet washcloth over my head andquickly grab her hand, grateful that my shoulder is now mostly healed so I can do that.
Lacing our fingers together, I tug her so she comes to face me, and I grasp her other hand with my burned arm. There’s a tiny bite of pain, but she needs to hear this and know that I’m telling her the truth.
“Look at me, Jolie,” I plead. When our gazes lock, I pour every bit of feeling I can into my expression as I say, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve fallen in love with you, Jolie, and I want a real marriage with you. I want kids with you and to grow old beside you. You’re one of my best friends and I want you by my side… always”
“I think we’ve covered the ‘in sickness’ part,” she teases. “I love you too, Dex. I was afraid that you wouldn’t feel the same way which is why I haven’t said anything. You take care of all of us and do it without any care to how it might impact your own life. I mean, look at what you did when your parents died! How many people would rearrange their whole lives to take in two senior adults, and three preteen kids? Not that many, I’m sure. But you did it without a backward glance, even going so far as to get married to someone you barely knew!”
“Let’s finish my shower because I want to be able to kiss you without either of us getting soaked,” I say, squeezing her hand. She blushes a little then returns to my back, handing me a washcloth so I can wash my chest and my dick, which is now standing at attention because of her nearness. He’s just gonna have to wait. Now’s not the time or place, that’s for damn sure.
It doesn’t take long to finish; the most difficult part was putting on my lounge pants since they removed my catheter this morning because I’m awake. I have a bedside urinal, as well asa bedside commode, although I need assistance to transfer to the commode. Jolie, who’s obviously been a trooper through all of this, asks constant questions to the physical and occupational therapists so she knows what to do when we’re home. She also got training on how to administer the IV antibiotics I’ll go home with and knows how to do a wet to dry dressing in the event one is needed over the weekend in case the wound vac does something stupid outside of a nurse visit or one from the wound care nurse.
Those are all set up as well, so I suspect our front door should be changed to a revolving one with all the daily visits. I’m sure Abuela and Nonna will be in their element, feeding every single person who takes care of me, because that’s just how they are. I’m looking forward to being home. I don’t even care that I have to sleep on a hospital bed.
“I feel more human now,” I tell Jolie as I finish brushing my teeth. She helped me get a pair of lounge pants on so at least my dick is covered. I still have a hospital gown to cover my chest because of the wound on my arm and all the IVs plus the central port I still have for my medications. Hopefully, the doctor will start removing some of them. I know the one will have to stay for the IV antibiotics, but that’s a small price to pay in my opinion, considering I somehow managed to survive what likely should’ve killed me.
“I bet you do,” she replies. “Now, I think you promised me a kiss?”
Chapter Nineteen
Jolie
Despite the intimate situation and my obvious attraction to him and his to me, I know now’s not the time to push for anything more. But the thought that I’ll finally be kissed by him? It has my blood boiling, that’s for sure. I know he gave me a peck on the lips when we got married, but that was to push the narrative so he could get guardianship of the kids. This is different; we’ve both shared that our feelings have changed, something I was terrified to bring up, but after hearing his ramblings, I felt like I had to do so.
“Come here, sweetheart,” he says, turning his wheelchair around to face me. “Now, climb onto my lap.”
“Dex, your legs!” I exclaim.
