The word seemed to get through to her.“His condition?You mean he’s been sick, and he didn’t tell me?”She sounded like a little girl, lost, confused.All I wanted, the one thing instinct compelled me to do, was to hold and comfort her and let her know she wasn’t alone.I settled for touching her shoulder as I stood by her side.
“I’m afraid so,” Dr.Miller confirmed.“I’m sorry you have to find out this way.The good news is we can go in and clear the blockage that caused the incident.However, he’s looking at a long road to recovery.A couple of months, at the very least.”
“But you are going to help him, right?This will fix him up,” she whispered.
“We’ll do our very best.”The doctor met my gaze, and the strain at the corners of his eyes told the rest of the story.I was far enough removed from the situation to understand what Mira couldn’t.Her father was in the advanced stage.His heart was already a problem.They couldn’t make any promises.
“The OR is being prepped as we speak,” he concluded.“My colleagues in the cardiology department are second to none.”
“Can I see him before they take him?”She stood when he did, wringing her hands in front of her.“I just want to let him know I’m here, even if he can’t hear me.”
I exchanged another look with the doctor and lifted a shoulder.How could he say no?“All right, but he is unconscious, and it has to be a very quick hello.“ She nodded her understanding as he led us from the room, down the hall, through doors he had to swipe his badge to open.I took her hand, and she gripped it tight enough to make me wince while our footsteps rang out against the linoleum.
Nothing could have prepared me for what we found, waiting behind a curtain outside the OR.The sight of Alessandro on the gurney hooked up to countless machines twisted something in my chest to the point of pain.He looked so small.Completely helpless.The opposite of the man who had witnessed our wedding only weeks ago.
That was what did it.The sight of him.It shattered the layers of shock Mira was wrapped in.She released a whimper, swaying on her feet, eyes bulging.“Papa,” she gasped.
Then she fell against me, her face pressed to my chest while her body heaved.
* * *
“I’m startingto understand now why he was in such a hurry to get this deal done.”Glancing through the glass wall separating Alessandro’s private room from the hallway, I watched Mira stare at him like she was willing him to wake up.By all accounts, the surgery went as well as could be expected, but he would need constant monitoring in these critical days.
“Word has gotten out.”My press manager, Peter, sounded stressed, but then he had been more than earning his fee since the wedding, arranging interviews and keeping the press away as we went on our so-called honeymoon.Peter fed them just enough information to keep them satisfied and away from us.It was bad enough we had to play pretend for the staff.
“I assumed it would.”And that explained why the staff taking care of Alessandro seemed harried and distracted.Damn vultures were outside the hospital, trying to get information about the man currently lying unconscious in his bed.
He hadn’t done more than weakly stir since surgery.Three days had passed, three of the longest and most exhausting of my life.I could hardly wait to get home and sleep for a week after this.Just the thought stirred longing in me.
“I consulted with Lucian Diamond as per your request.”There was more than a little tension in Peter’s voice.He didn’t appreciate my recommending he speak to somebody else.“He agreed with me.Rather than force yourself through the interview with theTimes, we should allow news of the old man’s condition and the vigil you’re keeping at his bedside to drum up the positive PR we would get from those articles.Killing two birds with one stone.And it would mean you’re able to devote your time to your wife.”
My wife looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.I couldn’t help watching her from the hallway, noting the bags under her eyes, the gray pallor of her skin.The hoodie and yoga pants I found for her during a brief trip home had been on her for two days.She had no interest in leaving, going home for a shower, or anything.I had to convince her to eat what little she choked down.
It had been years since I took care of someone other than myself.Cooking dinner to have it ready for Mom when she got home from work before heading out to her second job shortly thereafter.Fumbling my way through, keeping the house tidy so she’d have one less thing to worry about.I swore to myself in those days that once I made it big, I’d pay somebody to handle that shit for both of us, and I’d made good on that promise.
Years had passed, and now someone needed me again, meaning interviews with theTimesandForbeswould have to wait.If it made me look like a devoted husband and son-in-law, so much the better, but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to give a fuck.Not when Mira was so fragile.She would’ve hated it if she knew I saw her that way.The fact was, I had never witnessed anyone falling apart the way she had.Not even Mom after my injury.
Every protective instinct I possessed woke up when she fell into my arms that awful night of her father’s surgery.I couldn’t have anyone accuse me of being a neglectful husband.
After thanking Peter, I ended the call and stepped into the room.
“See, Papa?”Mira stroked the back of her father’s hand.“Everybody loves you.Not just me.That’s why you have to get better.”She slid her hand against his, holding it gently.“Can you hear me?Can you squeeze my hand and let me know you can hear me?”
She wasn’t a strong, ballsy woman now.She was scared.She was a little girl watching the strongest person she knew struggle through something serious, something that could easily have killed him and might still.
“I’m sure he can hear you.”I went to her, stood by her side, and rubbed her back because, dammit, I had to do something.I didn’t stand by and watch things like this happen without doing something, no matter how awkward and unpracticed the gesture.
“I know, they said he can.But what if… God.”She touched the back of her hand to her eyes and sniffled hard.“What am I going to do if he doesn’t make it?”
“You can’t think that way.”
“How can I not?”Her chin quivered, her gaze focused solely on him.“I’ve spent so much of my life thinking about him.Worrying about him.Knowing he didn’t take care of himself, doing the best I could.What do I do when he’s gone?Whenever that happens and it better not be now, Papa,” she warned in a fierce whisper.“This is not the end of the story.”
Would she understand if I told her he was trying to look out for her by arranging this marriage?She wouldn’t want to hear it.Neither would I, in her position.There wasn’t a damn thing anybody could tell me that would make me feel better or help me.
“I don’t think he would want you to spend the rest of your life worrying about him.”That much felt true.I was fairly confident I was correct.“Which is why I know he would want you to get some rest now.You can’t help him if you’re dead on your feet.”
When she wouldn’t acknowledge me, I took her chin in my hand and turned her head gently but firmly until we were eye to eye.The pain in them was a knife to my chest, the anguish I saw there.The eyes that never failed to spark my hunger when they flashed damn near broke my heart.She felt helpless, and I knew that feeling.I had pushed it deep down, pretending it was ancient history when, really, the memories were painfully fresh.
