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“I do,” Max said numbly and felt Daphne give his hand a slight squeeze of encouragement, before she said ‘I do’a moment later. She met his gaze for a brief second and gave him a nervous smile before looking at the pastor again.
“You may now kiss your bride,” the pastor said – and Max dragged in his breath in awareness. He was in no condition to kiss anyone! His breath had to stink. He could smell his own rancid body and was almost scared for this pretty woman to even get close to him. He couldn’t exactly embrace her because he was still tethered to the hospital bed like some raving lunatic – nor could he stand on his own anymore and before he could say or do anything,
Daphne leaned forward and brushed a slight peck on the side of his mouth.
That was no kiss – not to him, at least!
He arched an eyebrow at her as if to say, ‘That was it?’… and was rewarded with a soft, nervous laugh as she looked away.
Houghton interrupted them a moment later.
“Daphne, I’m going to take Jill home and go check on Ortega…”
“I’m good,” Daphne replied simply. “I’d like to stay for a bit.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“Thank you.”
Max listened to this exchange silently, unsure how all of this came together or what was going on, but the only thing he could focus on was what was happening to him immediately. His whole existence was stuck in the ‘Now’,and he couldn’t get out of that mindset.
He was now married – and an amputee.
The doctors had told him there was a chance the infection could have taken hold further into his leg, but he was in such a state of mind that he’d not heard much more than this – or at least it didn’t sink in.
As everyone left the room, Daphne smiled gently at him and rolled the old tray away from his bed, waiting for the new one to arrive – talking the entire time.
“I think the first thing we should do is get an update on how you are doing and get you out of pain. Then let’s get you fed,” she began. “I know I always feel better and sleep deeply on a full stomach. You’ll feel better if you get some rest and allow yourself to heal. We’ll get those bindings off of your wrists unless you are a threat to yourself – or me.”
“I’m not,” he interrupted.
“I didn’t think so,” she nodded. “I think you are reacting normally to a very traumatizing event that is hard to handle.”
“Ya’ think?” he snapped sarcastically – and Daphne frowned at him pointedly.
“You be nice,” she uttered bluntly. “You can have your wife bathe you – or I can get one of the male nurses to do it for you.”
“Do I get a ‘happy ending’ in this sudden sponge bath, wife?”
Max was half-sarcastic and half-curious at just how far she was going to take this whole marriage fiasco with him. If they were just pretending, was there a line in the sand? If they were going to make this a real marriage instead of a pseudo one, did that mean he was going to get to sleep with this beauty?
She smiled at him, leaned forward, and pressed a slight kiss to his temple that he knew had to be filthy because he was still sweating from a fever, and then swallowed as he saw her gloating smile.
“A male nurse, it is…husband,” she taunted – and for the first time in forever?
He laughed.
Two hours later, Max was feeling much better.
He was finally freed from his restraints, bathed, and his hair was shampooed. Now, he was wearing a clean hospital gown, and Daphne was talking with the doctor in the distance about his medication. He was taken aback at what a difference it was to have her near, to have someone speaking up for him, and feeling much better so long as he didn’t look down at his leg.
He could pretend life was normal and had done just that when he was being bathed. Daphne had stood beyond the curtain with her back to him, while ‘Igor’ had scrubbed him efficiently with a ‘get the job done’ bedside manner that they were both grateful for. The nurse didn’t want to be in there with the ‘troublemaker’ patient any more than he wanted to be touched by another guy.
“Thank you,” Daphne uttered quietly to the doctor and pushed back her hair from her face before twisting it around loosely.
Max couldn’t help but stare at his new, unexpected wife. She really was pretty, and seeing her standing there, knowing that she obviously had a kind heart to step up and advocate for him, was really humbling. He was no one – and certainly wasn’t the nicest person upon first meeting her. He liked the fact that she wasn’t a pushover and gave it back to him when he crossed a line.
A nurse chose that moment to walk in with a tray of food for him, as yet another walked in behind her with medication and a blood pressure cuff. They were checking his vitals again and looking at him like he was going to come flying out of the bed.
