Page 110 of Rigid

I glanced around the room, certain something had happened.

I could feel my heart beating in my throat.

“Sandy,” I whispered. “Wake up.”

She opened her eyes. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I thought I heard something.”

She looked in either direction, and then at me. “There’s nobody here. It was probably a dream.”

I looked at the monitor. Everything looked the same. It hadn’t changed in three days.

Frustrated, I stood.

“It’s late, get some rest,” she said.”

I shook my head. “I can’t sleep. I need a cup of coffee.”

Beep.

Beep. Beep.

Beep.

I spun around.

Beep. Beep.

Beep.

Beep. Beep.

I rushed to the side of the bed and looked at her.

She opened her eyes, blinked, and then opened them again.

My heart shot to my throat. I rushed to the edge of the bed and took her hand in mine. “I’m here, Lumpy. Daddy’s here.”

Tears came, flowing down my cheeks like a river. My bottom lip quivered uncontrollably.

“Sandy,” I said, my voice nothing more than a gasp for breath. “She’s,,,she’s awake.”

“I’m here,” she said from the other side of the bed.

I looked at her and then at Eddie.

With her face still bandaged, and nothing but her swollen eyes, and the tops of her cheeks exposed, she looked like a mummy.

A beautiful mummy.

A tube in her throat prevented her from speaking.

“I…I love…you,” I said.

She blinked.

“Eddie? I love you, too,” Sandy said.