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When night falls, a thoughtful nurse has a porter bring me a cushioned visitor chair. I doze off here and there, frequently checking on Dee. At some point, exhaustion must have won over for the sun is up when I jerk wake. Had it been a nightmare about Dee and the baby? Momentarily disoriented, my eyes dart around and land on my wife.
She’s watching me. Not a dream. She’s real. My heart somersaults in my chest.
“Morning, beauty.”
“Your poor neck.” She frowns.
“I’m okay.” I take her hand and kiss the knuckles. “How are you feeling today?”
“Head still hurts. But so much better. My brain’s not in a fog anymore. I need to use the restroom.”
“Let me help you.”
She eases up and swings her legs to the other side of the bed. I take her elbow as she gains the floor.
“Any dizziness?” I ask.
“No. I can make it.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Mick,” she chides, defending her independence. “I’m good.”
It’s such a Dee thing that it makes me smile. I let her go, but remainvigilant as she pushes the IV drip forward. Her steps are gradual but solid.
When she’s done, I help her back into the bed and take my turn next.
“Flowers are pretty,” she says, sitting up, looking alert. “That was nice of everyone. Sorry, I wasn’t much company yesterday.”
“No one expected that of you. We just want you to rest and feel better.”
“I do. Like I got a second wind.”
“That’s a good sign.”
Her beautiful eyes, clear and focused, bear into me. “What happened?”
The moment I’ve been dreading is finally here.
“How did I hit my head?” she asks in earnest.
My impulse is to stall. Shield her now and ask for forgiveness later. But considering the media fest, there is virtually no opportunity to sort through the aftermath slowly or in private. We are going to be all over the news for days, weeks, months.
I sit back down and take her hand. “Tell me what you remember from the night of the gala.”
“Um…everything about being there and driving home. You gave me a foot massage and we joked about the chocolates. I remember getting out of the limo without my shoes. It all kind of goes blank after that, until I woke up in the hospital.”
“The doctor said that’s normal.”
“It doesn’t feel normal. It feels weird to have this huge black spot. I have no recollection of falling. I wasn’t feeling tipsy, certainly not drunk. But maybe I can’t handle champagne as well as I thought I could.”
“You weren’t drunk, Dee.”
“Did I trip on my dress then? God, that’s even more embarrassing.”
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You didn’t fall. I knocked you down.”
“What?” Her face scrunches with confusion.
