Accidental Love (9 page)

"What about your brother?" Rose asked, watching as the smile left Ronnie's face.

"Tommy is a lost soul. He's twenty-five but he still acts like a teenager. It took him six years and three colleges to get his Bachelor's because he wouldn't apply himself. The family insisted that I put him in charge of something so I gave him the Real Estate division." She sighed. "I figured it was doing so well that he couldn't do anything to mess it up. Now we're posting the worst growth since the recession and he acts like it doesn't matter. That's why I had to go back to the office yesterday. I hate irresponsibility."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Doctor Barnes. "How are you today, Miss Grayson?" she asked.

"Same as yesterday, I guess," Rose replied. "Oh, Doctor Barnes, this is my friend Ronnie. Ronnie, this is Doctor Barnes." She did not see the smile form on Veronica's face at the title bestowed on her.

"Hello," the physician said. She looked at Rose's chart for a moment and made a notation. "Well, Miss Grayson, it looks like everything is healing up just fine." She set the chart down and moved to the head of the bed to check the stitches on Rose's cheek. "The bones are properly set and I see no reason why you can't go home."

"Home? But…" She looked fearfully to Ronnie for help.

"How can you send her home? She can't even walk yet," the black-haired woman said, falling into the role of protector easily. It seemed a natural thing to do when it came to Rose.

"Look Miss…"

"Cartwright, Veronica Cartwright."

"Miss Cartwright," the doctor corrected, unimpressed with the tall woman's name. "There's nothing more that we can do for her right now. Her body is reacting well to the treatment. There's nothing more to do except wait for the bones to heal."

"But she can't walk yet," Ronnie protested.

"She won't be able to walk for the better part of a year," the doctor replied. "There's no sign of infection, the thinning agents have kept any clots from forming and the swelling has gone down to an acceptable level. At this point there's nothing else the hospital can do except give her a bed. I'll write her a prescription for the pain and she should come back next Friday to have the stitches on her face removed. At that time I'll look at her legs and ankle then we'll see where we go from there."

Rose's breathing increased and she looked ready to cry. Ronnie quickly leaned over the bed, blocking the young woman's view of the bearer of bad news. "Rose," she whispered. "Let me take care of this. I promise everything will be okay."

"I can't…I don't…"

"Shh. Let me handle this. Trust me." She spoke softly, as if calming a small child. "Do you trust me?" She received a shaky nod. "I promise everything will be fine."

"But…"

"Trust me, Rose." She maintained her gaze, letting deep blue search out and calm green, silently trying to convey that everything would be all right.

Finally the younger woman let out a heavy breath and nodded, placing her life in the hands of the woman who seemed so willing to help her. As scary as the prospect seemed, there was a comfort in knowing that Ronnie was there for her.

"What do I need to know about caring for her?" Veronica asked, turning her attention to the doctor.

"I'll have the nurse show you how to properly bathe her to prevent infections. I suggest you get a home health aide or a private nurse if you can afford it." That comment earned a raised eyebrow from the woman who had donated six figures to the hospital last year. "The important thing is making sure the wounds are kept clean." She made another notation on the chart. "I'll have an instruction sheet prepared to explain exactly what needs to be done each day."

"Fine," Ronnie said, her mind already figuring out which room would be turned into a recovery room. It was an unexpected turn of events, but one that she was able to handle. She dimly noted it was not guilt making her open up her sanctuary to Rose, it was something stronger--concern and caring. Somewhere in the course of trying to make up for her mistake, Veronica Cartwright had begun to care. "Whatever it takes to make her better."

"I'll have the nurse give you all the details. I'll sign the discharge papers before I start the rest of my rounds." She turned to look at her patient. "I'm sorry, Miss Grayson, I've heard you've become rather fond of our food." Her attempt at humor was not received as well as she hoped, earning only a weak smile from the blonde. "Well, if there was any way I could justify keeping you here, I would."

"I know," Rose replied. "Thank you."

"Don't forget to make an appointment with our outpatient clinic to have those stitches removed next Friday. Make certain they schedule the appointment with me and not with one of the physician's assistants. I want to take a look at those legs too."

"I will."

"I'll take care of it," Ronnie said firmly, leaving no doubt in the young doctor's mind that her patient would be well taken care of.

********************

It was a busy afternoon for Veronica. Her portable cell phone was constantly on, draining the battery down enough the executive had to resort to using the phone in Rose's room to complete her preparations. She called a surgical supply company to purchase a hospital bed, wheelchair, and various other things that the nurse insisted were necessary for Rose to recuperate properly. But no matter how hard she tried, Ronnie was unable to get them to deliver the bed that day. In frustration she told them to just deliver the other items and called several furniture stores until she found one that sold adjustable beds. Even that took some work to convince them to send a truck out with it that day. Then she had to call Maria to let her know what was going on. She explained to her trusted housekeeper which room they were to go in and what items needed to be moved in order to make room for the new furniture. The next call had been to a private ambulance service to arrange for transportation from the hospital to her house for Rose. The remaining calls had been to the various agencies in an attempt to get a private nurse to come in on a long term, full time basis, then back to Maria again to fill her in on the latest developments.

"Ronnie?" Rose called gently, drawing the tall woman's attention.

"I've got to go, Maria. Call me on the Jeep car phone if there's any problems." She hung the phone up and sat on the edge of the bed. "I guess everything's ready. Now we're just waiting for the ambulance to arrive."

"I don't know how to thank you," Rose whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Shh…you don't need to be worrying about things like that."

"But no one's ever…I mean, it's so much…" Her eyes welled up with the heartfelt feeling.

"Hey, it's no problem, remember? I promised that I'd take care of you." Ronnie reached out and caught a tear before it could roll down Rose's cheek. "Hey, none of that. Tabitha misses you and this is the perfect way to make sure that she has someone else to get her attention from so I can get some work done." She received the barest of smiles. "Besides, I've been alone for a long time. It'll be nice to have the company."

Part 3

As much as Ronnie wanted to ride in the ambulance with Rose to provide her comfort, there was the Jeep to consider and the idea of leaving it in Albany overnight was an unpleasant one. She had not gone near the Porsche since the accident, although she did notice that Hans had been over the day before to start the repairs. That left her with either the vehicle that did well in the snow or her prized 1967 Mustang to get around with and the Mustang would never see the salted winter roads of Albany if she could help it. Reluctantly she chose to let Rose ride alone in the ambulance while she followed behind in the Jeep.

The drive from Albany to Loudonville where Ronnie's home was located normally took less than fifteen minutes. The black-haired woman gave the ambulance driver a warning that he was not on a life or death call, and he had better do his best to avoid hitting any potholes on his way out of Albany, even if it meant it took twice as long to get there. Loudonville was an area filled with old money and old homes, most dating back to the early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was often considered a rich suburb of Albany even though it was a separate entity altogether. The only relation Loudonville had with the Capital City was they were within the same county. People who lived in the prestigious village made it clear they were not residents of Albany in any way, shape, or form.

The ride to her home was the most agonizing drive of Ronnie's life. The roads were typical of early December--slush and ice chunks made the ride bumpy enough but with the added factor of potholes, the ambulance found itself bouncing around far more than usual. Knowing that every bump meant pain for Rose, Veronica yelped when the ambulance hit a particularly large pothole just as they were leaving Albany and crossing over into Loudonville. The green and white ambulance bounced and shook over the uneven road, turning Ronnie into a nervous wreck before they finally hit the smooth streets of her hometown and turned onto Cartwright Drive.

Maria opened the door and stepped out just as the ambulance pulled up the driveway, followed closely by the bright blue Jeep. Normally Ronnie would use her remote to open the appropriate garage door and put her vehicle away but she had something more important to do. She parked in the large parking area in front of the garages and waited for the back doors of the ambulance to open. She did her best to stay out of the way as they brought Rose out, noting that beyond a few tear streaks she seemed to be none the worse for wear. "And I thought the hospital was cold," the young woman commented, the threadbare blanket and sheet doing nothing to stop the biting wind that had picked up.

"Don't worry, you'll be inside and toasty warm soon enough," Ronnie replied, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Maria had the double doors open to give them maximum room to get through with the stretcher and its precious cargo.

Flat on her back, the first thing Rose noticed when they entered the large structure was the high ceilings, dark beams against a cream colored background. She turned her head and her eyes widened at the sights. The living room was huge, easily larger than her whole apartment had been. When she felt the change in height she realized that part of the living room was sunken, something she had seen in magazines at the library but never actually seen in someone's home. The wall to wall carpeting was the same cream color as the ceiling, thick and plush without a single sign of matting or wear. Large dark wood cabinets lined one wall; Rose guessed them to be either cherry or mahogany. A set of stairs took up another wall. They reminded her of the stairs from the television show
The Brady Bunch,
except that instead of having a lower landing, these stairs curved around at the bottom. The railing was also the same deep color as the cabinets and ceiling beams. She heard Ronnie cursing somewhere in the background but could not locate her no matter how she turned her head. Then she saw her exit from a room at the far end and race up the stairs. Maria stepped into her line of vision and Rose got her first real glimpse of the housekeeper. "Hello."

"Well hello there, you poor thing," the housekeeper replied. "Ronnie had to run upstairs to get some sheets. She'll be right back down."

"My name is Rose." She held her out her hand.

"I'm Maria, child," she replied, taking the offered hand and shaking it. "Once you're settled in I'll make you something good to eat. I'm sure you're sick of that awful hospital food."

"That's very kind of you but I don't want you to go to any trouble."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Oh, here comes Ronnie. I'd better go get those sheets on the bed so you can get comfortable."

Maria took the linens from Ronnie and disappeared into the far room while the tall woman went to Rose's side. "Sorry about that," she said.

"Ronnie, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you cover my feet? They're freezing." A second later she felt large warm hands clasp around her ice cold toes, the only part of her lower extremities not encased in a plaster cast.

"Why didn't you say something?" Ronnie looked up and glared at the ambulance attendants while adjusting the sheet and blanket to cover the exposed feet. Maria stepped out of the room a few minutes later, announcing that everything was all set. "We'll get you in bed and then I'll run upstairs and get you a pair of nice warm socks," Ronnie said before backing out of the way as the attendants took hold of either end of the stretcher.

It only took a quick look around for Rose to realize that the room she was being put into was Ronnie's office. Two tall file cabinets were pressed up against the wall, apparently to make room for the queen sized bed sitting in the middle of the room. A computer desk with the largest monitor she had ever seen was against a near wall and an immense television took up the remaining wall where she could see it comfortably.

"Okay Mike, you ready?" The one attendant asked, gathering the sheet beneath Rose in his hands. "On three," Mike replied. "One…two…three." They easily lifted her up but in the process of putting her back down, one corner slipped out of his hands, causing the heavily casted right leg to flop down onto the bed. The jolt sent a rush of pain through Rose and the subsequent yelp brought Ronnie over to her side. "Sorry Miss," Mike said. "We need to roll you onto your side now so we can get the sheet out from under you."

"No," Ronnie said. "I'll get it." There was clearly anger in her tone as well as concern that Rose not be injured any further. With infinite care she worked the sheet out from under the young woman until it finally came free. She tossed it to Mike's partner. "Is there something I need to sign?"

"No Ma'am. You'll receive a bill from us in a few days."

"Fine. Is there anything else?" Without waiting for an answer she nodded at Maria, who was standing in the doorway, "Maria will see you to the door."

"It was an accident," Rose said once the attendants were gone. Ronnie was busily reviewing the instructions on how to operate the new bed.