Healing Touch (5 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I seem to be saying
that to you a lot lately.”

“It’s ok.”

A huge yawn took me over and I shivered from
head to toe once it passed. “Jeepers, that was a good one.”

“Why don’t you go lay down? I’ll watch Cody
for a little while.”

“What did you put in that shake, narcotics?”
My eyelids drooped more than normal.

Jeremy smiled as he chipped the crusty food
out of the pot. “No, just fruit, milk, and protein powder. Your
body is probably thankful for the nourishment.”

I yawned again. “Well, maybe I will lie down
on the couch for a few minutes. You two can pop in a video. A
twenty or thirty minute nap should help.”

“Ok, whatever.” It was his turn to be
sarcastic.

I tossed a few toys onto the floor, yanked
the rubber band out of my hair, and flopped, face first on the
couch. “Why aren’t you working today?” My eyes were shut before I
finished the sentence. He didn’t respond and I soon figured out
why. He came around the front of the couch with my pillow and
comforter in his arms. I flipped over to face him. “These aren’t
necessary.”

He arranged the pillow, pulled the blanket up
to my chin, and tucked it in around me. He sat on the edge of the
couch trapping me.

“Let me check one thing. Try not to scream at
me.” He proceeded to tip my chin up and feel my neck. I closed my
eyes and waited for him to finish. All the fight left me. The
mystery shake had drugged me and I struggled to stay awake. My eyes
opened as he grabbed one of my ear lobes and gentle wiggled it.

“Hmm?”

“Good night Ms. Campbell.”

“Night, Dr. Nelson.”

A little voice came flying at me. “No, no!
That’s not the way you do it Jerwee. You have to tuck her in like
this.”

Cody proceeded to show Jeremy our nightly
routine although this time I was the one being tucked. His little
hands pushed the blanket down on my right side starting at my
shoulder and working down to my ankles. This movement was
accompanied by Cody saying “Tuck, tuck, tuck.” He moved on to my
left side and repeated the movement.

“Oh I get it.” I could tell Jeremy was
smiling.

“Not done.” Cody looked at me, scratched his
chin and moved on to the next step of our routine. “What can I do
to make you stay in bed? I know, I’ll nail you in.” With this Cody
pretended to nail the blanket down up and down the couch.

He didn’t have to nail me in; I was too tired
to even lift my head.

“You got that Jerwee? That’s how you do it
and then you have to end it with a kiss.” Cody leaned down and gave
me a loud smack.

“Thanks, buddy. I got it.”

Jeremy and I smiled at each other but my
little boy looked confused.

“Now you.” Cody pointed at Jeremy.

I protested in a sleepy voice, “Cody, I don’t
think that’s–“

Jeremy was right on it. He pretended to lift
up something long and heavy. “OK let’s just put this right here.”
He slapped the pretend board against my side and then added a
couple more. “There’s the frame now we are going to pour in the
cement.”

“Cement! Oh goodie.” Cody hadn’t heard this
one before.

A noisy cement truck poured its contents on
top of me and Jeremy smoothed out the surface with a trowel.
Luckily the boards were wide and he didn’t need to get close to my
body.

“She’s not getting out of there!” Cody and
Jeremy high fived each other.

“Now you kiss her.” Cody pointed in my
face.

“Honey, that’s not necessary.”

“Ya huh, you tell me ever night we have to
seal it with a kiss.”

I cursed silently to myself. Why did I invent
that damn rule?

Cody pulled Jeremy’s hand trying to get him
to move in for the sealing kiss.

“Well, if I must.” The doctor tried to sound
put out but the humor came through his voice. He kneeled at my side
and moved in for the kiss. Before he could make contact I turned my
head to the side.

This must be against some doctor’s code of
ethics.” I said into the back of the couch.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got that covered.”

Game time was over, I wanted to hear his
explanation.

“I transferred your file.”

That announcement woke me.

“What, to who, why?”

Jeremy smoothed and tucked the blanket around
my shoulders and neck. Unlike the time in his office, he played
with my hair and didn’t hold back. I was glad my arms were pinned
under the blanket because they were aching to run through his light
brown curls.

I was held motionless by his green eyes. He
repeated my questions. “What? I transferred your file. To who? Dr.
Ottman. And why? So I could do this.”

He lightly kissed my forehead and nose. He
held his mouth a few inches from mine and waited for a protest.
Despite all my inner debates playing out this possible scenario and
the inevitable disastrous results, I couldn’t voice a single word
to stop him. Our lips touched softly. I fought the urge to free my
arms and pull him into me closer. My head spun and I tried to say
something. Jeremy backed away leaving me to stare at the ceiling,
shocked and immobile. The nails and cement were not needed.

I listened to the two of them play with toy
cars. Jeremy made a city out of books from my shelf and Cody
enjoyed racing through the streets of ‘Campbellville.’ So many
thoughts swirled through my head but none stopped long enough to be
considered. The quiet laughter of the males in my house was
comforting and soon I was fast asleep.

The big purple dinosaur visited our house and
sang songs. I danced around in a circle with Cody, my boss and
Maggie from the clinic. We all learned a happy tune about sharing
and being friends.

A little while later Emeril Lagasse showed up
to cook dinner. He ordered me to rest on the couch and read each of
my books before putting them back on the shelf. From the aroma
coming from the kitchen, it smelled as if he was making pizza. I
found that a bit strange because Cody will only eat those nasty
$.99 pizzas from the grocery store. My sister popped into the TV
room to tell me Emeril was just fine with a frozen dinner for one
night.

After dinner Jeremy read “Where the Wild
Things Are” to us three times. My now ex-husband, Mark was in the
corner grumbling something in Portuguese. I laughed at Jeremy’s
acting skills as he pretended to be Max or dance like the big
monsters. Cody looked so cute sitting on his lap; head leaned back
into his neck. The boy’s long black lashes drooped with sleep.

“I think it’s time for bed, big guy. Do you
want to wake up mommy or have me tuck you in?”

My eyes opened and I sat up throwing off the
covers. Emeril must have taken off because he was no where in
sight.

“Where’s Leah?” My hair had plastered to the
side of my face during my sweaty nap. My skin felt hot and I was
dying of thirst.

“Aunt Leah isn’t here mom. You look tired;
you should go to bed too. Jerewee is gunna tuck me in.” Cody hopped
down off of the doctor’s lap only to turn right around and hold out
his arms to him.

I shook my head a couple of times hoping to
clear the sleep fog. Was Emeril really here making pizza?

“Jeremy, what time is it? How long have I
been sleeping?” I had every intention of standing but sat and
watched Jeremy scoop up my little boy instead. He laid his sleepy
head down and said in a soft voice. “Night, Mommy. I love you.”

“I love you too, buddy.” What was happening?
This was weirder than my dreams. In a moment of clarity I called to
the two of them, “He needs to try and pee and put on a pull-up
before you lay him down. They are in his top dresser drawer.”

“No pull-up!” the little guy shouted.

I was just about to argue with him when
Jeremy beat me to it. “When you get a little older and can show us
that you are dry in the morning for one whole week, then you can
get rid of the pull-ups. Ok? So why don’t you try to stay dry
tonight.”

While in the kitchen making myself a snack I
could hear Jeremy and Cody read more stories and invent a few more
tucking techniques. I went to his room to kiss Cody and seal him in
his bed.

“Good night, sweetie. See you in the
morning.”

“Night, Mommy, see you in the morning.”

I closed his bedroom door to the exact width
Cody required. Just enough to let one strip of light fall across
his light blue wall.

His little voice called once again from the
semi darkness, “Night, Jerewee. See you in the morning.”

“Oh no you won’t.” I grumbled softly to
myself as I turned to make my way back to the living room.

“Why not?” I jumped a mile when Jeremy made
this protest. He leaned against a doorjamb half way down the hall.
I tried to keeping moving and ignore him but his location blocked
my path.

Just my luck, the doorway he stopped at lead
to my bedroom. How was it possible that I had two such conflicting
emotions raging inside of me: the need to run and the desire to
back him into my room and push him down on the bed.

His arms hung out from his sides signaling he
was ready to pull me into an embrace regardless of my decision.

To break the magnetic pull toward the bed I
felt, I ducked into the hallway bathroom and scooped up everything
possible that would go in a wash machine. I even grabbed the
rugs.

I ducked and dodged his silent invitation and
made my way to the basement.

When I returned to the living room I expected
to find him gone but Jeremy made no attempt to leave. Instead he
was tidying up. He picked up toys and returned books to the shelf.
His behavior and attitude completely confused me. I sat in my
grandma’s wooden rocking chair near the fireplace and stared at
him.

“I slept six hours. Why didn’t you wake me
up? You didn’t have to stay all afternoon and evening.” There was
no anger in my voice and despite my long nap, I was still
sleepy.

“Cody and I were having fun. I figured since
you were tired enough to fall asleep in the park and then later
burn mashed potatoes to a cinder, you must have needed the rest.”
He made quick work of the disastrous room. It was nice to watch him
work. He didn’t seem uncomfortable or even slow down to wonder
where to put things. Just went about the task as if he’d been doing
it for years.

“What did you make him for supper?”

Jeremy made a final pass around the room
looking for stray cars or army guys. During his lap he clicked off
a few lights. “One of those nasty frozen pizzas you had in the
freezer.” He smiled at me. “I figured I’d stick with the “P” theme
and added peas and pears. He loved it.”

I wasn’t sure why but Jeremy wasn’t looking
at me. He stood in front of me near the mantel and fidgeted with
the knick-knacks. He rearranged a couple pictures, pausing to laugh
at one of Cody as a pudgy ten month old. I don’t think I’d ever
seen him nervous but that is how I would describe him just then.
Nervous. Or perhaps in deep thought. Could he have been thinking
about Cody’s statement of seeing him in the morning?

“I don’t understand what’s going on, Jeremy.
You’ve transferred my file. There’s no need for you to be nice to
me anymore.”

Jeremy lit a couple of the candles I had
sitting on the mantel and moved them over to the coffee table. “I
like being nice to you.” He softly pinched my cheek and in a smooth
move grabbed me by both hands and stood me up.

His arms wrapped around my waist and he
pulled me in tight. He kissed me quickly; similar to the one he
gave me earlier. I stared at him and continued my confused
expression.

“Wait a second,” I said, “You don’t have to
do all this. The baby sitting, cooking, cleaning up, saying you’ll
play again with Cody in the morning. How is all this going to help
you now that you’ve transferred my file?” I pushed away from him
and clicked on a lamp.

“What are you talking about?” He seemed more
confused than me and this was his game. “Why do you think I’m doing
this?” He paused and then he had a look of realization on his face.
The understanding soon turned to anger. “Do you think I’m being
nice to you so that you will take my medical advice?” He paced the
room and stopped to scowl at me. “You honestly think that I brought
you food, and played with Cody all afternoon as a kind of bribe or
blackmail?”

An uneasy feeling crept over me. This was not
what I expected. I still had no idea of his true intensions but
apparently I was way off base. Trying to defend my assumptions I
jumped in on his argument. “You have been trying to get me to have
that biopsy for weeks, months! You’ve made me come into the clinic
for numerous appoints, called me, e-mailed and you even had Maggie
contact me. What was I supposed to think?”

“All along you’ve accused me of doing things
that are less than ethical, which I disagree with 100%. Now you are
implying that I did all these things just so you’d get a biopsy! Do
you really think I’d crossed the ethical boundaries so much and
kiss you just so you’ll get a procedure done?”

It sounded awful when put that way, like he
was pimping himself out to have a perfect patient success record. I
looked at him and the same thoughts could be seen playing across
his mind. Neither one of us had to say it out loud.

I put an end to the unspoken insult by saying
quietly, “I’m sorry. No other reasons came to mind. I was sure that
was why you were paying so much attention to me.”

“I kissed you! I transferred your file
because I’m attracted to you!”

My hands went up to my head as if to hold my
brain and scattered thoughts in. A quick vision of us dating
flashed before my eyes. I laughed at the insane scenario. There was
no way in hell I would put myself through that. I glanced at his
shocked face. He just didn’t get it.

“Jeremy, the thought of you and I dating is
beyond ridiculous.” I looked at him and was surprised when his
puzzled look continued.