Love Immortal (8 page)

“You look tired. You should probably go get
some rest.” Concern creased his face. He was right though, she
hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately. Not only had she been
spending extra time at the hospital, but her dreams had been
troubled, and her excitement to see him had made it more difficult
to not only fall asleep, but to stay asleep as well.

“I’m not tired,” she lied. But she could tell
by the look in his eyes that he knew.

“If you are going to have to drive all the
way home, I don’t want you doing it half asleep. I’d rather not
have you in the room next door.” He smiled. “What’s more, I really
don’t feel very well today. I think I need some time to rest.”

Jewell knew that he was lying, trying to give
her an excuse to leave, other than her own needs, but he was right.
If she stayed too much longer, she wouldn’t be able to drive home
safely. She needed to sleep, and she needed to sleep in her own
bed.

“Besides, I’ll see you tonight when you come
back into work, right? You need to get some sleep so you can handle
your long nights.”

“I’m not working tonight, it’s my day off.
I’m on a four this week; two on, two off.”

“So, I won’t see you tonight?” He tried to
keep the pain from his voice, but he could feel the lump forming at
the thought of missing any time with her.

“I was thinking…” Jewell began, “even though
I’m not working, I can come by anyway.”

“You don’t have to come in on your day off.
That seems like too much to ask.” Collin replied.

“I want to. I could stay for a couple of
hours, maybe bring you some real food?” She couldn’t imagine being
away from him for two days.

“That sounds nice. The stuff in here is
horrible.” He made a face. “So, I’ll see you tonight then?”

“Absolutely. I might be a little later
tonight, maybe around six or so. Is that okay?”

“Sure, it’s not like I have any place to go.”
He laughed at his joke, but for some reason his words made her
suddenly nervous. Apparently he caught her apprehension because he
asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. I guess I just really need
to get some sleep.” She smiled as she stood up to leave. She didn’t
want to, but he was right, she could barely keep her eyes open. She
needed to get home before she fell asleep. “Rest well,” she said,
as she turned at the door.

She heard him whisper something about
dreaming of her as the door closed. She didn’t see the eyes
watching her from the other side of the nurses’ station as she
left.

* * *

Edgar sat in a seating area with a window
overlooking the dirty city below, but his interest was drawn by
what he saw taking place near the nurses’ station. The young nurse
who had passed him in the ER the night before was leaving one of
the rooms. She wasn’t wearing her scrubs, but instead, a tight pair
of jeans, heeled shoes and a blue polo and she didn’t look like she
had been working. Edgar made a mental note to find out about the
young nurse as he wheeled himself back to his room.

Chapter 11

“Well kid, it looks like you got yourself
into a bit of a pickle.” Percy said with a grin, striding into the
room. Percy was Collin’s uncle with whom Collin had lived as long
as he could remember.

“Hey, Uncle Percy. It’s about time you
bothered to stop by. I hope I didn’t inconvenience you. I’ve been
practically dying for a week and this is the first you’ve bothered
to check on me. You didn’t even answer my calls.” Collin was a
little heated. Uncle Percy was the only family he had and he felt
abandoned when his uncle hadn’t come to visit.

“You called? I must’ve been busy.” Uncle
Percy pursed his lips as he looked at Collin. Considering his
injuries, Collin looked pretty good. There were still some areas
that had the yellow hint of a healing bruise, and his broken bones
were rebuilding themselves at a remarkable rate but they would need
some more time to heal completely. Of course, Percy wasn’t
surprised; a little distressed, but not surprised.

Percy knew that he would need to get Collin
out of the hospital soon. He could not only take better care of
Collin than the hospital could, but there were certain things
better kept secret that would become apparent if Collin were to
remain here for much longer. The doctors were already marveling at
Collin’s rapid recovery. Of course, the hospital had no idea what
Collin was, except for Dr. Babineaux, but there was only so much
the doctor could do to defer notice of this unusual person. If
Collin remained too long, the news crews would be back en
masse.

Collin didn’t even know what he was. It was
bad enough that Collin had had the near death experience; it
wouldn’t help matters if certain people were to find out how fast
he healed. Percy wasn’t really concerned about the media, Dr.
Babineaux and Sheriff Payne had made it seem unremarkable so the
article was buried in the Local section, and quickly forgotten. The
whole article was two short paragraphs describing a car accident.
One driver, his nephew, was in critical condition. The other driver
would be charged with DUI. There was no follow up on the condition
of the driver in ICU. Thanks to the help of some friends, the media
was the least of his problems, though Percy knew that even with the
help he had, that could change quickly.

“Actually kid, I was in here the day after
you came in. I saw you after they moved you to ICU. When I saw you
were going to be okay and that they were taking good care of you, I
left to take care of some things.” As Percy turned to pour Collin a
glass of water, he muttered under his breath, “Besides, you weren’t
practically dying.”

Collin wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear
the last part of his uncle’s comment but he responded anyway. “What
do you mean I wasn’t practically dying? I’ve heard the nurses
whispering around here. They seem to think I’m lucky to be
alive.”

“Let’s just say that my superior medical
knowledge and skill led me to believe that you weren’t in as bad a
shape as they thought you were.” He forced a grin, but his eyes
were hard, staring at Collin as if he knew something about Collin’s
injuries that he didn’t want to share.

Uncle Percy had gone to medical school before
Collin knew him. Sometimes, when they stayed in one place for a
while, his uncle would find work in a hospital or clinic. Uncle
Percy said it was to earn money to keep them going, but Collin
doubted they needed the money.

“So how’ve they been treating you in here?”
His uncle said, trying to lighten the mood as he took a drink from
the glass of water he had poured for Collin before placing it on
the tray next to the bed.

“It’s been Hell,” Collin replied. “It seems
like every fifteen minutes someone comes in to give me a shot, or
check my blood pressure, or change my bed linens. I swear I can’t
get a moments peace. Even though I’ve been in bed for a week, I’m
so tired I can’t think straight.”

His uncle laughed.

“I cringe every time I hear someone coming
through the door,” he continued, then paused wondering how much he
wanted to share with his uncle, or more specifically, how much he
wanted to share about Jewell. He decided a little bit of
information wouldn’t hurt. “But there is one nurse. Her name is
Jewell. She comes and sits with me every day. I really look forward
to her visits.”

His uncle made a small grunt as he assessed
Collin’s eyes. He knew the look, he’d had it himself once. It was a
look of longing, of unconditional love. “Let’s see what I can do
about getting you out of here,” he said as he pushed himself up
from the only chair in Collin’s room. He was out the door before
Collin could reply.

In about an hour, his uncle came back in,
grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “It’s all taken care of. An ambulance
will be here in a bit to take you to a small, private continuing
care center where you can heal. It wasn’t too hard to convince them
to let me take you, Dr. Babineaux was a big help.”

“How long?”

“How long what? Until you can leave? Don’t
get your knickers in a bunch. The ambulance should be here in a
couple of hours and then we’ll be on our way.”

Collin glanced at the clock. It was just
before one in the afternoon. It would be several hours until Jewell
had promised to come by. He had to see her before he left. He had
to let her know that he would be back for her. Collin didn’t even
know Jewell’s phone number, or where she lived. “Can we wait until
after six?”

“What, is the food so good here that you want
to stay for another meal?”

“No. I really wanted to say good-bye to
Jewell. She’s been so nice; I just wouldn’t feel right leaving
without saying something to her.” He could feel his throat tighten
at the thought of not seeing her again.

His uncle assessed the emotion in his
nephew’s voice, appraised the look in his eyes. He hated what he
was doing, hated to hurt his nephew like this, but he knew it was
better this way; for both of them, Collin and Jewell. Before they
got too close, before their feelings could really grow. This was a
relationship that wouldn’t work. “Sorry kid. We have to leave when
the ambulance gets here. I’m going to go check on the
arrangements.”

Collin watched his uncle leave. He could feel
the tears building. He was embarrassed that he was acting like
this, crying over some girl he had just met. He rubbed angrily at
his eyes. But Jewell was different. Somehow, he felt as if he’d
known her forever. It was like waking up one day and realizing that
you’re in love with the girl next door. The girl you grew up with,
that you ate mud pies with, that you threw rocks at, the one that
you chased around the playground at school making kissing noises,
your best friend.

After a while his uncle returned with a
couple of orderlies. They transferred him to a gurney and pushed
him through the hospital towards the exit. Even though Collin knew
there was no chance that he would see her, his eyes searched
anyway. If he could just see her one more time, let her know that
he loved her. He didn’t care if she didn’t feel the same way about
him; he just had to let her know.

The orderlies loaded the gurney into the
ambulance, his uncle climbing in behind. He was facing the wrong
way to look out the door, but he could hear the doors on the
ambulance slam, closing the doors shut on any possible future he
might have had with Jewell.

* * *

Jewell’s father was home when she came in; he
wasn’t working today. He was watching something on the television,
probably golf – how he could watch that game was beyond her.
“Jewell, is that you?”

“No dad, it’s armed robbers, come to kill you
and steal your twelve inch tube TV.”

Her father laughed. He didn’t watch a lot of
TV so he didn’t see any reason to buy anything bigger. As far as he
was concerned, this TV was perfect. He was more likely to be out
with the guys from his Krewe, playing softball at the fire house,
or reading a book. He used to tell Jewell that the quality of
television had diminished in direct proportion to the number of
channels available, so he didn’t see any reason to get a bigger TV
– or cable. He saw no desire in watching the prolific stupidity of
reality shows on a larger screen or in higher definition.

“Dinner from last night is in the fridge,”
her father called as Jewell started into the hall.

Jewell poked her head into the refrigerator
as she called to her dad, “you know dad, you could at least get
cable. You know, you’re going to have to if you want to keep
watching TV after the digital switch.”

“The what?” He had no clue. Jewell wasn’t
surprised. Technology and Tommy McKean mixed about as well as oil
and water.

“Never mind dad. What’re you watching?”

“I don’t know. Good Morning America I think.
I don’t even know why I have this on. I should probably go to the
bookstore, I need a new book.”

“Why don’t you do that dad? I’m going to bed
anyway. I’ll see you when I get up.”

He grunted an acknowledgement. He liked to be
home when Jewell was home and awake. Sometimes he felt that he
didn’t spend enough time with her.

Jewell ate a salad while watching an
interview with some sports guy. When she was finished, she took her
bowl into the kitchen, rinsed it out, and put it in the dishwasher.
She walked into the living room and stood in front of her dad,
blocking the TV. He looked up at her. “I really love you dad.
Thanks for everything you do for me.”

Her dad reached out and pulled her into his
lap. She was an adult in so many ways, but felt a child in so many
more. She sat on her dad’s lap for a few minutes, her arms circling
his neck, just content to be in his arms. Then she turned, kissed
him on the forehead and gave him a quick hug. “I’ll see you when I
wake up dad. Don’t worry about dinner. I don’t have to work tonight
so I’ll fix something nice.” She used the arm of the chair to lever
herself off her father’s lap and walked slowly to her room.

When she woke, she looked at the clock and
was surprised at how long she had slept. It was nearly six. She got
out of bed and walked to the kitchen. She had promised both Collin
and her dad a good dinner but it was already six and it would take
her a half an hour to get to the hospital. She opened the
refrigerator, leaning on the door to see if there was something she
could heat up. She found some seafood gumbo that her dad probably
picked up at Morton’s so she threw some of that in a Gladware
container with some rice that was left over from Chinese her father
had brought home, and popped it in the microwave to heat. Her dad
wasn’t home; he was probably out with some of the guys or playing
softball at the firehouse. She wrote him a quick note:

“Dad: had to run to the hospital for a while.
Didn’t have time to make dinner. Saw some Gumbo in there. Thought
you could eat that. Sorry. Love you. Jewell”