They Say Love Is Blind (19 page)

“Mmm…” Came the whisper of a groan from the bed
.
Tory squeezed her hands into fists.
Was that a groan of pain, or was it just his confirmation?
She saw that his eyes were still closed but his
breathing was different and he was moving his limbs restlessly.

“Mr. Torres, I’m Dr. Hendrix. Can you hear me?” There was no response and
soon Lee
began to quiet. Oh no…
Dr. Hendrix tried for several more minutes before he paused and looked around the room.
“He’s not responding to my voice. Someone else speak to him. Maybe if he recogniz
es the voice he’ll come around.”

Several people turned to Tory. She reached for his hand but
before she could
even touch him
Rosalind’s voice could be heard from where she was standing on the opposite side of his bed.

“Leandro, Listen to my voice. You need to wake up
,
brother.”

Tory’s mouth parted in surprise and outrage. She didn’t notice that several other people in the room had mimicked her expression but then Lee’s head turned in Rosalind’s direction although his eyes remained closed. His breathing calmed and he seemed to be awake and listening.

Rosalind continued talking but now in Portuguese, encouraging words but words that Tory was hopeless to understand.
Simultaneously, both women took one of his hands. Their eyes met and there was no pretense; the dislike was evident on both women’s faces.

Rosalind turned her attention back to Lee and continued to speak to him in soft Portuguese. And then suddenly he was squeezing her hand. Everyone gasped in excitement. Rosalind’s face broke into a beatific smile
.

“That’s right, Lee. I’m here. I’m here.”

Tory was confused with the need to jump out of her chair and beat Rosalind about the head and face, but she was also excited to see him waking.
Come on baby
…she begged silently.

“Please, baby…” She whispered.

A frown flitted across Lee’s face and he slowly turned his head
in Tory’s
direction
.

“
Querida
…” He mumbled.

A short, relieved laugh gushed from her lips and tears were in her eyes. “Yes, I’m here.”

He frowned and grimaced and then his eyes opened slightly.

“Where am I?”

“He’s awake,” someone exclaimed. Mrs. Torres nudged Rosalind out of the way to take her son’s hand. Ah, so she was just naturally rude. Then Tory didn’t feel quite so bad about the earlier snub.  Rosalind looked unhappy about being replaced but moved aside to give Mrs. Torres room.
Again, Portuguese was spoken and Lee listened quietly and although Tory was curious she was more relieved that Lee was alternately squeezing her hand and stroking her knuckle with
his
thumb.

He suddenly interrupted his mother and turned to face Tory.

“Tory, are you hurt?” Ah, so she had told him about the accident.

She
removed the oxygen.
“I’m okay honey, I broke a rib…and I have a collapsed lung.” Lee pulled his hand from his mother’s grasp and grimaced as he
tried to reach up to touch her
. He couldn’t because of the IV and monitoring equipment
, not to mention the bulky cast,
so he was unable to see if she
was okay.

“You have two broken arms, honey,” she explained. “But you’re
awake and you’re going to be
okay now.” He flexed his fingers.

Dr. Hendrix spoke. “Mr. Torres, I’m Dr. Hendrix. If you don’t mind I’d like to ask you some questions.”

“Why?”

“Well, we want to make sure that you haven’t experienced any damage to your brain and we’ll need to be sure that your central nervous system is functioning the way it should.” He turned to the crowd of people. “Unfortunately I’m going to have to ask everyone to leave now. But we shouldn’t be long and if you’ll return to the family waiting area I’ll consult with you when I’m finished.”

Lee frowned again. “Is everyone here?” Everyone made sure to let him know that they were
present
—and it wasn’t quietly
. He bit his lip lightly. “I’d like for my mother, father and
Tory to stay, please. I need them to stay.” He clutched Tory’s hand and reached for his mother’s with the other.

Everyone else left noisily, voicing their disappointment at being asked to leave.
While this happened, Tory
stood and
pressed her face against his neck. It hurt her back and shoulders and took her breath away
when she came out of the wheelchair
but she couldn’t stop herself. She had to allow her lips to touch him. He closed his eyes again and leaned into her.

“Tory,” he sighed and she could both feel and see the anxiety leaving his body. Mr. and Mrs. Torres watched her and it took a long time for her to realize it but when she did she watched them just as closely as they watched her. Something strange and surprising happened then. Both parents simultaneously smiled.

She was guarded when she nodded a silent greeting. She had already tried to introduce herself and was ignored. She wouldn’t be so quick to make the same mistake.

Mrs. Torres moved and was suddenly standing next to her. “Tory, sit back down. You need to stay healthy.” She urged her back to her chair and adjusted the oxygen
back beneath her nose. To
ry gave her a surprised look. “You’re a good girl.” She touched her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes. “You love my son.”

“Very much so.”

Mrs. Torres smiled.
Tory was just confused. How did these people just arbitrarily dislike and then like someone?! She didn’t get it but was pleased the tides had changed in her favor…at least for now. Soon she would have to tell them about the accident and take blame for her part in it. But what she wouldn’t do is lay claim to driving impaire
d, unless it was
impairment
due to admiring
your gorgeous fiancée.

~***~

Dr. Hendrix and his team of doctors put Lee through comprehensive tests and then announced that he seemed very healthy despite being a bit groggy.

“I have a headache,” he announced.

“Of course
,
” Dr. Hendrix replied. “I’ll have pain medicine placed in your IV.”

“When can we leave?”

The doctor’s eyes flitted to
Tory
and then he raised a brow. “I’d like to monitor you for the next 24 hours and if all is well th
e
n I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to go home tomorrow. I’m not
your
fiancée’s
doctor but I will confer with him.”

Lee squeezed her hand gently and
then a moment later the doctor
s left to speak to the other members of the family.

“Where are you staying?” Lee
said to his parent
s once the room was empty.

Lee’s father responded in Portuguese but Lee interrupted him. “Daddy, speak in English, please. Tory doesn’t understand yet.
” She smiled at the word ‘yet.’
The older man gave her an apologetic smile.

“We fo
r
get easily.”

“I’m not surprised. You haven’t been to the states in years, I understand.”

“We speak English on the island but not much.” Mrs. Torres responded. “We’re staying with Raphael and Fiona-”

“Well I would like for you to stay with me while you’re in town. We have an extra bedroom that I just use as an office.”
We
…
She hadn’
t had much time to absorb the fact that their lives were now one so of course it was we.

“Is that okay with you Tory?” Mrs. Torres asked.

“Yes, definitely. Lee and I don’t live together yet. But even if we did that would be fine with me!” She said quickly.

“We’ll let you two visit
,
”
s
he said but before leaving she and Mr. Torres leaned down and kissed him and then both of them kissed Tory. She was a little uncomfortable but only because she didn’t know if these people would decide that they didn’t like her anymore
once they talked with the rest of the family and Rosalind
.

“It was nice to finally meet you.” She said politely.

When they were gone Tory stood up again and leaned into Lee, her lips finding his neck and staying there so that she could inhale him. He reached up and rubbed her arm, careful of the cast. He turned so that he could explore her with his hands. His fingers moved slowly over her face finding every bit of swelling. He ma
de a sound of distress when he
discovered her oxygen line
.

“Are you in a wheelchair?” She nodded without answering. He moved over to the far side of the narrow bed and moved his covers back. “Lay with me.” A smile tugged at her lips. It wasn’t as easy as it seemed but a few moments later she was lying nestled against his side with her arm thrown across his body.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am now that I know you are.” She felt him smile.

“We’re okay,
bela
.”

CHAPTER 15

Tory was anxious when her parents came the next day to take her home and they finally got a chance to be introduced to her fiancée.

Lee had been moved to a private room and he was never alone; far from it. Everyone present greeted her warmly, but she knew that some among them might have suspicions about her now. She put that out of mind as she kissed Lee’s smiling face.

“Mama, Daddy
, I want you to meet my
fiancée
, Lee.” Saying that word sent a shiver down her spine.

Lee held out his hand and her father gripped it firmly and shook. “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir.” He shook her mother’s hand. “I’m sorry that our meeting is under such unpleasant circumstances.”

“It’s fine, honey. I’m just happy that you two are safe.”

Francie ushered everyone out of the room to give them time to visit and they talked for a few minute before her parents retreated to get her checked out of the hospital.

Reluctantly she returned to her room to get her things together. Yesterday evening she had tried to convince everyone that she would be okay returning to Lee’s home to take care of him, and she thought Lee would support her efforts, but it was him that finally convinced her that she needed
to return to her apartment, stay in bed and allow her mother to take care of her until she got the thumbs up from her doctor.

Deep down she knew that he was probably right, but it hurt her feelings that he
wouldn’t let her come home with him; that he actually said no to her
.  While her parents got her checked out and made sure that everything was billed to her insurance company, Macey helped her prepare to leave her room. She was preoccupied, wanting to tell Lee goodbye one more time but she had
just left him so that was dumb. It’s just that if she was going to be on bed rest, she wouldn’t see him for days.

“So…” Macey began. Tory gave her a quick look.

“What?”

“No comment on how scandalous
Rosalind acted yesterday?”

“Ugh. No comment.”

Macey
chuckled. “For the record, she didn’t gain any points when she jumped in and started talking to my
comatose
brother just when
his fiancée was
about to
. That was your place, not hers!
”