Trigger (16 page)

Simon sits back down on her bed and gently moves her
head to his shoulder. “Go to sleep lovely Judy. I’ll only leave
after you go to sleep.”

She opens her mouth to talk and his finger on her
lips stops her. “Shhhh. Go to sleep.”

She’s only allowed in the wheelchair for a few
minutes at a time, but Nurse Becky begged the doctors to let her
get a shower. Carefully wrapping her casts and bandages, Becky used
a hand-held shower head to wash her hair and let hot water run over
her back and shoulders. She brushed her teeth as long as she wanted
to. It was the best shower she’d ever had.

“Your handsome boyfriend left this with us to give
you after your first bath. It’s the most beautiful night gown I’ve
ever seen.”

Silk with lace and beads it’s light as a
feather.”What color is it?”

“Carolina sky blue with white lace inlaid and three
rows of pearls outlining the lace. It has a matching bed jacket and
slippers. I can’t wait to see you in it.”

It took forever for Nurse Becky to redress some of
her stitched places, band-aid all the others and dry her hair, but
finally Nurse Becky slipped the gown over her head and it flowed
around her with cool silk that made her shiver. The bed jacket
helped. She could feel the full sleeves that were long and wider at
the bottom than the upper arm.

The bottom of the sleeve is long “V” Nurse Becky
appreciated the design because they would be able to push it up for
the blood pressure cup. She settled Judy into bed and put the
slippers on her lap, so she could feel them.

“You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I’m
sure that exhausted you. You should rest now. Your therapy is in an
hour and ten minutes so you have time.” She giggles and leaves.
Judy doesn’t remember anything until a soft kiss on her temple
wakes her.

“I didn’t want to wake you but I couldn’t resist.
You look like Sleeping Beauty waiting for my kiss.” Simon nuzzles
her neck and whispers in her ear. “You are a princess and I will
slay any dragon that comes near you.”

“Thank you Prince Simon. I love the gown. It’s the
most beautiful thing I’ve ever had. Nurse Becky described it to me.
This . . . you did . . . was so thoughtful and kind.”

“Hey that’s nothing. Wait until you taste this.
Open.”

It’s cold, it’s chocolate, and it bursts into
delicious icy orange syrup that threatens to spill out of her mouth
and onto her gown. But Simon must have been ready. His mouth swoops
over hers and enjoys it with her.

“Oh my God where do you get these wonderful . . .
things?

“Well my lips are attached to my face, but the
sweets are made especially for you by our chef. He’s having a blast
thinking up sweet confections for me to give you.”

“I have misjudged you haven’t I? I was so taken by
you at that meeting that you became my hero. You inspired me to
create Stalwart Company and make it something wonderful.

“I never had a hero before you Simon. I talked to
you all the time when I had hard decisions to make and you guided
me not to be afraid and trust that I could do it. You said in that
meeting, that most small businesses never become what they could or
should because the dreamer behind it was a coward with no
confidence or guts.”

She reaches for his hand and he takes it in his.

“I faltered lots of times, but you were there giving
me confidence to be gutsy and brave. I would see you with beautiful
women and you were laughing and having a great time and then more
women and more women and I thought that you just used women and
disposed of them when you got tired of them.

“I’m hopelessly naïve about love and relationships
and knew you could easily take advantage of me. You were
experienced. I ran away from you because I was afraid of you and
all your sexual comments and the way your eyes pierced my heart and
soul.

“When I realized you were going to ruin the deal
with Wade and break my company, I came close to rolling over and
giving up. You were my hero but I also wanted to go on your dates
and spend time with you. You were dangerous for be in business and
personally. You were going to destroy me one way or the other.

“Charlotte, my office manager, made me go to the
governor’s charity ball and she insisted on that red dress and the
hair thing. Steven and his weight lifters taught me to dance that
day and Steven told me that being at the fancy party was the same
as being on the streets, just more sophisticated and I should be
myself.

“But the whole time, all I kept thinking about was
that you would be there and I was going to dance with my hero.”

The door bursts open and Steven stomps in with
Deidre right behind him. She hears him stop.

“Are we interrupting anything important? Oh my God,
Judy you look beautiful.”

“Slap him Deidre,” Judy says and hears a slap.

Steven is happy, almost excited, with her massage
therapy. “That’s one minute and forty seconds longer than the last
time. It’s working Judy! If it wasn’t, you would have been able to
stand less time. Don’t get all excited, it will probably be a week
or more before we see any results. But this is good news, really
good news.”

“So you think I’ll get my eyesight back?”

“Still possible and I’m going for that and to
prevent any paralysis from your spinal injuries. I’ve designed this
treatment specifically for your body, which I probably know better
than you do. I’ll start moving your legs and arms and turn you over
to work on the spinal area and get you into a whirlpool as soon as
your stitches and casts come off.

“If you hadn’t been in great shape, you wouldn’t
have survived that crash Judy.” Steven stops and clears this
throat. “Your pre-existing physical condition saved you. Well that
and all the green/gray sludge I made you drink.”

Simon seems to be upset over the Steven knows her
body comment and the tension that sparked hasn’t gone away. “You
never gave me any of those drinks Steven. I’m not enough of a good
enough friend to deserve them.”

“You wouldn’t have tolerated drinking them Simon.
You would have probably thrown it at me. But Judy is smarter than
you. She knew I wouldn’t make her drink them unless they were good
for her, plus I really enjoyed the face she made.

“Oh by the way, Judy, the governor thinks they taste
good. He wants the recipe.”

“Don’t you dare give him the recipe. He won’t ever
come back and you loose all his money.”

“He also wants to come and check on you. I told him
I’d ask.”

“Ugh. Who wants to meet with a governor from a
hospital bed?”

Simon is thoughtful, “I don’t know. It might be a
good idea, if it’s setup correctly. You’re getting a lot of media
attention outside this room. My P.R. director would agree to
it.”

“What do you mean I’m getting a lot of media
attention?” Fear rises through the warm comfortable bed and past
Simon’s sweet and loving attention. “Simon, tell me what’s going
on?” She’s trembling and her voice is loud and screeching.

“Your accident hit the news within minutes. That’s
how I knew to go to you. I knew you didn’t have any family or
anyone to take care of you.”

Steven clears his throat. Deidra speaks up. “There’s
video footage of your spectacular flight through the air and crash.
It’s everywhere, on every station and You Tube with a super good
photo of you standing in a gray driver’s suit, holding a matching
helmet and leaning against your car just before the crash. You look
spectacular!

“The hospital has been giving updates on your
condition twice a day. A nice looking older gentleman from your
company, Franklin something, makes regular statements. Your picture
with your car and the photo of you in a red gown holding up your
gun at the governor’s ball is everywhere. Magazines, tabloids,
newspapers, Face Book, You Tube and there’s even a blog and lots of
Twitter action. You’re as famous as Amelia Earhart!”

She wants to pass out,
not because she feels like it but because she wants to go away and
hide. She can’t run or jump into BB anymore and shoot off to
someplace else, she’s trapped. Instead she cries from pure
embarrassment and frustration.

“Go away. Everyone just go away!” she yells. She
knows that sooner or later someone is going to track her down and
find out where she came from, who her family is and how awful they
are. Simon’s father said she was white trash and everyone is going
to know that and Stalwart Company will be disgraced and her dad and
brothers are going to find her and kill her.

“No. Judy. No we won’t. It’s time you stop running.”
Steven’s voice is concerned but firm. He knows because she’s the
one who told him.

“But . . .”

Simon’s voice is so soft she can barely hear him.
“But nothing, I know what you are afraid of and so doesn’t Steven.
Get over it and stand up and be who you’ve become. You are amazing
and wonderful and to be honest, your history will clearly show how
strong and determined you are to make something of yourself. People
will admire your effort to overcome all that.”

“Judy, people need someone to look up to when things
seem impossible. You have the opportunity to be that someone for
them. I’m not saying that you flaunt it or take advantage of it,
but if faced with it you should acknowledge the truth of it.” She
feels that Steven has moved closer as he talked. “I’ve never given
you advice you couldn’t trust. You should listen to me now.”

“You both don’t understand. It’s dangerous!” She
says every word and syllable slowly. “It’s dangerous!”

There’s a quick knock on her door and then she hears
it bang against the wall and a bunch of people walk in. She jumps
and reaches out for Simon.

“Miss Mason, I couldn’t wait any longer to see how
you are getting along. Grace and I were worried about you and Grace
picked out these flowers for you.” The governor says warmly and
soft hands touch her, and someone puts flowers on her lap.

“They’re white roses just about to fully open, so
they smell their best.” Grace says and kisses her cheek. “Tim and I
are so sorry what happened to you Judy. Is there anything I can do
for you?”

Judy doesn’t know what to say, so she doesn’t say
anything.

“Well anything we can do, just ask and we’ll do it
all right? We’ll have that lunch sometime real soon.” Grace is
soothing and friendly but Judy’s glad she’s hiding behind large
black glasses. Soft fingers push a stray hair off her face. “I’m
glad you’re my friend Judy, and please know that I’m yours too.”
Grace whispers to her.

The governor is talking to Steven and is introduced
to his fiancé Deidre and then she hears him approach Simon and
greets him. Simon gets off her bed to stand and she thinks Simon
shakes his hand but doesn’t say anything and then the governor
kisses her cheek, wishes her speedy recovery and they’re gone.

She starts to laugh, and then Simon, and Steven and
Deidre and then it starts to hurt too much, she stops.

“Were there cameras here? I thought I heard them.”
She’s stopped laughing and now she’s shaking in fear and even
worse, she has no idea where her gun is.

“Yes,” Simon’s voice is stressed. “He was way out
line Judy. I wanted to kick him out. That whole scene was so wrong.
I need to take care of this right now. Steven go ahead start with
Judy, I won’t be gone long.”

“What are you going to do?” She calls out but she
hears the door is already shut.

“What’s he going to do, Steven?”

“Simon knows what he’s doing. Whatever it is it will
be done right. Don’t worry. He’ll explain to us when he gets
back.”

Simon is asleep in his sleeper chair he had brought
in and holding her hand. There’s a guard at her door, the hospital
administrator came to apologize, the footage of the governor’s
visit was delivered to Simon and Grace’s flowers are in a vase of
water on a table somewhere in the room. She can smell them and it’s
a wonderful, sweet smell. But better, she was able to get through
Steven’s last therapy of the day another two minutes longer. She
closes her eyes, listens to Simon’s even breathing and drifts.

Everyday, Simon brings
her something new to wear. Silks and satins in every color
imaginable now hang in her hospital room closet. Today there’s a
huge box, wrapped in playful black and white hand drawn cityscape
paper and a red, white and black ribbon, Becky says.

She and Becky work together to open the box. Black
satin boxing shorts, red tank top, a black satin boxing robe with
her name embroidered on the back, red boxing gloves and a pair of
red boxing shoes. Tucked in the bottom is a champion belt with a
big gold medal: Hospital Boxing Champion Room 212.

Nurse Becky is overwhelmed describing the Simon
box.

“Judy, I don’t get the boxing theme?”

“I’m a boxer.”

“That’s true? I thought it was just tabloid hype.
You really box?”

It’s been so long since she wore clothes, Judy is
excited to dress. All of her stitches are out and most of the
bruises and cuts are nearly healed. Steven has trained her to use a
walker, but she’s only allowed to use it in her room and bathroom
for a few minutes. It takes Becky forever, but finally the belt is
attached to the front of her walker.

“Hurry Becky, Simon will be here any minute. I want
to be standing when he comes in. Take the support casts off, so I
can put the shoes on. I’ll just wear them for a few minutes, I
promise.”

“Judy, I’ll get fired. And what if you fall or get
hurt, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’ll say I did it and I did it after you left.
Quickly, please, and then scoot out of here.”

After ten minutes of standing with her walker, so
Simon can see her as soon as he opens the door, Judy’s starting to
rethink the shoe bit. Her broken ankles are hurting and she can
feel them swelling. They haven’t carried her weight since the
morning of the crash. Time moves on and she stands and waits. She
can’t see anything or tell what time it is, but it feels like Simon
is way past due.