Page 38 of Inherited Light
Her eyes drifted over my shoulder toward the large TV on the wall, the video game system and Blu-ray player. “You would think they would have taken those,” she said pointing. “I better check my jewelry box anyway, but my system would have been flashing if it had been deactivated. The cops would have called my cell if it had been breached. I don’t think whoever waited here for us was a thief.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so either, but we should at least check.” I stood and held the chair. “Okay, do you want to take your chair or do you want me to carry you to bed?”
“I want to take a shower. I needed one before we ended up at the hospital. Now I really need one.”
I leaned on her chair, holding it steady. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea. You had a knock to the head and you might get dizzy in the shower.” My eyes tracked to the splint on her foot. “What kind of shower set up do you have?”
“I have a shower wheelchair and a roll in shower. I’ll be sitting in a chair with arms, so even if I get dizzy, I won’t tip out. I don’t want to take the boot off in the shower though, just in case. Maybe we should put a garbage bag over it and rubber band it at the top. No water will get in, and I won’t hurt it by accident.”
I kissed the palm of her hand. “It sounds like you’ve done this a time or two before.”
She smiled and I loved how relaxed it was, instead of forced. Love. My feelings toward her were definitely love. Every emotion I’ve had for the last eight hours have all revolved around love. The most important part is when she touches me, I feel the same emotion from her. When her hands were on my face, she transferred her love to me.
Looking back, I could see all the things I’ve done since I picked her up at the gallery as the things you do for someone you love. I bought her favorite wine and pain relievers for her back. I bought condoms to protect her, if we decide to be intimate, and then when she felt vulnerable and scared I held her hand. This woman grabbed my heart and won’t let go. Considering we only reconnected a week ago, there was no doubt I’d been struck with the love at first sight bug. Though something told me it would be harder to convince her, and my family, of that.
She laughed, dragging me back to reality. “I broke my leg when I was nine. It was long before they had special cast covers for showering. A garbage bag and a couple rubber bands do the trick.”
“Okay, would it be more helpful if I got the bathroom ready and then carried you in?”
“If you want to carry me in there and set me in the wheelchair, I could undress while you find a bag and rubber bands.”
I took in a breath and steeled myself to see her naked in the next few minutes. I had to hold tight to my self-control since neither of us were in the shape to do anything but sleep. I scooped her up and held her close to me. She laid her head on my shoulder, in the perfect position to kiss and I leaned down laying my lips on hers for only a heartbeat. We needed each other, and I needed to connect with her warmth, and taste the essence of her.
I opened the bathroom door and entered carefully, so I didn’t smack her leg on the door. The shower chair sat inside the tiled enclosure. It resembled a regular wheelchair except the seat had more of a toilet seat shape and the back was made of mesh. Like a regular wheelchair, she could push the back wheels and there were two footrests.
I checked the chair out. “Why is the seat like a toilet seat? Does it let the water clear it easier?”
“It does, but it’s not the purpose,” she answered, and I noticed she seemed embarrassed to talk about it.
“You can tell me,” I said encouragingly. “I want to learn about how you do things, and the equipment you use to stay independent.”
She sighed, but kept her head on my shoulder. “The seat is shaped so it can be rolled over a toilet and used as a commode. Say you have difficulty transferring to a toilet because of height, or you need the arms of the chair for stability, with the shower chair, you only need one piece of equipment. Most people just leave the chair over the toilet and only move it if they’re going to shower.”
I noticed her toilet had a full set of bars around it almost as if you were in a cage. “But you have the bars.”
She nodded. “I made sure to install a toilet at the right height for my wheelchair, so I can transfer easily. The bar flips out and then I can flip it back once I’ve transferred. I have good stability in my upper body, so it’s okay for me to be more independent. For some paralyzed people, it’s not safe to leave them without back support.”
“Thanks for explaining things for me; it makes total sense,” I agreed, setting her down in the chair and making sure each foot rested on a footrest. “I’ll go dig up the cast covering while you undress.”
She kept her gaze downcast, but pointed at the rack behind me. “Would you hand me the towel from over there?”
I yanked the pink and white striped towel down off the bar and thrust it at her behind the curtain. “Do you need anything else?”
She whispered no, so I took my leave, since she had stopped making eye contact with me as soon as we got in the bathroom. I trudged to the kitchen, my fingers going to the back of my neck. I had a knot the size of a golf ball and it hurt to put any pressure on it at all. Once I had the x-ray and passed the concussion test, they let me stay with Cat. When the results of the skull x-rays came back with no fractures and only soft tissue swelling, the doctor ordered Advil, ice, and no dangerous activities for forty-eight hours. He said if I didn’t feel better by then I should see my regular doctor.
I opened several cupboards in my search, to no avail. I put my hands on my hips, ready to go back and ask her where they were, when I decided to search under the sink. Sure enough, a box of garbage bags sat there. I unrolled one and searched around for rubber bands. There weren’t any, so I closed the cupboard and started yanking open drawers. I knowMa?auses rubber bands to close half-empty bags of fries and vegetables in the freezer. She always kept a container of them in the bag drawer. I pulled out the last drawer and eureka!
I grabbed two and the bag and jogged back to the bathroom. I knocked on the door and called out. “Can I come in?”
“Yes,” she called softly.
I stepped through the door and she was sitting with the towel covering her upper body. For the first time I saw her legs since they weren’t hidden by pants or a dress. They were nothing but bones, the muscle having wasted away. She refused to make eye contact with me while I put the garbage bag over her boot and secured it with the rubber bands.
When I finished, I ran my hands under her hair, tucking it back away from her cheek. A nasty bruise had formed, and her forehead had scrapes and bruises. Her right arm was practically one long scrape, most of the flesh having been scraped off on the wood when she fell from the chair. She had a lump on the back of her head too, but it was much smaller than mine. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know what happened or why, but you didn’t deserve this. Let’s get you showered so you can get some sleep.”
She looked up at me finally and I smiled, hoping she would see I only want good things for her. “I’ll close the curtain and then you can hand me the towel.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” she said reaching for the shower sprayer as I closed the curtain, “you’ve seen the worst of me already.”
