The Good Life

Chapter 41

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”We have to go…” Marla looked up at Bruno with tears in her eyes.

”I know…” he said to her coming to sit down next to his wife. ”Stay here…I’ll get her frog and blanket…and the car…” he said in a calm voice.

”Okay…okay…” she trembled.

”Will you come with, Urbana?” she asked Phil’s wife.

”Yeah. Of course….” she said handing a child to Phil.

”We’ll stay here and cook for you. We know you’re going to need it…” Tahiti told her.

”You just want to eat our food.” Marla laughed.

”Well, yes…but you will need it, Marley.”

”You’re right.” Marla responded seeing Rosalia’s eyes starting to open. She burst out crying the second she could see what was going on. Marla ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair leaning down to whisper to her. ”Shhhh. Everything will be okay. It will be okay.” she picked her up struggling to stand up. Bruno walked into the room seeing Marla holding their daughter tightly.

”Come on…” Bruno said to her opening the door holding the frog and dirty crocheted blanket in his hands. ”You should sit in the back with her, baby…” Bruno told her with the same concerned tone he had earlier handing Rosalia the frog. ”Don’t cry, you’ll make dad cry, baby doll…shhh. It will be alright.” They buckled her into her car seat driving as quickly as possible to the hospital. ”Mar..do you want me to drop you off ?” Bruno asked.

”No. I can’t go in by myself…I need you to come with me. ” she responded.

”Okay…I’ll park close…” he responded puling their small SUV into a middle parking spot.. They parked in the middle of the parking lot an equal distance from the front door and the street. Urbana and Phil parked several spots away from them running up to be with them.

”Did you call the doctor?” Phil asked.

”Yeah. I called the pediatric neurologist that was referred to me when she was born…doctor Reisch…” she answered holding Rosalia in her arms watching her start to cry again. ”Rosie..I know it hurts, sweetheart. I know it hurts a lot…we’ll make it better.” Marla reassured her daughter wiping the massive amount of tears from her eyes. ”Hold on to froggy...”

”Marla….they’re ready for us….” Bruno told her readjusting his hat and sunglasses.

”Take off your sunglasses, B. You shouldn’t care who sees you right now.” Marla said in a mean tone. He did exactly what she told him knowing there was no way to win the argument at the moment. ”Thank you.” she told him looking into his eyes so scared she was shaking as they walked. Rosalia started to squirm around in Marla’s arms.

”Rosie..do you want to walk?” Marla asked putting her down.

”Nooooooo…..” she started to scream. Marla shot Bruno a confused look stopping to react to the cries.

”Come here, baby doll…” Bruno said picking his up.

”I wuv you…” she said putting her head on her father’s shoulder closing her eyes with the frog in her hands.

”I love you too, my rose.” he answered her kissing her head turning the corner into the room they were going to be seen in.

They sat in the room interrupted by nurses wanting to take Rosalia’s blood pressure and a bit of blood.

”Mammmaaaaaaa….” she screamed as the nurse poked her into the arm.

”Look, Rosie…it’s Dora!” she distracted her daughter holding the band aide in her hand hoping that seeing the cartoon character would help her through the process.

”And look, Rosie…froggy doesn’t want you to be sad…” Bruno started to distract her making him dance and sing. The nurse almost lost her grip on the needle catching Bruno’s voice.

”Please be careful…” Marla asked seeing the nurse come back to where she needed to be to complete the blood work.

”This will only take a few minutes…” the nurse said walking out the door.

”God, Bruno. You’re married and you still make them crazy.”

He laughed at her response making Rosalia laugh with them.

”Oh..I see things are going well here?” the young neurologist walked in smiling at the family.

”Well, right now…” Marla explained what had happened as well as her family background.

”Okay..let’s do a quick little somethin’ somethin’…” the doctor said to them. He could not have been older than 32, dark brown hair, with a light complexion and deep blue eyes. ”Can I see your arms, Miss Rosalia?” he asked.

”It’s okay, baby doll…” Bruno said taking her tense arms from her side.

The doctor touched them in a couple places making notes on his pad of paper.

”Is she going to be okay?” Bruno asked as the doctor played with her legs.

”I think so….” the doctor said. ”We obviously need to do an eeg, preferably a 24 hour one, and then an mri.” he told them. Marla squeezed Bruno’s hand to reassure him that things would be okay.

”She’s getting tense again…” Marla said in a scared tone feeling her daughter’s hands clench and her legs squeeze together.

The doctor picked her up laying her on the small child sized bed in the corner of the room as she repeated the same motions as in the house earlier in the day. Marla followed him touching her gently. ”It’ll be okay….Rosalia…we’re right here….it’ll be okay…” Marla repeated.

”We need to keep her overnight…” Dr. Reisch told them. ”Just to make sure they don’t go into status….”

”Oh my god….” Marla gasped. ”No. It can’t….” she said putting her head into her hands. Bruno moved his rolling chair over to them touching Rosie as she started to loosen up rubbing Marla’s back at the same time.

”It’ll be okay…” he tried to fake a smile through his words.

”No, Bruno…it’s okay to be scared.” she told him seeing the same tenseness Rosalia had coming over Bruno’s arms.