Arranged to be Yours

Chapter 14

"Now, you take good care of her. She's a rare gem indeed." An elderly nurse with grey peppered hair in a style that reminded me of Sharon Osbourne, said to the male that had his arm wrapped around my shoulders for support.

A determined nod and verbal vow made her turn and take the wheelchair back inside Dwayne Joseph Memorial Hospital. 

Wordlessly, the passenger door was opened for me before, ever so gently as to not arouse my wounds, I was helped inside. Not long after that, the drive home began, leaving the hospital behind in the distance.

It was quiet. Not a single word uttered, not a breath taken too harshly. Just...eerie. Before it suffocated me, I gathered my courage and sliced through the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Adrien, you haven't said a single word to me since you arrived at the hospital after the accident yesterday. Is something wrong?"

No answer, but I could see my husband's grip tighten on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning bone white.

I tried again, this time a bit more uncertainly and less confident than I was before.

"Are...are you mad at me?"

Suddenly I felt like a school girl getting the silent treatment from her parents after she did something wrong. When you can clearly see they are angered or disappointed and preferred to stay silent rather than voice the thoughts mulling through their minds. And the current lack of reaction from the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with suddenly started ticking me off. What did I do to evoke such emotions and actions from him?

I dug my nails into my palms as I shot a pointed look in his way whilst saying, "Look, I don't know what I did but could you just-" I cut myself off with a soft hiss of pain when a stabbing sensation shot through my skull. I raised a hand to clutch my head, somewhat doubling over in pain.

A gentle hand strum up and down my spine as one would with a guitar, the gentle heat bleeding through the fabric of the hoodie I was wearing (Adrien's hoodie, I might add), and melting away all the tension from my body.

"Don't stress. Rest." Those were the first words he'd spoken to me. I would have been shocked by his clipped answers if it wasn't for the fact that the pain was finally ebbing away and exhaustion was beginning to settle in my bones.

As it turns out, I was quite lucky with the accident yesterday. I had a small hairline fracture to the back of my skull that would most certainly cause a handful of headaches over the next few days, along with a minor concussion and a sprained wrist. Other than that, I had a bruise here and there but, according to the doctors, I had miraculously  gotten off with minimal injuries at all. The biggest damage was probably my car which, as luck would have it, is now totaled. 

Deciding to brush the argument aside for now, I followed Adrien's advice and settled in my seat, sleep claiming me the moment I dared to close my eyes. 

I was almost certain I heard a soft humming caressing my ears, but with a fading consciousness, it might very well have been a figment of my imagination.

***

The next thing I became aware of was a feeling of warmth enveloping my body, the steady melody of life beating beneath my ear as strong arms carried me into the house. It felt like we were climbing stairs, but in my medicinal haze, it was something akin to floating. My mind felt foggy, my soul almost detached from my body.

Adrien settled my bruised body on sheets that I vaguely registered to be my own, thus indicating that we were in my bedroom. I let out a silent sigh of gratitude, the softness a blessing on my skin, the familiarity a balm for my senses.