Letters to Juliet

chapter 11 (part 1)

Patty looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom and a smile of satisfaction formed on her lips. Since her unexpected arrival at the hospital, it was the first time she had wore a dress, and she was glad for it. Alessandro would finally see her in something other than a nightie. She was always feeling bad to stand before him in such an outfit. Who wouldn't be? This is not very common to welcome one's admirer in pajamas...

She readjusted the boat neck of her pale yellow dress and tightened the thin ribbon around her waist to better highlight it. She took a few steps in her bedroom and did not feel any trouble like the ones she had felt the day before, and which had made her fall into the doctor's powerful arms. Relieved, she went and sat on the edge of her bed, in a standby position. He would certainly be surprised when he sees her dressed so elegantly, and walking straight towards him without tripping. Thinking about this eventuality, a hint of regret touched her heart because it meant that he would certainly let her leave the hospital, and though it was not the most palpitating place of the town, she was nevertheless sorry to have to go. She did not want leave him. How could she be sure that they would keep on seeing each other if she left? It was a question they would surely evoke and she began to elaborate some of them in her mind to be sure nothing would be forgotten.

The noise of rushed hints against her door withdrew her from her thoughts.

It was him!!! Luckily, Candy was late and she secretly hoped she would take her time to join her. She sat up on her bed, tidied up her hair one more time, and answered with a singing voice:

- Yeeees? Come in!...

The door opened and the radiant smile she was wearing instantaneously bowed with astonishment. Stunned, pale and trembling, she rested on the bed rail not to faint. The person who had just come in, was indeed the last one she would ever expect to see in Verona, even more in her bedroom!

- Good morning, Patty – said Terry, out of breath from having too much run in the halls. He looked around the room and added – Could you tell where Candy is?

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Candy was going to knock at the door of Patty's bedroom when she stopped in her impulse. She could hear the whisper of several voices through the wall. Her heart leaped up in her chest. She could not clearly distinguish them but she was sure about something: Terry was there!!! This is what Sidney Wilde told her half an hour ago. Terry knew she was in Verona and knew also that Patty was in this hospital. He was probably with her now, waiting for her... 

All she had to do was to lower the door handle and she would find him... Hesitating, she moved forward her hand but without going to the end of her movement. How was he going to react when he saw her? He looked so desperate in his letter! Maybe he was going to spit all his contempt to her face since he thought she was married? Would he listen to her? Would he believe her?

She realized that Patty might have explained everything already to him; that it was just a pack of lies and that there was not an iota of truth in all of this. All along the way to the hospital, she had wondered how this fake information had arrived to him and how he could have had faith in it so easily. Thinking about it, she understood she could have committed the same error if she had been in his shoes. They had been both so impervious to happiness for so long, they had been denied from it so many times, that the tiniest suspicion could seem obvious, a new reason for not believing...

But now he was standing there, just a few meters behind that door, she was very determined to prove him that he could give up with his doubts and fears because he was definitely the one she loved madly, the one who, since Saint-Paul, occupied all her thoughts: the great love of her life...