Fix My Feet When They're Stumblin'

Chapter 36

     The soft squeaking of Mandy's sneakers on the hospital floor the next morning announced her impending arrival - over the course of their stay, Tana had come to recognize the nurse's footsteps. That's got to be a sign we've been here too long, if there ever was one, she thought dryly, smiling to herself and looking up from her knitting as Brandon's nurse appeared in the waiting room.

     "Hello there, Mrs. Flowers!" Although always chipper, Mandy was especially cheerful today, her pale skin glowing and her unruly red hair tied back in a messy braid. "You've been summoned to breakfast with Mr. Flowers, if that's alright!"

     "Oh! But - he asked for me, really?"

     "Yes, ma'am, he did!" The petite nurse nodded vigorously and beamed back at her, nearly bouncing up and down in her excitement. Ohh, interesting! He must be feeling good!

     Although Brandon had been eating small amounts of food for a few days now, he had never done so in front of anyone except his nurses. Mandy had recently confided that he found it frustrating and embarrassing that he had so much difficulty with such a simple task - "but it's silly, he's doing so good, Mrs. Flowers! He's already so much better at it than he was at first!"

     "Ronnie, Olivia, do you mind - "

     "Oh, get out of here - go!" Ronnie grinned, waving her away. "We can handle the kids, right Liv?"

     Olivia rolled her eyes at her husband and smiled at Tana. "Tell him we said hi, okay?"

     "Of course!" Tana followed Mandy out of the waiting room, nearly walking into the nurse when she stopped suddenly and turned to face her.

     "Mrs. Flowers, I just wanted to give you some pointers real quick, if you don't mind." She waited for Tana to nod, then continued, "I've mentioned that he's a little...self-conscious about his motor skills. One of the effects of his injury is a condition called ataxia; one of his doctors probably went over this with you already, but it causes his difficulty walking and his tremors, and he has trouble commanding his muscles and sometimes overshoots or undershoots when he's reaching for things. It might be permanent, or it might fade over time, we don't know - but right now, it's very difficult for him.

     "He's been working really hard in therapy and practicing with us - shaving, eating, drinking, practicing buttons and things, and he's really doing a lot better already, but it takes so much concentration and focus to maintain his coordination. It's exhausting for him, and he's going to struggle with it for a long while, at least, if it's not permanent.

     "If you can try to avoid speaking to him when he's actively trying to eat, that will help a lot. He's very easily distracted and he can only focus on one thing at a time. If he tries to listen to you, he might accidentally drop his food, or miss his mouth and stab himself in the cheek. It might make him feel better if you take your time with your breakfast as well, so he doesn't feel quite so slow and...inadequate, really."

     "Oh...okay...I think I can do that," Tana said slowly, her lips pursed together in thought.

     "Excellent. There's going to be a learning curve with all of this, for sure - for him and for all of you. Do you have any questions before we go in?"

     "Um...no, I don't - I don't think so."

     "Alright then, Mrs. Flowers, let's get you to your date!" The nurse winked and led the way down the hall to Brandon's room, knocking softly before she opened the door.

     "Mr. Flowers, I've brought you a special guest!" Mandy chimed, moving quickly to her usual spot against the wall so as to not block her patient's view of his wife.

     Brandon's massive, wonderfully bright grin was the first thing Tana noticed, and she didn't have eyes for anything else - only his beautiful face, shining with happiness that had felt so rare in recent weeks. She approached her husband on suddenly unsteady legs, reaching the chair at his bedside and sinking into it. Oh, look at me, shaking like a little girl on her very first date!

     "Hi, Brandon." Her voice stuck in her throat and came out as a tiny whisper, at odds with the giddy butterflies in her stomach that were screaming their feelings to the heavens.

      "Hi, Tana," he returned, a soft, bubbling giggle in his voice. The little laugh lines nestled in the corners his eyes were mesmerizing, and she was defenseless against them - surely they had always been there, they were nothing unusual, but they felt simply remarkable to her at the moment, like the evidence of his happiness was the most precious thing in the world.

     "Oh my God, I love you!" A high-pitched, squeaky voice blurted out - for a wild moment Tana thought somehow a fan of the band had magically materialized and she looked around, startled. When she returned her gaze to Brandon's face, it took her a mere second of staring at her husband's ever-widening, bemused grin to realize that the voice had been her own, an uncontrollable, spontaneous outburst. "I - l - love - you," she gasped again, struggling to suppress the joyful tsunami swelling in her chest - suddenly Tana dissolved into helpless giggles, leaning forward and collapsing onto Brandon's bed in laughter.

     "Wow, I l-love you too," Brandon chuckled, reaching out and carefully tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear so he could see her face again, his fingers lingering against her cheek for a heartbeat. "Are you o-okay? What's...what's so f-funny?"

     "I don't - I don't know," she said, fighting to regain her composure, blinking owlishly up at Brandon as she lay half on top of the bed, her cheek pressed into his grey blanket. Ohhh, it smells like him. She sighed, then took a deep breath and slowly straightened, a huge smile still tugging at her lips. "I just...you made me feel like we were on our first date again, somehow, and I just...it's so weird, baby, I was so nervous, and I just - lost it," she grinned, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of her breakdown.

     "Well, I can't...I can't t-take you to a record store again, but...but...I do - I do have the next b-best thing."

     Mandy wheeled over a pair of bedside trays, placing one in front of Brandon and the other in front of Tana, then leaned down to retrieve something from the bottom shelf of the nearest tray...something red and white, and oddly familiar...

     Tana lost her composure once more, giggling hysterically, her hand covering her mouth as she watched Mandy remove a pair of clear plastic lids from the box and toss them in the small trash can against the wall. Smiling, the nurse lifted the twin cups of frozen custard from the confines of the ice chest, placing each ceremoniously on separate trays accompanied by plastic spoons. "Brandon, this is ridiculous! It's only like eight in the morning! You can't have ice cream for breakfast!"

     "S-says who? I'm...I'm an adult, Tana," Brandon teased, stars in his eyes as he gestured shakily at the cup of custard on the second tray. "This one...this is yours."

     "No, no, no, it's yours! Mark was very specific, Brandon - we're not to touch your custard on pain of death. It's yours."

     "Oh, s-shut up and...and eat your c-custard, T-Tana," he giggled, his face nearly splitting in two from the size of his smile.

     "We can't have ice cream for breakfast! Aren't you always telling the kids they can't have candy for breakfast?"

     "What they d-don't...don't know w-won't hurt them," Brandon promised, snorting with laughter at his own joke and beseeching her with wide eyes, innocent and carefree for the first time in eons. "Come on, hun. P-please?"

     Ronnie's right, those stupid puppy dog eyes...they're impossible. Sighing, Tana gave in and picked up her plastic spoon.

     "Okay, but we can't tell them. Ever. I mean it. We take this to our graves, Brandon."

     "Deal."