Maripolite

Untitled Part 14

We'd followed the ambulance to the hospital Jessie's spirits were renewed and I saw a spark in Nathalie that she very much needed. I'd had the chance to spend some time with her before we left for the hospital and I felt an unusual stirring at being a father and remorse for what I'd missed, for what they'd experienced and how very different her life could've been. Looking over at his love he noticed the distant look in her eyes and it was clear that the only way forward was for James to declare Jessie one hundred percent healthy but that he couldn't guarantee just yet.

"How are you feeling?" Charles asked as they entered her room he got nothing but a silent nod as their attention was placed on Jessie

Nathalie smiled at her daughter and bent over to give her a kiss as she approached the side of her bed. "Are you nervous?"

"Yes,"

"Don't agonize?" Charles said "We have the best doctors on the job they are going to take very good care of you"

Dr. James and his team came in and began to go over the procedure they intended to perform before wheeling Jessie out of their sight and over to the cold operating room.

The needle biopsy was going to take three to four hours due to the location of the mass in Jessie's brain, and while they waited he was barely able to get two words out of Nathalie. He checked his watch continuously as the time trickled by.

"I'm thirsty do you want to walk down to the cafeteria"

"No," came her curt response without even looking in her direction

"Okay, I'm going to find the cafeteria then, I'll be back in a bit"

Without any acknowledgment from her, he stumbled out of the room to find somewhere noisy, anywhere. The cafeteria was on the last floor and not as crowded as he had expected he wondered if the hospital was profitable and if he invested in it what kind of returns would be made.

The food options were not gourmet but seemed palatable. Ordering two tuna and cheese sandwiches with water and coffee he found a comfortable place to sit and called the office wondering if anything unusual happened in his many absences in recent weeks. Dianna crossed his mind he knew she could take control but he also knew how dangerous it was to let her.

"Hello, Morgan Enterprises" Jennifer answered

"Miss Aclow, this phone has been ringing relentlessly. What took so long?"

"Sorry, Mr. Morgan. There is so much to do I can't always keep track"

As always Charles thought I really do need a better secretary "I just wanted to call to let you know that I might not be in today. Do you know if Ms. Jones is in?"

"Oh she is Mr. Morgan she stopped by your office this morning looking for you but I didn't know where you were she seemed very upset" Jennifer said apparently wanting to pass that information on.

Charles sighed "Do you know if she is in her office? Also, I didn't see the report for the sale of the gas shares and was hoping to get that by now so that I can give directives on how the profits should be reinvested."

"I'm working on the report I don't think the executive who is responsible has finished and I don't know if Ms. Jones is in her office but I can find her and ask her to give you a call"

"I would like that please and get me that report as soon as possible" Charles said and ended the call abruptly. He was not interested in playing games with Jennifer right now not with Nathalie and Jessie taking up so much of his thoughts.

Diana he dreaded having to have that talk with her but knew it was the best thing to do he finished his coffee then checked his watch. He'd been downstairs over an hour and thought that he should head back upstairs.

Nathalie was in the same place he'd left her and Jessie wasn't back. He sat bedsides her and placed the sandwich and the drink between them on the chair "In case you changed your mind we've been waiting almost four hours, aren't you hungry"

"No, I am full on my worries right now" Nathalie lifted the food and placed on an end table beside the small sofa and moved closer to Charles she wrapped her hands around his arm and placed her head on his shoulders "I am glad I found you again, I really need you right now"

Charles moved by the sentiment responded by leaning his head against hers and kissing the top of her head "I need you too, Nats. I need you too"

+++++

Another hour passed, then two, and then the nurses wheeled Jessie in on a hospital bed and moved her onto the bed in the room, they left but there was no sign of Doctor James or his colleagues. Both Charles and Nathalie moved over to her bedside her head was heavily bandaged but she slept peacefully, neither commented.

Charles felt footsteps behind him and turned to see James approaching, he raised his eyebrows and asked "I am hoping for good news" instead he saw a pensive smile on the doctor that did not give the positive reaction for which he'd hoped, instinctively he moved closer to Nathalie to protect her.

"It took longer than expected we had some trouble getting to the mass where it was" he paused as his steps came to a stop on the spot Charles had just vacated "but we were able to get a sample of the cells and have already begun investigating further it takes anywhere from forty-two to seventy-two hours before you get the results."

"When can she go home," Charles asked

"It's hard to say, there was some bleeding and it caused some unexpected swelling that's why we took so long I would like that to go down completely before she's moved hopefully by tomorrow and even then if the results are negative it would be best if she were here instead of having to be moved again so I'd prefer that she stays in the hospital a little longer. She's heavily sedated and might not wake for the rest of the day, you're both welcome to stay but I advise that you go home, take a long shower, get some rest and come back fresh tomorrow morning." James took his hands out of his pockets rubbed them together and then positioned them back in his warm pockets

Charles agreed but Nathalie remained static and unresponsive to everything he'd said. James excused himself reaching over Jessie to shake Charles's hand then left.

Charles turned away from Jessie's bedside and sat down on the sofa and waiting for Nathalie.

Specialist surgeon and Doctor James Archer and things did not go as planned it gave him a bad feeling that he did not want to give life to he looked at his watch, Nathalie was seated on Jessie's bed for at least another thirty minutes, this was making her so emotional and it hurt that he could not throw money at it and make it go away if only to bring her smile back, he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples wordlessly wishing all the bad away.

He agreed with James this room was not the best place for them right now, they should let Jessie recover get some rest. He gathered the sandwiches from the table and threw them in the nearest garbage then walked over to the ailing green eyed beauty "We should go they'll take good care of her here." She nodded and he guided her out of the hospital heading for home.

Still, she didn't have much to say.