Love and Mystery Box Set

Chapter 5-1

Chapter 5

The curtain parted to the side slightly, and I saw the nurse. She came over to fluff the pillows.

“How are you feeling?’

“I’m still having some pain but it feels like the Percocet is working. How much longer before I get out of here?”

“Did the doctor go over the results of your CT scan for your head, and the X-rays of your right shoulder and arm?

“Yes. No fragments in my arm. CT was normal. Not sure why I passed out.”

“May be the shock. Are you cold?”

“It’s freezing in here, especially since the police took off with my T-shirt, and all I’ve got is this gown.”

And the police also have the plastic bags that my hands were in.

Until they were able to use the gunshot residue kit on me at the hospital, I had to keep my bloody hands in the plastic bags so the police could rule me out as a suspect. My hands were bagged in the ambulance. I could have told the cops that since Anton’s blood was all over my hands the GSR test was a waste of time, but I didn’t want to be the focus or a problem. I wanted the cops to focus on who killed Anton.

The nurse left me to my thoughts. It was close to midnight. I had been here at the hospital for over five hours. I wasn’t complaining, though—I was alive, and Anton was not. The hospital staff took care of my arm and ran the tests as quickly as possible. It didn’t hurt that police investigators and local news media were swarming the hospital, making their jobs harder. The ER staff wanted to discharge me as soon as possible.

Under any other circumstances, getting shot would make me agitated, but Anton was probably downstairs in the hospital morgue. I felt lucky that the shooter hadn’t shot me through my back. This was no time for a trial attorney to be melodramatic.

Poor Anton. I’d have to pay my respects to his wife and the family soon.

I heard the quiet steps of the nurse as she approached. “Good news.” She quickly smiled. “We’re processing your discharge paperwork. I’ll send your wife in now.”

“My wife?”

Elena popped in, wearing her office business suit, her D.A.’s badge showing from the right front pocket.

“Is this a personal call or a professional call?” I asked.

“I rushed over from work. The police and the hospital protocols are in place because of the shooting. It was much easier to walk around the media and other police officers with my prosecutor’s badge.”

“How did you find out I was here?

“Noah called me, frantic. Someone from EMS called him, and explained you were shot, and which hospital you were going to.”

“Where is he?”

“Out in the lobby with Chel. The hospital won’t allow him in since he’s not considered family, and the police won’t allow him in because of the shooting. He’s pretty upset he can’t see you. The badge helped me with the police. But the nurse who’s in charge wouldn’t let me see you until she realized I was also listed as your wife. Guess your paperwork still lists me as next of kin from the time you had dislocated your shoulder before.”

“Why is our daughter here?”

“I didn’t have a babysitter to take care of her. When I got Noah’s call, I was still at work, and I had to pick her up.”

“Did you tell her what happened?”

Elena’s eyebrows knitted together. “I told her a bad guy shot at her daddy, and that’s why my job is to put bad guys away.”

I groaned. Without realizing it, I raised my body off the bed, and raised my voice. “Why the f**k did you tell her I got shot?”

“Keep your voice down.”

I grimaced in pain as I moved my bandaged arm. Elena came over to put back the pillow that almost fell as I moved.

“I’m not lying to Chelsea,” she whispered, still tucking the pillow in behind my back. “She has a right to know. She may be nine but she’s a lot smarter than most thirty-four-year-olds that I know.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Elena stepped closer. With her hazelnut-brown eyes looking intently at me, she asked, “How are you really?”

I looked at Elena. Her eyes squinted from worry.

“I’ve got this incredible pain in my arm. But, I’m alive, and Anton’s not.”

“I don’t know all the facts, but there’s nothing you could have done to prevent this from happening.” Worry lines and crow’s feet framed her eyes. Like me, time was slowly marching in. But, her short brown hair, the color of chestnut, wasn’t yet touched by gray. “I don’t want Chel to only have one parent,” she said in a low voice.

“I’ll be okay, Elena Nicole.” I tried to force a smile. I hadn’t called her that in a long time.

“Noah’s seems like a nice guy,” she said, looking to the door, and changing the subject. “We were able to talk for a while.”

“I’m glad you finally got a chance to talk to him. I wish it wasn’t in this hospital though.”

“Yeah, hospitals aren’t the best places to meet the man who took your place,” she quipped.

Another awkward moment ensued before I was able to speak. “I don’t think I ever said it, Elena, and if I have, let me repeat it. I am sorry for not being honest with you in the beginning of our marriage.”

“Well, it’s not like I didn’t have some type of forewarning by your parents.”

“My parents?”

“Do you remember that first year of law school, when we met your parents for dinner? It was the first time I got to meet them. You were away from the table when your mom, who probably had had a couple of margaritas or something, joked that she never thought you would introduce a woman to them. Your dad just sat there for a long time not saying anything after she said that.” She paused and looked at me again. “Your mom was a really good, and caring person.”

I looked past her and thought briefly about my parents, then sighed. “I sometimes think about both of them when I look at our daughter. I see my mom when I look at Chel’s eyes. And the way she holds her head up, and then c***s it while she talks to me, reminds me of my dad. If they hadn’t died in the car crash they would have fallen in love with their granddaughter.”

At that moment, the nurse came in with the paperwork to sign, and Elena moved to the edge of the bed so I could sign the forms. She seemed lost in thought.

After the nurse left, Elena continued. “Since we’re being honest with each other right now,” Elena said mockingly, “if it means anything, when you told me you were leaving me for Noah, I was surprised at first. Not now.” Her arms crossed and she asked, “But he wasn’t the first, was he? You cheated on me with Anton, didn’t you?”

I nodded, not wanting to talk about Anton at this point. I promised Anton I would never let anyone know, especially not his family, know about us. I never talked to Elena about him or the others before I met Noah. I only told her about Noah.

As if she was reading my mind, she added, “And I suspect Anton wasn’t the only one either,” Elena said coolly. “That’s why it’s very hard for me to say I forgive you.”

* * * *

Elena had brought me an extra shirt from Noah, and I changed from the hospital gown after she left for the lobby. I didn’t want my daughter to see the large gauze around my upper right arm. The shirt was long in the sleeves, and a little loose which was expected since the shirt was meant for someone taller than I, not five eleven. The bagginess hid the bandages well. As I walked out the waiting area, Chel ran up to me.

“Hi, Dad.”

I hugged her, trying not to use the right arm too much. Noah came up to me, and when Chel released me, he hugged me as well.

“We were worried about you. The news reports were confusing, and it was hard to find out what really happened.”

At this point, Elena chimed in, “Well, we can get those details later. Jake’s tired, and it’s definitely past my bed time and Chel’s bed time.”

I hugged Chel again and reinforced everything was all right.

“Chel, I won’t be going to the office for the next couple of days so when you get off school, we can hang out for a while at my apartment. Okay?”

I saw her turn to Elena, and Elena nodded.

Her face brightened. “All right, Dad, see you tomorrow.”

* * * *

During the drive home, Noah was quiet. But, as soon as the apartment door closed, he kissed me passionately. “I was very worried about you. I’m glad it wasn’t more serious,” he said softly.

“Nothing that a few Percocets and clean bandages can’t fix. Not like—”

“Anton? Let’s not talk about him right now.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost you, Jake. I’m sorry I’ve been a complete selfish asshole.”

“I’m not exactly Mother Teresa.” We went to the bedroom and he helped me undress. I turned to him, and he kissed me gently. I signaled to him that it was okay to go further. Since our fight, we hadn’t been together. I missed his touch, his body on mine, his wet kisses blanketing me after s*x.

“Are you okay enough to do this?”

I mumbled, “Yes. Just be careful with the shoulder”

Noah closed the bedroom door, turned out the lights, held me, kissed me and pleasured me with his mouth as he stroked himself, until we both ejaculated.