A CALIFORNIA ROSE
Chapter Fourteen
Rose awoke to see a doctor standing over her,
shining a bright light into her eyes. Wincing, she tried to turn her head away.
A nurse stopped her. Holding Rose’s head
gently but firmly, she allowed the doctor to complete his examination.
When the doctor stepped outside for a moment,
Rose glanced around in confusion. She was lying on a bed in the emergency room,
with drawn curtains on each side of her. Her clothes were carefully folded and
set aside; she was wearing a hospital gown. Something was wrapped tightly
around her cracked ribs.
She looked at the nurse. “How did I get
here?”
“Your mother said you fainted at church, so
she and your fiancé brought you here. You were unconscious when they brought
you in. They said you fell down the stairs at home.”
Rose nodded, wincing as her aching head
protested the motion. “Yes. That’s right.”
The doctor stepped back in. “You appear to
have a nasty concussion, but we’re going to run an MRI and a CAT scan to be
sure.” He gestured to the nurse to write the instructions down.
Another nurse came in, Ruth and Cal in tow.
Ruth looked relieved when she saw that Rose was awake.
“Rose, darling, how do you feel?” she asked,
leaning down to look at her.
“I have a headache,” Rose mumbled, looking
from Ruth to Cal. Cal looked worried, although how much of his worry was over
her injury, and how much was over his fear of getting into trouble, Rose
couldn’t be sure.
“We’re going to run a couple of tests to be
sure, but it looks like she just has a concussion, some bruises, and a couple
of broken ribs,” the doctor told them, trying to assuage their worries.
Ruth looked alarmed. “That sounds serious.”
“It can be, but she’ll probably heal okay.
Her ribs are just cracked, and the bruises will fade in a short time. The real
problem at the moment is her head injury. Even if it’s just a concussion, I’m
going to want to admit her overnight to watch her.”
Ruth nodded shakily. “Okay. I just hope my
HMO covers it.”
Rose listened with detachment, wondering how
Cal would react if she told them what had really happened.
Cal reached down to touch Rose’s face. Rose
wanted to jerk her head away, but didn’t have the energy.
“I’ll see about paying for anything the
insurance doesn’t cover.”
He could afford it, too, Rose reflected
numbly. His seven figure salary made even medical expenditures affordable. He
could beat her senseless, then pay someone to fix her up, and be discreet about
it.
The nurses began wheeling Rose’s bed out of
the curtained area. “We’ll let you know whatever happens,” one of them told
Ruth, who was wringing her hands nervously.
Rose shut her eyes as they pushed her through
the hallway. Her head still ached, and her stomach was still queasy. Her mouth
tasted terrible, and the tight binding on her ribs made it even more difficult
to breathe.
The technician who ran the tests tried to
reassure her, but Rose was still worried. What if her skull was cracked? What
if she couldn’t be cured? What if she died? Had she chosen to live that night
five months earlier only to die at Cal’s hands today?
She was still worrying, and growing more
agitated by the minute, when the nurses brought her back into the emergency
area. The doctor returned with the test results.
“It’s just a concussion,” he told her after
looking them over. “We’ll keep you here overnight, but you’ll probably be
fine.” He paused, thinking. Finally, he spoke again. “Your injuries are not
consistent with a fall down the stairs.”
Rose felt her heart begin to pound with
dread. “What do you mean?”
“Falling down the stairs could have produced
a concussion, or cracked ribs, or bruises, but not in the way you have them. It
appears that someone beat you.”
“I just tripped on the top stair and fell all
the way down. That’s all.” She averted her eyes.
He nodded skeptically. Rose noticed him
scribble something that looked like “possible DA” at the bottom of the paper.
He stood up to leave. One of the nurses had
returned. She helped Rose get to her feet and into a wheelchair.
“She’ll get you upstairs and get you
settled.” Handing the nurse the clipboard, he turned and left.
Ruth had followed the nurse in. Picking up
Rose’s belongings, she put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Cal had to
leave. He said he’d be back later to see you. I’ll accompany you upstairs, and
then I’ll be on my way. I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow.”
Rose suddenly wanted her mother there.
“Mom...please don’t leave.”
“I have to leave, Rose. I need to work this
afternoon. This client wants the work done right away. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Mom, no. Please.”
“It’ll be okay, Rose.” The nurse pushed Rose’s
wheelchair through a doorway. “I’ll be back to get you tomorrow afternoon, and
Cal will probably visit you later today. You don’t need visitors going in and
out all afternoon. You need to rest.”
“I don’t want to see Cal.” She wanted to say
more, to say why she didn’t want to see Cal, but Ruth stopped her.
“Rose, that’s enough. I’m going now. I’ll see
you tomorrow.” She left before Rose could say another word.
Rose bit her lip, trying not to cry, as the
nurse set up an IV line. Her mother cared more about a client than she did
about her daughter, and she still had to deal with Cal later on.