Chapter 27
On his way back to the hospital, Richie stopped by the florist and ordered flowers for Dominique – white and red roses, orchids, and assorted tropical flowers. He also made arrangements for a single white rose to be delivered every day he wasn’t there with her. He also bought her stuffed animals of every size – unicorns, teddy bears, and horses.
Entering Dominique’s room, Richie found several nurses and Dr. Drake were with her. Quickly realizing something wasn’t right, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
One of the nurses looked up and said, “She woke up and became extremely agitated. Now we’re trying to calm her but she’s fighting us.”
“Let me try,” offered Richie.
The sound of Richie’s voice was like a tranquilizer and Dominique calmed immediately once she realized she wasn’t hallucinating. Her eyes searched the room for him and when she spotted him, her eyes lit up.
“Hey
now,” soothed Richie as he took his place beside her on the bed. “I promised
you I’d be back. Have I ever broken a promise to you?”
Tears sprang forth immediately as she reached for his hand with her good hand.
She tried to speak but the swelling and wires prevented that from happening.
Richie placed ‘Star’ next to her then wiped her tears. “Shhh, I’m here now and I’m going to stay with you for a couple more days but I need you to do something for me.”
Dominique managed a weak “What?”
“I’m going to have to leave to go back to the tour but I can’t be worrying about you while I’m gone. Jon will kill me if I mess up a song again because I’m thinking about you so much. I want you to focus on ‘Star’ when you’re missing me and on getting better so I can hold you in my arms without all these wires. Dream some more about what you want for a perfect wedding day or the perfect date! I ‘m going to call you every chance I get to check on you and your dad is going to be coming by to check on you too.”
Dominique wanted desperately to say something but it was hard.
“What’s wrong?” asked Richie seeing the frustration.
She let go of his hand and made a motion to indicate she wanted to talk.
“Noah said as soon as the swelling goes down, you’ll be able to talk some. The wires are going to be there for a while though.”
“NOW!” she mumbled.
Richie laughed, “Impatient!”
Dominique frowned at him with her eyes.
The nurse in charge had heard the exchange and spoke up. “She could write what she wants to say if she’s right-handed.”
Richie looked at her. “Do you want to try that?”
A nod of the head ‘yes’ and the nurse said, “I’ll get a pad and pencil. Thank you, Mr. Sambora.”
“Please, call me Richie. I’d do anything for my princess so she can get better!” Alone in the room, Richie took her hand again and placed kisses on each finger. “I love you, Dominique…and I’m going to make ALL your dreams come true but we’ve got to get you well. It’s going to take time but we’ve got plenty of it now. You are completely safe.”
The nurse returned with pad and pencil and Dominique took it. She wrote quickly and handed it to Richie.
I love you so much. I promise to behave so I can get better.
“That’s my girl,” smiled Richie.
I thought I was your princess.
Richie laughed, “Okay! Are you up for visitors?”
Who?
“The guys are here too and they want to see you.”
Cool! I want to see them too.
Dominique closed her eyes dropping the pencil on the bed.
Softly, as he played with her hair, he asked, “Are you okay, Dominique?”
Opening her eyes again, she looked at him. “Tired.”
“Go to sleep, Princess. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Sing.”
Richie smiled and began to sing to her, the song he’d written for her.
