An Elf's Rose

CHAPTER 13







Rose was weeping, this time from joy and relief. Robert stood with her, tears running down his face, as they both held Orlando’s hand, feeling the twitching of his weak grip.



“Orli, love. We’re here, can you hear us?” Robert asked. The hand twitched again. Rose wept harder as Robert pulled her into a fierce embrace and sobbed into her hair.



~~~



He could hear them cry. He knew they were crying for him. He wanted to comfort them, stop their tears, tell them he was alright, but he couldn’t quite find his mouth, or any other part of his body. He felt like he’d been shot up with Novocaine all over.



Something terrible must have happened, but he couldn’t remember what. He wasn’t all that sure that he wanted to know, wasn’t sure that he wanted to leave that safe, dark haven where there were no worries, no pain.



Something was terribly wrong…he fled back to the darkness.



~~~



“He’s slowly coming around. Some patients wake up all at once, some take a few days. It’s a very good sign though.” The doctor wrote in Orlando’s chart.



Rose was loathe to leave his side. She wanted to be there at every moment, not wanting to miss any small improvement, but Robert had remembered suddenly that he had not called the dojo, and no one there knew. Rose immediately volunteered to go and tell them personally. It would not do to just make a phone call.



~~~



Sensei Akamura was stunned at her revelation. He slapped the heels of his hands against his brows and turned away wailing, “Aaiii!”



Sensei David and sempai Jimmy stared at her open-mouthed. Jimmy then collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor, his head in his hands.



“Mr. Bloom is looking into finding the best surgeon for Orlando. He’s tried to contact the Christopher Reeves Foundation, but unfortunately, they’re closed today,” Rose said. “If anybody here knows anyone who can help, Mr. Bloom would be very grateful.”



Rose looked at sensei Akamura, who had his back turned, but she could see his sides heaving with emotion.



“This is terrible news,” he grated. “He has been like a son to me….I cannot imagine his own father’s pain.”



“Please come visit him, sensei,” Rose asked. “He is beginning to come out of the coma and I’m sure it would calm him to have you there.”



“He will have a hard time of it when he finut,”ut,” sensei said, back still turned. “Orlando has very little patience with weakness, especially in himself.”



“Then he will need all the strength his friends can offer him.”



“I will come.”



~~~



Everyone – the gang, employees of Bloom and Sergeant, Inc., aikido teachers and students, even Rose’s friend Carly – showed up, wanting to see him and talk to him to offer encouragement. Flowers, plants, teddy bears, and gift baskets of cookies and muffins started showing up as well. No plants or food was allowed in ICU, so the nurses found an empty room to stuff everything in.



Rose distributed a cookie basket to them and gave the one child in ICU a teddy bear with satin wings and a big red heart stitched on its chest. It sat on top of her heart monitor like a guardian angel. One of the aikido students had brought a teddy with a karate outfit. Rose placed that one by Orlando’s bedside.



“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Tanya the nurse told Rose at one point. “He must be a very special person to be so loved.”



Rose brought Orlando’s hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles, a spurt of joy running through her as he tried to squeeze back. “Yes, he is.”



~~~



Rose’s first day of college was an emotional roller coaster ride. On the one hand, she was very excited about the classes and her new professors; the feeling of freedom, so different from High School, was intoxicating and frightening all at once. On the other, her mind was at Cedars with Orlando, wanting desperately to be there for him. She had been given Orlando’s cell phone and she called Robert on his cell between classes for updates.



She was sitting on one of the sofas in the student lounge during her lunch break when Robert told her Orlando had opened his eyes and grunted when the doctor had asked him a question.



Rose squealed, causing people to turn to look in her direction. She covered her mouth in embarrassment and told him that she would be there later in the afternoon, “Until they kick me out again.” She heard Robert’s warm chuckle in her ear as she hung up.



“Dear God!” she whispered, her head bowed in her hands, tears pricking her lids. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”



“Are you ok?” a voice asked from above her.



She looked up. It was a boy from her English poetry class. Thomas, she thought his name was, like her older brother’s. She rubbed her eyes, hoping they weren’t too red. “Um, yes, I’m ok. I just – just had some good news.”



“Good news? Are you sure?” He sat down next to her. “You look pretty broken up to me.”



“Well, it’s been – hard. I mean, my b-b—“ she swallowed hard. “Boyfriend –“ There, she’d said it and it felt weird, making her heart flutter a bit. “He was in a terrible accident over the weekend. He’s been in a coma, but he’s coming out of it now. I just talked to his dad.”



“Oh. Your boyfriend, huh? Well, that sucks. I’m sorry to hear that.” His voice held an odd note and Rose looked up at him, puzzled. He gave her a crooked smile and she smiled back tentatively. He seemed nice enough. “Was it a car accident?”



“N—no, he fell off a balcony. The railing broke. His back’s broken too.” Rose suddenly couldn’t control her tears and she covered her face.



“Hey. Hey,” the boy whispered. He put an arm around her shoulders. Rose bent over to her knees and cried harder.



A small crowd gathered around her. The boy told them what she’d said and there were shocked and sympathetic reactions. Someone offered her a small pack of tissues. Someone else patted her back. Then someone went to find a priest and she found herself in his office, telling him everything: about Orlando’s accident, her fears and doubts, even about Carly’s little book.



The priest, a Jesuit, merely chuckled. “And you think you’re a bad person for having these feelings, my dear?”



“I don’t know what to think. All I know is that I didn’t have them before Orlando came along. When I’m with him I have no doubts. He makes me feel –“ she stopped.



“Special?”



“Ye—es.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “ But I just – when we’re not together -- I don’t know if I really love him or it’s – that I’m infatuated.”



“Infatuation is when the other person doesn’t or can’t reciprocate your feelings. Like with a rock star or an actor. Does he reciprocate?”



“I – he –“ she stuttered. “He’s kissed me and held me and he told me I was beautiful, but – “



“But?” he prompted.



‘Well, I don’t know if he wanted to – you know – just bed me, or he is really interested in me. As a person, I mean. Not just another…” Rose blushed crimson. “He’s so – beautiful. Not just physically. Inside, too.” She shook her head. “I can’t see how he could really want me…he could have anyone – anyone he wanted.”



“I can’t answer these questions for you Rose. These are things you will havediscdiscuss with him, hard as they are, if you want to continue this relationship. But you have to give yourself some credit too. If it’s true that he could have anyone he wanted, and he does want you…well, that’s saying something.”



“I – I have to get to my next class.” She stood up, not wanting to bring up other doubts, doubts that a tall blonde woman and a hole in an armoire placed in her heart. “Thank you so much for listening.”



“My dear,” the priest said softly, getting up from his chair and coming round his desk to embrace her. “This is what God put me on the earth to do.” He let her go and walked her to the door. “He has put a test before you, Rose – a trial by fire. If your young man is crippled for life, you will then know whether you truly love him or it’s just infatuation. Because when we love someone, we don’t give up on them, no matter how much they want us to.”



“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispered.



~~~



Rose stopped at the Bloom residence to take care of Maude, feeling ambivalent about being entrusted with the keys and the alarm code to the house. She felt like she was insinuating herself into Orlando’s life behind his back, when he had no say in the matter, yet Robert was very appreciative of her wanting to help in any way she could.



She wandered the luxurious home after feeding and walking Maude. It was decorated in the ultra-modern style that she’d called “the science lab look” when Robert asked her what she thought of it. He’d laughed ruefully, telling her Orlando felt the same way, only he wasn’t so polite about it.



Indeed, Orlando’s rooms, his suite more like, was decorated in a much warmer, comfortable style. There was a stone fireplace with a wide carved-oak mantelpiece in the sitting room, his sword and knife collection above it. There was a big overstuffed chaise lounge covered in silky taupe chenille right in front of it, a lovely craftsman-style reading lamp next to it. Heavy oak bookshelves filled with books took up one wall, a beautiful oak desk with the latest computer equipment sat next to the wall with the French doors leading out to the patio. The lap pool was just a few steps away.



She walked into his private bedroom through doors that, when she first saw them, made her gasp in pleasure. Carved into the double oaken round-top doors was a replica of the entrance to Moria as drawn in the Fellowship of the Rings book, with the trees, the emblems of Durin, the star of the House of Feonor, and the elvish script carved in the wide door frame. She caressed them as she opened them and passed through.



“Mellon,” she whispered.



She avoided looking at the armoire and went straight to the bed. It was soft and inviting and the pillows smelled sweetly of Orlando. She lay for a while, curled up like a shrimp, holding tightly to them.



~~~



“Orlando, can you understand me?” Dr. Nelson asked, bending over to peer into his eyes with a opthamalscope. Robert held Rose tightly with her back against his chest, feeling her tremble. They stood outside the curtained cubicle. It was very late.



Orli licked his dry lips, “Yes,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and cracked. A nurse placed a straw in his mouth and he sucked in cool water.



“Do you know where you are?”



“Hospital?” he asked, his voice still breathy and hoarse.



“Yes. Do you know why you’re in the hospital?”



“No.”



“You don’t remember what happened?”



“No.”



“What’s the last thing you remember?”


ong ong pause. “Sean. I was angry at him.”



“You fell off that balcony. The railing collapsed.”



Orli said nothing. His left hand twitched against the blanket.



“Do you remember now?”



“No.”



“Can you see anything at all?”



“Light. Colors.”



“Can you see my hand?” Dr. Nelson waved his hand in front of Orli’s eyes.



“No. Just – colors and shadows.” He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them, moving them restlessly. “What’s wrong with my eyes?” he gasped.



“You’ve had a severe head trauma. You’re sight is dysfunctional at the brain level. I am optimistic though, from what you can see, that your brain is finding another way to route the information being received by your eyes or the damage is not as extensive as we feared.”



“What?”



“You may yet regain your sight. It may take a few months, and you may not regain it completely, but there is a good chance of it.”



Orli closed his eyes and tears leaked down from the corners into the bandages. Rose whimpered into her hand.



“Something else is wrong,” Orli whispered.



“Orlando, you must be very tired. You need to regain your strength. There’s a hard road ahead of you – “



“What else?” he interrupted.



Dr. Nelson sighed and looked at Robert, who shrugged. “Tell him. He’s going to find out soon enough.”



“Orlando, your father is here with your young lady.”



“Rose?”



She left Robert’s embrace and reached to take Orli’s hand.



“I’m here. We’re here for you, love.”



“Rose...” His storm-cloud eyes darted back and forth.



“Shhhh. It’s all right.” She bent and kissed the corner of his mouth. His hand came up unerringly and cupped her face, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb.



“Tell me,” he whispered.



Rose looked pleadingly at Dr. Nelson. He was more experienced at these things.



“Orlando,” he said softly. “Your spine was fractured in the fall. You are getting the best care possible and if it can be done, there’s a chance the surgery will restore your ability to walk. But at this time, we have no idea what those chances are.”



Orli’s eyes closed and his grimace of pain was almost unbearable for Robert.



“Orli – “ he began, his voice breaking,



“No! I can’t – can’t do this!” he gasped. “Oh God! Please, let me die!”



“I won’t!” Rose told him, clenching his hand so tightly he tried to jerk it away. He cried out and fought her with surprising strength, but Rose was more stubborn.



“Leave me! Let me die!” he sobbed.



Dr. Nelson asked the nurse to get some Valium. She injected his intravenous tube and he quickly became calmer.



“Go away,” he whispered. “Leave me alone. I don’t want you here.” Robert understood the pain that was making Orli say those things; he’d been through it himself many years ago when his friends tried to comfort him at his wife’s deathbed. But he could see that Rose was devastated.



He pulled her away and whispered, “Give him some time, Rose. It’s a terrible shock. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”



~~~



Rose cried in Robert’s arms, not from what Orlando had said but that she realized, like dawn breaking over a scorched and thirsty landscape, that she did truly love him and she was terrified.