Filed To Story: The Lingering Kiss of Farewell Novel
CH.26 questions did she realised what he was doing; a memory test. He walked from the room, seemed happy with her answers, and finally her boys had been allowed in the room to see her.
She’d had memory tests every morning and afternoon for the past two days as well as neurological obsto test muscle strength in all her limbs, and she could sit up after a full day in there.
That had actually made her dizzy and disorientated. She had kind of struggled a bit with sitting herself up without feeling like she was going to throw up or fall down, even though she’d not even gotten out of the bed.
Another MRI had been attended to at the end of the second day, and she was able to get off the bed and move to a wheelchair and back. Without falling down, or being disorientated. Given the all??lear to move to a recovery room, they no longer needed her to be in the ICU. That made the boys happy.
The new room she was moved to was large and Impressive, and already had bunches of flowers in there waiting for her to arrive. Bright and cheerful, Lisa plucked the card and muttered
“Do you want to have bets on who they’re from?”
As she’d handed it to her, she’d not been wrong either. Calvin Reeves had sent both vases of flowers.
“He’s pulling out all the stops, in order for you not to sue him, and drag him through court over this,”
Lisa had stated.
She’d seen the boys looking from her to Lisa. They now knew this incident had involved the same man from the first time they’d been attacked, and Lisa was injured. She’d been unable to control that information getting to them. Though they’d not heard it from her, Lisa or Hamilton but from one of the nurses at the hospital, apparently.
They’d both asked her who he was, using his actual name, because they’d heard that nurse stating it.
“It’s a bit wrong that Calvin Reeves would treat her this way, when she looks so much like his missing wife.”
had been the very words that they had heard.
That had piqued both her boys’ interest right away, and they’d asked her a lot of questions about what had happened. They’d also been in the elevator the day everyone had stared at her when they’d arrived here in
Houston, and near on everyone had commented about how much she looked like Marrin Reeves.
They knew she had no idea who their father wa’s and now they themselves were curious about Calvin Reeves and who he was, though him harming both Lisa and herself. That had made them stop asking questions when she’d told them to let it go, because he wasn’t allowed to come near her or them, due to it being his fault that she was in the hospital and injured. But she knew they likely weren’t going to forever, their natural curiosity about that man would eventually get the better of them.
Likely deep down inside, even though they knew she had no idea who their dad was, and was likely never going to remember, and that they had good lives, and didn’t want for anything. It was likely they wanted to know who their father was and to meet him one day, but had stopped asking for now, because they were likely to be upset over the possibility that it was their own father that had done this to their mother.
She watched them climb on the furniture much like they did at the hotel, and were starting to be more like themselves, because she was getting better. She told them to settle, and they looked right at her and stopped. Were actually well??ehaved in an instant at the moment. Didn’t, she thought, want to upset her while. she was already injured.
The dressing that covered her stitches had been removed, and they’d looked right at it. They shaved part of your head mum,”
Cal had pointed out, and they had cleared the hair away from around the wound to see it properly, she thought before stitching it up. A fine scar she’d been told, the resident doctor that had done them was good at his job.
She rested on the bed, still feeling tired and drained at times, something she knew to be normal and had been like that the last time, it had taken many months not to feel it. The after effects of a head injury were all.
She’d seen a few of the online pictures of herself being taken by the paramedics from the hotel and put in the ambulance, had sighed at them, and Lisa was giving her fans daily updates on her condition. There were many well??ishes on her social media page.
She was walking about now with the physio or a nurse with her, as she still got dizzy at times, and she had to stop and stand still to let it pass before walking on once more. It kind of felt like she had vertigo at times.
Dr Holdings had nodded and said that it was expected with a head injury. Her balance and equilibrium were a bit out of whack and needed time to stabilise. Although he was hopeful everything would settle down soon, a few weeks he thought, with what he’d read from the nurses’ and physic’s notes about it..
She had all manner of people in here; not just a physio, but an actual therapist to discuss the accident and how she felt about it, social workers to discuss what would happen when she was discharged and allowed to leave. She’d waved the social worker away. She didn’t need that.
She could get Barb in to help her if needed when she got back to Virginia, just call her agency and request her she supposed. Still saw her about at times and said hello, Marilyn knew she still worked as a carer. She’d been with Marilyn for just on six months. After her last accident, they still got along well.
She’d been in this room for two days now and she had heard that Calvin Reeves had been slapped with an AVO and restraining order, and couldn’t get within 500 meters of herself, the children or Lisa. Both boys had looked at her as Hamilton had told her about it, and she’d seen them frown a little.
But today she was told that Calvin had also had a full recovery plan all sorted out for her, even a place for her and the boys to stay for a few months here in Houston, where he’d apparently have a full medical staff available for her twenty??our hours a day to help with anything she needed.
Lisa, Hamilton and their father Liam were all going off to attend a meeting with Calvin and his lawyer Wil this evening to try and sort this mess out. She was of the opinion she was going home to Virginia, and she didn’t want to see him at all ever again. She definitely wanted to keep her boys away from that man, and his unhealthy obsession with his ex??ife, even though she saw their curiosity prick up every time his name was mentioned within earshot of them.
Calvin
He’d gotten daily updates from the hospital about Marilyn’s progress, seeing that he couldn’t go there and visit her himself in person. Wil had not only rounded on him about it, after hearing that he had tried to go and see her from her lawyer, Hamilton, something along the lines of ‘You need to control your client or have him be slapped with an AVO and a restraining order.”
ahead To which Will had pressed that very point, stating that Hamilton Stevens would actually be able to go and get one, quite easily at that, due to the two incidents that Calvin had instigated both times, happening within 24 hours of each other. He was seen as a threat to Miss Riddley.
Then he had outright vetoed Calvin from going there, stating,
“If you do not listen to me, then I can no longer be your lawyer, Calvin. I don’t ask much, and I’m on your side of all of this, so do this or lose me as your lawyer and find someone else to be your confidante.”
He’d been scolded by his friend as both his friend and his lawyer. Who’d then reminded him of the already bad publicity he was getting over the first attack, and though nothing had been confirmed about that second one. Marilyn had been more seriously injured, and there were plenty of rumours about it being him, because it happened at the time of their mediation. The Texas reporters were currently watching him like a hawk. Trying to catch him doing something horrible or illegal where she was concerned.
Calvin had actually stopped and listened to Wil, was abiding by what he’d been told, didn’t want to lose him as a lawyer or a friend. He was also taking a hit on the stock market, though not as big as he had expected it to be. But the press was now aware that he was paying for all of Marilyn’s medical expenses and that VIP suite as well. That had been leaked by someone working in the hospital was his thoughts on the matter, someone that was a Marilyn Riddley fan was all he could gather.
They’d managed to snap a picture of him in the hospital, outside the ICU. He’d read the article,
“Calvin Reeves pays for the medical bills of Marilyn Riddley. He must be guilty of assaulting her a second time, or why would he pay up’ had been the line to go with the photo of him.
The hospital director had apologised to him for the leak, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had stated it could be near on anyone, a doctor, a nurse, an orderly or a cleaner, or there could have been multiple people involved. It could well have been another patient or a patient’s family member. That just figured out what was going on from him being there.
That article had no names attached to it other than the journalist; they’d stated the photos and information had been given by an anonymous source. The hospital was still looking into it themselves. Checking corridor footage to see if they could track who took photos of him outside the ICU.
The flowers he’d ordered had made it to her room before she had, but that was all he knew, and he’d made an effort after hearing her children were staying with her to send gaming consoles for the children to play with while there. Trying to show everyone that he was not only sorry for what had happened, but willing to pay for everything, and that he had considered her children in the factor of her injured state, and how they might be feeling being copped up in the hospital with her.
He’d had several meetings himself now with the doctors at the hospital, though had steadfastly stayed away from Marilyn and her lawyers. He was there to discuss her situation and what was expected of her recovery
Because If she was Marrin’s sister he wanted to show her the same curtesy he would have once afforded to
Marrin herself.
Maybe Marrin would see it, or hear about it, and make an appearance. That was his actual goal at the moment. Because he believed that he’d finally found a way to get to Marrin herself. His actions over that one 24??our period had shown to himself that he was completely out of control.
That he had become so obsessed with Marrin that he couldn’t think straight, and wasn’t in his right mind at all about any thoughts on her. That his thoughts on Marrin herself were not good or healthy even, that her name alone invoked anger in him, and a need to punish her as well. He’d not really understood that about himself.
Because all he’d ever wanted was to have her back in his life, to tell her he loved her, apologise for the divorce and the way things had turned out between them. To have her in his life for the rest of his life. But somewhere along the way he’d seemed to have forgotten that, and he was now very self??ware of his very destructive nature in the matter.
That he’d allowed his grief over the loss of her, and the way it had come about to become twisted, and he’d turned hateful against the woman he actually loved, and all because of the pain he’d suffered. Pain, that he’d caused himself. Will was right; this was all his fault and he’d spent a long time trying to sort through his own thoughts over the past few days, and bring himself out of those twisted thoughts of wanting to hurt and punish Marrin.