Chapter (3). THE HEALING TOUCH.

AS BLAKE HEALS MAGGIE HAS DECISIONS TO MAKE.

                                    

 

PORCELAIN DOLLS part (2). MAGGIES' STORY.

                                Chapter (13)   THE HEALING TOUCH. 

  

As the morning sun came through the hospital window it warmed her face. Last night had been the worst night of Maggies' young life. She had wanted to help her boss but instead had walked into one of the newspaper stories she read every day, where people were gunned down in the streets. Maggie had let her heart rule her head and she had made decisions without giving her brain time to think things through. Now she knew she had some real problems to sort out. The instant the sound of those shots rang out, she knew. She'd missed a breath and her heart had been pounding in her chest. All she wanted was to be with Trent. To make sure he was safe. Seeing him lying on the wet ground, she felt her heart was breaking. She thought she'd lost him forever. She heard her own voice inside her head telling her 'I'm married for heavens' sake, I have no right to feel this way.' Maggie was confused but she was still sitting here by Trents' bedside holding his hand in hers.

This person lying in front of her didn't look like the Trent she loved. This person had tubes up his nose, another in the arm that she was holding and one in the side of his chest. His right arm was wrapped in a case of hard white plaster and was suspended by cords from a pole near the ceiling. A machine beeped steadily by the top of the bed. He was so pale, but had dark bruising around his eyes. A larger tube went down his throat and was held in place with a large piece of sticking plaster. It was breaking her heart to sit here helpless.

For the first time in hours Maggie finally thought about her husband. She wondered what he must have been thinking when she hadn't come home last night. He's probably already reported me missing to the police, she thought. She would have to go and see him and try to explain. What was she going to tell him?  That she had been so worried about her employer she'd followed him to a rendezvous with a gunman. That two men had been shot, and that she stayed here all night while Trent was in surgery, that she hadn't thought to call him to let him know. She knew her husband would never understand.

Last night the only thing she could think of was not losing Trent from her life. She'd  known, the moment she saw Trents' bloodstained body lying on the ground, she knew that she loved him. She had no right to love him, but she did. When she'd kissed him as he left the office the night before she was sure he had returned the kiss. When their lips had touched, her body had given her feelings that she'd never had before and Maggie knew she wanted more. She'd married her husband young, because she thought she loved him, and maybe she did at the time, maybe she still loved him. But what she felt when she kissed Trent... it was so different.

“Mrs Carmody?”  The voice startled her from her thoughts. Looking up she saw the same police officer from the night before standing in the doorway.

“Officer... Gresham. Please come in, he's sleeping.” The officer removed his cap and approached the bed.

 

“Mrs Carmody, we... err, were following up on last night and...well.. your husband is here, he's outside in the corridor. I'm sorry miss.” Maggie knew this moment had to  come but she’d hoped to have more time to think about it.

“That's alright Officer Gresham, I was wondering what I was going to say to him, when you arrived.” She stood up and let go of Trent's hand placing it gently on the bed, the action didn't go unnoticed by Officer Gresham.

“It's okay officer. I knew this was coming and I had to face him at sometime, so it might as well be now.”

“I can see things are... involved.” He said. “And it's none of my business, but I like old C.T. He was a good cop, and it's obvious you...like...him too. If I can help... well just let me know.” Maggie sensed the sincerity in his voice.

“Thank you Officer Gresham.” She gave him a smile and started to move away from the bed but before she could leave the room Officer Gresham asked in a hushed voiced.

“Look, do you still have that pistol I gave you?” He was looking around as he said it.

“Yes.” As she moved her hand up to the neckline of her dress to retrieve it she continued.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Give it to me.”  He cut in quickly. She reached inside the top of her dress, pulled out the Colt. It was warm. As she handed the pistol to him he asked.

“How much do you know about Carlton's past?” His question caught her off guard for a second but as he looked into her face he understood, she knew.

“I'll get rid of this for you. Don't think we want an investigation involving this pistol do we miss.” He winked at her with a wry smile and hid the Colt in his tunic top. Maggie returned his smile and he turned and left the room in front of her.

Maggie didn't want a scene with her husband here in the room in front of Trent, so she followed the officer out into the corridor. Her husband, Marty, was standing at the far end of the corridor, his hands fiddling with his hat. She took a deep breath then walked with confidence towards him.

“Marty. What are you doing here?” she couldn't think what else to say. He looked at the floor, then at her, then back at the floor, still fiddling with his hat. He had always been a passive man but now he was agitated and obviously nervous too. Finally he looked up.

“Maggie do you know how worried I've been?” The man looked at his wife, he noted her torn blood stained dress and messed hair. “Look at the state of you. What on earth has been going on?” She could see the worry in his face. “I didn't know what to think when you didn't come home last night. I rang that number you gave me but someone said your office was closed. Then the police came and told me there'd been a shooting, and that you were involved.” He stopped fiddling. “Have you any idea what's been going through my mind?” Marty's voice was breaking up and he had moisture in his eyes, in all the time she'd known Marty she'd never seen him cry.

“Marty, look things are... complicated at the moment.” she reached out and put her hand reassuringly on his arm. “I'm fine, and I'm not in any kind of trouble with the police, honest. Please go home and I promise I'll be home soon.” Marty straightened up and looked his wife in the eye. “He's....hurt, Marty, Mr Trent.. he's hurt real bad. I'll come home and we'll talk and I'll tell you as much as I can, when I get home?” Leaning forward she kissed him lightly on the cheek. He looked briefly into her eyes then down at his hat again. Marty turned and walked around the corner out of site without speaking. Maggie knew he was confused and hurting but she couldn't do anything about it right now, she wasn't going to leave Trent until she knew he was out of danger. A familiar voice made her jump.

 

“Oh Miss.” Turning quickly, she saw a pretty little nurse in a crisp uniform standing in the doorway to Trents' room.

“Miss, I think Mr Trent is starting to wake up.” The nurse turned back and entered the room. In moments Maggie was again back at Trents' bedside . Maggie took Trents left hand gently in hers and her eyes were filling up again as she looked at this man with pipes coming out of him. The nurse did something to a bag of clear liquid that fed into his left arm just below the crook of his elbow. She informed Maggie that this tube was feeding a liquid into his blood stream to keep him hydrated. Maggie looked closely at Trents closed eyes.

“I'll leave you alone miss. When he wakes up please press this buzzer and a nurse will come back.”  She checked the drip feeding into his arm once more and then smiled at Maggie and left the room. 

Sitting by his bedside in the hard metal hospital chair, with its chipped discoloured cream paint, she couldn't stop herself from talking to him.

“Mr Trent, Carlton, it's Maggie. I don't know if you can hear me, but you're going to be okay, you're in hospital.” She thought she felt his hand move a little, she wasn't sure that he was hearing her or if he understood what she was saying. “I met an old friend of yours last night, do you remember Officer Gresham? From your old precinct house.” There it was again, slight, but she definitely felt his hand move that time. “Oh Mr Trent, you had me so worried I thought I'd lost you.” His hand gave the faintest of squeezes on hers. Maggie stood up, leaned over, and kissed him gently on the forehead.

Maggie sat quietly for another hour in that stark hospital room, alone with the broken body of her employer and the unmistakeable smells of a hospital. She sat thinking about her life, her husband, her future, she was asking herself questions she didn't yet have answers for. Occasionally she stroked the back of Trents' hand. It would be a further two hours before he started to open his eyes.

Maggie was standing over him when he finally opened one eye a little. Looking down at him and moving closer she said lovingly.

“Hi there sleepy head, welcome back.”  Trent tried to speak but the tube in his throat just caused him to gurgle, she put her hand on his forehead. “It's okay, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere.” she reached out and pressed the buzzer button. She wanted to laugh and to cry at the same time. “Don't try to speak you have a tube in your throat. The doctor is coming.” Just at that moment the doctor came in with a nurse and Maggie moved away and let them help her poor Carlton. The doctor shone a light in his eyes while the nurse checked his temperature and pulse rate.

“Well now Mr Trent...” said the doctor. “... you had us all worried for a while there. You're going to be fine.” The doctor replaced the little torch into the top pocket of his white coat, then he looked at Maggie. “He's doing just fine Miss, the worst is over and I think he'll make a full recovery in time.”  She was just so happy to hear him say those words. Then the doctor addressed the nurse. “I think you can remove the breathing tube now nurse.”

“Yes doctor” The nurse replied as she sent a smile in Maggies' direction. The doctor came around to Maggies' side of the bed and moved her to the sidewall away from the bed.

“You know he's been very seriously injured and it's going be sometime until he's fit enough to leave here?”

“Yes I know doctor.” Maggie had a quick thought. “What about his arm? Doctor” She hadn't needed to be a doctor to know that the arm had been in a very bad state when she found Trent last night.

“We'll have to wait and see about the arm, the bones were badly damaged but we did the best we could.” Maggie acknowledged it with a brief nod of her head.

“You know it was the arm that saved his life? It stopped him having two holes in his chest. But...” Maggie didn't like the sound of that 'but'. “... there is a risk he might still lose the arm.”  Those were not the words she wanted to hear, she couldn't answer so just gave a loose nod with her head. “For now he's on the mend, so let's wait and see what happens over the next forty eight hours.” The doctor turned away and left the room and Maggie moved back to stand by the bed of the man she thought she loved, she had tears running down her cheeks. The nurse had finished removing the breathing tube and it made Trent gasp as he took a breath unaided. The nurse noticed the tears on Maggies' cheeks.

“It's Okay miss, it's normal to be upset.” The nurse came over and put her arm around her shoulders. Maggie managed a smile as she said.

“No...I'm not upset, I'm relieved... and happy.”

 

 

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Author's Note

COMMENTS PLEASE. WHATEVER YOU WANT TO WRITE.

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

'Chapter(3)THE HEALING TOUCH'
MADENGLISHMAN,
Oh my what a divergent story of inner turmoil for Maggie. I can understand as I think this kind of thing happens all the time. Friendships which blossom into something more than what the person might of planned. she has a lot to figure out. Her marriage or Trent. Quite a surprising turn of events.
blessings,
Kathy

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

So pleased you enjoyed it. the story has a few more twists and turns and I really have to get down to writing it up.

[Kathy Van Kurin]

madenglishman,
I know you'll be great! I wish you a wonderful experience of writing and challenge.
Blessings

[1Disawsum]

Good ending, great imagery there about the character and their personalities, the three-way split, with Maggie having a what seems like loving husband, and then Blake loving Maggie, a bit over dramatic I thought for this story so far, maybe could have incorporated this as the story advanced, but still, it fits into place, so that's good.
The scene with the maybe-amputated arm was good, a cliffhanger. Love this chapter, next one! :)

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

Glad you liked this chapter. I've got to decide where it goes from here. I don't want it to get bogged down. As they say. Watch this space.

[MsJewel]

I enjoyed this chapter very much. Great writing. You have shared enough about the characters so I felt invested in them, yet not so much as to leave nothing to the imagination.
Great writing my friend. Bravo!

:) Julie

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

I'll take that as praise indeed. Thank you so much. I've had this story inside for a very long time. As you will know trying to find the right word can sometimes stop one in the tracks. I wasn't sure that writing in the voice of Maggie would work. Hope I can keep it up.