The Wonder of Your Love - By Beth Wiseman Page 0,57
a few minutes.”
She turned when she got to the door. Martha was wearing a white hospital gown and was tucked beneath the quilt Katie Ann had given her. “Do you need anything?”
Martha pointed to the bed next to her and mouthed, “I don’t need a roommate.”
“Okay,” Katie Ann whispered as she left the room.
MARTHA TRIED TO calm her breathing. They’d be coming for her soon. She closed her eyes and prayed silently. Please, Lord, if You could see fit to have me wake up and live a few more years, I’d sure be grateful to get to see my little Jonas grow into a small person. If I leave now, he won’t remember me. She sighed. But if it’s Your will to take me home, please take care of Katie Ann and Jonas. And, Lord . . . can You make this as painless as possible? You know how much I hate pain.
Her prayer was interrupted when she heard whimpering to her left. She turned to face the back of the person in the bed a few feet from hers. Twisting her mouth back and forth, she watched the woman’s body shaking.
“You all right over there?” When there was no answer, Martha asked, “Do you need me to get a nurse for you?”
The woman didn’t turn around, but just shook her head.
Martha glanced around the room at all the equipment, wishing she could yank the IV out of her arm, but she figured that would hurt just as much as when they put it in. The woman in the next bed kept crying, and Martha hoped Katie Ann would hurry back and get this person out of here. Last thing she needed was more sadness.
Martha sat up in bed, dropped her feet to the floor, then pulled the IV pole the few feet to where the woman lay. She tapped her on the arm. “Honey?”
“I’m fine, really.”
Martha could tell by her voice that she was young, but she wasn’t sure how young. Her body stretched the full length of the bed beneath the covers. Martha leaned closer, not sure what to do. “You don’t sound fine,” she finally said.
“Well, I am.” The woman shifted a bit, but she didn’t turn around.
Martha wanted to see the face of the person she was talking to. She gently tapped her on the shoulder again. “I’m going to call a nurse if you don’t turn around and let me see that you’re all right.”
As the covers shifted, the woman slowly turned to face Martha, and Martha gasped.
“Do I look all right to you?” The woman could barely move her mouth due to the stitches across her lip, and Martha wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a shiner like the one this young woman had. Her left eye was swollen shut, and another gash ran along the side of her cheek with more stitches. “Happy now?” She turned back to face the window.
Martha didn’t move or speak for a few moments, then she took in a swift breath. “Whoever did that to you should be shot in the . . .” She bit her lip and remembered that the good Lord was listening. “Did a boyfriend or husband do that to you?”
No answer.
“Maybe a car wreck?”
The woman eased back around to face Martha. “I really don’t want to talk right now. Can you please just leave me alone?” She rolled over again, just about the time Katie Ann walked back into the room.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Katie Ann moved toward her, and Martha reluctantly climbed back into bed. Once she was settled beneath her quilt, which, unbeknownst to Katie Ann, she’d had blessed by both a priest and Bishop Esh, she folded her arms across her chest.
Katie Ann leaned closer and whispered, “They’ll be moving that woman out of here shortly, and you’ll have the room to yourself.”
Martha scowled. “What?”
Still whispering, Katie Ann leaned even closer to Martha’s ear. “You told me that you didn’t want to share a room, so they are coming to get her soon.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous.” She waved her hand toward the door. “Go back and tell them never mind.”
Katie Ann’s mouth fell open as she cupped her hands to her hips.
“Oh, don’t look so bothered. I’m the one about to get cut wide open. Just go now . . .” She waved her hand again, and Katie Ann shook her head all the way out the door.
Martha wanted to talk to the woman next to her. Actually, she