I Do, Don't I?

Chapter Four

I kept to myself what I thought about going with Jude. I tried to ignore the odd feeling of living with Jude and thought that maybe it's because it's a huge thing to take but, on second thought, it might help me remember the normal things I do during my married life rather than going back to my comfort zone with my parents.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon the next day when mother helped me out of the hospital gown and into a cream chiffon dress that looked prim and proper. The nurse who had examined my blood pressure yesterday transferred me to a wheel chair before Jude arrived. They trailed behind the nurse as she pushed me along the white corridors. Like being pounded by a hammer, my head began to hurt.

A hazy memory whizzed past my vision. A younger-looking woman who looks just like mom laid in a hospital bed with a little baby girl in her arms. A little girl on the bedside seemed very happy to watch her sleeping baby sister.

"I'll get daddy!" she said, running out of the room.

She ran endlessly until she arrived to the familiar white hall...a hall where I seemed to be presently but the scenes were nothing like the present.

A nurse came passing by, giving the girl an odd look.

She bent down with a kind smile. "Sweetie, have you lost your way?" she asked sweetly.

When the little girl looked too afraid to answer, the nurse spoke with the same mild tones. "This is the private wing, sweetie. Is this where you're supposed to be?"

The little girl shook her head wordlessly.

"Who are you looking for?"

"My daddy," she said meekly.

"Okay, what's your name?"

"Rachel."

"Okay, Rachel, where's your father?"

"Lobby."

"Okay," she said before standing straight to her normal posture. "Harris!" she called out to the nurse station to her left.

A guy in a blue scrub suit whom I assume is an intern jogged to our direction. The nurse bent half of her body to my level and said. "Rachel, this is Harris. He's a good guy and he will take you to your daddy, okay?"

I nodded then, turned and looked up to Harris who has curly hair and a friendly smile.

The sudden flash of the memory blinded me, making me see white spots as to recover from its bright light.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" the nurse asked, skidding the wheel chair to a stop.

I pulled myself a bit forward from my seat to glance up at the nurse behind me.

"Are we in the private wing?" I asked her.

"Yes," she answered. "Is there something wrong?"

I turned my back and reclined back on my seat. "No, no, nothing, nothing. You may proceed."

She restarted the route to the silver swing doors and finally out to another corridor. We rode the elevator to the parking lot.

When Jude and I were already seated in the sleek, black car and mother was at the back, checking her lipstick on her compact mirror, Jude turned to me and asked, "What are you worried about?"

My mind slowed at the process of thinking something good to answer.

"Is it the hospital bill?" he suggested.