Chapter 14

It took weeks to get over the bleeding. The surgeons found and fixed the problems – there were three sites all bleeding at various rates – and kept me sedated while my body knitted itself back together. Since they had me under anyway, the doctors brought in a team of facial reconstruction experts, and fixed my damaged face. Between the two sets of surgery I found out later that I was under for over twelve hours.

I regained consciousness three days later, which got me past a lot of the initial post-operative pain period. Everything still hurt when I woke up, but nothing like it would have two days earlier. For that I was grateful.

Polly was sitting beside my bed when I opened my eyes. The first thing I felt was the bandages covering my head, and apparently reached for them. I felt a cool, soft hand stop me from touching my face and heard, "Don't touch your face, sweetheart. The swelling from the surgery hasn't all healed." She sounded as fresh as a daisy, which made me think I'd been asleep for just a little while.

When I felt the room stop spinning, I carefully turned my head to look at her. "Hi," I said, through a mouth that tasted like it had been stuffed with an entire cotton candy puff.

Polly smiled, rose to greet me, and said, "Well, I am certainly glad to see you awake. I pressed the call button when I felt you start to move around, so I bet your doctors will arrive any second to see how you're doing.

"By the way, how are you feeling?" Polly talked like I'd only been asleep for a little while, so I still had no idea about the extent of my surgery or their follow up treatment.

"My face feels like someone is trying to split my head in two, but my ... down here," I said, pointing to my groin, "feels like it was cut in two. What happened?"

"You were bleeding internally, and it was much worse than it looked," A stranger answered. He was about forty, tall, slender, with a face only his mother could have loved. Whatever kind of doctor he was, nobody was going to accidentally suggest he was handsome. "I'm Doctor Barna. My associates and I found three open wounds, bleeding inside your womb and cervix. We sutured everything back the way it was supposed to be, replaced the lost blood, and because you were doing so well under anesthetic, your parents suggested we have your facial injuries corrected."

He used a pocket flashlight of some kind to study my eyes, ears, and throat, then produced scissors and cut off the bandages covering my face. He used the light and spent a long time studying the work they'd done. "Angela, you look very good. There seems to be zero internal bleeding now that things were repaired properly, and your face is rapidly returning to its former beauty.

"Give it a few weeks, stay out of the sun, and do not over exert yourself, even a little bit, and I think you will be just about as good as new. It takes time to fully heal from internal surgery, so do not try to rush things. It will hurt if you do, and slow down the healing process.

"Please let nature take its course, and you will be thrilled with how you look in a month." He turned to Polly, offered his hand, and said, "Mrs. Dryden, we will take very good care of your daughter tonight. Why don't you go home and get some sleep?"

Polly looked at me, and smiled. "Sweetie, I've been here since your chopper brought you in. I am going to go home, take a long bath, and get to bed. I will be back in the morning. I promise. In the meantime, your Secret Service detail is right outside the door, and now that you are awake, I am fairly certain Constance will turn up to keep you company."

She kissed the side of my head, squeezed my hand, and departed. Not more than two minutes went by, and Rodney opened my door to admit Constance. I felt better knowing she was there.

For one thing, I'd have someone to talk to.

Constance and I chatted but not for long. The drugs in my system had me out cold before we got talking about anything important, and when I next woke up, she was sound asleep in the bed next to mine. The pain was manageable, and as I lay staring at the ceiling I got to thinking about the rash of bad events that plagued Angela's life after she died of the plague. Constance was breathing heavily, and as I considered both sides of the coin, I realized that Angela would have loved her. They would have been best friends from the start.

Polly and Hawk wanted a daughter to love, and the one they got has been nothing but a never ending series of challenges, attacks, pain, and hurt. Angela might not have survived the things that have come against her body since I took up residence, but I know the universe has a plan, and my job is to keep breathing and deal with it.

A nurse came in to check the IV's and never as much as glanced to see if I was awake. I suppose she wasn't interested in her patients, just her paycheck, but at least I wasn't in terrible pain like earlier, and I could fall asleep given the time and inclination.

Colleen was on my mind as I tried to will myself asleep. Our first time together played across my memory like a big screen extravaganza. I could literally taste her fragrance, and feel the thickness of her persona fluid. I wanted to be with her so badly, but couldn't think of any way to make it happen without getting and causing hurt, so I dropped it. Colleen was the most prominent person that lived in my rear view mirror.

She lived, but in my past.

Jim, Millie, Rebecca, Beth Ann, Jennifer, Regina, Desdemona, Winnie, and all the others who taught me the full meaning of love, respect, happiness, and togetherness were gone from me, taken by a universe that used me to fix its problems. If I could, I wouldn't opt out. The people I'd been able to help fulfilled me beyond all measure, and those I'd lost still lived in my heart. It wasn't perfect. It was just my present.

Sometime later I must have slept, because Renata woke me when she came to tell me that my parents were on the way.

Polly swept in like she owned Bethesda Naval Medical Center. As I thought about my adopted mother, I realized that she owned every room she entered. I had never seen her when she was not taking charge, pushing what she knew to be right, and making people conform to her agenda. It was becoming easy to love my new family. I just hoped they would learn to love me as flawed as I was inside.

Constance hurried out as soon as Polly hurried in. When she was gone, Polly cocked her head, twitched it towards the door, and said, "Where is she going in such a hurry?"

I laughed. "Constance, like just about every other federal employee in the country, is terrified of you." I giggled and added, "You scare them because they are never sure if you are as mean as you come across."

That stopped her in her tracks. Polly didn't WANT to be feared. I realized it right then. She wanted everybody to know that she would not be rolled over or taken advantage of. Neither would she allow it to happen to her husband and now, by extension, me. Instead of making it worse for her, I said, "They need to fear you a little, because that keeps them from treating me badly."

That scored some style points with her. "Young lady, I better NEVER hear of anyone treating you badly. They won't like how it comes out."

She was off the topic of people fearing her and back to making people fear her. I wanted to change the whole topic, so I asked, "Tell me about you and Mr. Dryden. Where do you come from? How did you meet? Where did you go to college, and ... I don't know ... everything..."

Polly bit on that better than I ever hoped. She crawled up on the bed, and shifted round to get comfortable, then grabbed a sip of my ice water and told me her story.

"My father was big in textiles. He and his brother owned – well, inherited – a number of old mills down south someplace. We lived in Connecticut, near Hartford, and Daddy commuted to North Carolina all the time. Sometimes he'd take me with him for a few weeks, even if it was during the school year. I went to a very expensive private school that my grandparents help start, and the headmaster wasn't about to rock the golden gooses' boat.