That cold old man only cares about this family and its good reputation, Waylen thinks. If it’s a choice between Leilani and these bribes, bribes are definitely the bigger threat.
Waylen pulls his phone from his pocket and looks at a picture of Leilani. He imagines proposing to her properly. He imagines a wedding and a comfortable life together. He thinks about taking her to his bed every night and waking up to her every morning.
“Mr. Bamford, the car is ready to take you to the hospital,” Robert said, interrupting his happy thoughts.
Leilani waits for Waylen outside the main entrance of Memorial Hospital. When he finally arrives, they head to the VIP ward on the 19th floor. A nurse sits beside Nanny’s bed and massages her arms and legs to keep the muscles from atrophying. When she sees Leilani and Waylen, she jumps to her feet.
“How’s Nanny?” Leilani asks.
“She’s still the same, but that’s not a bad thing,” the nurse says. “Most coma patients deteriorate a lot, but she hasn’t changed much. That’s good.”
Leilani nods and sits on the side of Nanny’s bed. She reaches for a cup of water on the nightstand and dips a cotton ball into it. Gently, she wipes the cotton over Nanny’s mouth to moisten her lips. Nanny’s heart monitor beeps steadily and quietly in the background.
“I give her a massage every day, change her clothes, and talk to her,” the nurse says. “The physical stimulation is supposed to be good for coma patients. I also leave different radio stations and podcasts on when I’m away, and on nice days I push her bed to the window so she can be in the sun.”
Leilani feels overwhelmed by the nurse’s kindness. She gets up from the bed and tries to push it toward the sunlight. The nurse immediately helps her, and the wheeled bed slides easily over the floor: Nanny weighs almost nothing. “Has anyone come to visit Nanny?” Leilani asks the nurse.
“Do you mean Bryan?” the nurse asks. “He hasn’t been to see her recently. He must be very busy.”
“He is,” Leilani says. “Did he leave any contact information with you? Maybe some way to get in touch with him in case of an emergency?”
The nurse shakes her head. Something clatters to the floor, and Leilani turns to look at Waylen. He’s knocked a blue pen off a table. He picks it up and looks at it strangely.
“Oh, that’s a recording pen,” the nurse says. “It came with your Nanny when she was transferred here. The recording is a clip of Mrs. Bamford’s voice, and Dr. Meyer said it would be good for her to hear it. The attending doctor here seemed to think it was worth a try, so I play it for her every day.”
Waylen looks at the pen and clicks it open. Then he presses a small switch near the top. Leilani’s voice plays as clear as day.
“Nanny, I’m sorry,” the recording says. “You must be mad at me because I haven’t come to see you for a long time. But you know the Bamford Family is so strict, and it’s hard for me to sneak out. I suppose you’re going to tell me I’m disobedient. If I say I’m going to divorce Waylen, will you wake up?”
Waylen stops the recording and puts the pen on the table. His face is perfectly calm, but his right hand has clenched into a fist. Leilani bites her lip nervously. She has no idea when Charles made the recording or why.
“I just said those things to try to get a rise out of Nanny,” Leilani says quickly.
“Has it worked?” Waylen asks the nurse.
“No, not yet,” the nurse says.
“Delete it,” Waylen says, tossing the pen to Robert.
Waylen walks across the room and takes Leilani’s hand firmly in his. She assumes he’s ready to leave, and she wonders if he’ll let his anger exploded in the car.
“Nanny, I need to go back home, but I promise to come back as soon as I can,” Leilani says.
Instead of tugging her toward the door, Waylen pulled her closer to Nanny’s bed. “Nanny, this is Waylen,” he says. “Leilani is pregnant, and we’re not really divorcing. In fact, she’s going to remarry me very soon.”
“Oh, my God,” the nurse shouts. “Did you see that, Mrs. Bamford? Your Nanny’s finger just moved!”
Leilani stares down at Nanny’s pale hand, but Nanny’s index finger is still. It doesn’t seem to have moved at all.
“Call the doctor,” Leilani says. “Hurry!”
The doctor rushes into the room, his white coat flying behind him. He stops short when he sees Waylen, and smooths his hair and straightens his coat. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a small flashlight. He opens Nanny’s eyelids and shines the light into her eyes. He listens to her heart and then checks the readout from her heart monitor.
“Her vital signs look completely normal,” the doctor says. “If her finger did move, that’s a very good sign. We can’t be sure, of course, but it may mean that her brain is active and responding to sounds around her.”
“She’s always been around sound,” the nurse says. “I talk to her, and I leave the radio on for her. I even play her recordings of her son and Leilani, but she’s never reacted to any of it.”
“These things can be a bit random, but it’s possible she had no emotional reaction to the sounds she heard before,” the doctor says. He looks around the room. “Has anything changed?”
Leilani looks up at Waylen. She knows that comas are complicated, but she can’t help feeling hurt. Why would Nanny respond to Waylen’s voice but not hers? She looks at Nanny’s wrinkled face and wonders what’s going on in her mind.
“It could have nothing to do with the person who spoke,” the doctor says quickly. “It may have to do with the tone of Mr. Bamford’s voice or even the content of what he said. For example, if Mr. Bamford said something that would shock, upset, or even delight her, it could have caused a reaction.”
“So what if I recorded Waylen saying the same thing over and over and asked the nurse to play it for Nanny?” Leilani asks the doctor. “Would that work? Could it help her wake from her coma?”
“Probably not,” the doctor says. “Hearing the same news over and over won’t have the same effect on her brain as hearing it for the first time. It’d be better for him to talk to her in person—that way, we can monitor her response and see how she reacts to his words.” The doctor glances at Waylen quickly and then quickly added, “Of course, if Mr. Bamford is too busy, a recording may work.”
“How many days a week should we come to visit her?” Leilani asks the doctor.
Leilani laces her fingers through Waylen’s, and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. The doctor studies his chart and then looks up at Waylen. He raises his eyebrows in question as if he wants Waylen’s approval.
“Excuse me, but she’s my relative,” Leilani says. “Why are you looking at my husband instead of me?”
“I—I—I just know that Mr. Bamford has a busy schedule,” the doctor stammers. “I don’t want to ask him to come and speak to her when we don’t even know for sure if he’s the reason her finger moved. In fact, we don’t even know if her finger really moved at all.”
“Just give me a number,” Leilani says.
“Umm, three or four days a week for an hour at a time should be good,” the doctor says.
“Get out,” Waylen says. As he speaks, his lip curls, and his face darkens.
“Of course, sir,” the doctor says.
Leilani watches the doctor rushed out of the room and tugs her hand away from Waylen. She can’t help feeling disappointed. She knows that Waylen is too busy to visit Nanny four times a week, but she wishes he’d be kinder about it.
“I know you’re too busy to do what the doctor said, but you didn’t have to terrify the poor man,” Leilani says.
“Did I say I was too busy?” Waylen asks.
“Are you willing to do it?” Leilani asks, hardly daring to hope.
It’s difficult to imagine Waylen sitting in the hospital room. What would he even talk about? He’s always been a man of few words, and he hates small talk. She looks at Nanny and wonders why the woman responded to Waylen’s voice? Was it his deep tone, or was it because he said they’re going to remarry?”Yes, I’m willing,” Waylen says simply. “But I want you to ask me nicely.”
“Please, Waylen,” Leilani says, widening her eyes and pouting her lips. “Will you please come to visit Nanny?”
“Not like that,” Waylen says with a smirk. “I want you to beg me—and not with your words.”
He turns around and strides toward the door, and she has to rush to keep up with him. He throws the door open, almost hitting the doctor. The doctor is panting slightly, and there’s a sheen of sweat on his forehead; his glasses are hanging crookedly on his face.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bamford, I have an update on the patient’s condition,” the doctor says. The doctor looks between Waylen and Leilani before passing a paper to Waylen. “We detected a drug in her body while doing some routine blood work. We haven’t identified what it is yet, but we’re running every test possible.”
“A drug?” Leilani asks. “You’re sure it’s not one of the medications you’re giving her?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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