Heavenly Husband. Carolyn Greene

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СКАЧАТЬ for surgery. Maybe you can see him for a moment before they take him in.”

      Gerald looked almost as pale as the bleached white sheet beneath him. Two plastic bags hung suspended above him, one dripping clear fluid into his veins and the other replacing the blood he’d lost. An airway tube made a hissing sound as it pumped oxygen into his lungs.

      Kim caught her breath at the sight of him. Only when she began to feel slightly faint did she make a conscious effort to breathe normally. It wouldn’t do him any good if she flaked out now.

      “You okay, honey?” the nurse asked her.

      Kim nodded. Another half lie.

      She stepped closer, trying to ignore the various tubes and wires attached to Gerald’s body. His was a large, strong frame accustomed to vigorous activity. His body was the first thing she’d noticed about him. The reason she’d first been attracted to him. And perhaps the reason that other woman had been attracted to him.

      She tried not to think of that now. Instead, she concentrated her effort on offering emotional support. She took his hand in hers and gently squeezed his fingers. He did not squeeze back, and Kim began to realize with a horrified understanding that there was nothing she could do to help him. Her eyes filled with tears that spilled onto his hand.

      “He’s not able to respond,” said a man in scrubs, “but it’s possible he can hear you. It might help if you tell him how you feel about him.”

      Tell him how she felt about him? As in, I don’t love you anymore, but I don’t want you to die, either? No, she couldn’t be so cruel.

      When at last she spoke, her voice cracked. “Hang in there.” She squeezed his fingers again, as if the gesture would impart all the sincerity she was unable to put into words.

      Blip, blip, blip. The only response she got was the unsteady beep of the heart monitor. Another man in green scrubs entered the tiny cubicle, and a woman in white followed.

      Releasing his hand, she stepped away from the gurney and started out the way she’d come. She went out into the tiled corridor, determined to wait on the hard bench until the surgery was over.

      Amid the murmuring of voices, the blips wavered briefly, then fell into one long, flat beep. Kim had seen enough television to know this was not a good sign. Activity in the room increased, and she rushed to pull the curtain open. For several moments, she watched in horrified fascination, wishing there was something she could do to help and knowing she was powerless to stop the current course of events.

      Kim had no idea how long she stood there, watching without seeing, as the medical team struggled to bring Gerald back from the brink.

      Finally, one of the men stepped away and began removing his gloves. “We’ve lost him.”

      Please don’t let him die!

      The man stopped what he was doing and looked up at Kim. Until then, she hadn’t realized she’d prayed out loud.

      “Get her out of here,” he demanded.

      The woman in white came to her and took her arm to guide her out, but not before Kim saw them raise the sheet over Gerald’s face.

      Exhausted, she allowed herself to be led to the bench across the hall. The woman with her was uttering words of comfort, but Kim didn’t hear them. Her ears were tuned to the room where Gerald’s body lay.

      When the woman suggested she call someone to drive her home, Kim realized she hadn’t told her father or stepmother before rushing over to be with Gerald. She dug some coins out of her purse and rose from the bench.

      Someone behind the closed curtain asked, “Did he just move? I could have sworn I saw that sheet move.”

      As if to confirm the statement, the monitor once again began blipping, this time stronger and steadier than before.

      The woman in white ran back to Gerald’s cubicle. Kim’s legs felt powerless to support her, and she sank back onto the bench.

      “Let me see,” came the voice of the man who’d ordered her out.

      A moment later, the blipping of the monitor became more rhythmic.

      A woman’s voice spoke in quiet awe. “It’s a miracle.”

      

      Jared became aware of the sounds around him first. The noise was loud and cacophonous, unlike the soft, melodious sounds he’d become used to “on high.” First he heard a deep male voice asking if he had a problem with hemorrhoids. Then a click and a woman complaining about tough, grimy stains. Another click and the sound of something hitting against a hard object, followed by uproarious laughter.

      With effort, Jared opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh light that came from two long cylindrical strips in the ceiling. Laughter rang out again, and he turned his head to the source, a large box projecting from the wall, with images of miniature humans showing inside it. He’d heard that the Chairman of the Board had such a box, to watch the activities of those below, but something told him this wasn’t the Big Guy’s office. Something rustled beside him, and he turned toward it.

      A lovely creature sat in a chair near him and pressed a button on a small black box every so often. Each time she did so, the noise and pictures emanating from the box on the wall abruptly changed.

      A vision of femininity, she was so beautiful he didn’t think she could possibly be human. But she wore no wings, and instead of the traditional white robe, she was garbed in two layers of loose-fitting upper clothing, neither of which had sleeves. Her lower limbs sported two dark blue casings that appeared to be held on the wearer by a series of buttons below her waist. And her feet were encased in a soft-looking white material. Like the sandals he was accustomed to, these were also tied, but instead of leather thongs, they were held together by white strips of fabric with clear, hard tips on the ends. Printed on the flap that protruded from the top of the foot covering was the word “Adidas.”

      His gaze was drawn upward to her face. The eyes, cinnamon brown framed by lashes of black, were trained upon the box on the wall. Her features were of a pleasing proportion, and the dark brows and sun-darkened complexion complemented the burnished brown locks that surrounded her face.

      Jared felt a strange sensation in the pit of his being. She was more beautiful than any angel he’d ever seen.

      His thoughts returned to the name printed on her foot covering. Adidas. He was familiar with Adonis, the Greek god, and had even beaten him at a hand of fenuki. Could this, perhaps, be a beautiful goddess, maybe even a heretofore unknown relation of her handsome male counterpart?

      She turned in her chair and became aware of his steady perusal. “Oh, you’re awake.” Her eyes were filled with compassion and pity. But something else lurked there, as well. A wariness emanated from her, making her appear torn inside. “Maybe I should call the nurse.”

      “What are you doing here?”

      She leaned forward and touched his arm, which was covered by a clean white blanket. “We almost lost you. No matter what our differences, I couldn’t leave you here alone, Gerald.”

      “My name is Jared,” he corrected her.

      She tilted her СКАЧАТЬ