PART 14

CHAPTER 14

Thomas Bale was in the nursery, next to the incubator and, wearing plastic gloves, he played with his daughter’s tiny hand. Two days had passed by since they first arrived at the hospital and, so far, Mrs Bale’s condition had remained the same. The baby, though, was growing stronger every minute, and even the doctors were surprised by how a premature could have been born under such conditions and be so healthy. And at that time of the day, she was awake and stared at her daddy with big brown eyes.

“It looks like you and I have a lot in common, right, little one?” he said, in a low voice, observing the great similarities between him and the baby. And, all of a sudden, in a totally unexpected gesture, she smiled at him, for the first time. Tom felt a mix of joy and anguish inside his heart, “You’re smiling, honey! You’re smiling at your daddy! Oh God, how I wish Susan were here to see that!”

At that moment, one of the nurses entered the room and walked over to him, “Mr Bale?”

“Yes?” he didn’t even look at her.

“It’s your wife...”

Hearing that, he turned his eyes to the woman and his smile faded away, “What is it?”

Seeing all the apprehension on his face, she smiled, “Mrs Bale is awake.”

Minutes later, Tom was standing by Susan’s bed, holding her hand into his and kissing her lips, “You have no idea of all the happiness I felt in less than 5 minutes!”

“Why? Where were you?” she asked, still with a weak voice, but with a tiny smile on her pale face.

“Well, when I heard you were awake I thought I wasn’t awake and that it was all part of a dream. And I was in the nursery ICU, with our baby. She smiled at me for the first time, Susan!”

The smile on the teacher’s face grew wider, “She already recognises her ‘daddy’...”

“Yes, but soon she’ll be here in your arms, grinning at her mom!”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Oh yes! She’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen!”

“I agree, she looks just like you!”

“But she’ll have her mom’s heart!”

They kissed once more and a doctor entered the bedroom, “Well, it looks like you’re doing as fine as your little baby, Mrs Bale!” she said, holding some papers, “I have here the results of your last exams and they show you’re doing fine on your recovery!”

“I’m trying the best I can, doctor. For me and, especially, for the ones I love...”

“Yes, I can see that. But you’re still weak and will have to stay here for some more time. Though I can say the worst is gone and the tendency is that you get better soon.”

Tom could hardly contain the happiness inside his heart, and carefully held his wife, “Oh God... I guess I cannot put into words how thankful I am right now!”

It was then that Susan remembered something else, “Tom, what about Monica, Andrew and Grace? How are they?”

*

Three days more had passed by and, if Susan’s and the baby’s conditions were improving each and every minute, Monica’s one hadn’t changed. Andrew and Tess stood by her side all the time, watching over her day and night, and, once in a while, Adam showed up to see how she was. Every time he did so, the other angels’ hearts clenched, fearing he was there to take their beloved friend away.

Tess had left the bedroom for just a few minutes, to have lunch, and Andrew stood by the bed, always caressing Monica’s hair and holding her hand, “Tess will be right back, sweetie. We wish we didn’t have to eat or drink but we’re in human form and these things are necessary. When she gets back I’ll go and buy some more flowers for you, ok? The ones I bought have faded already. But I promise I’ll stop to eat something too, don’t worry. Do you know who’s much better? Susan. The doctors said that soon she and that little one you helped to come to this world will leave the hospital. I knew you’d be happy to know that. And I went to our temporary home last night to take a look on our baby. Joy told me that she misses her mom very much and sent you this...” he bent his head and brushed a tender kiss on her cheek. At that moment, Tess opened the door and entered the room. The blond angel stood up and kissed Monica’s forehead, “I’ll go by now, but I’ll be back soon, ok?”

He left the bedroom and Tess took his place on the chair by the bed.

*

There was a small chapel inside the hospital building and, before he went to the flower shop, Andrew stopped there for some minutes. Sitting on the front pew, he stared at the altar with his hands conjoined.

“... I guess I haven’t asked for Your forgiveness, Father... Not directly, I mean. I know I was wrong, angry and selfish... As a matter of fact, I was blind to see that you are suffering as much as Tess and me, because Monica is Your daughter too... I’m terribly sorry, Father. And please, take care of her. I know that whatever You have in Your mind, it’ll be the best for her...”

He prayed for some more minutes and then left.

*

As usual, Tess arranged the blanket and the pillow on Monica’s bed and took some strands of her hair off her face. She was going to sit down on the chair again when, all of a sudden, the supervisor’s heart nearly stopped beating: Monica grabbed Tess’ hand and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the oldest angel’s shocked face.

“Oh Father! Angel Girl! You’re awake! You’re awake!!!” she shouted, without knowing what to do. Monica couldn’t speak because of the tube inserted in her mouth and along her throat, but the look in her brown eyes spoke for her: she was confused and looked around her with a questioning face.

“Calm down, Angel Girl! Calm down!” the supervisor repeated, more to herself than to her dear charge, “I’ll... I’ll call the doctors! I’ll call everyone in this hospital” she hit the button on the wall beside the bed and, in a minute, a nurse entered the bedroom.

“She’s awake! Monica is awake!” that was all Tess could say. And seeing the Irish angel’s questioning brown eyes wide open, the nurse herself was perplexed.

“Oh God! I’ll call the doctors!”

Some minutes later, 2 doctors and a nurse were inside the bedroom, checking every single machine connected to Monica’s body.

“It’s amazing! She’s out of the coma!” one of them said, as surprised as the others. Then, they removed the tube inserted in Monica’s mouth and after she coughed, a nurse gave her some water.

“Monica? How are you feeling?” the woman asked.

Monica looked at her dear supervisor, “...Tess?...”

“I’m here, baby! It’s ok! You’ll be alright! Everything will be just fine!” she said, taking the Irish angel’s hand.

“... what happened?”

“There was an accident when the firemen were taking you out f the hole and we had to bring you to the hospital,” she explained. One of the doctors checked her eyes, “You’ve been here for a week, young lady,” he said, still amazed.

“...Susan, the baby and Grace?” her eyes were soon filled with tears, “Andrew? Where is he?”

“Calm down, baby, they’re alright!”

“The baby?”

“The baby and Susan will live, Angel Girl. They’re both having a nice recovering. Grace is fine too, she’s with her mom and dad; and everybody has been praying for you!”

“... where’s Andrew? Why isn’t he here?” she asked, in a low voice, still a little confused and groggy.

“He went out to buy you flowers and eat something, baby. But I’m sure he’ll be here soon; if I know that angel boy he won’t waste his time having lunch! And, oh Father, what a surprise he’ll have!”

Monica squeezed the supervisor’s hand weakly, “It’s so good to see you, Tess...”

“Oh baby! You have no idea how much I prayed to have you back, to hear your voice again!” she replied, tears of joy falling from her eyes, “I love you so much, Angel Girl!”

“I love you too, Tess...”

*

Andrew returned to the hospital one hour later, as he had to wait for the man at the flower shop to make the bouquet. The blond angel crossed the hospital gates and headed straight to the ICU, back to Monica’s room. Slowly, he opened the door and came in.

“Tess, I’m back...” he announced, in a low voice, and was surprised to look around and not see the supervisor. Frowning with concern, he quickly put the bouquet on a nearby chair and walked over to Monica’s bed. The Irish angel was sound asleep and the monitor set the steady rhythm of her heart beats. It was then that he realised that the tube she had inserted inside her mouth had been removed.

“Father, what’s going on here?” he whispered, twice scared. He walked over to the door and looked around the corridor to see if he could find Tess or any other nurse nearby, but the place was empty. The blond angel returned to Monica’s side and, still extremely scared, he took her hand and placed his finger over her wrist just to assure there was nothing wrong with her heart beats. Then, he pushed the blanket down partway and watched as her chest rose and fell, indicating that her breathing was also normal.

Putting back the cover, he gently stroked her pale skin and carefully studied her delicate features, still looking for something different. “How I wish I could hear your voice again, my angel...” he said, caressing her hair, “I bought you flowers honey...”

Andrew arranged the flowers inside the vase and whispered once more, “I hope you like them...”

Nearly 10 minutes had passed since Andrew had called the nurse to know why part of the equipment had been removed, but, so far, nobody had come to the room. He was starting to become nervous and walked over to the window, looking at the blue sky and praying that his dearest friend’s condition hadn’t got worse. It was then that Monica slowly opened her eyes and saw first the flowers and then the blond angel standing by the window, with his back turned to her.

A tiny smile appeared on her lips, “... I love the flowers...”

Andrew practically stopped breathing as the sound of that all too familiar voice reached his ears. Slowly, he turned around and looked at the bed, where a smiling Monica gazed at him with sleepy but sparkling brown eyes.

“Monica...” the blond angel whispered, his body trembling from head to feet.

“... I woke up... but you weren’t here... I slept again... Sorry...” she whispered.

“Monica... Monica, you’re... you’re speaking!” he didn’t waste any more second and rushed towards her bed, placing his trembling hand on her cheeks and caressing her hair, “Oh Father! You’re awake! You’re out of the coma!!!” he spoke, his heartbeats now were so fast that he thought his heart would jump from his mouth at any second.

“Oh God! I prayed so much, Monica! I wanted so much to see your smile again, my angel!” his eyes were immediately filled with tears and seeing such reaction, Monica raised her hand and placed her palm against his cheek, “...you didn’t know I was awake... I’m sorry I scared you...” she said, deeply moved.

Carefully, as she had an IV tube inserted in her arm, Andrew took her hand and placed a kiss on her palm, “You’re the sweetest creature I’ve ever met in this entire world, Monica!” his tears were now mixed with a joyful smile, “You don’t have to apologise, honey! I’m just so happy you’re here with me again!”

He bent down and lay kisses all over her face, causing a giggle to escape from her, “I’m happy that you’re happy...”

“I wish I could hold you tight in my arms, honey, and tell you how much I love you!”

“I’d love that too, but you’re doing fine with your kisses!” she joked and watched as his face turned into a more serious one.

“I was so afraid of losing you... I guess I’ve never felt so scared in my whole existence...”

Some tears made their way down on Monica’s face and slowly, she nodded her head, “Me too... And when I woke up and you were not here...”

“Oh, please, forgive me, I... I went to buy you flowers and pray...”

“No... It’s ok, you don’t need to apologise...”

“Oh yes, I do. I’ve been quite selfish myself these days and my attitude wasn’t a very angelic one. When I knew your condition was critical, I was angry with everyone, even with the Father. I thought He wanted to take you away from me. I was asking for His forgiveness right before I came back here.”

“And I’m sure He has forgiven you, Andrew.” She let go of his hand and, once again, stroked his face, “All the time I was lying here, I felt His presence, His comforting hand holding mine, and His loving words telling me I should resist to stay with you and Tess. His reassurance made some of my pain go away and then I started to listen to other voices speaking to my heart... They were yours and Tess’.” She spoke slowly, in a low voice.

“We stood here all the time.”

“I know. And I wanted so much to see you again and hold you tightly and say I love you that I had to fight to be with you again... I’m glad I could make it.”

A broad smile appeared on his handsome face and he kissed the tip of her nose and rested his forehead against hers, “You’re the most courageous little angel I’ve ever met, sweetie. I’m so proud of you... I’m so proud to say I love you!”

At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Tess, Adam and one of the nurses came in.

“Oh, I guess we don’t have to look for him anymore!” the supervisor happily exclaimed.

“Yes!” Adam agreed, “And who else was better to give him the good news than Monica herself?!”