Glimpses Through The Rain - Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Food’s here!” Thessa announced as she and Ricky appeared in the suite.
“Breakfast!” Mitch greeted back.
“I know, we took a little longer in getting them but come on you two, let’s eat. My stomach is talking.”
“Oh, great! I’m starving, alright! Thank you so much.” Mitch offered to help Thessa by retrieving the food from her hands. He then set them on the table.
“Hi dad, mom!” was Lei’s greeting to her parents.
“You’re showing a little color on your face at least, baby. Did something happen while we were gone?” Ricky smoothed-back Lei’s hair and kissed her on her forehead.
“Yes, Rosy was here awhile ago, she said hello to you both by the way, and she discussed with us about the therapy session. It’s scheduled tomorrow. Everything’s been set, thanks to her. She offered her condo for us to stay there for the duration of the therapy while she’s gone to New York for some appointments.” Lei received the plate with breakfast on it which Mitch handed to her. She went on, “Mitch thought it’ll be best that we leave this suite today and transfer to her condo. I need fresh air, too. But I worry about Sissy, dad.”
“Oh, don’t worry about her, honey. Dad and I will take care of her. She’ll stay with us for awhile but we’ll let her visit you there at the condo if time permits.” Thessa scooped up some food from the table onto her own plate and took a seat in front of the table.
“Great. Ok, after breakfast we’ll arrange our things so we can begin moving out of here.” Mitch took another bite of his burger. “But later, we’ll both be back here at four for the therapy-briefing by the doctor’s secretary,” he added. “Yes, we’ll be back here,” Lei confirmed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitch just finished tucking their things at the back of the car, things they’ll need while they are at Rosy’s condo. “Rosy sure was very kind to let us stay in her place for awhile, sweetheart and...” Mitch stopped when he noticed that Lei was silently seated at the passenger’s seat, staring blankly outside to the car’s right side mirror while her tears were falling down her cheeks. He was coming from the left door into the driver’s seat when she saw her. “Hon, what’s wrong?”
“I’m feeling upset, Mitch. And really sad. I feel sorry about the baby.” Lei’s chest was beginning to tighten.
His heart clutched. “I know, love.” He sat on his side of the car, slid an arm around her. Lei leaned on his right shoulder.
“I don’t know if I can handle this. I’m not strong enough.” Tears were flowing down still.
“Lei, I’m here. Our families are there, too. You are not going through this alone.”
“And the therapy tomorrow? I don’t know how much any of those questioning and sharing I can take.”
“I’ll be strong for both of us. If we think it’ll be too much for us to say anything at all, I’m positive we can just stop the session and let it resume on some other days when we’re ok by then. You don’t need to do anything right now.”
“It just hurts, Mitch.” She hid her face into his chest.
Mitch hugged her, patted her back while he smoothed her hair down.
They left the hospital at ten o’clock and reached Rosy’s place ten minutes later. Mitch went straight to settling their things into the reserved closet space then headed onto the kitchen to boil some coffee. Lei proceeded to the living room. At first, she browsed through some pages of an entertainment magazine made ready for them as it was placed on a tea-table. She tried to squeeze out some sense from the article presented on each page. She slowly flipped the pages when the article did not interest her and then stopped at one where there were colorful images and familiar Hollywood faces but she couldn’t understand what was written and neither those pictures caught her attention for so long, so she flipped some more pages. She finished the magazine without knowing what information it shared with her. She returned the magazine to where she first saw it. Then she put her right hand, palm flat, on her womb and softly rubbed it up and down. Her eyes started to get watery. There was a combination of feelings in her chest. There was Joy. She was joyful that she learned she was pregnant. She was joyful that she was carrying a baby, their first baby. And there was pain. She felt like pain mated with her conscience and felt so sorry for the baby. It wasn’t given any chance to live nor fight for its existence. She felt sorry too, that as a mother, there was nothing she could do to protect it. Tears started to appear out of her eyes again. When Mitch approached her with mugs of coffee in his hands, she right away shrugged off those tears and those sentiments away from her body. She thanked Mitch for the coffee and hurriedly finished it off. She excused herself with the need to go upstairs to take a shower. He reminded her that she had just taken a shower at the hospital right after they had their breakfast with Thessa and Ricky. She wanted another shower still, was her reason. He knew her wife was in pain, he did not argue anymore so he escorted her on her way to their bedroom.
When Lei finished her shower, she came out of the bathroom all wrapped in a thick dark brown towel down through her mid-thighs, holding a face towel which she used to shake off excess water from her hair. She didn’t notice Mitch in the room, he didn’t leave after he escorted her, and instead he took a seat at the right end corner across the bathroom. She was almost moving in a routine, not thinking of what she was doing. She looked from inside the closet, selected and put her pajamas on, so obvious that she was not in the mood to go out of the condo anytime soon. But when he saw her, damn it, how he wished he could kiss her the way he did the last time when they skipped dinner just to spend the whole night together in each other’s arms. He watched her move toward the dresser and took a chair to sit in front of the mirror as she gracefully combed her hair. Geez, even at times like this, his wife was still very beautiful. He felt desire surged through his chest, he wanted to touch her, slowly kiss her, lick her ear and trace her nape down to her breastbone. And oh, he envied those pajamas resting on her skin. She must smell so good, surely with a scent that of the hair conditioner and bath soap combined.
And the motion picture froze.
“Mitch, where’d you go?”
“Ha? What?”
“Where were you?”
“Sorry, dear.” “Were you saying something?”
“Yes, I was saying I didn’t know you were in here. I thought you already headed to the living room when I was taking a bath.”
“No. I was right here. I didn’t leave.”
“For awhile there, I lost you. What were you thinking, Mitch?”
You. I was thinking about you. I wanted to smell you and kiss you all over. “Nothing. I was just tired, I guess.”
“You must be exhausted, hon. What time is it?” She looked at the wall clock. “Oh, it’s time to have lunch. What do you want?”
Nothing. I just want you. I want you to want me, too. “Any food we can get at this time, is ok with me.”
“Ok, let me just check the fridge. Rosy said she left it stuffed for us. Maybe I can fix us an instant lunch.”
Suddenly the door swung open and left Mitch alone in the room. He laid himself on the bed. Damn it, what was he thinking? Lei’s pregnant and they were there for its upcoming death. He closed his eyes and spread his arms sideways. Then he dozed off to sleep.
“Snack’s ready.”
Mitch woke up with that announcement like an alarm. He brushed his eyes with his clenched fists. Pulling off the bed, he did some stretching. “Maybe you mean, lunch’s ready?”
“No, Mitch. Snack’s really ready,” insisted by Lei. “You slept at mid-day even before I had our lunch set. I tried waking you up but you were really sound asleep so I thought I should just really wake you up for some snacks instead.”
“I slept that long?”
“Uh-huh. It’s three-thirty but it’s alright. You stayed up late last night taking care of me, so you deserved that long sleep.”
“Oh my! Then I must have slept like a log.” He smiled when he saw Lei giggled with his statement. He felt contented seeing her extend her lips with cheerfulness.
“Alright, that’s enough. Let’s eat now. Then you go take a shower, get dressed so you can drive us to our briefing-appointment.”
6:00 P.M. Two hours had passed since they arrived at the hospital. He didn’t know what happened but all of a sudden, after that one-hour briefing they had with the secretary, silence ruled them as they were both going home, to Rosy’s condo. That silence tried to kill him through after the briefing and during their dinner at the canteen but Lei seemed unaffected at all. He wanted to create a conversation but what should he say? How are you, sweetheart? Nonsense. Is everything alright, honey? He’d look like a fool. How’s the baby in there? Oh, yeah, like hanging onto the last days of its life? Let silence rule them then, he decided. Conversation was pointless at that instant.
Bedtime. Mitch tucked her into bed with the blanket at her waist. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He thought about how he felt towards Lei...earlier...just before he fell asleep at lunch time. He thought about their baby. He recalled the briefing this afternoon. The thought about the aftershock and aftermath of the surgery also consumed him. He managed to snap out of those thoughts, shortly. He saw Lei, his sweet Lei, lying on the bed. But he couldn’t let himself go nearer her.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m not going to bed yet. I’m not sleepy either.”
“So, what will you do, Mitch?”
“I’m thinking I’ll just go spend some time watching TV in the living room for awhile. I’ll be right back as soon as I feel like sleeping already.” Mitch kissed Lei on her forehead. When he shut the door, Lei held a pillow to her chest. She searched for the moon as it peaked through her window. She breathed, savored the solemn fresh breeze of the A/C. A minute after, she found herself crying...then she cried even harder until no more tears could be shed.
...to be continued.
“Breakfast!” Mitch greeted back.
“I know, we took a little longer in getting them but come on you two, let’s eat. My stomach is talking.”
“Oh, great! I’m starving, alright! Thank you so much.” Mitch offered to help Thessa by retrieving the food from her hands. He then set them on the table.
“Hi dad, mom!” was Lei’s greeting to her parents.
“You’re showing a little color on your face at least, baby. Did something happen while we were gone?” Ricky smoothed-back Lei’s hair and kissed her on her forehead.
“Yes, Rosy was here awhile ago, she said hello to you both by the way, and she discussed with us about the therapy session. It’s scheduled tomorrow. Everything’s been set, thanks to her. She offered her condo for us to stay there for the duration of the therapy while she’s gone to New York for some appointments.” Lei received the plate with breakfast on it which Mitch handed to her. She went on, “Mitch thought it’ll be best that we leave this suite today and transfer to her condo. I need fresh air, too. But I worry about Sissy, dad.”
“Oh, don’t worry about her, honey. Dad and I will take care of her. She’ll stay with us for awhile but we’ll let her visit you there at the condo if time permits.” Thessa scooped up some food from the table onto her own plate and took a seat in front of the table.
“Great. Ok, after breakfast we’ll arrange our things so we can begin moving out of here.” Mitch took another bite of his burger. “But later, we’ll both be back here at four for the therapy-briefing by the doctor’s secretary,” he added. “Yes, we’ll be back here,” Lei confirmed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitch just finished tucking their things at the back of the car, things they’ll need while they are at Rosy’s condo. “Rosy sure was very kind to let us stay in her place for awhile, sweetheart and...” Mitch stopped when he noticed that Lei was silently seated at the passenger’s seat, staring blankly outside to the car’s right side mirror while her tears were falling down her cheeks. He was coming from the left door into the driver’s seat when she saw her. “Hon, what’s wrong?”
“I’m feeling upset, Mitch. And really sad. I feel sorry about the baby.” Lei’s chest was beginning to tighten.
His heart clutched. “I know, love.” He sat on his side of the car, slid an arm around her. Lei leaned on his right shoulder.
“I don’t know if I can handle this. I’m not strong enough.” Tears were flowing down still.
“Lei, I’m here. Our families are there, too. You are not going through this alone.”
“And the therapy tomorrow? I don’t know how much any of those questioning and sharing I can take.”
“I’ll be strong for both of us. If we think it’ll be too much for us to say anything at all, I’m positive we can just stop the session and let it resume on some other days when we’re ok by then. You don’t need to do anything right now.”
“It just hurts, Mitch.” She hid her face into his chest.
Mitch hugged her, patted her back while he smoothed her hair down.
They left the hospital at ten o’clock and reached Rosy’s place ten minutes later. Mitch went straight to settling their things into the reserved closet space then headed onto the kitchen to boil some coffee. Lei proceeded to the living room. At first, she browsed through some pages of an entertainment magazine made ready for them as it was placed on a tea-table. She tried to squeeze out some sense from the article presented on each page. She slowly flipped the pages when the article did not interest her and then stopped at one where there were colorful images and familiar Hollywood faces but she couldn’t understand what was written and neither those pictures caught her attention for so long, so she flipped some more pages. She finished the magazine without knowing what information it shared with her. She returned the magazine to where she first saw it. Then she put her right hand, palm flat, on her womb and softly rubbed it up and down. Her eyes started to get watery. There was a combination of feelings in her chest. There was Joy. She was joyful that she learned she was pregnant. She was joyful that she was carrying a baby, their first baby. And there was pain. She felt like pain mated with her conscience and felt so sorry for the baby. It wasn’t given any chance to live nor fight for its existence. She felt sorry too, that as a mother, there was nothing she could do to protect it. Tears started to appear out of her eyes again. When Mitch approached her with mugs of coffee in his hands, she right away shrugged off those tears and those sentiments away from her body. She thanked Mitch for the coffee and hurriedly finished it off. She excused herself with the need to go upstairs to take a shower. He reminded her that she had just taken a shower at the hospital right after they had their breakfast with Thessa and Ricky. She wanted another shower still, was her reason. He knew her wife was in pain, he did not argue anymore so he escorted her on her way to their bedroom.
When Lei finished her shower, she came out of the bathroom all wrapped in a thick dark brown towel down through her mid-thighs, holding a face towel which she used to shake off excess water from her hair. She didn’t notice Mitch in the room, he didn’t leave after he escorted her, and instead he took a seat at the right end corner across the bathroom. She was almost moving in a routine, not thinking of what she was doing. She looked from inside the closet, selected and put her pajamas on, so obvious that she was not in the mood to go out of the condo anytime soon. But when he saw her, damn it, how he wished he could kiss her the way he did the last time when they skipped dinner just to spend the whole night together in each other’s arms. He watched her move toward the dresser and took a chair to sit in front of the mirror as she gracefully combed her hair. Geez, even at times like this, his wife was still very beautiful. He felt desire surged through his chest, he wanted to touch her, slowly kiss her, lick her ear and trace her nape down to her breastbone. And oh, he envied those pajamas resting on her skin. She must smell so good, surely with a scent that of the hair conditioner and bath soap combined.
And the motion picture froze.
“Mitch, where’d you go?”
“Ha? What?”
“Where were you?”
“Sorry, dear.” “Were you saying something?”
“Yes, I was saying I didn’t know you were in here. I thought you already headed to the living room when I was taking a bath.”
“No. I was right here. I didn’t leave.”
“For awhile there, I lost you. What were you thinking, Mitch?”
You. I was thinking about you. I wanted to smell you and kiss you all over. “Nothing. I was just tired, I guess.”
“You must be exhausted, hon. What time is it?” She looked at the wall clock. “Oh, it’s time to have lunch. What do you want?”
Nothing. I just want you. I want you to want me, too. “Any food we can get at this time, is ok with me.”
“Ok, let me just check the fridge. Rosy said she left it stuffed for us. Maybe I can fix us an instant lunch.”
Suddenly the door swung open and left Mitch alone in the room. He laid himself on the bed. Damn it, what was he thinking? Lei’s pregnant and they were there for its upcoming death. He closed his eyes and spread his arms sideways. Then he dozed off to sleep.
“Snack’s ready.”
Mitch woke up with that announcement like an alarm. He brushed his eyes with his clenched fists. Pulling off the bed, he did some stretching. “Maybe you mean, lunch’s ready?”
“No, Mitch. Snack’s really ready,” insisted by Lei. “You slept at mid-day even before I had our lunch set. I tried waking you up but you were really sound asleep so I thought I should just really wake you up for some snacks instead.”
“I slept that long?”
“Uh-huh. It’s three-thirty but it’s alright. You stayed up late last night taking care of me, so you deserved that long sleep.”
“Oh my! Then I must have slept like a log.” He smiled when he saw Lei giggled with his statement. He felt contented seeing her extend her lips with cheerfulness.
“Alright, that’s enough. Let’s eat now. Then you go take a shower, get dressed so you can drive us to our briefing-appointment.”
6:00 P.M. Two hours had passed since they arrived at the hospital. He didn’t know what happened but all of a sudden, after that one-hour briefing they had with the secretary, silence ruled them as they were both going home, to Rosy’s condo. That silence tried to kill him through after the briefing and during their dinner at the canteen but Lei seemed unaffected at all. He wanted to create a conversation but what should he say? How are you, sweetheart? Nonsense. Is everything alright, honey? He’d look like a fool. How’s the baby in there? Oh, yeah, like hanging onto the last days of its life? Let silence rule them then, he decided. Conversation was pointless at that instant.
Bedtime. Mitch tucked her into bed with the blanket at her waist. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He thought about how he felt towards Lei...earlier...just before he fell asleep at lunch time. He thought about their baby. He recalled the briefing this afternoon. The thought about the aftershock and aftermath of the surgery also consumed him. He managed to snap out of those thoughts, shortly. He saw Lei, his sweet Lei, lying on the bed. But he couldn’t let himself go nearer her.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m not going to bed yet. I’m not sleepy either.”
“So, what will you do, Mitch?”
“I’m thinking I’ll just go spend some time watching TV in the living room for awhile. I’ll be right back as soon as I feel like sleeping already.” Mitch kissed Lei on her forehead. When he shut the door, Lei held a pillow to her chest. She searched for the moon as it peaked through her window. She breathed, savored the solemn fresh breeze of the A/C. A minute after, she found herself crying...then she cried even harder until no more tears could be shed.
...to be continued.
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