“Ah,” the doctor murmured with satisfaction as he removed the dressing. “Everything looks very good. No one would guess you had a cut there. Stay still while I put on a new dressing. If there’s no infection by tomorrow, you won’t have to wear the head wrap anymore.”
Just hearing those words helped Terri to breathe a little easier. She could imagine Richard felt equally relieved. Confined like that, he had to be going out of his mind. In fact he would probably have ripped off the bandages by now if he’d been able to get at the gauze.
“What about his burns, Doctor?”
“They are much better. Tomorrow we will unwrap his hands and apply a dressing which will free his fingers. I am happy to say that he is breathing at ninety-five perfect capacity and no longer needs oxygen.”
Thank goodness for that. “What about his shoulder?”
“It was an anterior dislocation which is the most common. The surgeon performed a reduction. All your husband has to do now is wear this sling for three or four weeks and he will be fine. To his credit, he is in remarkable shape. Has he always worked out?”
Richard?
“Not since he played football in high school.”
“Then he has been keeping a secret from you. You do not stay this solid without help.”
Maybe he’d been going to a gym for the last eighteen months. She had no idea.
“Is his throat really going to get better?”
“In a few days it will be like new.”
“I’m sorry I sound so impatient.”
“That’s a wife’s prerogative.”
Ignoring his comment she said, “I wish there were something I could do for him right now.”
The doctor finished rewrapping his patient’s head, then lowered the bed so Richard was lying almost flat.
“I can think of one thing.”
“What?”
“You could give his legs and feet a soothing massage with that lotion over on the table. It will relax his whole body and help him to sleep.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Excellent. I am sure your husband is looking forward to such a lovely wife ministering to his needs.”
The doctor was mistaken on that score, but she was equally certain Richard craved any relief from the pain that he could get. If a massage would help, she was only too glad to provide it.
“Tomorrow we will put him in the shower for the first time. That will make him feel really good, too.”
Terri had no doubt of it and thanked him.
“I’m impressed with the wonderful care you’re getting,” she said after the doctor had left the room. “Tomorrow you’ll be stripped of all these bandages. I know you can’t wait. Until then I’ll do as he suggested and try to bring you some comfort.”
She moved over to the table and picked up the lotion, and then walked to the end of the bed. After pulling out the sheet to expose his left leg to the knee, she squirted a mound of the cream in her palm to begin the rubdown.
But when she started to work the lotion into his skin, her hands froze.
Dear God.
This man wasn’t Richard!
The burnished, hard-muscled leg did not belong to her ex-husband! Richard’s legs were shorter, bulkier, hairier; his foot was wider, not as long.