Compromising Positions by Barbara Cutrera

Author:Barbara Cutrera
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, mental illness, wolves, racism, louisiana, contemporary adult fiction, survivor of abuse
Publisher: Barbara Cutrera

Chapter Two

Josie pulled her father to the doorway, assisted him in removing his protective clothing, took off her own, hastily washed her hands, insisted that her father only wash his once, and then led him into the hallway. She was dizzy, and her skin felt clammy. Her father was talking, telling her they had to go back. She pulled him forward into the small, private waiting room and shut the door behind them before stumbling towards a chair. She couldn’t get the image of the blood dripping from the edge of her mother’s hospital bed out of her head. Everything began to go black. She heard her father call her name before she passed out.

“Josie, wake up!”

She opened her eyes and looked into her father’s anxious face. Her right shoulder, hip, and arm hurt. So did the right side of her head. When Josie tried to rise, pain shot through all of the places that had merely been sore while she’d been lying still.

“You have to get off the floor!” Clark cried with obvious panic in his voice. “Think of all the germs! We’re in a hospital! People track things in here all the time!”

“What happened?”

“You fainted and fell. I couldn’t get to you in time to catch you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Dad. Would you help me up? How long was I out?”

“From the time you fainted? Not long. Sixty seconds?”

Clark struggled to aid her to first sit, then stand. She noted with concern that he was out of breath from these simple activities. Her head, shoulder, arm, and hip throbbed painfully, but she would live. Her mother would not. She felt a surge of grief and then one of relief. There would be no more suffering for Rhonda. The hallucinations would die with her.

When Josie tried to hug her father, he stepped back. Looking guilty and miserable, he said, “You touched Mom’s cheek and head without protection. We can’t hug until you’ve taken twelve showers. I have to take twelve, too. So does your husband. That’s the only way we can be sure we’re clean. As it is, I have to wash my hands twelve times after helping you up.”

Frustrated by her father’s mental illness and exhausted, she stood slightly hunched because of the pain in her body and simply nodded before saying, “Okay, Dad. Later, we’ll hug.”

Josie forced herself to straighten when Stone pushed open the door to the private room thirty minutes later.

He doesn’t need to be worrying about me any more than he already does, she thought.

“Will Rhonda recover?” Clark asked hopefully. “May I take her home now?”

“She passed away a few minutes after you left the room. They tried to resuscitate her as you’d requested, but they couldn’t. She was bleeding too much, and her heart wasn’t strong enough to restart again like it did the first time. I’m sorry.”

“Dad, she’s not in pain anymore in her body or her mind,” Josie said quietly. “She’s free.”

He didn’t look at either of them. Instead, he stared at the floor for a few moments before saying, “I want to be free, too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.