Since Gini had enjoyed the atrium at the hospital so much, Debbie wanted to take her to the gardens near the condo. The weather was warm, so they could walk.
When they got to the lobby, Debbie went to check the mail. Gini had on sunglasses and a brimmed hat. Howard greeted Debbie and watched as she and Gini went to the boxes. Then it hit him: the woman with Debbie was Ms. Anderson. Debbie led her, and the woman was thrusting her tongue.
“It’s okay, Gini. We’re just getting the mail.”
They went out the front door but were only gone a few minutes. Debbie was surprised that the noise of the city and crowds of the tourists frightened Gini. Maybe it was the children running around yelling, or the foghorn of the tour boats. Gini abruptly stopped and started flexing her hands. So, as before, they would have to take it slow until Gini got used to her new surroundings.
When they came back through the lobby, Howard said, “Have a nice day, Ms. Anderson, Ms. Pierce.”
“Oh… yes…” Gini said as they stepped into the elevator.
Each day they took their walk, going little by little until they made it all the way to the park. Gini commented about the birds singing and the flowers’ scents. And each time, Howard made a point to greet them. It was obvious to him Gini had some kind of brain damage. He had heard nothing from anyone about her being injured, so presumed it wasn’t for public knowledge. He would respect her privacy. It saddened him to see her in a weakened state, having to be led, but she still had her beautiful smile, and she seemed happy being with Debbie.
They never saw Dr. Young when they made their hospital visits. Gini had only said his name one time. John told them Robert worked mostly with the business side of the hospital. They had assigned another neurosurgeon to head his old team. Everyone had moved on with their new lives.
On one visit, an eye specialist did some tests with Gini. He videotaped her in a room listening to an audio book and discovered from watching the tape back that Gini occasionally opened her eyes with a quick blink open, the opposite of blinking them closed. From that, the specialist determined her vision as good enough to look at things around her and maneuver. They were going to try different therapies to see if they could reverse it so she blinked normally, leaving her eyes open.
Gini was always happy to be with Aaron, but her therapy days were being cut to once a month. Debbie didn’t need equipment for Gini to go forward, and Maggie wasn’t needed unless there was an issue.
Debbie’s and Gini’s life fell into a pattern. On nice days, they would walk. Howard would always greet them, and Gini would always smile at him. The two ran errands together, and Debbie even took Gini to a movie. About an hour into it, she fell asleep.
One day as they were starting their walk, a man came in as they were going out of the condo building. He smiled a pleasant smile and went on through the doors. Then he turned and took another look.
“Dr. Turner,” Howard greeted.
“Howard, was that Virginia Anderson?”
“Yes, sir.”
“She looked incapacitated.”
“Yes, Doctor. That’s her nurse with her, Ms. Pierce. She’s living in Ms. Anderson’s condo with her.”
“What happened to Gini?”
“I don’t know. Ms. Pierce has never said, and I didn’t ask. Ms. Anderson has trouble speaking and maybe seeing, hard to tell with the sunglasses. I would guess something to do with the brain. Since there’s no news about her, I’m assuming it isn’t for the public to know. I just know she is still the same kind woman she has always been. So I will say nothing to anyone.”
“Thank you, Howard. I’ll do the same.”
Since day one, Debbie had slept with Gini in her bed. With Ric gone and it only being the two of them, it was just easier. By sleeping in the same room, she could keep an eye on Gini during the night. And Gini wouldn’t go to sleep easily if Debbie didn’t lie down next to her and hold her in her arms.
Taking a shower together worked the best, completing two tasks in one process. Debbie always dried Gini first. After wrapping a towel around her, Debbie would dry herself. She stood in front of Gini naked as she dried her. Gini reached over and put her palms on Debbie’s chest. Moving her hands up and down, she had a puzzled look on her face.
“Those are my breasts.”
“Bress?”
“Yes, you have breasts too.” She stopped drying Gini and put Gini’s hands on her own breasts. She remembered the article Robert had given Debbie at the hospital that told about a woman rediscovering her body after brain trauma. Gini was doing the same.
“Er… guiney… bress.” She put her hands back on Debbie’s. “Dee… bee… bress.”
“All women have breasts. Men, too, but men’s are smaller. Women’s breasts are larger so they can fill with milk to feed their babies.”
“Bee… bee? Bee… bee… meek.”
“Yes.” Debbie put her hands on top of Gini’s on Debbie’s breast, then took hold of them and kissed her palms. “We’d better get dressed before we get too cold.”
“Bress… uff… meek.” Gini put the hand that Debbie wasn’t holding and touched her own breast again.
Debbie figured she’d need to look up on the internet how to teach sex to adolescents. Such new territory for Debbie. She definitely wanted to have a baby someday, and she knew there were a lot of things she’d have to brush up on to educate her child. But here she was with a grown woman in her care who had to be
