Dani saw her struggling. "Do you need some help?" With a sigh of frustration, she nodded. "Not used to asking, are you?" She chuckled as Alex slowly shook her head. "So what exactly do you need me to do to get this thing off?"
"Will you unhook the bottom two straps please?" she asked as she began to unhook the straps around her knee. "The last strap is a bit trickier I’m afraid." She looked up and bit her lip.
Dani looked down at the brace and noticed that it ran up under the edge of Alex’s shorts. She reached down and ran her hand along the brace searching for the end. She blushed slightly when she realized it ended on Alex's upper thigh.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked. Dani looked over at Madison who waited patiently and nodded. "All right then. I'll pull myself up so you can reach the strap and pull it loose. Once it’s loose, you can slip the brace off."
"Will you be uncomfortable with me having my hands between your legs…" She blushed. "I mean…"
Alex chuckled. "Dani, don’t worry about it. You have nothing to fear, I don’t think of you like that."
"Like what? A lesbian? An attractive woman?" she asked indignantly.
Alex leaned back in the bed and looked up at her friend, surprised by the outburst. "Are we really going to have this conversation right now?" She looked pointedly at Madison.
Dani followed her pointed look and saw her daughter leaning against the foot of the bed, watching curiously. "No, of course not. I’m sorry." She took a deep breath and said, "I’m ready whenever you are." She nodded and grabbed the pole above her head, pulling her lower body up off the bed. Dani reached around and pulled the strap, separating the hook and loop fastener, and loosening the brace enough to remove it.
Alex made herself comfortable and called Madison up beside her. Once she was settled in she said, "Let me tell you a story about Millie the Monkey."
The little girl's eyes widened and she smiled with excitement. "Millie the Monkey lives in the jungle by the river with lots of other monkeys."
Alex looked up at Dani, her eyes full of surprise. "It's one of her favorite stories. I’ve had to buy the book twice because she wore out the first one." Unable to read the emotions that crossed Alex's face too fast to decipher, she said, "If it's the only one you know, she’d still be very happy to hear it."
Alex smiled and nodded. She took a deep breath and tried to reign in her emotions. "Well, Miss Maddy, did you know that Millie had more than one adventure in her jungle?" Madison shook her head, her eyes wide with delight as she waited to hear Millie’s next adventure. She began to tell a story of a monkey that wandered too far away from the safety of its family, and how the sleek jaguar that saved the little monkey from falling into the river, could just have easily hurt her. Madison’s eyes began to droop as she snuggled closer.
"Does Millie make it back to her family?" she asked.
"Millie climbed on the back of her new friend and they headed off through the jungle in search of Millie’s family," Alex replied. She continued the story as she watched Madison slowly fall asleep. When she was sure the little girl was deeply asleep, she turned to see her mother watching with a smile.
"You're good with children." There was no mistaking the pain that swept across her features. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories."
Alex blinked rapidly and took a deep breath in an effort to banish the tears, and the memories that caused them. When she felt her emotions were sufficiently under control, she looked over at Dani with a weak smile. "Would you…" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Would you mind handing me that notebook and pen?" When she placed it in her hand, she quickly opened the notebook to a blank page and began to write down the outline for the story she’d just told Madison.
"I’ve looked everywhere for more Millie books for Madison, and can’t find them anywhere. I was beginning to think the author didn’t write any more. Where did you find the story you just told her?" Dani asked.
Alex looked down at Madison and watched her sleep for a minute before she answered. "I know the author. She wrote the first book for her unborn child, and intended to write many more, but life threw her a curveball." She looked up at Dani with a sad expression. "Her relationship ended rather abruptly, and she lost her unborn child. Suddenly she lost the desire to publish the remaining stories." She looked back down at a peaceful Madison and smiled. "She really likes it that much?" she asked.
Dani’s eyes widened and she reached out for the notebook, snatching it from the bed before Alex could stop her. She scanned the notes and realized what it was. "Oh my God." She looked up with a startled expression and tears in her eyes. "You wrote Millie the Monkey?"
"What gave me away?" Alex asked.
Dani sat quietly, with a blank face and vacant expression, as she tried to process the information she’d just learned about her new friend. The thought of losing Madison was devastating; she didn’t know how Alex had survived. She stood and walked over to the window. Looking out into the overcast day, she whispered, "I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through."
"I'm glad, and pray you never do." Alex pulled herself up out of the bed and settled into her wheelchair, careful not to wake the sleeping child. She wheeled over to Dani who turned to her
