LITMIR.BIZ

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and feel like sitting up for a short period of time. I have to go on rounds, but I’ll be back. We need to have a long talk. Good. Here’s your breakfast, and I want you to eat every bite.”

      Sharon dutifully tried to eat the oatmeal, milk and bowl of applesauce, but she choked when she tried to swallow around the catch in her throat.

      Although Sharon slept through Linda and Philip’s brief visit, she was wakening when Jeremy came just before lunch. He placed a vase of her favorite peach-colored roses on the stand by her bed. “Hi beautiful. Wanta’ see these blush with shame? They know they’d never match your beauty.” He continued to babble, but Sharon was too groggy to respond. Too, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say to him.

      “I’ll come back another time when you’re more alert,” Jeremy said as he leaned to kiss her cheek. He left, and Sharon relaxed into the cottony feeling of the painkillers.

      A soft voice repeatedly speaking her name roused her from troubled dreams. She slowly opened her eyes to see a chaplain, Col. Mark Kirkpatrick.

      “Hello, there,” he said softly. “We’ve all been so worried about you. How are you feeling, or is it too soon for you to know how you feel?” he smiled.

      She tried to smile but a groan escaped.

      “Be still, please. I’ll do the talking. I don’t want to add to your hurts and heartaches, but I know what happened regardless of what you’ve said, or haven’t said. People heard the ruckus from inside your house, and the M.P. s saw Lt. Taylor’s bruised hands the night you were injured. You may not realize how loudly you were screaming and begging him to stop, but several people came out in time to see you running out of the front door and fall down the steps.”

      Sharon began to sob and shake, cringing against the pain.

      “Please try not to cry. I know it upsets you, but for your sake, and your husband’s, you must tell the truth. We all know he desperately needs professional help, and the only way he’s going to face facts is for you to be strong enough to tell the truth.”

      Sharon shook her head and turned her face away from him. She was sobbing aloud as a nurse hurried in.

      “Colonel, you’ll have to leave. This is a very sick woman. She must have rest and remain free from stress as much as possible.” He patted Sharon’s shoulder, said a quick prayer and left.

      That evening, gritting her teeth against the pain, Sharon made a person-to-person call to Malcolm Taylor. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but common sense told her he needed to know what had been happening.

      “Dad Taylor, you don’t know how sweet your voice is. First I want you to promise you’ll not tell my parents what I’m going to say. I don’t want them to worry. I can’t ask you not to tell your wife, but I hope you won’t. Just listen, please.” Haltingly she told him all that had occurred even to the men talking downtown and Jeremy’s anger as he shook her.

      Malcolm made a strangled sound, and his mounting anger was palpable over the phone when she told him why she was in the hospital. Telling him the entire truth, she sensed it was taking all his strength to try to remain calm.

      “Honey, I’ve suspected that all was not well, but I had no idea it was this serious. I’m heart-broken. I’ve known and loved you all of your life and was ecstatic to welcome you into the family as my daughter. I can’t answer for my wife. She’s been wrong in spoiling Jeremy. Honey, your parents need to know. They love you with all their heart, and regardless of how old you are or how far away you live, you’re still their little girl. Your dad is not only my partner, but he’s like a brother to me. They’ll be deeply hurt to learn you told me and kept it from them. However, Jeremy is my son, and I’m partly responsible for his actions. That’s why you called me first. Honey, you need all of us loving you and supporting you as you deserve.” Malcolm could hardly stop talking for his anger. He wanted to be there to hug Sharon and comfort her.

      Sharon couldn’t control her tears with Dad Taylor being so sweet and understanding. Through her wrenching sobs, she reluctantly agreed that he could tell her parents.

      The next day when Jeremy came in, Sharon was prepared to discuss their future, hopefully without breaking down.

      “Darling, something is seriously wrong. Regardless of what you think, I’m on your side. I’ve not told anyone here what happened, but they’re not fools. They guessed, and heard for themselves.”

      “Yeah,” he sneered. “Everyone’s guessed. They guessed after you told them what a monster you married.”

      “No, Jeremy. I’ve never said anything negative about you. Why have you turned against me? No one here knows for sure how badly you’ve treated me.”

      “I’ve treated you!” He jumped up raising his voice. “What about the way you’ve treated me; your neglect of me.”

      “How have I mistreated you, Jeremy?” she asked in surprise.

      “You expect too much from me. I should never have married you, and mom thinks so, too.”

      Sharon looked him straight in the eyes. “You can go on pretending, but you’re not fooling anyone. You’re only fooling yourself. I’ve been willing to lie and cover up for you. I married you because I believed in you and I loved you. Why did you marry me?”

      “Because Miss Pure and Proper would not go to bed with me without being married,” he answered insolently. “And mom thought you’d make good connections.”

      “Is that the only reason?” she gasped.

      He laughed and then like a bolt of electricity it dawned on Jeremy. “No one here knows. What do you mean, no one here knows. Who does know?” he snarled.

      “Your dad knows and by now my parents and Lynn.”

      “How does dad know? Who told him?” he shouted.

      Two nurses, working on records at their station, had looked up when Jeremy raised his voice. One ran into Sharon’s room while the other one called security. They struggled with Jeremy to keep him off Sharon’s bed until security came. He had just slung one nurse to the floor when the M.P.s rushed in. Jeremy fought the two guards while yelling incoherent phrases and profanity as they wrestled him out of the room. They fell to the floor in the hall while they placed handcuffs on Jeremy.

      “Please don’t hurt him,” Sharon sobbed. She was so upset that a nurse called the doctor who immediately ordered a sedative.

      Sharon was awakened in the late afternoon by the sound of the nurses’ starched uniforms moving around. She slowly opened her eyes and then shrieked.

       Chapter Three

      “Glory be! It’s an angel!” Tears of joy streamed from Sharon’s eyes.

      Lynn was standing by Sharon’s bed with misty green eyes. Lynn’s long, dark eyelashes grazed a smooth complexion tanned lightly by her outdoor activities. Shoulder-length honey-colored hair fell in soft curls with a wavy bang over her right eyebrow.

      “That’s enough,” Lynn broke in after several minutes. “We’ve shed enough tears, and they’ll stop right now. Sharon, you’re a beautiful person, inside and out, who has done no wrong. You’re an intelligent person with a tremendous amount of common sense even if you did lose your mind temporarily,” she smiled. “By the way, I want to meet your friend, Linda, and thank her for calling me. She sure is concerned about you.”

      “I know. She and Philip have been great friends. They’re worth a million. You’ll meet them soon.”

      The next day Sharon felt a little better. The two vivacious girls put a sparkle on the whole floor much to the delight of patients and medical staff as Lynn wheeled Sharon through the halls greeting everyone. Sharon rested peacefully that night.

      The next morning, after a bath and breakfast, Sharon was just settled in

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