Chapter 39

They got inside and went straight up to Malachai’s room.  “Let’s get to bed, Mandy.  I know you’re tied.  I’m very tired.  The adrenaline has worn off.”

She smiled at him and kissed him softly on the cheek.  “Thank you for everything, Malachai.  You’ve done so much for me today that it’s not even funny.  You saved me.  If I hadn’t met you when I did, I probably would have killed myself.”

“Don’t talk like that, Mandy.  All I know is that you called me and asked for help.  I helped you.”

She laid her hand gently against his face.  “Malachai, eventually, I’ll drill it into your head that you saved my life.”  She pressed her lips to his.

He wanted desperately to deepen the kiss, but he couldn’t take advantage of her like that.  He pulled away from her.  “Mandy, what are you doing?”

She looked at him through unshed tears.  “Don’t you want me, Malachai?”

“Mandy, I want you, don’t get me wrong, but you need to heal before I can let myself do anything with you.”

“Malachai, please, I need someone right now.  I’m not easy by any means.  I just need someone to show me that they care about me.”

“Mandy, I do care for you.  That’s why I’m saying no.  I want you more than I can say right now.  But, you need to heal from what you’ve gone through before I do that with you.”

“You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”

Malachai laughed.  “No, ask my parents sometime.  My Mom walked in on me having sex.  I just can’t have sex with you without feeling like I’m taking advantage of your unstable emotional state.  You’re hurting right now, physically and emotionally.  Let me heal your heart while your body heals, then I’ll love your body.”

She looked at him, confused.  “You’re serious?”

“Yes, Amanda.  Let me just hold you tonight.”

She rubbed at her eye that wasn’t swollen and bruised.  “No one’s ever said anything like that to me”, she said as her tears started falling.  “Malachai, will you hold me?”

He smiled softly, “Come here, beautiful”, he said, holding his arms out to her.  She went to him, burying her face in his shoulder, and sobbed.  He sat them down on his bed, and let her cry.  Finally, she cried herself to sleep.  He carefully laid her down in the bed then curled up next to her, his arm sliding protectively across her waist.  As he lay in bed, an angel sleeping in his arms, he made a promise to himself.  No one will ever hurt this girl again.  I’ll never let that happen.  Her Aunt and Uncle had better count themselves lucky that my Dad made me sit down, or I’d have made and example.  They’ll never come near her.  The first person to come near her with the intent to harm her will answer to me.”

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Mandy awoke crying in the middle of the night, waking Malachai.  “Oh, my God, it hurts.”  She clutched at her ribs.

“What’s the matter, Mandy?  Is it that the pain meds from the hospital have worn off and your ribs are bothering you again?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me run down the hall to see if my parents have any pain meds in their medicine cabinet.  I’ll be right back.”  He crawled out of bed and ran down the hall, banging on his parent’s bedroom door.  David came to the door to answer it.  “What’s going on, son?” he asked, his voice showing that he had been awoken from a dead sleep.

“The painkillers that Dr. J gave her at the hospital have worn off.”

David made his ‘ah-ha’ face, and opened the door wider.  “Come on in; we’ll see what you mother and I have in the medicine cabinet.  I’m sure we have some strong pain killer you can give her until you can go fill her prescriptions tomorrow.”  He turned and headed into the room, but Malachai didn’t move.  “You’re mother is covered, Malachai.  You won’t see anything.” 

Malachai debated for a moment, then decided to take his word for it.  When he walked into the room, he chanced a glance at his parents’ bed and sure enough, his mother was covered from arm pits to toe in the black silk comforter that always graced his parents’ bed and she was sleeping peacefully.  “Dad, do you know if Mom is taking anymore clients?” he asked when he walked into his parents’ bathroom.

“On occasion, but only by referral.  Why?”

“Because Dr. J gave Mandy a prescription for massage.”

“How many?”

“It’s open ended, I think.  I’ll have to look at the script.”

David nodded and started rummaging through the medicine cabinet.  “I’m looking and see if we have anything that will act immediately so that she can sleep.  I think that will make sleeping a little easier for both of you.  Hers maybe drug induced, but at least she’ll sleep.”  He kept digging until he found a needle.  He looked at Malachai.  “In this needle is vicodine.  Inject it into the meat of her outer thigh.”

“How old is that thing?”

“When was the last time your mother or I went to the hospital for an injury?”

“About a month ago for Mom.  I don’t remember you ever going to the hospital.”

“That, my son, is because I’m spoiled.  I get a neuromuscular massage weekly.  Due to this, my risk of injury is greatly reduced.  Because your Mom doesn’t get massage as often as she should, her muscles get tight and she hurts herself.  Dr. J knows that the only way to get your Mom to take any kind of pain reliever is for it to have to be injected because she won’t take a pill.”

“She just jammed a finger walking into a wall because she was talking and looking over her shoulder.  Dr. J gave her pain killers for that?”

“No.  Dr. J gave her a pain reliever for her back pain.”

“Oh.  He must have done that at her last doctor’s appointment last week.”

“You’re brilliant, Malachai.”  He held the needle out to his son.  “Go give your girlfriend some relief.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Dad.”

“My ass she’s not, Malachai.  You just haven’t made it official by asking her out or screwing her.  I’ve been around a little longer than you have.”

Malachai took the needle from his Dad and shook his head.  “I can’t take advantage of her like that, Dad.  It would be wrong.”

“Let her get well again, and get some counseling, and then you two can try to make it official.  But, remember what I told you the night your mother walked in on you.”

“I know, Dad.  Use protection and lock the door.”

David chuckled.  “Good boy, now get the hell out of my sight until breakfast.  Oh, if she doesn’t wake for breakfast, I’ll save her something.”

“YOU’RE cooking in the morning?”

“To give your mother a break, yes, I am.  Is that a problem?”

Malachai shook his head.  “I’m afraid that if she eats your cooking that she’ll never eat mine.  You and Mom can COOK!”

“Shh.  Keep it down, Malachai, you’re mother is still sleeping.  Go give that vicodine to Mandy and I’ll see you in the morning.  I would like to go back to sleep before your Mom and I have to get your younger siblings up for school.”

Malachai chuckled.  “I’m going, I’m going.”  He walked out of his parents’ bedroom, shutting the door behind him.  He stopped in the bathroom he shared with his brothers to grab an alcohol swab to sterilize the site where he was injecting the vicodine, then went back to his room.

Mandy was sitting on the bed, clutching at her broken ribs.  “What took so long, Malachai?”

“Dad had to rummage through the medicine cabinet in their bathroom for a moment.  He found it though.”  Malachai held up the needle.  “It’s vicodine.  It’s the only way Mom will take pain meds.  This will get into your system a lot faster than a pill.”

She nodded.  “Where do we have to stick the needle?”

“Bare a little of your thigh or hip.  I’ll clean it with an alcohol pad, give you the medicine, then put a band aid on it.  I keep bandages in my bedside table because I’m always playing guitar.  If I play long enough, I can get my fingers to bleeding.”

She nodded.  “I get that.”  She pulled down the waist band of the scrubs she was given at the hospital, just low enough for Malachai to swab her hip and give her the medicine.  He did just that.  Grabbing a glove from his bedside table, swabbed a small patch on her hip, and gave her the medicine.  He put the cap back on the needle and snapped it off.   “What did you do that for?”

“It’s a trick I learned from my Mom.  She always snapped the needle off after she uses one so that one drug addict can’t use it to dose themselves with heroine or meth or something.”

“That’s pretty smart.”  She yawned.  “I’m gonna lay back down now.  That stuff works pretty fast.”

“Because it was injected hypodermically.  Go on ahead and lay back down, I’ve got to go throw this stuff away.  I’ll be right back.”  He stood up and went to the kitchen to throw the needle, glove and band aid trash away then went back upstairs to his room to find his sweet Mandy asleep.  He crawled silently into bed with her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and went back to sleep.

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There was a gentle rapping on the door.  “Malachai, it’s Mom.  If you and Amanda are feeling up to it, breakfast is ready.  Your Dad made french toast with turkey bacon.”

He smiled softly to himself.  “Thanks, Mom.”  He brushed Mandy’s hair from her face gently.  “Hey, are you awake?”

She tried to stretch and shrank back down.  “Ouch.  Yeah, I’m awake.”

“You hungry?”

“Yeah, actually.  I’m starving.”

“How does french toast and turkey bacon sound?”

“Brilliant.  Who cooked?”

“My Dad cooked this morning.  I think he’s giving Mom a break today.  He’ll probably cook all day.”

“Can your Dad cook?”

“He’s a really good cook.  I learned all of my culinary skills from him and Mom.”

“You’re telling me you can cook too?”

“I’m not a bad cook, but I’m nowhere near the caliber of my parents.”

“Because they’ve been around a little longer so they’ve had the chance to practice.”

He chuckled.  “If you say so.  Let’s go eat.”  He slipped out of bed and held out his hand to her to help her stand.

She took his hands and let him pull her to her feet.  “You’re so sweet, Malachai.  Where did you learn to take care of a woman like this?”

“My Dad.  He’s so attentive to my Mom.  He takes care of her if she’s sick, holds her when she’s scared or just plain needs it; whatever she needs, he does it.  To me, that’s how a real man acts.  He takes care of his woman and his kids, no matter what.”

“Your Dad must be your idol.”

“He is.  I have a great deal of respect for him.  He’s the only father I’ve known my entire life.  He took it upon himself to raise another man’s child.  What’s not to respect about that?”

“He does seem like he’s a good role model.”

“He’s the best.” He took her hand.  “Come on, let’s go some breakfast.”  He lead her down the stairs and to the Kitchen.  The moment they walked in, David spotted that they were holding hands and shot Malachai a knowing look.  The look said, “I thought she wasn’t your girlfriend.”  Malachai blushed.

“Malachai, why are you cheeks so red?” Marc asked his big brother.

“Don’t worry about it, Marc.  It’s between me and Daddy.”  He pulled out a chair for Mandy, then took a seat himself.

Marc started tugging on the hem of the wife beater tank top Malachai wore.  “MALACHAI”, he said in a loud whisper.

“What Marc?”

“Why is your pretty friend’s face all bruised and stuff?”

He looked at Mandy.  She nodded.  “Well, Marc, because mean, bad people hurt her.”

“Why doesn’t Mommy give her a massage and make it all better?”

“It doesn’t work like that, Marc”, Brie told her youngest son.  “She has to heal before I can touch her, Marc.  I could make her boo boos worse if I gave her a massage while she’s hurt.”

“It could?”

“Yeah.  Once she’s better, if she wants, I can give her massage, but I can’t do it now without hurting her.”

“I thought…” David began. 

Brie shook her head, silencing him.  “I’ll clarify for you after the children are at school.”  He nodded and ate his breakfast without another word.

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After the school age kids were in school, which meant all of Malachai’s younger siblings, Brie explained why she explained why she couldn’t give Amanda a massage to David.  “I actually CAN give her a massage, but I can’t do a lot of the deeper work that I do with you, for instance, David  Now, I’ll have to have a chat with the ER doctor that saw her last night before I can determine what kind of work to start with.”  She looked at Amanda.  “Who was it that saw you last night, Amanda?”

She looked at the hospital bracelet that she still wore on her wrist.  “Dr. J. Mongan.”

Brie snickered.  “Figures.  Did he give you a script for massage?”

“Yeah.”

“How many?”

“It’s actually open ended, Mom”, Malachai said, showing her the prescription.

“I’m gonna kill him”, she laughed.  “He must think I’m super human.”

“He did call you a miracle worker”, Mandy said.

“Amanda, I’m far from a miracle worker, I’m just skilled.  Before I give you any form of massage, even Lymph Drainage, I’m going to have to put in a call to my favorite physician to find out what he found in your examination and all that good stuff.  You could tell me, and I could get it from the discharge papers, but it’s just easier for me to get it from the horse’s mouth, if you know what I mean.”

“No, I understand.”

“I’ll tell you know, if your ribs are wrapped, I’m not going to work on you until your ribs have healed.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you wouldn’t be able to lay on the table and be able to relax.  You’d be in a LOT of pain.  And with you being on pain medication and possibly an anti- inflammatory, you wouldn’t be able to judge the pressure accurately and I could really hurt you.”

“I’m in enough pain as it is.”

“Well, let me talk to Dr. J to see what’s going on with this script and get from him what he’s wanting from me, then I’ll talk with you about a treatment plan for after you’re healed.  Sound good?”

“Yes, ma’am.  That sounds like a really good idea.”

“Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’ll be in my office should anyone need me.  Be sure to knock before you just walk in because I’ll be exchanging confidential information with another health care professional.”  And with that, she stood and left.