Chapter 7
A spinal injury, Costa thought as he left the room with Fidelio in tow, those were grave words. Tallia's right side had lain motionless through this second fit, and he was terrified of what it might portend. Feeling as if he had aged a hundred years, Costa grabbed Fidelio's arm in the corridor, ready to do his duty and take his lumps like a man.
If anything, he was eager to feel the brunt of Fidelio's anger. He was a monster and deserved to be treated as such. Fidelio turned to him with a weary look on his face, which Costa had never seen before, suddenly his brother looked like a man and not a boy.
"I am sorry Fidelio, more than you can ever know or I can ever express. I behaved like a monster. I do not think I will ever forgive myself."
"Oh, Costa!" Fidelio exclaimed softly, throwing his arms around him. "It's not your fault, I know you were doing what you thought was right, I should have explain-"
"Don't blame yourself!" Costa snapped, furious at how quick his brother was to let him off the hook. Though why he was surprised, Costa didn't know; it was Fidelio's way. Since they were children he had never known his brother to hold a grudge or remain angry for long. He wanted to push Fidelio away, refuse his comfort because he certainly did not deserve it, but Costa realized that would be the selfish thing to do. He could see the fear in Fidelio's face and knew the younger man needed him.
"I'm so worried Costa," Fidelio confessed as he let go and collapsed against the wall.
Costa envied his brother his ability to be so honest and to share his emotions so freely. He could never have admitted as much, even if a gun were pressed to his head. He was simply too reserved, too conscious of maintaining his authority. Fidelio, however, was ten years younger and by the time he was born their father had been an invalid, a mere shell of the autocratic dictator who raised Costa and taught him what it was to be a man.
Costa knew he and his mother had doted on Fidelio as their grief over the decline of their bulwark, the Eustakhios family patriarch, made them cling all the harder to one another. Indulged and pampered from the moment he was born, Fidelio did not consider his emotions a weakness.
Fidelio laughed and cried quite freely and was certainly a better person for it, Costa thought privately. Standing at rigid attention in the middle of the hall, Costa wished he could be half so open, but he felt the weight of his duty as head of the family acutely and knew it was him everyone depended upon, so he could not indulge in fits of emotion.
"Everything will be fine," he assured Fidelio with his usual rock-solid certainty. "Rest assured, I shall do all that can be done for Tallia. She is part of the family, ne? No expense shall be spared-"
"There are some problems you just can't throw money at!" Fidelio cut him off in an impassioned voice. It was an argument Costa had heard more than once from his younger, more idealistic brother, but one he did not agree with. "God Costa, Tallia was almost paralyzed in a car accident two years ago. Did you see her arm just now? She couldn't move it!"
"She is exhausted and overwrought," Costa reasoned with more sangfroid then he really felt, but he knew indulging in worst-case scenarios would accomplish nothing. He couldn't even allow himself to react to the awful revelation that she had been in a car accident and was almost crippled. Just the notion sent shivers of fear tearing through him.
"Her health is so delicate," Fidelio was saying, "She came close to dying in the crash, Costa. They thought she would be a quadriplegic if she ever recovered from the coma-"
"Coma!"
"Yes," Fidelio said, nodding his head. "Tallia was in a coma for almost a year- nine months! It’s a miracle she came out of it. No one thought she would ever move again, or walk. She has a zillion pins in her back holding her spine together. Even the slightest injury could be disastrous.
“We should have listened to her doctor, she told us it was too soon for her to travel, but me and Emmy wanted to get her out of that damn hospital. Emmy's been so frantic over Tallia's health and she knew how depressed Tallia was cooped up in a hospital bed.
“I knew it was a bad idea," Fidelio hissed, pounding the back of head against the wall. "I just wanted to make Emmy happy and I thought this was the perfect place for Tallia to rest."
"It is," Costa assured him fiercely. "She will be very comfortable here, once she has rested. She is simply tired from the long trip and my unforgivable behavior. I shall get her the best doctors, Fidelio, and if that is not enough I shall have her transported to Athens or London. She must be stronger than she appears, if she has defied all medical predictions concerning her health up till now," he told his brother, grabbing Fidelio's shoulder and squeezing it hard. "She will recover."
"Really?" Fidelio whispered hopefully, looking like a little boy again, seeking his big brothers assurance that everything would work out in the end.
"Of course. I promise," Costa told him without hesitation.
Fidelio grinned then and shook his head, "Costa, you are one in a million," he muttered admiringly.
At any other time Costa would have shared his smile and arrogantly agreed, taking his brothers hero worship as his due, but that time was past. He felt about as small and insignificant as a slug after how he behaved today.
"Leave everything to me," he said only, swearing to himself that he would see this situation set to rights if it took him the rest of his life. He would not let Fidelio down. More importantly, he would not allow Tallia to suffer a moment longer due to him.
"What will I tell Emmy?" Fidelio suddenly exclaimed. "God, she's going to be devastated!"
"Tell her nothing- until we know for certain how Tallia is doing," Costa ordered and slapped Fidelio on the back as he led him down to the living room.
"I can't do that Costa! She trusts me. We share everything. She'll never forgive me if she finds out I kept something this important from her."
"Fidelio, there is no need to upset her unduly. She is coming here soon, ne?"
His brother nodded his dark head, "In two days. Tallia and I came ahead to get her settled in. I plan to ask Emmy to marry me when she arrives," he confided with a nervous grin.
Costa turned to the wet bar and poured them both a drink to hide the skeptical arch of a black brow, which he could not suppress. As an overprotective older brother, who had been more like a father to Fidelio than a sibling, he could not help but be alarmed by this news.
Though Costa loved Fidelio dearly, he knew his brother’s judgment when it came to women was flawed- at best. Fidelio was too trusting and took people at face value. His brother was still so young and inexperienced that he did not know how women could be. Costa knew he was probably to blame, because he had sheltered Fidelio far too much, seeking to protect him from all the harsh truths that no one had shielded Costa from when he was making his way in the world alone. Costa had to look out for his brother.
"You will only make her hysterical if you tell her that her sister is ill," he cautioned as he handed Fidelio a drink. "Wait until the medic tells us what he thinks and we know what we are dealing with. There is nothing worse than for a person to know someone they love is in trouble when they are far away and can do nothing to help them.
“She is not a physician, your Emmy, is she?" he inquired neutrally.
"No. Emmy is a… she's a model," Fidelio told him with telling hesitation.
Costa was aware of how his brother paused, the rim of the glass to his lips, to gauge his reaction, knowing how he felt about models. Schooling his features to betray none of his misgivings, Costa merely shrugged and forced himself to take a small sip of ouzo, instead of belting down the entire glass as he really wanted. Privately, he thought things were going from bad to worse; Tallia might be paralyzed and his brother was about to become engaged to a model!
It was not lost on Costa that Fidelio had come to Seleni with the expectation of having the island to himself, believing him safely in Athens on business. He could only imagine what he would think of this 'Emmy' when he met her, if his brother felt the need
to sneak around and get engaged to the woman behind his back.
That cynical thought brought Costa up short as he realized what it implied. Clearly something had gone very wrong in his relationship with Fidelio if his brother was now resorting to hiding things from him, especially something as major as a wife. Pain sliced through Costa as it occurred to him that he had alienated Fidelio, his nearest family member and the person to whom he felt closest in the world.
Costa always counted his excellent relationship with his brother as the most important thing in his life and the accomplishment of which he was proudest. He might enjoy his business success and the accolades of associates, mistresses and envious strangers, but he knew family was the only truly essential thing in the world.
Fidelio was his family- his only family. It wounded him to think he might have become so stern and overbearing that he had pushed his own brother, the person dearest to him, away.
"Fidelio… tell me about your Emmy, please," he asked softly.
His brother looked at him with surprise and then his face broke into a wide grin.
Tallia woke with a muzzy head. She groaned softly as she let herself drift slowly out of the cotton-wool fog of sedation, knowing from experience it was best not to fight the effects of the drugs and allow her brain to kick start itself. When her mind started working more clearly, she parted her lashes and watched the world drift into focus.
She felt as if she were trapped under a ton of bricks, making it almost impossible to open her eyes, much less move. Her mouth was sticky, pasty, and dry all at once, and somewhere in the distance little gremlins were poking her all over with knives that she knew were very sharp, though the drugs thankfully dulled their edge.
"Kiri, you are awake, you feel better?" a soft, heavily accented Greek voice murmured in her ear.
Remembering where she was, Tallia forced herself not to tense. The voice was that of a woman and made her feel safe. Flicking her gaze around as best she could, she saw no one else in the room and realized she was safe. Suddenly she became aware of a strong, work worn hand holding one of her own hands. Turning her head carefully on the pillow, she found a strange woman with a pleasant face smiling at her, though the woman's dark eyes were fraught with concern.
"Ne," she croaked past the gritty dryness in her throat.
A lovely smile immediately wreathed the woman's face to hear her speak Greek, though Tallia knew her strange bedside companion was in for disappointment, yes was one of the few words she knew. Thankfully everyone so far had spoken in English around her.
"Would you like water?"
"Ne," she repeated, knowing better than to nod, as it would only make the gremlins stir with delight.
The rim of a glass was brought to her lips and she drank greedily. Instantly she felt refreshed and far more awake. She tried sitting up, but the woman was quick to press a hand to her shoulder to restrain her, making a fretful sound.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Tallia assured her, feeling the need to sit up and check her surroundings. Memory was flooding back and she knew where she was, on Seleni, in Greece. A little shudder skittered through her as she remembered everything, especially him- Costa, Fidelio's brother.
Only when she saw for certain that the room was empty, did Tallia feel as if she could relax. Her eyes lingered on the French doors that led out onto a wide, luxurious terrace. That was where she last saw him, standing so dark and menacing against the brilliant blue sky, watching her with his deceptively mellow eyes.
Everything that passed between them in the car that morning came rushing through her head, making her groan, while she felt hot color flood her face. She tried to reach up and cover her burning cheeks, but couldn't feel her right arm. Looking down, Tallia saw it lying on the bed, palm up, the fingers curling gently in the air, but it was suddenly the arm of a stranger because it lay unresponsive at her side.
Frowning, she willed her hand to move or the fingers to twitch, but nothing happened, all she felt was numbness along the entire right side of her body, from the neck down. Her fear must have been apparent, because the woman at her side began muttering in Greek and patting her on the shoulder lightly, obviously trying to reassure her.
Tallia couldn't tear her eyes from her hand. It just lay there, as if it had been severed. Horrible memories suddenly resurfaced, of waking up in hospital with her head in a vice, unable to move anything but her eyes. Tubes had been placed down her throat forcing air into her lungs; strangers’ hands had been all over her body.
She whimpered and jerked, trying to force her hand to work. Her right arm slid a few inches across the bed at her weak struggles, but she still couldn’t feel it. Black fear edged her vision and she felt as if she might pass out. Her lungs hurt, and belatedly she realized she was holding her breath.
Remembering to breathe, Tallia sucked in a deep lungful of air and grabbed her useless arm with her left hand, which thankfully was still working. To her horror she couldn't even feel her hand on her arm. It was as if the right side of her body were no longer attached. Dropping the dead weight of her right arm in her lap, she pinched her skin frantically- yet she couldn't feel anything!
The woman had gone to the door to call for someone, Tallia hardly noticed as she yanked on the fingers of her right hand brutally. This can't be happening, she thought, dumbly. I’m dreaming. I must still be under sedation, she told herself.
She began to pant as panic set in. The gremlins went wild inside, and she felt their knives digging deeper. Tallia knew from physical therapy that she had to stay calm. She would burn through the sedative, the nurses were always telling her. But it was hard when she couldn't feel her arm, no matter how hard she bent her fingers or twisted her skin.
"Miss Maitland, Miss Maitland!" a deep, authoritative voice called to her. Terrified, she looked up to see a stout, middle-aged man rushing towards her. He wore a lab coat and held a stethoscope in one hand; his other hand was extended towards her in a staying motion.
"It won't move," she gasped, struggling to catch her breath and looking wildly around as the room seemed to blur. She didn't know where she was, this wasn't a hospital and she had never seen these people before, the doctor and the woman standing in the door. She needed Emmy. Where is Emmy? She wondered desperately, shrinking into the pillows as the doctor came to hover over her.
"Please, do not upset yourself Miss Maitland," the Doctor soothed, his voice a heavily accented, comforting rumble, as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I can't move my arm," she whispered, settling back against the pillows. She became docile as she realized that though he was a stranger he was here to help.
"Yes, so it would seem," he murmured as if it were of only mild concern. "You have had a shock to the system, my dear. I have spoken extensively with your doctor, Mrs. Ellsworth, and examined you myself. We believe you have suffered no further trauma to your existing injuries."
What do you mean?"
Smiling, he gave her knee a paternal pat and took her useless arm, gently prying it free from the hand that was abusing it. "You did not have a fall this morning or since leaving London, did you?"
"No," she agreed.
"Do you recall suffering any violent physical trauma?"
"N-no," she replied.
"Very good. Then there is every reason to believe you are suffering from symptoms of a very temporary nature. I am Doctor Giannopopoulos, and I have taken the liberty of examining you- with Mrs. Panossis in the room," he assured her, "as did the flight medic who was first brought here to check on you.
“Both the medic and I observed considerable swelling around your spine, especially in the areas where you have been operated. We have reason to believe, and your Doctor Ellsworth thinks it is most likely, that you have overexerted yourself in the past two days causing inflammation in the muscles of your back. These muscles are now constricting the nerves on the right side of your spine, causing the numbness and temporary paralysis you are experiencing.
"I will
be honest with you, as I am with all my patients Kiri Maitland. The next twenty-four hours are critical," he told her, lowering his voice to stress the importance of his words.
"I have every expectation that with rest and complete relaxation we should see your mobility return once the affected muscles have been given a chance to settle down. The paramedic administered a sedative due to your agitation, to keep you from further injuring yourself, and I intend to give you another injection, to insure your back has a chance to recover. If by tomorrow, however, there is no change in your condition, I fear we will have to airlift you to a hospital where we can x-ray you and determine what must be done.
"The next twenty four hours are crucial Kiri, you must remain in bed without any distractions. You must remain calm and give your body a chance to heal, ne?"
"Ne," she repeated weakly, taking heart from his calm manner and reasonable explanation. She supposed she had to, since she would surely become hysterical if she dwelt too long on the possibility of being permanently paralyzed, and that would only exacerbate the situation.
"You will be fine Kiri Maitland," the doctor pronounced gently, patting her left hand reassuringly. "Have faith. I will remain here until tomorrow and travel with you to the hospital if there is no change in your condition.
“Mrs. Panossis will stay with you through the night and see to your care. You must rest and allow nothing to distress you. Tell us if you have any needs, no matter how insignificant, ne? You will be fine, do not worry," he said again with such soothing authority that she could not help but believe him.
Nodding her head, Tallia gave him a small smile.
"So, before I give you the injection, is there anything you need?" he asked lightly.
Blushing hotly, she nodded and licked her lips. After all the time she spent in hospital Tallia knew she should not be embarrassed by anything, yet some things never got easier. The doctor seemed to understand before she even opened her mouth and he chuckled softly. "Ah, I see, perhaps I shall go and leave you with Mrs. Panossis for a few minutes?"
"Please," she sighed, grateful for his tact and understanding. Her relief didn't last very long when she saw the bedpan Mrs. Panossis produced with a sympathetic smile, but Tallia realized it was a small price to pay if it saved her from permanent paralysis.