Hey everyone! Time to wrap this story up. Thanks for reading and all the great feedback and your patience with my slow writing! I plan to write more soon. Enjoy!
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"An accident?!" Miranda shouted into the intercom's microphone as she scrambled to put her clothes on so she could rush down the stairs to meet the officer at the front door. She pushed the red button on the wall speaker for the automatic gate and heard the click of the strong iron clasps unlatching. "I'll meet you at the entrance!" Miranda exclaimed to the waiting officer. She quickly slipped on her white shorts and pink V-neck T-shirt that she'd been wearing earlier at the grand re-opening of Maxxy's, then found her sandals and stepped into them before racing out of the master bedroom and down the stairs to confront the policeman at the front door.
"What happened?!" Miranda said loudly as she opened the front door for the uniformed public safety official. "Is it David?"
"If you mean David Andrews, Mrs. Mason," the officer replied, "then I'm afraid the answer is yes. We responded to a call on Tarry Lane approximately two hours ago of a car-motorcycle accident. Upon arrival, we saw that the motorcycle had been struck by an SUV and the motorcycle's rider, Mr. Andrews, had been knocked off the bike and thrown several feet across the street where he struck the brick wall of a nearby apartment building."
"Is he..." Miranda couldn't bring herself to say the word. She had lost her first husband, Allen, to pancreatic cancer nearly four years before. As horrible as it was losing him, she had time to process his impending death. But if David had died suddenly, Miranda thought that she would never recover.
"Is he... Is he still alive?" Miranda asked the officer, finally finding a way around saying the word
dead.
"He was as of ninety minutes ago, ma'am," said Officer Jenkins, whose first name Miranda saw was Michael. "Mr. Andrews was transported by ambulance to GRC-Mason Hospital. He is in critical condition and, at the moment, unconscious."
"Officer Jenkins," Miranda said through choking tears, "how did you know to contact me? David and I aren't married."
"Mr. Andrews was able to say two words before he lost consciousness: Miranda Mason." The tall policeman answered. "He said your name twice then went under. When the ambulance left, we confirmed your relationship through Mr. Andrews' cell phone contacts. You are listed as his emergency contact, ma'am. I was then dispatched here to appraise you of the situation and bring you to the hospital, if you so choose."
"Thank you, Officer," Miranda replied softly, "but I'll have my driver take me to the hospital..."
"As you wish, ma'am." Jenkins answered then took her hand in his. "He's alive, Mrs. Mason, I can almost guarantee that. That crash would have killed anyone else, but it's a testament to his physical condition that he survived and was able to speak your name before he went under."
Miranda looked at the tall policeman and began to cry once more. She instinctively fell into his arms and the officer held her while she cried for a brief moment. Then, as if a switch was flipped, Miranda removed herself from Jenkins embrace and wiped the tears from her face.
"He doesn't need to see me blubbering like this," Miranda said to Jenkins as she smoothed the wrinkles from her shirt. "He needs me to be strong for him until he can be strong for himself. Thank you, Officer Jenkins, for coming out and appraising me of the situation. If you'll excuse me..."
"Of course, Mrs. Mason." The lanky policeman said then tipped his patrolman's hat to her before he strode through the front door and back to his black and white cruiser.
Miranda grabbed her purse from the table in the parlor then rushed out the large front door of the mansion. She saw the security gates swing shut as Officer Jenkins drove away then she headed for the limousine.
"Johnathon," Miranda shouted to her new driver, "we have to get to the hospital right away!"
Once again, Miranda did not wait for her employee to open the rear door to the elongated car's back seat. She opened the door and quickly sat herself down as Johnathon fired up the engine and sped down the driveway. As the went through the gates, Miranda saw Officer Jenkins' patrol car waiting for her with its blue and red lights flashing. The astute policeman had anticipated that Miranda might want an escort to the hospital. The black and white cruiser led the way to the hospital that bore Miranda's last name, where her new love's life hung in the balance.
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Two Hours Before
David rocketed away from Maxxy's on his Honda, aimed at the shortest route to his apartment. David hadn't spent much time at his own home in the past three weeks. Most of his time was spent with Miranda at the mansion either in the gigantic swimming pool or in the equally-impressive master suite as the two lovers explored one another. Unseen by the people he passed on the street, David had a smile on his face, hidden by his full-face helmet, that would light up half the city. He was in love! David had never cared for a woman as much as he did for Miranda. He felt incomplete when they were apart and yearned for their reconnection.
David pulled into his regular parking spot at his building and rushed up the stairs to his apartment. As he fumbled with his keys to unlock the front door, David's neighbor, the smoke-laden Lynette, opened her door and walked toward David.
"Hello, David," Lynette croaked, a half-smoked Pall Mall perpetually pinched between two fingers on her right hand. David thought she may have been born with a cigarette stuck in her digits and thanked Providence that he never took up the habit. "I haven't seen much of you for the past couple weeks, David." Lynette wheezed as she brought the burning cylinder to her lips and took another long drag.
"Yeah, hi, Lynnette," David answered as he glanced in her direction. "Been pretty busy... uhhhhh... looking for work since Maxxy's closed down, yknow."
"You must have really been pounding the pavement, David dear." Lynette replied as more smoke poured from her mouth and nose. "You've been gone for four days and you've only been back to your apartment three times in the last three weeks. People are beginning to talk."
"Yeah, well... Yknow, a guy's gotta do what he's gotta do to pay the rent..." David responded as he desperately tried to open the door to his home.
"We never got to finish our conversation about payment for the use of my Wi-Fi, David." Lynette said as she moved closer to David and placed her hand on his muscular back. Smoke wafted up from her fingers and trailed into David's nose, causing his breath to catch in his throat.
"Lynette, I do apologize for that," David answered, stifling a smoke-induced cough. "My situation at the time wasn't good but now I can repay you for it. How much did you figure?"
"Oh, my payment won't consist of money, David." Lynette replied, moving her hand from David's back down to his denim-clad ass. I think you know what I want. And I think you know that I've wanted it for some time now."
David turned to face the groping Lynette. The older woman let her hand slide from David's butt to his crotch as he turned, cupping his ample package as he faced her.
"That's not going to happen, Lynette." David sternly answered as he removed her hand from his private area. "If you want some money for the Wi-Fi then I'll pay you. But there's no way you and I are getting... close." David turned to enter his apartment when Lynette spoke once more.
"Maybe I'll just have to tell the landlord about this. Maybe you'll find yourself out on the street. He and I have become quite... close."
"David turned once more to face his smoky neighbor. "That's fine, Lynette. You tell him all about it. You see, I'm moving out of here just as soon as possible anyway. My girlfriend has asked me to move in with her. You may know her: Miranda Mason? That's right. THAT Miranda Mason. I'm moving out of this shithole, away from you and that loser landlord and never coming back. You can send the bill to the big mansion on top of the hill on Old GR Road!"
David found what he was looking for then quickly exited his apartment, locking the door behind him. A stunned Lynette stood in the hallway mouth half-agape as David delivered his parting shot.
"Maybe if you didn't smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day then your skin wouldn't look like my old bomber jacket from high school and you could get a
decent
man to fuck you once in a while, not that little pipsqueak of a FORMER landlord. See ya around!" With that, David strode confidently down the hall and out of the apartment building. He planned on only returning once more to gather what belongings he wanted then spend the rest of his life with Miranda.
David's smile returned as he felt the cube in his jacket pocket. He couldn't wait to get back to the mansion to be with Miranda again. Slipping the helmet over his head once more, David fired up the Honda and pulled out on to the street. The last thing he would remember was seeing the light turn green and patting the cube in his pocket once more as he twisted the throttle. As he crossed into the intersection, David's world suddenly went black and murky.
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Miranda had called Leslie and Anthony from the limo and told them what had happened. Leslie told Miranda that they would leave Maxxy's and meet her at the hospital right away. Miranda, with Officer Jenkins as her temporary bodyguard, was led to David's room. Miranda's hand went to her mouth when she saw David lying in the hospital bed. His head was bandaged from the top to halfway around his forehead. Both of David's eyes were blackened and his nose horribly broken. His bottom lip was split and puffed out. His left arm was in a cast from just above his elbow to his fingers and immobilized. Another large cast covered David's left leg entirely from hip to toes. He was hooked to a heart monitor and the incessant beeps came every two seconds, a haunting metronome. But as banged up as David was, Miranda thought he looked very peaceful in his unconsciousness.
