He Left His Pregnant Bride at the Altar novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Room 412

I took the first flight to New York, and I read my father's chart in the elevator before I read his face.

Ischemic stroke, left hemisphere.

Right arm weak, right face drooping, speech slurred but present.

I had treated a hundred men like him.

I stopped outside Room 412 with my hand on the door.

Ruggero stood behind me in the corridor.

He had not asked to come in.

"I'll be right here," he said.

"I know."

"I'm not going anywhere."

I had heard him say that before, in a hospital hallway, and then watched him walk away behind a crying girl.

This time I believed it.

I went in alone.

My father lay propped on three pillows with a tube in his arm.

He looked smaller than he had at his long table.

The lamp on the bedside was an ordinary one, the cheap kind that comes with the room, and not green.

His eyes found me, and the good side of his mouth moved.

"Mari," he said, thick and slow.

"Papa."

"Came."

"I'm a doctor. I came to read your scans."

His left hand lifted from the sheet and fell back.

"Rosa."

"No."

"Please."

"No, Papa."

It was easy to say.

That was what surprised me.

I sat down in the chair beside the bed and folded my hands.

"Tiberio told me you've asked for me since three this morning. I'm here. I want you to hear me clearly, because the stroke has made you slow, and I won't say it twice."

His eyes were wet.

"I will make sure you get the best neurologist in this city. I'll sign every paper. I won't let you die in a bad bed."

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