You Belong To Me (23 page)

Danielle quickly turned her attention away from Ethan’s dead body to Mitch who lay upstairs alone and bleeding. She prayed for the strength to make it up the stairs in time to call for help and save him. By the time she reached him he was unconscious and bleeding profusely.

“Mitch baby, it’s over. Ethan’s dead, you’re going to be alright,” she said while crawling over to him.
  She held her breath and felt for his pulse. “Thank god,” she sighed a sigh of relief as she reached for the phone. 

Not knowing that Ethan had cut the wires, she cursed before dragging herself back over towards Mitch and sat herself up as best she could.
  With one hand she managed to place his head in her lap before fishing in his pockets for his cell phone. “Stay with me baby, I'm gonna get us some help,” she moaned in pain.

Everything was getting dark around her and she feared that she was going to pass out before she could call for help.

“What the hell is going on with those two?” Shayla asked. She was angry at her friends for not showing up. “Neither one of them is answering their phone. Danielle better have one hell of a good reason for not showing up tonight!” She said through clenched teeth.

Jason didn’t want
to tell her about the phone call he had received from Mitch earlier instructing him that if he hadn’t heard from himself or Danielle by midnight that things went awry and to call the police.

It was now well after midnight and he cursed at himself for not
paying more attention to the time. Even though her best friend wasn’t there, Shayla had been having such a good time at the party that he too found himself losing track of the time, right along with her.

“Shay baby, there’s something I’ve got to tell you,”
he whispered to her and led her into a quiet room.

Using Mitch’s cell phone, Danielle had managed to call for help. The dispatcher told her that police and ambulance were on the way and to apply pressure to Mitch’s wound to keep him
from bleeding out. By the time the ambulance arrived, they found Danielle and Mitch unconscious.

The sun was shining bright through the partially opened blinds and Danielle struggled to open her eyes. Even though every inch of her body ached and she had a heavy cast on her right arm, all she wanted to know was where Mitch was and was he alright. She felt as if she were wrapped up like a mummy.

She couldn’t help but notice that she was alone in the hospital room and that it was eerily quiet. Thirst over took her and when she
absently made a move towards the water pitcher, she yelled out in pain. The entire side of her body felt as if it was on fire and she didn’t know why. Her scream had sent nurses and a doctor into the room. 

They explained to her that she had been very luc
ky; she had a broken arm and two fractured ribs.

When she inquired about Mitch, she began to get hysterical when they weren’t responding to her plethora of questions. Once the doctor reassured her that Mitch had gone through surgery and was going to pull
through and be alright, she swallowed the pills the nurse gave her for the pain and laid her head down on the pillow, where she fell into a deep and restful sleep.

When she awoke later in the afternoon, Danielle saw that Shayla and Jason were now in her ro
om. They were sitting in chairs as close to her bed as they could possibly get and Shayla with her head knelt down had taken hold of Danielle’s hand and was quietly praying. “Mitch needs the prayers more than me,” she whispered softly.

Both Shayla and Jas
on immediately sat up. “Oh thank god Danielle, we were so worried about you,” Shayla said. “If you weren’t in such pain, I’d knock you upside your head Danielle. Don’t you ever do that to me again, do you hear me? You and Mitch scared the shit out of us.”

“Well it’s nice to see you too Shay,” Danielle tried to joke. “Shay, please, is Mitch alright? No one will tell me anything.” Jason and Shayla exchanged looks before answering. “Yes Danielle, he’s going to be okay but…”

“But what Shayla? Please, tell me what the hell is going on!” Danielle pleaded.

Shayla took hold of her best friend’s hand. “Nothing is going on Danielle except that well… his family arrived earlier today.”

Danielle eyed her friend suspiciously. “Okay, that’s a good thing Shay, but there’s something you’re not telling me so come on out with it,” Danielle winced in pain.

“Okay, his parents and sister and brother in law are here and I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to his mom before but she’s somewhat prote
ctive of Mitch Danielle.”

“Shayla, no I haven’t talked to her yet and please stop beating around the bush. Now you call yourself my best friend so please act like it and for the love of god tell me what’s going on!” Danielle demanded of her friend.

Shayla glanced at Jason one more time before she spoke. “I am your best friend Danielle, that’s why it’s so hard for me to be the one to have to tell you this but Mitch’s family doesn’t want you anywhere near him. His mother is insisting on having a private ambulance take him back to Vermont where she intends to have him recover in another hospital away from all this nonsense. That’s what she told us this morning when we went to check on Mitch.  Danielle I am so sorry,” Shayla cried.

Danielle felt as if she’d just
been hit by a truck, she found it hard to breath and it wasn’t because of her fractured ribs, it was because all of a sudden the life had been knocked out of her. And that life was Mitch.  After all they had been through, after all that, she was now being told that Mitch’s mother was attempting to prevent her from seeing him.

“Shayla there must be some mistake, I mean my god, the woman has never even met me, I'm sure there’s been a mistake. Take me to her, I don’t believe you, I want to ask her myself.”

“Danielle, I wouldn’t lie to you, and you know this. Honey I know it’s a lot to take in but we thought you needed to know. Mitch is going to be alright, he hasn’t woken up yet but the doctor says that’s normal, his body is recovering. Now it’s time for you to recover too Danielle, please try not to get too upset,” her friend pleaded.

“How am I supposed to not be upset Shayla, you tell me that, huh? So you’re telling me that I am not allowed to see the man I love anymore because his mother forbids it? What ki
nd of nonsense is that? No! There’s been a big mistake and I need to clear it up, where’s the nurse? I need to see Mitch now!” Danielle said as she struggled to move.

“Danielle, you can’t get out of bed!”

“Oh yeah? Watch me Shay.”

As Danielle held back te
ars of pain, she leaned on her friends for support as she struggled to get out of bed. When she managed to swing her legs from the bed and onto the floor, the pain shot through her like lightening, only it would not cease.

“See, Danielle? You’re in no sha
pe to get out of bed, now lay down,” Shayla insisted.

“Jason, can you please go get the nurse? She’s in a lot of pain.”

Once Jason left the room, the reality of it all reached Danielle and held on tight while she burst into tears.  Before she would allow the nurse to give her a mild sedative so that she could rest, Danielle insisted that Shayla ask Mitch’s mother to come to her room. “Are you sure you want that Danielle?” Shayla questioned.

“Yes Shay, please. I need to tell her how much I love him and need
to see him.”

“Alright Danielle, but
 promise me once you’ve spoken with her that you’ll get some rest? You really need to promise me that okay?”

“Yes Shay, I promise, I’ll get some rest. Now can you please go and find her?”

With Shayla and Jason out of the room, Danielle tried as best she could to make herself look presentable. She smoothed down her hair as best she could and wiped the sweat from her face. It obviously wasn’t the best situation to introduce herself to Mitch’s family but it was something she knew she had to do to convince his mother to let her see him.  Shayla opened the door slowly and led Mitch’s mother, Gail into the room. She had the same eye color as Mitch and the deep scowl on her face told Danielle that there probably would be no reasoning with her, but she had to try. Before Danielle could open her mouth, the woman lit into her like no other.

“How dare you summon me to your room Danielle! Just who do you think you are?” She shouted. “My son is lying in a hospital bed unconscious right
now because of you. Oh you may not be the one who plunged the knife into him but you are certainly the cause of it. Mark my words Danielle, if there was any hope of me liking you before this all happened that hope is gone now! I lost one son already and I'm not about to lose another one. Get that through your head of yours will you? Now I'm taking my son out of this godforsaken hospital and bringing him back to Vermont. And just in case you’re thinking of  paying him a visit, know this, I'm getting a restraining order barring you from coming anywhere near my son.” Gail had lowered her voice a bit but had moved closer towards the bed.

“Now when you get out of here, I want you to leave my son alone and forget about him, do you understand me? You’ve wreaked en
ough havoc in his life, he doesn’t need any more. Move on Danielle, for your own good, move on.”

The words stung Danielle as she glared into Gail’s eyes, eyes that reminded her so much of Mitch.
 

“Are you finished?” Danielle managed to ask. “Because if y
ou are, I’d like to tell you that I'm in love with your son and he’s in love with me. And yes I may have unintentionally brought that sick stalker into our lives, but he’s gone now. And all I want to do is get on with my life and I want Mitch in it. So why don’t we let him decide what he wants when he wakes up.

Whether you like it or not Gail, Mitch is a grown man, you can’t make decisions like that for him anymore that time is over.”
  Although she didn’t mean to come off sounding so crude, Danielle felt she had no choice. Here was Mitch’s mother shouting at her and treating her like she was some dumb teenager by telling her that she was no longer able to be with Mitch.

“You are not going to see my son again is that understood Danielle?” Gail asked her voi
ce raised again.

Danielle’s entire head was throbbing and the pain in her side had returned with a vengeance. Shayla and Jason watched as she fought hard to mask the pain. Shayla was sure that Danielle didn’t want to give Gail the satisfaction of knowing h
ow much torment she was in. She could sense that Danielle needed moral support and was more than willing to speak up. “Mrs. Conway, that’s enough. I understand that your son is suffering, but so is my best friend. Now if you’ve nothing constructive to say, I suggest you go and tend to your son.” Shayla said to her with pure disdain in her eyes.

“You asked me to come here Danielle, and now your friend is demanding that I leave? I’ll leave right after I finish saying what I need to say. Now I realize that you
may love my son, but like I said, that’s over and done with. Now you can lay here and recover and move on, or you can suffer and wallow in it. It really doesn’t matter to me, because I care nothing about you, or what you do.

But what does matter is that
you take what I'm telling you very seriously and know that I mean each and every word, stay the hell away from my son!”  Just then a nurse appeared in the doorway. “Alright, that’s enough. Now I don’t know what’s going on here, but you're upsetting my patient. I'm going to have to ask you to leave ma’am.”

“With pleasure,” Gail said and stormed out of the room.

“Are you alright Miss Martins?” The nurse asked concerned for her patient. “It’s time for everyone to leave. I need to give you a sedative now Miss Martins, you can visit with your friends after you’ve rested.”

Danielle did not object as the nurse injected her with the needle. She hoped that the sedative would take effect immediately; she didn’t want to think about wha
t Gail had so vehemently told her. Mitch was going to be taken out of her life. In the blink of an eye, the man she loved was being taken away from her by his family none the less and there was nothing that she could do about it.  Shayla planted a soft kiss on her cheek. “You get some rest Danielle, we’ll be right here when you wake up.” The words comforted her as she fell asleep.

“Miss Martins?” The nurse stood next to her gentling coaxing her awake. That sedative must not have been a strong one, Danielle guessed as she instantly woke up.  “Miss Martins, I'm sorry to disturb you but the police are here, they need to ask you some questions, are you up to talking with them?” She asked with concern in her voice.

Danielle nodded her head, she had been taken
through the wringer by Mitch’s mother, and now she was about to relive the horrible ordeal that Ethan had been put she and Mitch through. “I might as well get it over with,” she mumbled as the nurse adjusted her bed so that she was sitting up.

“That’s the
spirit,” the nurse replied as she showed the investigators in.

“Not too long gentlemen please, Miss Martins has been through enough already. Oh and your friends told me to let you know that they’ve stepped out for a bit, they will be back a little later,”
the nurse told her before leaving the room.  Danielle managed a slight smile while the detectives introduced themselves, Mike Talon was among them and she was grateful to see a familiar face. He told her that he had made the trip to provide the detectives with any information he could that would help clear up the situation. After all the introductions were made, the first question out of Danielle’s mouth was in reference to Mitch, she’d wanted to know if they had been able to talk to him yet and what if anything did he say.