“Lizbeth?” Aida clambered to her feet, and Mattie followed, realizing this must be Aida’s surgeon friend.
“Are you Leo Ward’s fiancée?” Lizbeth turned toward Mattie, her expression kind, competent, and thoroughly unreadable.
“She is his partner,” Aida confirmed, saving Mattie from speaking a falsehood.
Lizbeth looked intensely at Mattie, her expression frank and honest. She spoke with a straightforward matter-of-factness that made the details somehow easier to bear. “I’m Dr.Carillo-Barrera, and I helped to triage Leo. He is out of surgery. His right leg was broken in several places, but we were able to successfully set it. We did not detect any signs of internal bleeding, but we will still need to monitor him, as it is often difficult to determine the extent of injuries in a situation like this.”
“But there’s nothing to lead you to think this will be fatal?” Mattie gripped her hands together so tightly her short, blunt nails still managed to slice through her skin.
“He is still sedated, but his pulse is strong, his heart rate is good, and his body has not gone into shock. I cannot offer any guarantees at this juncture, but those are all good signs.”
Mattie lifted her clasped hands to her mouth. Leo was going to be all right! The love of her life was going to survive!
“May I see him?” Mattie asked quietly. She needed to sweep her gaze over Leo and ascertain for herself the extent of his wounds. She needed to touch him and to run her fingers gently through his hair. She needed to talk to him, to reassure him of her love even if he lay unconscious.
“Shortly,” Dr.Carillo-Barrera said, “when he is moved to a bed in one of the general wards.”
“If you have any private rooms available, I shall pay for it.” Vera rose to her feet. “I will be covering all of Leo Ward’s bills.”
Mattie shook her head. “I should be the one. Leo’s accident was caused by my choices.”
“Nonsense,” Vera said. “Like we said earlier, it was Crenshaw’s actions that injured Leo. I consider Leo my friend, and I have more than enough means to take care of the hospital expenses.”
“We do have a few private rooms,” Dr.Carillo-Barrera confirmed. “The money we receive from patients who use them helps keep us funded and able to accept charity cases.”
Mattie found she didn’t have the strength to fight both women. It would be better for Leo if he was in a quieter place rather than a big open room stacked full of beds. When he awoke, Mattie had so much to say to him and ask him that any degree of privacy would be appreciated.
While Dr.Carillo-Barrera and Aida had a quick chat with each other, Mattie sank back onto the wooden bench. Alice materialized by her side and sat down next to her.
“I did not want to say anything until we knew more about Leo’s condition,” Alice told her gently, “but Leo talked to John about you during our first exhibition back in Illinois.”
“Leo did mention that he’d had a conversation with John, but not what it was about,” Mattie said.
Alice nodded. “Leo wanted to know how John does it.”
“Does what?”
“Supports, loves, and has a lasting relationship with a woman who chooses a profession that puts her in constant peril.”
“Leo asked about that?” Despite all the pain, a thrill shot through Mattie’s heart. Leo understood her more than she’d given him credit for.
“He did indeed.” Alice folded her hands in her lap in an uncharacteristically solemn gesture. “John told him that Leo should try being more of your flight partner instead of a flight leader.”
Leo’s attitude toward her flying had changed after that first show. He’d listened more and suggested instead of commanded. He’d tried to be her partner, but had she ever considered him hers? Had not partof her always seen him as her competitor or, at least, as someone trying to hold her back and prevent her from achieving her dreams? Had part of her even been afraid to treat him as a partner? When she’d lost Alfred—her twin, her best friend, her coconspirator in life—she had lost an integral piece of herself. Was part of her afraid of exposing herself to such grief again?
“How doyoudo it?” Mattie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How do you stay strong and independent while being a wife and a mother? How do you balance your desire to soar on the trapeze with John’s need to keep you safe? How do you watch him fly through the air yourself?”
Alice thought for a moment, and then a broad grin broke over her face. “Why, what John said—a partnership. We talk to each other about our stunts, give each other advice. Sometimes I take it; sometimes I don’t, but I always consider it. I never dismiss it outright. I listen. John does the same when I’m the one making suggestions. There’s a mutual respect and understanding.”
Partnership. Mutual respect. Equals.All those words were two sided, connected. They didn’t weigh a person down or restrict them. They were supportive, constructive, freeing even. Yes, it opened a person to the potential pain of loss, but the gains were so much greater. Mattie had let these wonderful women into her life, and each lady had made her stronger.
“Thank you for telling me this,” Mattie told Alice and then pressed her eyelids tightly closed.
She prayed that Leo would wake up. She prayed that she would be with him when he did. And she prayed that they would remain that way. Together. Side by side.
