“Come, I’ll help you. Step out of the water; I’ll help you dry off and lie on the couch. We’ll put a towel down to soak up the blood.”
“I just finished my period,” she began to sob. “It’s never looked like this.”
“It looks like fresh blood.”
“Let’s go back to the tub – sit there – and when it calms down, we’ll go to a hospital. We’ll ask Marilee to drive us. It’s okay – we’ve got insurance.”
“I’m not going to any hospital – here or there!” she declared.
“Do you want to die of a hemorrhage?”
Just a few days earlier, Judah had told her, right in front of me, that the disease might erupt without warning. He’d mentioned massive bleeding.Is that what this is?! I thought, terrified.And maybe the sudden reduction in steroids he suggested had triggered a renewed flare.Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!I muttered to myself. There wasn’t time to think. Lily was bleeding, and I nearly fainted. She sat on the edge of the tub.
“I think it’s stopped,” she said after a few moments of shared panic.
“How do you know?”
She ran her fingers between her thighs and looked at them.
“I can feel it – and I’m sure.”
“We’re not going out. I’ll cancel.”
“Don’t you dare! You’re not canceling anything – we’re going!”
I was sure she’d lost her mind – but, as usual, once Lily decided, not even a bulldozer could budge her.
“This is a rare chance to see the House from the inside – the place where the peace treaty with Egypt was signed,” she tried one argument. “I’m not missing it,” she insisted.
“Why? Forget it,” I tried to dissuade her.
“Because I’m sure they have an art collection there.” The cat was out of the bag.
“That’s what worries you?” I couldn’t believe my ears. Once again, I threw up my hands, helpless.
And Lily being Lily, went back into the shower as if nothing had happened.
“I’ll ask Marilee to keep the visit short so you can rest,” I tried to minimize the damage.
“If I want it short, I’ll ask. Go downstairs and tell her I’ve been delayed. If you say it’s a woman’s issue, she’ll understand.”
“Why do you have to stretch the rope to the limit?” I cried in frustration.
“That’s who I am. Period,” she decreed. I knew there was nothing more to say.
We entered The House via the underground internal train used by staffers and senators. We were among the few observing aSenate session. It was fascinating: the order, the mutual respect, the feeling the place gave us as one of the world’s democratic institutions – in short, the gravitas of this place was in full evidence. I waited for Lily to ask to see the art collection; when she didn’t, I knew there was a reason and kept quiet.
We ended the evening with Marilee at a popular restaurant in Georgetown and a nighttime drive around Washington.
“It looks like a holy city,” Lily said, impressed.
Marilee smiled. “It just looks that way…”
“You have no idea what an inexhaustible trove of ideas I’ve absorbed here,” Lily said before falling asleep with a victorious smile. I, on the other hand, could not sleep until the small hours. Thoughts mixed with worry as I tried to recall similar medical cases I might have read about. I’ll call David tomorrow and consult him,I decided firmly. But I knew David served in an elite combat unit and was likely unavailable, so my resolution was entirely impractical.
We were about to celebrate our third anniversary of being together. Maybe the department head had said three years, not two, I tried another way to calm myself. But I knew exactly what he’d said – and still I thought, maybe this was a sign he was wrong about everything. I mingled thoughts and wishes.
The next morning, Lily poked her head out of the bathroom: “Everything’s fine,” she announced. I relaxed. We were in a foreign country and had no idea what might happen if we ended up in a hospital. I tried to ease my unease by talking it through: “Maybe it’s from lowering the steroid dose.”
