“Neither could I.”
“Continue on if you can,” the doctor prodded him.
“The crown and right side of my head had bled like the devil. Blood still dripped down my face. I had cuts all over my hands and arms. My gold watch was broken. I didn’t even know I had one or when I’d bought it, let alone where. All I felt was a terrible thirst. When I got up, I could barely walk, but I needed help from someone or to find a stream.
“After a while I came to a highway and followed it until I tripped and fell. The next thing I knew, a car came by and stopped. A man got out to talk to me. He spoke a language I didn’t understand. He tried to be kind and helped me into his car. I was in and out of it before being driven to a hospital.
“No one in there could understand me, or me them. I lost track of time over the next few days. I couldn’t eat and felt too sick to do anything.”
Rini opened his eyes. “That’s about it.”
The doctor got to his feet. “Thank you for bearing with me. Now it’s time for you to freshen up and enjoy your dinner. When you’re helped into the shower, try not to get that bandage wet they’ve put on your arm. Also, be careful of your head when you shampoo your hair so it won’t hurt your wound. I’ll be back in the morning to order some tests. They will tell me a lot more about your head injury.”
After Luna translated, Rini said to her, “You can’t leave!” His eyes blazed as he stared at her. She saw fear in them and understood she was the only person he could communicate with right now.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, Rini. Tonight. I promise.”
She walked out with the doctor, who told her the agenda for the next day. He’d scheduled a series of scans. “Now that he’s home, you can feel comfortable in telling him whatever he wants or needs to know. Don’t hold back. We’ll see how he gets along.”
When they parted, Luna phoned for her driver and went home to the palazzo to pack some items for Rini.
That look of fear had her rushing to the hospital once more. He was the most confident, in-charge man she’d ever known. For Rini to be afraid like that gave her an idea of the depth of his trauma.
* * *
An aide helped Rini into the bathroom but stayed outside the door. He clung to the bathroom sink and stared in the mirror. So I’m Rini Baldasseri, whoever that is. Rini for short, his alleged wife had interjected. A mining engineer? He couldn’t fathom any of it.
The only way he could half imagine they’d been married was because she spoke the same language with him when no one else could. Several times he’d studied the photo of them kissing. They’d looked like they were devouring each other. A picture didn’t lie about their hunger for each other. Neither did the wedding band and diamond she wore on her ring finger.
She was very, very beautiful. In fact, on a beauty scale of one to ten, his blonde wife with those lagoon-green eyes came out closer to a fifty. They’d been married six months? How was it possible he didn’t recognize her or remember her in any way?
The doctor told him he had amnesia. He knew what it meant, but he’d never known anyone who’d had it. Maybe he did, but the amnesia had erased that memory. He simply couldn’t believe it was his problem now.
No longer receiving an antibiotic through an IV, he began the task of shaving his beard. The hair on his face itched and drove him crazy. When he’d gotten rid of it, he groaned to see the rest of him. After looking at those pictures, he could tell he’d lost weight.
He wore medical scrubs the other hospital had lent him. Besides hanging on him, the dull color didn’t help his sallow complexion. No shoes. Surgery socks covered his feet.
Well, no more of this!
He stripped down and got into the shower with hot water. Nothing had ever felt so good in his life. But how did he know that? How did he know anything now that twenty-nine years of life had just been wiped from his brain?
Luna would be back in later. She’d promised.
Rini knew he wasn’t the same man she’d married, not physically or psychologically. Though she was putting on a good face to be his translator, he couldn’t bear the thought that it was possible she pitied him.
He put on the white toweling bathrobe the hospital provided. After reaching for a towel to dry his hair, he walked back into the room. The aide helped him into bed.
The next thing he needed was a haircut. At least he had a picture of his former self. Maybe someone here at the hospital could do the job for him. The sooner he could get back to looking like the man in the photo, the sooner he might recover his memory.
His dinner soon arrived. The smell of hot coffee and lasagna teased his senses, warming his taste buds. He’d never tasted food so wonderful and had finished everything by the time L
una had returned. Though her arms were loaded, he found himself once again noticing her five-foot-seven height and the curves of her womanly figure.
She put two small suitcases on the floor against the wall and walked closer to inspect him. A smile broke out on her stunning face with its high cheekbones. Her luminescent green eyes played over him.