Chapter 13 #3
“Devon is a very serious artist, and she has strict boundaries. And although I know she’ll be very touched by your invitation, I’m certain, Brandon, that she won’t come.
She’s working very hard on something at the moment.
” Brandon looked crestfallen when Edward said it, and he had no sooner spoken than his assistant poked her head in the door, and spoke a message to him, since he hadn’t picked up the phone when she buzzed him on the intercom.
“Devon’s doctor is on the line from the hospital, and he wants to talk to you,” she said, and Brandon looked like he’d been shot.
“The hospital? Devon is in the hospital? What happened?” He went pale, and Edward didn’t want to lose the doctor’s call and decided to do damage control later with Brandon.
He picked up the phone with a serious expression.
It was about extending her stay, and moving her to the Governor’s Suite, so called because three New York governors had stayed there.
And it was obvious from Edward’s side of the conversation that whatever Devon had was serious, and she was going to be in the hospital for a long time for “treatments.” Brandon had been pacing in the room while he listened, and he looked frantic by the time Edward ended the call.
“Oh my God,” Brandon said with a look of panic. “Please don’t tell me she has cancer. She’s the love of my life.”
“No, she doesn’t. And she’s the love of my life too. She’s like a daughter to me. She had an accident,” Edward said cautiously.
“Oh my God, no, not that exquisite face. She’s so beautiful.”
“She still is. Brandon, this is serious. She doesn’t want anyone to know, and she doesn’t want press or social media or people intruding on her.
She’s traveling a hard road, and she needs our support.
You’re the only person who knows now, other than myself and my staff.
I don’t want her to know that you found out. She’d be very upset.”
“Of course,” Brandon said, looking devastated. “Can she walk?”
“Yes.” Edward knew he had to tell him something—the poor man looked heartbroken.
She was so gentle and endearing that people loved her, and she had obviously won Brandon Yates’s heart during his sittings for the portrait.
Her sincerity and innocence and pure goodness cast a spell on everyone who knew her.
“She’s having some problems with her vision. ” Brandon looked shocked again.
“Oh God, no. Can she paint?”
Edward hesitated. “Not yet, but I’m sure she will again. Now you know why it’s important you not say anything.”
“I give you my solemn word of honor,” Brandon said, with tears in his eyes that spilled onto his cheeks, which touched Edward.
He had cried over it too. Even Tom Kingsley, who was tough as nails, had cried when he heard the news of the accident.
Devon didn’t deserve this after the hardships she had endured earlier. “Can I see her?” Brandon asked.
“I don’t think she’d want you to yet. It’s still early days. It happened literally right after she finished your portrait, the same day. It’s been about five weeks. This could resolve quickly, or be a long haul. We don’t know.”
“A car accident?”
“Chemicals. Cleaning her brushes.”
“What can I do?” Brandon wanted to help.
“Send her good thoughts, and texts, not letting on that you know. I’ll keep you posted, but it looks like progress could be slow.”
“I wish I could see her.”
It occurred to Edward then that Brandon’s exuberance might cheer her up. He seemed to genuinely love her as a friend.
“Let’s hope that when you do, we can celebrate her full recovery.” Brandon nodded, looking thoughtful and badly shaken.
“It couldn’t…she won’t be…she isn’t…?” He couldn’t say the word.
“I am hoping for a full recovery. Anything is possible. And a miracle right about now would be most welcome.”
“I’m going to start praying. I’ll go on a fast for her. That can be very powerful,” Brandon said, and Edward tried not to look amused. Brandon was very Hollywood. “And meditation. I meditate every day.”
“Whatever works,” Edward said. And he was suddenly tempted to let him see her.
“What happened to the boyfriend? Did he come back?” Brandon asked him, and Edward looked surprised.
“Boyfriend? Is there a boyfriend? I didn’t know.” He was astonished to hear it. There was no sign of a man in Devon’s life.
“Not really. For about five minutes. They met last summer and she liked him. He broke it off with her immediately, and she was upset. He came back and then disappeared again.” Brandon filled him in.
“More fool he. She’s the nicest woman I know. And she doesn’t need a guy like that,” Edward said with a disapproving look.
“That’s what I told her. I guess he never came back. He ditched her and never contacted her again while she did my portrait. I caught her crying a few times, so she told me.”
“Bastard,” Edward growled, protective of her. “No, there’s no one around, just the nurses and me. She has no visitors.” Edward knew how private and discreet she was, and how professional, so she must have been very upset if she told Brandon about it.
“Even my dog loves her,” Brandon volunteered. “Maybe I’ll send her a video of me and Thornton, just to say we miss her and love her, without letting on that I know anything.”
“She might like that.” Even if she couldn’t see it, she could hear it, and Edward could see that Brandon meant well—even if he was a bit of Hollywood flash, he seemed deeply sincere about Devon.
Brandon hugged him before he left, and said he’d be in touch, and Edward sat musing about the mysterious boyfriend who had “ditched her,” and the fact that Devon had resisted Brandon Yates’s charms. Few women did.
She was an honorable woman and the guy who had dumped her was clearly a jerk.
And he certainly wasn’t around. Edward wondered if he knew.
Probably not, if he had cut off communication with her.
Edward went back to work then, hoping that Brandon wouldn’t talk. He thought he could trust him not to, out of concern for Devon. If his meditation brought on a miracle, so much the better.
—
When he went home, Brandon had an idea, and got to work on his computer to do some research. Maybe there was something he could do for his beloved friend after all.
—
February wasn’t easy for Devon. The treatments were painful and weren’t doing anything.
There was no progress at all. She could see light and dark and nothing more distinct than that.
The doctors weren’t ready to give up and send her home or to rehab.
The doctor at Mass General said that at least another month of treatments every two hours should be the protocol before reassessing her situation and the prognosis.
And he agreed that surgery wouldn’t help.
But it was hard to keep believing with no results.
Edward was worried to find her so very down when he visited.
He told her how much Brandon loved his portrait and she referred to it several times as “my last portrait” with a finality that upset him deeply.
On Valentine’s Day, one of the nurses said that they were doing a party for the children in pediatrics, and Devon had an idea. She asked her private duty nurse to get her a big roll of white paper and red markers. She sent her out to get it, and spoke to one of the floor nurses.
“I’d like to do a sign for the children.
I sent my nurse out for a roll of white paper, and some markers.
If someone can guide my hand so I place it correctly on the paper, I can do red hearts, and my nurse can color them.
I can do the hearts, I just need her to help me space them correctly.
” The head nurse on her floor thought it would be good for her.
Devon had been despondent lately, and the children would love the sign.
They already had balloons for the children, donated by one of the mothers, and one of the nurses had brought cupcakes from home.
When her day nurse came back with the paper and markers, Devon helped her roll it out on the floor, and got down on her hands and knees and told the nurse to tell her how far to space them.
She drew the hearts with mechanical precision and covered a long roll of the paper with them in an hour.
The private duty nurse followed along behind her filling the hearts in with the red marker.
The result was a very professional-looking long sign like a banner.
They could even cut it to make it into shorter ones.
Devon and her Irish nurse had spent an hour crawling around on the floor to make the sign, and when they were finished, they took it out to the nurses’ desk.
It was beautiful, and the nurses were excited.
Two of them took it to Pediatrics to tape it up.
It made Devon happy to do it, and everyone loved it.
While Devon was making the Valentine’s Day sign for Pediatrics, Brandon Yates showed up at the gallery and asked to see Edward. He had been working on an idea for the two weeks since he’d seen him.