Page 56 of Mayfair Madame

I fidgeted in the bed. God, I needed to pee.

Was that a bathroom through that door? If I could just get out of bed. I raised my head and a wave of dizziness hit me. Nope. I was going to need help.

A buzzer rested by my hand, and by some stroke of luck, I pushed the right one to summon a nurse.

“You’re awake, then. We thought you were some sleeping beauty,” the nurse said.

“It’s only been a day.”

“Two. It’s been two days since you were admitted, and your friend here hasn’t left your side for a moment. We said we’d call her the moment you woke, but she was having none of it.”

A mumble from Naomi drew my attention. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, then stretched. The T-shirt she wore rode up to reveal a sliver of dark flesh. With an adorable sigh, she settled back down in the chair and went back to sleep.

“I need to pee,” I whispered to the nurse, not wanting to wake Naomi.

“I’ll get you a bedpan.”

“No, I don’t want one of those. I want to go to the toilet. I was dizzy when I tried to get up.”

“You will be, but let’s see if we can get you out of bed.”

With a struggle, a shuffle, and a lot of support, I made it to the toilet. I sighed, finally relieved. I didn’t feel great, but I felt better than I had two days ago.

Two fucking days. How had that happened, and what was wrong with me?

By the time we arrived back in the room, Naomi was awake. I collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted from such a brief excursion to the bathroom.

“We’ve all been worried.” The nurse left, leaving the two of us. Naomi sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand in hers.

“What happened?” I croaked, my throat sore and scratchy. If I could have stuck my fingers down there and scratched, I would have.

“The doctors seem to think you picked up an infection from the water. They’ve been treating you with antibiotics.”

“An infection?” People swam in the lake all the time. How had I got so ill?

“More likely a bacterium, but you’re responding well. I would imagine you’ll be able to go home soon.”

“I… I don’t understand.” I rubbed my brow. This was all too much to take in.

“You don’t need to understand right now, Ellie. You need to concentrate on regaining your strength. Now, I can grab some clothes from your place if you want, or you can travel in this rather fetching hospital gown. What do you want to do?”

Fuck, I couldn’t let her see my place. I’d barely cleaned up since the weekend, the discarded clothes from Friday evening still stuffed in a pile on the floor.

God, no.

“I’ll find something,” I said, even though I knew that would not happen.

“Of course. I forgot the hospital has its own clothes shop now.” She glared at me, one eyebrow raised and a small smile on her lips.

I sighed. “Okay, but don’t look at the mess. I didn’t have time to tidy.”

“Ellie, Ellie, Ellie. I don’t care about that. Where are your keys? Now I know you’re awake and well, I’ll stop by your place to pick up some stuff.”

Keys. A good question. Where were they, and what happened to my phone? Last thing I recalled was dropping it on the floor in the bathroom.

“I don’t know where anything is,” I whispered. “I don’t even remember getting here.”

“Hey, we’ll figure it out. I doubt you’ll be leaving today, anyway. I’ll ask the nurse when she gets back. They’ll know. For now, you still need to be resting, my love.”