I came home from a long day wondering if Jennifer had had a tough day also. As I enter I see that there are candles lit and the table is set. I hear the faint call of her voice and it takes me a second to realize where it is coming from. I then realize it's coming from the basement.

"Honey what happened?" I ask rushing down the stairs. As I approach the bottom step I can see Jennifer's beautiful leg was twisted at a strange angle. While she lay silently on the floor I quickly think of what I need to do to make her more comfortable. I scramble to the old couch in the basement and grab one of the throw pillows and the afgan off the back. I return to Jennifer's side and gently slip the pillow under her head.

"I slipped on the stairs, I think I broke my leg" she says in an exasperated voice. I carefully cover her with the afgan for fear she might slip into shock. I gently stroke her hair out of her eyes. I look down at Jennifer's twisted leg and my heart breaks. "Are you hurt anywhere besides your leg, your back? Did you hit your head?" I ask trying to assess the situation.

"No it's my leg, my ankle" she says through clenched teeth. "Get my shoe off, please, it's swelling and it's so tight" she begs. "I'm afraid to touch it honey, I don't want to hurt you worse" I say tentatively." Take it off, PLEASE". "OK honey, don't worry" I reply.

I look at her leg trying to figure out the best way to remove her shoe with the minimum of pain. I can see a large lump and some terrible bruising about 8 inches above her ankle where her leg is bent. I can see swelling at her ankle that is restricted by the strap of her high heel. "Let me know if I'm hurting you" I tell her softly as I reach for her ankle. "Take it off, please" she mutters in a soft voice. I tug at the strap of Jennifer's shoe trying to be as gentle as possible. I hold her foot still while I tug at it. I hear a whimper from her as I apply enough tension to loosen the buckle. As I loosen the strap, the ankle immediately swells to fill the area that had been contained by it. After loosening the strap, I slip the shoe off her foot. I look back at her face and see it looks very pale.

"We have got to get you to the hospital" I tell her with a soft voice. She just lays there weeping with the tears rolling down her face and soaking into the pillow. "I need to call 911, I'm afraid to try to move you myself. Let me go get the phone and I'll be right back" I say giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek. I run back up stairs, grab the cordless and dial 911 as I head back down the stairs. "Hello, my wife has fallen down the stairs and it looks like she may have broken her leg" I say as I kneel at her side, again wiping the hair from her eyes. I answer a litany of questions about her accident and am told by the dispatch help is on the way. I tell her the door is unlocked and that they can come right in. I hit the off button on the phone and turn my attention back on my beautiful wife as she lay on the basement floor. "What can I get you to make you feel better" I ask her as I take her hand. "Stay with me" she says through tears as she squeezes my hand tight. "I'm right here honey, I'll be with you all the way" I say kissing her hand. "It hurts so bad" she mutters. We wait with me holding her hand and her gripping it tightly. As we sit I look at her leg as it extends from under the afgan. As she lay on her back with the leg at the knee straight up, her foot is pointed in towards her right leg, bent at the point with the lump at midshaft.

After 5 minutes that seemed like an hour, I hear some noise upstairs. "EMT's" a loud voice shouts from upstairs. "Down here, in the basement" I call back wanting them to hurry. A male and female in light blue EMT uniforms come around the corner and start down the stairs, each carrying a large box. They set there large boxes down and kneel over Jennifer. "Hi there" the female says as she lean over Jennifer while the other one opens a box. "Hi" Jennifer manages to say through the pain. "What happened?" she asks. "I came home and found her here" I say speaking for her. "She had fallen on the steps" I add. "OK, where do you hurt" she asks. "My leg, I think it's broken" Jennifer manages to get out. "What's your name ?" the EMT asks. "Jennifer" she replies. "OK Jennifer, I need to know if you hurt yourself anywhere else besides your leg"? "Did you hit your head or injure anything else when you fell" she asks as she slowly patted over Jennifer's other leg and her arms. "I don't think so" Jennifer replies.

The male EMT had turned on a radio in the box he had carried. "Squad 19 here" he says into the radio. "Go ahead 19" the radio crackles back. "We have a female, early 30's, 5 foot, 9 inches, 120 to 130 pounds". "She has a fractured left leg and ankle, it is closed and displaced" he says. I turn my attention back to Jennifer and the other EMT examining her. She works a blood pressure cuff after checking her heart rate. "Roger 19, stabilize and transport" I overhear from the radio. With all this commotion going on this was my first chance to assess the events of the last few minutes. I had always loved Jen's long slender legs. I so wanted to be able to remove all her pain and make this situation all better.

"What will this mean" I think to myself. "A cast perhaps?" It seems to me that it must be broken and probably pretty badly. My heart breaks as I think of the horrible pain she is enduring. So many thoughts run through my head. I hold Jenny's hand while the EMT's work on her. They gently straighten her lower leg as they put a splint on it. With any movement of the leg her grip tightens on my hand. After a few minutes, Jennifer's leg is in the splint. Two firefighters arrive also, and bring a backboard down the stairs with them. I have to leave her side as they load her on the back board. I cringe as I see her make a horrible grimace with any movement. I follow the foursome up as they negotiate the stairs with Jen on the backboard. It is tourturous to watch my poor baby in agony. When they reach the top of the stairs, they set the backboard down on a wheeled stretcher. I again take her hand and she squeezes it tightly. "Don't worry honey, we will be to the hospital in no time" I try to reassure her as she grips my hand.