As I sit there in the chair holding Jennifer's hand, I slip in and out of consciousness. Many thoughts run through my brain. Poor Jennifer's shattered leg is going to take months to heal. I love her so much and will do anything I can to make her life easier and lessen her horrible pain.

I had always felt a strange attraction to ladies with casts on their legs, how ironic that the love of my life will be spending months in a cast. "How will I react? I can't help but think to myself. As much as I always loved the site of a lady in a cast, my desire for Jennifer to be happy and healthy overrode this. As my mind anticipates what Jennifer was going to look like in her long leg cast, I can't help but feel guilt at the thought of deriving some sort of pleasure from the situation.

Around 3 I come out of sleep far enough to realize I had not had anything to eat since yesterday morning. I decide to slip out and get some coffee. Hopefully, I can get out and back while she sleeps as I had promised her I would stay by her side.

As I return to the room, I hear Jennifer calling for me. I rush and assure her I am here. I apologize for leaving her side. She tells me it feels like someone is hitting her leg with a hammer. I gently reassure her and she eventually drifts back off to sleep.

I sit awake for another hour or so thinking about how much I love Jennifer and all I intend to do for her to make the most of her situation. I gently hold her hand and she squeezes back while she sleeps. I eventually slip back into sleep myself around 4 o'clock.

I wake up to find daylight filtering into the room. I can see Jennifer is already awake, as she stares into the ceiling with a pained look on her face. She turns around and looks at me. "Hi beautiful. Did you sleep well?. "Yeah but I can't wait to be in my own bed again. Did the doctor say when I can go back home? she asks with a grimace on her face. "He told me maybe tomorrow night if all goes well. Your leg needs to be in traction until then. He'll sign your discharge after putting your leg in a cast. In the meantime, the nurse left you this" showing her two pills.

Through a tearful conversation, Jennifer tells me how bad she feels for messing things up. I do my best to reassure her that we will be just fine. Through the ages, many marriages have been through much greater trials than this. After a couple minutes of convincing her this wouldn't be the end of her world, or of us, I actually got a smile out of her.

I leave to go home, get some things taken care of there and get some items for her hospital stay. I kiss Jennifer goodbye and look over her beautiful body.

I head out of the hospital and grab a taxi home. On the cab ride, I call my assistant Julia on my cell phone and explain to her what happened. I rearrange my immediate schedule and explain to her that I will have to take a lot of time off to take care of Jennifer. "I'll come in the office Monday and we will come up with a game plan for handing all my projects off to the other partners".

Next I call Sid and explain to him what has happened to Jennifer. I am met with a long silence. "Sid, you there? I ask after breaking the news. "How bad is it Tom ? Apparently, if she had to stay in the hospital it must be pretty serious?. "Yea, I'm afraid it looks that way Sid. He said her leg is shattered. The doctor wants to keep her in there until at least Sunday evening. He said she would need complete bed rest for at least 2 weeks?. "2 weeks" Boy that's a blow, thanks for letting me know Tom. I'm going to have to take a few minutes for all this to settle in. I'm at my son's soccer game but I will stop by the hospital later and see how she is doing".

I hang up the phone as the cab pulls into our driveway. As I enter the house I am met with the auroma of last night dinner that never got eaten. I only had time to turn off the oven before we left for the hospital. The set table complete with dinner rolls reminds me of the great evening we never got to enjoy. I clean up the table and get everything put away and cleaned up.

I get a strange feeling as I look down the basement stairs. At the foot of the stairs is Jennifer's left shoe, her stocking that the paramedics cut off of her, together with some sort of packaging the paramedics left behind. Any denial as to what had happened was completely erased upon seeing the items strewn about at the foot of the stairs.

I pick up the items, discarding the wrappers and cut stocking. I take Jennifer's high heel to her closet rubbing the sole of her shoe with my thumb as I walk. It occurs to me it will be quite some time before she is able to wear this again.

I gather some items to take to Jennifer. I get her robe and some toiletries. I also grab her bedroom slippers, but after a moment of thought I toss the left one back into the closet. I get her some night wear, her right sneaker and some socks. I think about what to bring her to wear home. I look through her shorts and find a couple of pairs that looks like they may be big enough to fit over her cast.

I pack all her items into a bag and put them near the bedroom door. I grab the novel she has been reading and also grab her briefcase with the depositions from her case. I run through a list in my head and try to think what else she might need. I decide to throw a book of crosswords into the bag also.

I am tempted to lie down and take a nap after my night of broken sleep. But I know my lovely bride is laying the hospital with a broken leg and it would not feel right. I do take a shower and change into some comfortable clothes before I gather her bags and head back to the hospital. As I get ready to leave, I recall that we were supposed to go to dinner at Rob and Renee's tonight. I call over and leave a message on the answering machine.

I get in the car and head back to the hospital. My cell phone rings as I leave the driveway. "Hi Tom, it's Renee, how is Jennifer doing? "Oh hi, she's going to be in the hospital for a couple of days, looks like she broke it pretty badly". "Oh I'm so sorry Tom, let us know if there is anything we can do for the two of you". "I will. We'll know a little more in a couple days I guess, but it sounds like she will be laid up for a while". "I broke mine skiing two years ago, I have an idea of what she is going through". "I remember, you were laid up for quite a while" I reply. "Can we come visit her? Renee asks. "You might want to call and see how she is feeling first, she is in a lot of pain and may not be up for it". "OK, we'll give you a call later and see how she is feeling, and remember if you need anything be sure and call us". "I will, thank you very much Renee"

I reenter Jennifer's room carrying all the goodies I brought from home. "Hi honey, how are you feeling ? I say as I retake the seat next to her bed. "It hurts so badly" she utters helplessly. "I know baby, have they gotten you anything for the pain? "No not since you left" she says. "Let me see what I can do about that" I say wiping her hair out of her pale face.

I slip out of the room and head towards the nurses station. I make it no more than 5 feet when I encounter Dr. Anderson. "Hi doc, Jen's in a lot of pain can we get her something for it?. "I'm sure we can" he replies. "I was just on my way to see her" I turn and follow him back into the room.

"Good morning Miss Bailey" he said as he entered the room. "Hi doctor" she replies weakly. "How are you feeling today? He asks already knowing the answer. "I normally am a pretty tough girl but this hurts worse than anything I've ever had" she says trying to convey how badly it really hurts. "Tom said you needed something for pain" the doctor says looking at the chart at the foot of her bed. "Hmmm" the doctor says as he looks at the chart.

"What is it? I ask. "Well it looks like she is running a bit of a fever, the white count is a little elevated also, and it could be signs of an infection or some other complication. We'll have to monitor the situation and see if they stay up or if they stabilize in the next day or so".

The doctor takes a closer look at the leg as it hangs in the sling in front of him. "Not much swelling in the toes, that's a good sign, perhaps we can get you into a cast later today or tomorrow. Can you wiggle the toes for me? I watch as Jen wiggles her beautiful painted toes just a slight bit while displaying a wince. "Good, good" he replies. "That's a good sign, hopefully we aren't dealing with any infection or other complications and we can get you out of here tomorrow or Monday. So pain is still a problem? he asks her. "Yea it seems like it has gotten worse in the last hour or so".

"OK, tell you what we will do. We will give you a morphine drip. That means we give you a button you can push when you are having pain. The device won't let you over medicate yourself, it just doesn't give you any more than you are allowed in an hour". "Thanks Doctor Anderson" Jennifer replies with a tone of thanks in her voice.