Chapter 27

Edmond's eyes snapped open. The first thing he noticed was that he was, indeed, still in his tipped-over wheelchair, lying on his left side. There were flashes of red and blue, which didn't make sense at first, but, looking around, he saw that the front door was open, and there was a police car and an ambulance outside. Then he saw her. Lena was sitting a few feet away, and a paramedic was bandaging her wrist. Susan sat beside her. Finally he noticed that another paramedic was kneeling right in front of him, with smelling salts. Why was he not the first thing Edmond noticed? He couldn't be sure, but the way his head had been working since getting hit, he wasn't surprised.
Edmond tried to find his voice, but, even though he was now conscious, some things still didn't respond well. He finally managed to croak out, "What happened?" only to find that the medical personnel were once again more concerned about making a diagnosis of his case than answering the questions that were most important to him.
"Mr. Randolph, can you move your legs?" the paramedic asked him.
Edmond shot him a look of ire, and then shouted, with heavy sarcasm, "Oh no! I can't! I'll probably spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair!"
The EMT looked embarrassed, briefly, and then pointed out, "Mr. Randolph, I'm just trying to ascertain if you suffered any further spinal injuries."
Edmond grimaced, and moved his right arm around. "I don't think so," he said.
The paramedic grabbed at his wheelchair, and pulled it upright. Edmond had a knot on the left side of his head where it had hit the floor, but otherwise, he seemed to be okay. "We would still like to take you to the hospital for X-rays."
Edmond nodded, and wheeled his way over to Lena. "Are you okay?"
Lena nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine." She gestured towards her left wrist, "I managed to cut my wrist pretty good trying to cut my way out of the ropes." She took a very serious look into Edmond's face, and Edmond didn't see the revulsion that he normally saw in people's eyes when they really looked at him for the first time. "Thanks for coming."
Edmond looked away. He still wasn't sure how all this had worked out, but he certainly didn't feel that he deserved any credit.
Edmond brought up memories from when he had been knocked unconscious. He wasn't sure how to explain them. "I smelled you..." he started to say.
Lena smiled. "I'm sorry; I haven't been able to get to a shower in a few days."
"No, I didn't mean that, I mean that, when I was unconscious, I smelled perfume, and I, well, I just knew that you were nearby."
The paramedics loaded Mark into the ambulance. Edmond looked around only in time to see Mark's lower body, but he knew who it had to be. He turned back to Lena. "Did you kill him?"
Lena shook her head. "No, I, uh, stabbed him in the arm. I really didn't have the heart to kill him, even though I was afraid he was going to kill you. The arm was good enough, though, he dropped the gun, and really didn't put up much of a fight after that. Susan came back with the cops pretty soon after that."
Lena again looked deep into Edmonds eyes. "That was pretty remarkable, that you came all this way, just because you thought I might be in trouble."
"For all the good it did," Edmond groused.
Lena's eyes went wide. "For all the good it did? Are you blind? Do you think any of this would have happened if you hadn't come?"
"All I know, is that I thought something was wrong, I came out here to try to rescue you, figured out where you were, got myself knocked in the head, and you got yourself loose. You ended up saving me."
Lena shook her head. "You know, part of the reason that I have read your blogs is because you seemed like such an intelligent man. I guess that's just when you're writing, though." Lena paused and looked deep into Edmond's eyes. "Don't you see that I wouldn't have even tried to escape if you hadn't come? I couldn't tell when Mark was awake or asleep, or even if he was here. When you showed up, that was the first time that Mark was distracted enough that I thought I might be able to get away. I'd still be tied up in the basement if it weren't for you.” Lena paused. “If nothing else, I understand that you risked your life for me, and I'm very grateful"
Edmond looked away, still unconvinced. After a moment, he looked back at Lena. "I just feel like I didn't really do anything, you know? It seems to me that I could have stayed home, and you would still be all right now."
Lena sighed. "Maybe. I don't know. I'm still glad you came, though. I feel much safer knowing that you're looking out for me. Do you think that you would be better off if you had stayed in Chicago?"
Edmond looked at her angrily. "I wouldn't have this bump on my head, that's for sure. I'd probably be sitting at home eating canned beef stew." Edmond thought about that for a minute, then looked back at Lena and Susan. "I probably wouldn't even miss spending time with friends, because I wouldn't have thought that I had any."
Lena leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Give me a call when they've finished X-raying your head. I want to buy you and Susan dinner. I guess we're all going back to Portland in Susan's car, anyway."
A second ambulance arrived, and the paramedics put Edmond into it. It occurred to him that he didn't have the slightest idea how to call Lena. That was okay, though, after all the obstacles he had made it through this week-end, he was sure that something would work out.