Bleeding Heart
Chapter 1 Vital Signs

“Don’t you love the smell of Bleeding Heart in the morning?” Daphne Collinson remarked to her sister, Victoria, as she rolled down the windows of her sister’s blue Ford Taurus.

“Girl, it is cold! Too cold to be rolling down the windows!”

“Naaaaaah! Look; it gives my nipples a firm sense of direction!” Daphne cackled and pushed her boobs together with her hands, her flowing copper red and gold tresses blowing outside the window. She began rifling through her purse for her sunglasses. Daphne liked to think the artist in her gave her license to be a bit chaotic.

“At least we got a sun break today.” Her topaz eyes, glinting in the sunlight.

Victoria’s violet eyes met her sisters as she grinned. “You’re a mess. At least roll it up part way, you’re making me a mess!” She grabbed hold of her blue-black and amethyst curls, trying to contain them.

“Okay, okay!”

The sisters were in their 40s and were excited to be living so close to each other again. They were on their way to the nursing home in their new, home town of Bleeding Heart, Oregon to visit their spouses. After extensive research, it seems, Bleeding Heart had the only facility in the country with the capability to treat rare blood disorders.

Victoria had carefully planned the route with her newly purchased GPS. “Daphne, keep watch of the street signs for me.” She was channeling her inner Du Maurier and living the moment.

“Isn’t that what that thing you bought is for?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to get lost.”

It was a classic winter morning. Heavy rains from the previous night kept the streets looking like vinyl and ensured Victoria would be manipulating the wipers accordingly. While she wasn’t working the control panel for proper heat adjustment or the volume on the radio, she gripped the stirring wheel with both hands firmly mounted at ten and two. The winding, rain soaked roads kept Victoria’s foot mostly on the brake.

Daphne played with the radio, changing the stations and turning up the volume.

“Can you leave it on one station, please?”

“This music sucks. I can’t replace a good station.”

As they drove passed the center of town, they glanced over at the town hall. There was a plaque in the square which featured a picture of the flower, Bleeding Heart with its’ delicate, hanging, crimson, bell shaped blossoms. The plaque read:

Hardy and reliable, the flower known as Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra Formosa) looks more fragile than it is. Not at all invasive, it will spread over time to cover an area. - The City of Bleeding Heart, Oregon.

“Just like us, huh, Daphne… two delicate flowers… with hair and fangs.”

Daphne snorted.

“Hungry? Look, there’s Burger City. And, wait, there’s the Burnt Tortilla!”

“Now, Daphne. There’s some fine cuisine here. Look over on the next corner, there’s The House that Flap Jack Built.”

“Let’s not leave out the five pool halls and strip clubs we just passed. Do the hustle! Doot-doot-doot… do- doot-do-doot-doot-do!”

Victoria cut her eyes at Daphne, “Your cake is sooo not baked...”

Victoria relapsed into her ‘driver on a mission’ mode as they passed the historic library. Victoria remembered as children, trying to keep Daphne engaged in doing her own homework and less so in the paper she had to write for English class. She convinced her to add drawings to her assignment for extra credit. Daphne thanked her profusely for the suggestion as she received an A on the assignment and she continued to draw thereafter.

They glanced, wistfully at the elementary school ahead. It was so charming; one might expect to see Beaver Cleaver running around the school yard. The high school and the churches also had that ‘small town America’ look and feel to them.

“We should be getting close, there’s the paper mill.” Victoria remarked.

“Is that the home up there on the right?” Victoria asked.

“It must be, that’s the address that’s coming up on your GPS. Yep, I see the sign out front.”

The building was salmon pink with white accents; it was built in the style of the Greeks, replete with large columns at its’ entrance. Two large, gruesome, stone lions guarded the driveway entrance. A guard stopped them at the guard shack and asked for their names. He waved them on and stepped out of his shack to watch them drive up to the house.

Daphne noticed him watching them. “We are either very important, very fetching or both.”

As they pulled into the parking lot, they could see a woman in a fitted, pink business suit and white heels standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed and a slight grin on her face, standing under what Daphne called a patio umbrella which was held by a grim looking woman in a nurse’s uniform. The pink lady looked to be in her 40’s, glasses perched at the end of her nose and yellow, bleached hair in a tight chignon with an elaborate, gold, hair comb.

“You think that’s her; Dr. Le Fleur?” Daphne asked.

“Maybe. She’s awfully prissied up to be running a nursing home.”

“Well, look at this place… pretty she-she foo-foo la-la…”

They parked and made their way from the car to start climbing the stairs.

“Good morning, ladies, welcome to Whole Care Loving Home. I am Dr. Francesca Le Fleur.”

The sisters glanced knowingly at each other.

“Oh, um, doctor, I’m Victoria Collinson Abandonato and this is my sister, Daphne Collinson Cleese.”

“I know who you ladies are. You are expected. I replace it charming that you both have retained your… family name. But let’s not discuss personals out here. I’d be happy to show you our facility before we chat business. Let’s go inside then, shall we?”

The umbrella nurse opened the door for them, she then promptly folded the umbrella and disappeared around a corner.

Dr. Le Fleur’s heels clicked as they entered the foyer with marble floors. Copies of nude Greek statues on either side seemed to greet them as they came to a large, common room. To the right was a sitting room with a cozy fire place and lots of plush chairs and tables for families to sit and visit with their loved ones. Dr. Le Fleur’s office was in a far the right corner. To the left, was a sun room which housed a baby grand piano, surrounded by nearly floor to ceiling ferns, orchids and succulents. A thin, white haired gentleman could be seen and heard as he sat at the piano, playing tunes from the 1920s and 30s. The office of the newly hired head nurse, Mary Poplar, could be found toward the back of the great room. She immediately sprang from her desk and stood in the door way. She smiled wryly as they passed her. Dr. Le Fleur was very selective in her choice of this nurse as this position required a substantial degree of loyalty.

“Pretty fancy, shmancy,” murmured Victoria.

Daphne coughed to cover the comment.

“What’s that?” asked Dr. Le Fleur.

“Oh, nothing. Just had a little tickle.”

Dr. Le Fleur guided them through the seating areas. “You will notice the patients are very content here. Families are encouraged to visit often.” She continued her tour and directed their attention to their beautifully equipped lab but did not take them in. Passing orderlies stiffened as she approached them.

After the tour, Dr. Le Fleur ushered them into her office and closed the door. A cello sonata could be heard floating through the room. She lingered a moment at the closed door, then motioned them to sit down. Her breathing audibly deepened. She looked down at the sisters and did a catlike walk to her desk. She seated herself slowly in her high back, overly cushioned office chair. Victoria zeroed in on a control panel on the right arm of the chair.

She leaned over, onto the desk and clasped her long, thin fingers. Her glossy, red nail polish glistened in the dim light. “As you can see, we have every modern convenience and an excellent staff of nurses and orderlies. All our patients receive the highest quality of care, but your husbands will have my top priority. You see, I am a member of the American Society of Hematology.”

“Well, that’s impressive, Dr. Le Fleur,” Daphne offered, “but do you really think you can help them? All of the other doctors they’d seen were stumped and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with ’em. And they were specialists.”

No pretense of a smile, Dr. Le Fleur’s back went rigid and a vein pulsated in her neck as she leaned back in her chair, “If I didn’t think I could help them, I would have told you so in the first place.”

Victoria’s eyes widened on the good doctor as she pursed her lips. Dr. Le Fleur remained silent for a few moments, noticing Victoria’s reaction; she must keep up her façade of the assuring doctor.

“To be perfectly frank with you, Ms. Collinson, I am the very best in my field. Your husbands are treatable, and I am almost certain I can rid them of this disease.”

Victoria seemed to be transfixed on Dr. Le Fleur. Daphne looked over at her and gave her a thump with her fingers on her thigh.

She jumped in her chair, jolting her back to the here and now. “You seem pretty confident.”

“I can assure you, yes, I am.”

“Can we see them?”

“Ms. Collinson, they arrived safely via our private medivac plane and patient transport bus this morning. They are going through several tests now. It would be preferable if you could wait until tomorrow to see them.”

“Really? Tests? What kind of tests and when will you know what’s wrong with them?”

“Oh yes, we are very expeditious here at Whole Care Loving Home. They are getting top notch care without any delay. It could take days… or weeks until we have test results.”

“I see.”

“Victoria, we can come back tomorrow. We have some things we need to do. Thank you, Dr. Le Fleur. We’ll come back to see our boys tomorrow.”

“Well then, please do come back tomorrow and see your Frumos. I will show you out.”

“Come back and see who?” Victoria asked.

“Our spouses, she said our spouses. I think we can replace our way out of this place. Thanks for the hospitality.”

Leaving the facility, Victoria’s face was flush, and her eyes were red, nearly on the verge of tears. When they reached the car, Daphne asked, “What is it?”

“I wanted to see Cosimo. She made such a fuss about families being welcoming to visit their loved ones, but she shooed us out. Don’t you want to see Leonard? And she said something weird, she said we could come back and see our Frumos.”

“Of course, I want to see Leonard. She did say that they were running tests. It’s good they are taking such an interest in them. And she said… what?”

“Frumos, she said Frumos. I’ve heard it before. I think I used to hear our father call our mother that name. I don’t know what it means but I’m going to look it up.”

“I didn’t hear her say Frumos and I don’t remember that name. But then, I don’t remember much about our mythical, absentee father.”

“Well I’m starting to remember some things about our father. Ever since we moved here.”

“Hmpf. Our father was a dick and good riddance to him. Let’s blow this pleasure palace and do something! And, don’t worry, you’ll see. It’ll be fine. We can run by the shop; it’ll keep our minds occupied with other stuff.”

“For a little while.”