"I just want to feel better and not talk all night." She plopped back down lower in the love chair.
My patience was wound as tight as a spring. I went to the hall closet and returned with the unopened box and handed it to her.
"Take it and go into the bathroom and read the directions. They're fairly simple. Either that, or decide which laxative you're willing to take. It's getting late and I'm tired of going around and around on this subject. One or the other."
"You do it," she said. "like your mother would."
"Karen . . . ," I said in exasperation.
"No. Really. I mean it. I want you to. I'm asking you to please do it."
Neither of us spoke for several moments. Finally I said, "Are you certain?"
"Can I stay mostly covered?"
"Yes. I could leave the sheet over you but are you positive . . . ?"
"I want you to do it."
I was incredibly nervous. I couldn't believe Karen would allow me to help her with this intimate and private matter. Karen, whom I'd never even seen naked, letting me do this to her. Somehow, we managed to get through it. After it was finished, she joined me in the love chair twenty minutes later.
"I know that was pretty rough but It's over and now you can rest." Karen didn't answer but put her head on my shoulder and actually slept. Perhaps a half hour passed before she opened her eyes and reached out her hand to me.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked.
She smiled for the first time. "Yes. I'm kind of washed out but the belly ache is gone. It definitely works."
I stood and lifted her bodily and dumped her into my bed. "Go to sleep. You've deserved it."
"I can go to my bed," she said.
"Sleep with me tonight," I said. "I want you next to me."
She wrapped her arms around me when I joined her. "Thank you," she whispered as she hugged me tightly. We both slept soundly in each other's arms.
It was four A.M. by my clock radio when my daughter's movement woke me. My arm was asleep where Karen's head still rested on it. As I started to slowly extract my limb, she raised her head, and I could see her eyes were open.
"You're awake."
"I napped a lot today," she answered. I hadn't, and I was exhausted but I willingly sat up and snuggled my daughter to me, reveling in her trust and attention.
"Are you still feeling better?"
"Good. Normal, I guess. No cramps."
"Do you want to talk about it?"