Mistaken: The Lost Heiress

The Doctor

{Adelynn’s POV}

The bright, vibrant colors of the morning sky beamed in through my bedroom window. A soft knock turning my attention to my door, I sat up, rubbing my eyes, trying to rid myself of my exhaustion. My mother and grandmother walked in carrying a tray of food. “Hey sweetie, we brought you some breakfast in bed!” My mother smiled.

“Oh.. thank you..” I whispered softly, sitting up the rest of the way, and letting out a soft whimper as I winced at the pain in my back. It always flares up so much in the morning, since I go from lying down all night to sitting up.

“What’s wrong honey?” Gramma asked, looking me up and down.

I smiled softly, shaking my head. “I’m okay, my back just hurts more in the morning.” I said, reaching over and grabbing my bag. I pulled out my bottle of pills and popped one into my mouth, taking it with the orange juice they brought me. “Thank you both for breakfast.” I smiled, looking down at my plate, pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and syrup took up three plates on the platter they brought in. I ate as much as I could, and smiled over to them. “That was delicious, thank you!”

“I’m glad you liked it honey.” My mother said, brushing my hair back behind my ear. “I woke up early this morning and called our doctor. They’ve squeezed you in at 10:00, so if you’re done, we’ll go ahead and get ready to go see them!”

“Really? Thank you, so much..” I smiled back at her, gramma took the tray back into the kitchen. My mother brought me a dress and a pair of shorts to go under it. It was a simple black button up dress, with short sleeves. It buttoned all the way up the front, and went down to my knees. She pulled my hair up into a high ponytail, placing a large black bow at the top of it. She pushed my chair out of my room, and into the living room. “Alright, we’re going to the doctor, we’ll be back later!” She said, smiling to everyone.

“Wait mama!” Theodore said, standing up and walking towards us. “I’m going with you.” He sniled, moving behind me and pushing my chair towards the front door.

She smiled brightly at him. “Thank you my sweet boy!” She cheered, as we made our way outside.

Once we made it onto the porch, he lifted my chair completely and walked me and it down the stairs. He sat me down, and walked me to the car. He lifted me to his chest, carefully sliding me into the car, and buckling me in. He shut the door, grabbing my wheelchair, folding it up, and placing it into the trunk. He and my mother got in, and soon we were on our way to the hospital.

We made it there quickly, and he unloaded my chair, then helped me into my chair. Once inside we were taken to a private room, and were told to wait for the doctor. Some nurses came in with an x-ray machine, and took some pictures of my back and legs. Soon after the doctor came in, holding my chart.

“Hello Ms. Briars..” he said looking down at me. “Mrs. Evans.” He nodded towards my mother. “Now, I have to ask, due to the report, the investigation, and the extent of your injuries, are you alright talking about this with everyone present?” He asked, sitting down in front of me.

I nodded, rubbing the palm of my hand. “Y-Yes sir..” I answered quietly.

“Alright.. well, I’ve gone over your files, and over the x-rays we took today.” He sighed. “I’m afraid that your injuries were worse than originally thought. Your lumbar vertebrae is crooked, and it seems that there is some swelling in your spinal column that may be stopping the feeling in your legs.” He said, looking down over the charts. “I know that you’ve had multiple surgeries already, but we’re going to need to do another spinal surgery, to fix the disks in your back, along with setting you up with a better back brace.” He finished, finally looking back up at me.

“Oh.. I.. um..” I stammered, unsure of what to say. My eyes began to burn, and I knew I was going to cry. I gripped onto the hem of my dress. “Do.. I have to get another surgery?” I asked.

“I’m afraid so, that is if you want to be able to walk again. If we don’t fix the disks in your back, I’m afraid you’ll never be able to walk again.” He said, looking between the chart and I. “I also see here that your legs were both broken in the incident, along with your arm, your collar bone, your nose, and eye socket.” He stood up, setting my chart down, and using his thumbs to trace over my eye and nose. “It seems like all of that healed up pretty well. Are you having any pain?” He asked, looking down at me.

“Just in my back, mostly when I first wake up.” I said softly, looking down at my hands.

My mother and brother stood still behind me. I could feel them staring down at me, but I couldn’t bear to look at them. I heard the rustling of papers behind me, but kept my head down as the doctor looked over my back and legs. “Alright, can you try to move your toes for me?” He asked. I tried, but nothing happened.

“I can’t move them..” I whimpered, trying my hardest to get at least one of them to move.

He sighed, leaning against the exam table beside me. “You can’t feel your legs because of the misplaced disk in your spine. The bones are healing up nicely, but certain vertebra are crooked, putting pressure on the nerves that lead to your legs. You’ll need to stay in your braces for the next little bit, and we’ll go ahead and get you scheduled for your spinal surgery, so you guys can get out of here for today.” The doctor said, smiling at me as he stood and left the room.

I rubbed my palm, looking towards the window that overlooked the busy city streets outside. “Honey.. are you okay?” My mother asked, walking up behind me. She placed her hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently.

I nodded, letting out a long sigh. “I hoped that I wouldn’t have to have surgery again.. I knew something was wrong though. I hadn’t regained any feeling in my legs..” I wiped the tears that had began to fall down my face, before looking up at her. “Hopefully it’ll be okay after this one.”

“The man that raised you.. he did all of this?” Theodore asked, I turned my chair to see him reading through my file. “These pictures.. he did this?” He asked, his voice filled with anger, and sadness, he sounded as though he may cry.

“I-I..” I stammered, unable to formulate a sentence. I began to cry, as all I could think about was the fact that unless I have another surgery, I may never walk again, meanwhile he got away with life in prison. It wasn’t enough, he deserved so much worse.