Romance of the Stone

My boss, Stone Mathews is your typical type A executive. He went from graduate school right into the corporate world and he has spent his entire life in a battle to climb to the top of the company ladder. That is until the day he suffered a major heart attack at his desk and ended up in the hospital waiting to improve enough to have by-pass surgery. I was the one who found him slumped across his desk with the look of death on his face. My name is Judy Ross and as Mr. Mathews administrative assistant, which simply put is the corporate world's new buzzword for secretary. I kept telling myself to hold it together as I dialed 911 and then again as I tried to remember all those first aid lessons Mr. Mathews insisted we take from the Red Cross.

Thank god, for my instincts as I got him on the floor and his collar lose along with his tie. I gave him CPR and tried not to swoon as I gave him mouth to mouth. I looked up when I heard the EMTs arriving and saw the whole office just standing there staring at us with no offer of help from any of them. The EMTs asked me to ride with them to the hospital in order to get background for the patient and I sat to the side holding his hand as they furiously worked on him while we sped down the street toward Westwood General. Since I arrived with the ambulance, the hospital mistakenly took me for family and once he was settled in a room on the coronary floor I was allowed to be with him.

As I said Mr. Mathews is my boss but what I failed to mention is that I have a huge crush on him and although he doesn't know it, I would do anything for him. I sat beside him watching him, not knowing if he was sleeping or in a coma or what, and I kept thinking, what if he never wakes up, he will never have known my feelings for him. I began to cry and as the tears rolled down my face I swore to myself if he would just wake up I would confess my feelings and damn the consequences. I held his hand as I lay my head on his bed letting my tears flow in silence. When he weakly squeezed my hand, I jumped and when I looked into his eyes, I saw his smiling face.

I jumped up and like a fool, I began kissing his hand. I leaned over close to him,

"Oh Mr. Mathews I thought we'd lost you, I was so afraid and..."

"It's all right Judy, I'm OK."

"No it's not OK I swore I would do this so here goes, I was so frightened you would never know so I'm telling you right now, Mr. Mathews I love you."

I felt my face turn red as I realized what I'd just done.

"I'm sorry I know I should not have said that, it's just I was afraid you'd die and you would never have known my feelings."

I was far too embarrassed to look him in the eye but he took my chin and raised it to meet his gaze.

"Judy I don't know what to say, no one has ever said that to me, not even my parents. I could tell you had feelings for me but I had no idea there were so strong."

I went to visit him every day and then one day soon after his surgery he asked me to call him Stone and that was the start of our evolution from employer slash employee to friend and mentor. We talked for hours about everything but work as I wouldn't allow it, I told him work was what put him the hospital and now he could just forget about it until he got out. I never repeated my feelings for him as I figured they were already on the table and there was no need to rehash them.

When he was released, he asked if I wanted to come home with him and help nurse him back to health and of course, I accepted. I took a leave of absence backed a bag and moved in. Now you can believe this or not but I moved in solely with the thought of nursing Stone back to hale and hearty. It's just as we spent more time together the closer we became and then one day as we sat together eating I stood up to retrieve something from the kitchen. He caught my hand and pulled me to him and I ended up sitting on his lap. He held my chin in his hand,

"Judy you are the most wondrous thing that has ever happened to me and the joy you have brought into my life has made my life worth living. Even if I were to die tonight at least now I would know what happiness is. I know realize that I love you and I just hope your feelings are still the same for me"

As I was crying too much to answer, I just put my arms around his neck and kissed him.

His desire was to take me to bed and believe me I wanted the same thing but I feared for his health and I told him I would not make love until he got his doctor's clearance. He was so cute, we were at his doctor's door before nine A.M. and home with a limited release and I was in his bed before eleven. I would like to say the lovemaking was all fireworks and strobe lights but I think we were both more concerned with Stone's health. Believe me the fireworks came later after his full release.

How many people can say they had their first love affair after forty? It is such a shame that it took a near fatal heart attack to wake up a workaholic to the fact there are other things in life besides work. Who's to say how long a silly girl would work alongside the man she loved without ever proclaiming that affection. It makes you wonder if he had stayed healthy would she have stayed silent forever, thank god we'll never have to know.