The Widow and the Nurse

Bridget works primarily with the elderly, making beds and meals and ensuring proper medications are taken at the correct times. Sometimes she'll help a client for six months, until he or she recuperates from an illness. Often she'll stay longer than that. For more than 12 years she worked exclusively for a rabbi in Miami Beach, until his death. She followed that job with a two-year stint assisting a woman in Miami Beach until she too died. A few months later, a home health care agency placed Bridget with Regina. Bridget impressed Regina and her son Joel so much they hired her privately, to save on agency fees.

Bridget is tall for a woman, with a slow rolling walk. Her dark hair lies lacquered straight and parted on the left side. She does not wear makeup. She is a bit overweight, though she weighs nowhere near the 250 pounds listed in one court document. Her speech is seasoned with a charming Caribbean lilt. When meeting new people, Bridget offers her hand passively, limply. She seldom makes eye contact with anyone, often shyly turning her head down and away, as if by doing so she could render herself invisible.

At the Bonavida a comfortable routine developed. Regina rose every morning around 7 o'clock to read The Miami Herald. Bridget arrived around 9 and immediately began fixing breakfast. Together they might eat some Raisin Bran or perhaps oatmeal with a banana.

After breakfast Regina retired to the living room, where she'd sit in her favorite green chair. She'd read the paper more closely while Bridget washed the dishes, made the bed, and got Regina's clothes out for the day. Bridget turned on the shower, setting the water at the proper temperature.

Following the shower, the two usually exercised together. Sometimes they'd walk around the golf course. Other times they'd go downstairs to the workout room to ride the stationary bicycles for half an hour. They returned to the apartment around noon. Regina ate a cup of yogurt or maybe a cheese sandwich or a scrambled egg, then removed her hearing aids and napped until late afternoon.

While Regina slept Bridget prepared dinner, which the two would later eat together. When the dishes were clean, Bridget joined Regina in watching Wheel of Fortune followed by The Lawrence Welk Show. At about 8 or 9 o'clock most nights, Regina retired to bed, where she would read a book late into the night, usually even after Bridget went home at 10:30 or 11. Every night without fail, Regina telephoned Bridget to make sure she had made it home safely.

This pattern repeated seven days a week, every day of the year. Regina still paid all her own bills, so sometimes they'd go to the bank in Regina's 1991 Dodge Dynasty. Other days they might shop for groceries or visit the library. Most Sunday evenings they'd go out to eat with Regina's friend Edna Schonwetter. One Sunday when Bridget was running late on an errand, Regina left her a note on the back of a bank deposit slip. "Dear Bridget," she wrote in her shaky cursive, "We've gone to Turnbagel with Edna, left at 4:30 -- you can join us. Love, Regina."

In Bridget's care Regina's health and spirits improved dramatically, according to Daniel Greenhill and others. She stopped using the medication she'd been taking for depression for more than a year. Neighbors noticed a change in her appearance and demeanor. "Bridget took very good care of her," agrees Schonwetter.

Bridget developed a deep affection for her patient, an endearment she expresses in her typically understated way. "She's a good person," Bridget offers, after some thought. "She has a good heart. She's just a nice person in every way. You feel comfortable to be around her. She's not a bother to you. She's very nice to talk to. She's very sweet. She's interesting."

Regina developed an equally endearing bond with her nurse. One day the two women went shopping at a North Miami Beach jewelry store. After browsing the display cases for a while, Regina purchased a ring for each of them. Bridget's ring cost $450. It is a simple gold-and-diamond wedding band that she still wears on her ring finger. A few months later, Regina bought a $125,000 house in North Miami and let Bridget and her children stay there rent-free.

In December 1998, only six months after hiring Bridget as her nurse, Regina helped her new best friend turn 49 years old. "The morning of my birthday, she says she has a surprise for me," Bridget recalls. "I thought we were going out to lunch; that's what I thought. When she told me it was a car, I could not believe it. She said, "I'm going to buy you a car for your birthday.' I was shocked. I said, "A car, Gina?' She said, "Yes, honey, I'm going to buy you a new car for your birthday. You deserve it.' Just like that. She told the gentleman at the car dealership: "She deserves it.'"