Authors: Karice Bolton
Whether Ayden truly believed or remembered
that Mason was his brother, none of us knew. But once Brandy
whipped out a tiny mirror from her purse, there was no disputing
the fact.
I, on the other hand, provided for lots of
wiggle room and no pretending. I was at least on his radar, but I
wasn’t getting my hopes up. I saw the blank looks and puzzled
expressions sneak up on Ayden when he glanced my way.
Mason refused to tell any of us what he
whispered to Ayden, but I believe it got Ayden a little more
interested in me.
But not enough to remember me or us.
We were all exhausted from the day at the
hospital, Ayden included. He had fallen asleep about an hour ago;
around the same time we all left his room and said our goodnights.
The difference was that while everyone went their separate ways to
the homes they shared with loved ones, I stayed firmly anchored at
the hospital.
They all thought I left when they did, but I
just drove around the block, parked, and went to the espresso stand
to get a ham sandwich and decaf latte. Even if Ayden didn’t
remember me, I certainly couldn’t forget him. He was the one who
was supposed to be waiting for me at home. I had nothing and no one
to go home to so until he chased me away, I’d be by his side.
I finished up my sandwich and went back
upstairs. The lights in Ayden’s room were off, but there was still
the faint glow of the reading light by his bed. I wanted to crawl
in bed with him so badly and snuggle next to him.
I swallowed down the worry that getting to
do that might not ever happen again. Since Ayden’s somewhat
acceptance of his brother, my mind whirled with the realization
that just because Ayden might—at some moment—remember me, didn’t
mean that he’d still love me. There was no promise that he’d recall
who we were together, how we met, and what we envisioned for our
future. There was also no guarantee that because I was carrying his
baby he’d remember the excitement we both felt when we found out we
were expecting. There was no promise of anything.
I walked around the side of the bed and
stood at the window watching the entry to the emergency room. I
wondered what our view would be of if they moved him.
Why did I care?
I turned around and scared myself when I saw
Ayden’s gaze on me. Our eyes connected, and my heart started
fluttering with anxiety. I felt like I was crossing a line or a
boundary by being in the room with him alone.
“I’m sorry. I was just—”
He shook his head and slowly sat up.
I noticed something resting behind his gaze,
but I refused to believe it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I
couldn’t afford to indulge in the possibility. Not yet.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he
replied. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Lily. I’m so, so sorry. I never
should’ve stepped into the ring.”
My breath hitched, and I shook my head,
afraid to assume that he remembered anything or anyone beyond the
fight.
Like me.
“I can’t imagine what I put you through…”
his voice trailed off as he attempted to slide off the bed, but I
took two steps forward and stopped him.
“Do you re…”
I didn’t want to ask. I couldn’t finish my
question. I didn’t want to face the rejection.
Again.
The soft glow of the reading light
highlighted the blue in Ayden’s eyes as he reached his hands out
toward me, and I started to let myself believe that maybe, just
maybe, he did remember me.
Remember us.
I took his offered hands, and he pulled me
into him. I stood between his open knees as he clasped my hands
tightly.
“Please say you’ll forgive me,” he
whispered.
I was scared to say anything at all. I was
afraid he’d fall back asleep and forget this glimmer of his
history.
“You did nothing wrong, Ayden. Absolutely
nothing. You were injured. It’s not your fault,” I whispered.
He pulled me in closer, making the gap
between us almost invisible.
“I should’ve pulled out of the fight. I was
selfish.”
“You weren’t selfish. You were undefeated.
You wanted to prove to yourself you are the best. And you did. You
won. None of us could have predicted what happened after…” my voice
trailed off.
“I don’t even remember,” he said.
His hands untangled from mine, and he
settled his arms around my waist.
Every single cell in my body was igniting
with hope and joy at the mere thought of Ayden remembering us, all
of us, as he held me. He rested his head on my chest, and I felt
the weight of his world blend with mine, and I knew we’d be able to
get through whatever was thrown our way.
“I love you, Ayden,” I murmured.
“I love you, soon-to-be Mrs. Rhodes.”
Hearing those words come from his lips made
me ignite with a muted hope that we still had the possibility of a
future together. The expectation of becoming his wife was uttered
from his lips, not mine. Relief spread through my body, and the
surreal world I’d been numbly moving through, collided with an
overwhelming amount of sharp emotion. He remembered.
Ayden straightened up and released his arms
from my waist. He glanced at the recliner I’d set up for myself and
then back at me.
“I know it’s not much, but would you like to
sleep here? We can put the rails up so neither of us falls out,” he
offered.
My heart immediately melted into a world of
bliss.
Ayden remembered me.
“Do you think it’s okay to do that?”
“When have you ever worried about rules?”
His brow arched.
He really did remember me!
He scooted back on the bed and rested on his
side, patting the empty space next to him.
I was worried about snagging his IV cord,
but he maneuvered it out of the way as I crawled next to him. He
wrapped his arm around me and placed the IV cord over us as he
hugged me into him.
“I was so scared, Ayden,” I whispered,
feeling his body next to mine. “So scared.”
He tightened his hold and buried his head
into my neck.
“You don’t have to worry any longer. I’m
here.”
I nodded and felt his strength wrap around
me as I settled into the first good night’s sleep I’d had since
spending the weekend at Mason’s.
It wasn’t the sunlight or nurses that woke
us up. It was the excited chatter of Brandy and Mason as they
walked into the room, spotting Ayden and me. I felt the bed shaking
back and forth as I tried to open my eyes and blink away the blurry
mess in front of me.
“Knock it off,” Ayden growled at his
brother.
My eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the light
so I only saw the faint figure of Mason extending his arms to
wiggle the hospital bed.
“Seriously, dude. My stomach isn’t back to
normal yet.”
“Sorry,” Mason chuckled. “I got kind of
excited to see my experiment worked.”
“And what experiment was that?” I asked,
lowering the bed rail so I could crawl out. Even though I had a
great night’s sleep, every muscle in my body ached.
Mason’s brow quirked up slightly. “I
couldn’t have been that forgettable.”
Brandy’s voice rippled. “Or maybe you
were.”
I placed my hands over my mouth. “Oh, God.
That’s right.” I glanced at Ayden and shook my head. “Your brother
tried to cop a feel with your fiancée.”
Mason shook his head and walked over to his
brother, giving him a hug.
“Oh, please. You know you liked it.”
Ayden’s eyes narrowed on his brother.
“Why don’t you explain to us all whatever
possessed you to kiss Lily right in front of Ayden?” Brandy placed
her hands on her hip and stared at her brother.
“First of all there’s no denying that Lily
is unbelievably hot, beautiful, brilliant. The list goes on and on,
but my God, woman, your breath was so bad.” Mason winced and
pretended to wipe his mouth with his sleeve.
“Are you serious? I’ve been at the hospital
all day and night and day without brushing my teeth. It was your
brilliant idea to dive right in. Common sense should’ve told you to
swim at your own risk.” I crossed my arms in front of me and glared
at him. “Besides, you liked it.”
“I’ll never tell,” Mason sneered.
“That’s probably a wise idea,” Brandy
chuckled, rubbing Ayden’s shoulder.
“Well, when Lily and I were downstairs
getting a coffee.” Mason returned to his story.
“You drank caffeine? I thought you were
trying to avoid it?” Ayden interrupted, turning to me.
My heart sang with happiness. He was
remembering so much, so quickly.
I shook my head. “Nope. Still no
caffeine.”
“Do you want to hear my brilliance at work
or not?” Mason questioned.
“It’s probably the only thing that will get
you of this mess you put yourself into,” Ayden joked.
“So as we were downstairs, it occurred to me
that even though you weren’t able to immediately recall memories of
me or Lily, maybe somehow if I reenacted a scene with Lily, it
might pull something out of your subconscious. I was hoping it
would speed up the process. In all honesty, it hurt that you didn’t
remember me, but it destroyed me that you didn’t remember Lily. I
thought what if all of our memories are like little movies just
waiting to be viewed. My hope was that you’d see yourself kissing
Lily.”
“You did get pretty pissed,” Brandy
offered.
Ayden pulled his brows together. “I was
furious and I couldn’t figure out why.”
“How did you remember her?” Mason asked.
Hearing his question made my pulse race.
“I’d fallen asleep, and I started dreaming
about Lily. I woke up and saw her standing by the window and
realized I wasn’t dreaming, those were actual memories of us
together.”
“I’ll take total credit,” Mason replied
grinning.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I
teased.
He rolled his eyes.
“Does Tori know?” I asked.
“She sure does. I used a whole bottle of
mouthwash, and she wanted to know why.”
“Aren’t you on a roll,” I chuckled.
“I almost forgot. Tori gave this to me to
give to you.” He reached into his back pocket and whipped out a new
toothbrush and handed it to me. “And then this.” He pulled out
travel-size toothpaste, which I snagged from him.
“Please tell her, thank you.” I headed to
the bathroom and turned on the water and unwrapped the toothbrush,
squirting plenty of paste onto the bristles. Just as I started
brushing, I heard the doctor come into the room.
Figured.
Ayden relayed the good news about his
memory, and the doctor examined him and asked him about his pain
level.
“Well, I think if your progress continues,
I’d feel comfortable sending you home later this afternoon.”
I squeaked excitement with a mouth full of
toothpaste and turned around to spit it out. That was the best news
ever. I quickly rinsed, leaving most of the grit still in my mouth,
and flung myself into the room.
“I would want you to take it easy for the
next week. No exercise. Mostly resting and taking life easy.”
“He’s not very good at sitting still,” I
told the doctor.
“I gathered that by looking at him, but it’s
imperative that he doesn’t do anything to interrupt his healing
process. If he feels up to it, slow walks around the block would be
fine. But nothing more.”
Brandy traded glances with me.
“He has a trip to Bermuda planned in a
couple weeks. Is he allowed to travel?” she asked.
“I advise against all air travel for the
first ten days. After that, if his symptoms are gone, then I don’t
see why a flight to Bermuda would be a problem.”
Ayden smiled widely and his eyes connected
with mine.
I literally felt like a teenager getting
ready for my first prom. I let out a deep breath and couldn’t help
but smile back. To have come so close to losing Ayden, only to have
him wake up and not remember a thing about me, to now seeing him
look forward to our wedding did all kinds of crazy things to me.
This wasn’t only a rollercoaster of emotions; it was an epic
upheaval of life itself, and something told me in some form or
another this was what living life with Ayden would be, and I was
beyond okay with that.
“So how do we know if he gets to go home
this afternoon?” I asked.
“The nurses are going to come in and remove
the IV fluid he’s been receiving, along with the catheter. If he
can walk around the corridor without much dizziness, we’ll
discharge him.”
I nodded and glanced at Ayden, who grimaced
slightly.
Dizziness hadn’t been his friend this
morning, but I knew we both wanted him home.
“Any other questions?” the doctor asked.
We all shook our heads and he left the room.
Not long after, the nurse appeared and chased us out so she could
remove his catheter and IV.
Brandy grabbed my hand in the hallway and
jumped up on her toes.
“How did it happen? How did he remember you
this morning?” she asked.
“It wasn’t this morning, actually.” I
grinned. “When you all left, I stayed behind and went back up to
his room. He started by apologizing…” I pushed down the joyous
tears that wanted to take over the moment. I wasn’t the crying
kind, and no matter my exhaustion level, I wasn’t going to start
now.
Brandy shook her head. “I can’t even tell
you what I was feeling last night. I couldn’t sleep. Aaron and I
were up all night wondering what we were going to do.”
I nodded and smiled. “That’s how I started
my evening too. I honestly couldn’t fathom it. This entire ordeal
has felt like one bad dream, and it all started with Viktor.”
Viktor.
“Speaking of him, has anyone heard about
what happened to him after his buddies drove him away?”
Mason’s eyes fell to the floor, and he
kicked an imaginary stone as if he was in first grade.