Authors: Tessa Dayne
~*~
He had been in the hospital, biding his time, waiting for the opportune moment to make his move. He had seen the family coming and going, seen the doctors and nurses with their clipboards and still he waited. After visiting hours were over, and the day staff had gone off duty, he still waited, quietly sitting in the cafeteria, a cup of coffee resting between his hands.
Now, after most of the visitors had gone home, Darren walked down the darkened, deserted hospital hallways, his shoes quiet on the sterile tiles. He reached the ICU floor, unobstructed and slipped into Paige’s room while the nurse was making her rounds.
Pulling the shades, Darren insured that he wouldn’t be disturbed. He slid the chair over, placing it right next to the bed. Sitting down, he reached for Paige’s hand, holding it lightly between his.
“Paige, do you remember all the
good times we had, before I screwed it all up? Do you remember making love on the rooftop under the stars? Going to Cubs games, eating hot dogs, and drinking beer? Don’t forget snowball fights in the park.
“Where did we lose us? What happened that we lost our way? It wasn’t all my fault and it wasn’t all your fault, though I tried to blame you. Somehow, we just stopped being us and became you and me. I miss us, Paige.”
Darren stopped, and raised her hand to his lips. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles, his lips lingering on her skin. He looked at her, over their clasped hands, surprised to see her eyelids fluttering.
“Paige?”
~*~
Jonas sat in first class, looking out the window at the clouds as the plane flew over. He was somewhere over England, he figured and would be landing for the layover in New York in several hours. He was lucky that he got a flight as quickly as he had. Allowing for the time difference, the layover and flight time, he figured he’d arrive in Chicago sometime on March 7
th
.
Just two days and he would see Paige again. God, he missed her. Closing his eyes, Jonas thought back on the last evening they had together before her accident. They had spent it at the cabin, making love and laughing like young lovers. Cooking and sitting by the fire.
“Sir? Is everything okay? Would you like something to drink?”
Jonas opened his eyes and smiled at the woman standing in the aisle. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“If you need
anything
just let me know,” she said, smiling seductively at him.
Jonas watched as she sauntered away, and then turned his attention back out the window. Two more days, he chanted to himself. Just two more days.
~*~
Darren leaned closer to Paige’s bedside and squeezed her fingers tightly. “Wake up, Paige. That’s right. Wake up. Let me see those beautiful eyes.”
Paige’s eyes fluttered and finally opened. She glanced around slowly, her eyes trying to focus in the dimly lit room. When she realized that someone was holding her hand, she tried to focus on the man sitting by her bedside.
“Darren?” she choked, her throat dry. “Darren, is that you?”
Darren took a deep breath, a small moment of doubt racing through his mind. Would she remember everything that he had done in the last few weeks? Would she remember the accident and his role in it?
“It’s me. How about a drink of water?” he asked, reaching for the pitcher of water and a glass.
Holding it out to her, he watched as she took it, her hands shaking slightly. She raised it to her lips, and when she faltered just a bit, Darren reached out and held the cup to her lips.
“Take it easy. You’ve had me so worried,” he said, placing the cup on the bedside table.
“What happened? Why am I here?” she asked, looking around the room.
“Shush….
don‘t get yourself worked up. There was a car accident. You were hurt.”
“A car accident? I don’t remember a car accident. When?”
“You’ve been here for a couple of months,” Darren said, brushing her hair from her forehead.
“Months? What day is it? Where are my father and brothers? They weren’t hurt were they?”
“You need to remain calm, Paige. You were hit by a car. No one else was hurt. The accident happened on New Year’s Eve. We were at Darcy’s annual party,” Darren explained, smoothing out her hair as he did.
“No one else was hurt?”
“No. You should get some rest. There will be more time to talk tomorrow. I should go, anyway. Your family is still angry with me. They will never accept me.”
“It’s okay. I love you. They will someday too,” Paige said softly, closing her eyes.
Darren smiled, leaned over and kissed her forehead softly. He moved the chair back and quietly slipped from the room. Could he be any luckier? He had only been thinking what if, and yet here he was with a second chance. She hadn’t thrown him out and had even said she loved him.
Grinning, he headed for the elevators. No more sneaking around for him. No sir. He was going to come in tomorrow as if he owned the place. Paige’s family be damned. He was back on top!
~*~
Jonas headed through the airport until he reached the gate for his connecting flight. He double checked the status of his flight on the board and smiled to find it was on time. Just a few more hours and he would be landing in Chicago.
Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed John’s number.
“Hullo?”
“John? It’s JD.”
“Thank God you called. I’ve been trying to reach you all morning. We all have.”
“Is it Paige? What’s wrong?”
“She’s awake, man. And Darren, that wanker, is here.”
“What? What the hell? Why is he there? Have the police been called? What about Paige’s
family? Her brothers? Where are they? They would never let him near her.”
“She won’t allow anyone to remove him from the room, JD,” John explained.
“What? I don’t understand.”
“The doctors are saying she’s suffering from some form of short term amnesia. She doesn’t remember breaking it off with that piece of rubbish.”
Jonas dropped to his seat, his heart thudding loudly in his ears. She was awake, but she didn’t remember anything? She didn’t remember him? Their love affair?
“JD? I’m sorry to drop this on you like this, but you need to get here. Maybe seeing you will jar her memory. How far away are you?”
“New York. I’m waiting for a connecting flight. I should be there by the early evening. Can someone pick me up at the airport?”
“Someone will be there. And JD?”
“Yeah?”
“Hang in there. I’m sure this is only temporary. Seeing you will snap her out of this, I’m sure of it.”
Jonas hung up the phone, stunned. He wanted to be happy that Paige was awake. He
was
happy that she was awake. But he had never thought of this kind of setback. Amnesia? She didn’t remember him or any of the time they spent together? And she had allowed Darren, that scumbag, into her room? What the hell was going on?
Glancing at the departure board, Jonas realized that he had another forty minutes before his flight was scheduled to leave. He only prayed that it would be on time. He had to get to Chicago.
~*~
Darren looked out the door into the hallway, and then quietly closed the door when he saw William heading toward the nurse’s station. He really didn’t need another scene this morning. It had been bad enough that Paige’s brother had taken it upon himself to try to oust him from Paige’s room, but now her father was here as well.
And let’s not forget that pompous, self-absorbed English actor. Who the hell did he think he was? Wasn’t it bad enough that Mr. ‘I think I am the world’s greatest lover’, Jonas Barnett was an obstacle? Now he had to deal with yet one more ‘Hollywood’s gift to women’?
“Are you okay, Darren?”
Darren turned around and smiled warmly at Paige. “Nothing’s wrong, babe. I just thought it was a little noisy out there. I wanted to sit here and talk to you with a little peace and quiet. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Better. I have a bit
of a headache, but the doctor said that I would. I still don’t remember much of December though.”
“That’s okay. I can fill in the blanks, if you’d like.”
The door opened and Paige glanced up to see her father standing in the doorway. “I don’t think that is a good idea, Mr. Armstrong,” he said, elbowing his way passed Darren to Paige’s bedside. “Morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling this morning?”
“I was just telling Darren that I had a slight headache. The doctors said that I might experience headaches, but that I was just to take it easy. Darren was going to fill in some of the blanks for me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Paige. You should remember details of December on your own,” William said, leveling a stern look in Darren’s direction.
“I have to agree with your father, Paige,” Dr. Gates said as he came into the room. “Filling in your recollections before you have a chance to remember on your own could be very detrimental. I must warn everyone around you to exercise extreme caution with what they tell you. You must remember on your own. Now, please, I would like to examine Paige, if I could.”
William leaned over and kissed Paige on the forehead. “I will be right outside.”
Darren tried to get to Paige, but had to be satisfied with a small smile in her direction as William pushed him out the door, a firm hand between his shoulders.
Dr. Gates closed the door behind them and leaned against it. “So, Paige, how are you feeling today?”
“Just a slight headache.”
“You will probably have those for a while. You had quite the accident.”
“Can you tell me anything? I don’t remember anything of December.”
“I’m sorry, Paige. It is best if you remember the details of December on your own.”
“It’s only a few weeks. What could I possibly have done in those weeks that is so important that I have to remember on my own?”
“I can’t tell you Paige. I
will tell you that when you start remembering, and I believe that you will, the headaches could get stronger and more frequent. Or they could go away and the memories could flood back in a fell swoop.”
“You can’t tell me what to expect?”
“Paige, the body is a complex and wondrous thing. There are certain things that happen that we have no idea why. We can just guess at the whys and why nots. Unfortunately, amnesia and comas are lumped into that category. We wanted your body to heal, so we didn’t force you out of the coma. The trauma you suffered, whether before the accident, or because of the accident, made your mind want to forget. So until you want to remember, or something around you triggers a memory, you will just have to live your life with a blank for those few weeks.”
“You don’t make things easy, do you?”
“No. And speaking of things that aren’t easy…you start physical therapy this afternoon.
Chapter
Seventeen
~*~
The plane touched down in Chicago and slowly taxied to the gate. Gathering his things, Jonas waited anxiously for the plane to come to a complete stop and the flight attendant to announce that they were going to disembark. He was more than anxious to get to the hospital to see what the hell was going on.