by Danes, Ellie
“Happy anniversary.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
Last night was an anniversary I would never forget. Hell, it was a night I could never forget, especially after the mental roller coaster of a day I had had. Cain and I ended our day in a way that still had my body trembling. We did something that was completely unnatural; we slept in. I eventually pulled myself out of bed and opened the room darkening curtains to reveal an amazing sunny spring day. I looked down from the twenty-third floor and watched as joggers made their way across the canal walk by the river. I could feel the heat from the sun through the windows and knew it was going to be an absolutely perfect day.
I turned to find Cain watching me with an enormous smile on his face. He seemed happier than I had seen him in a long time. I believe we both felt that way, as if we had pressed a reset button on our lives. It was a huge milestone for both us. It had been a long time since I had been with anyone this long. I finally felt complete. I climbed into bed and kneeled next to Cain after kissing him good morning. “So, what should we do today? Maybe a run or a picnic?”
Cain immediately frowned as delivered the news. “I’m sorry, I’m supposed to head off with Brice today, remember?”
My eyebrows fell as I stared at him. “I do. I wish you didn’t have to.”
“I know, but it will be good for both of us.” Cain smiled. “It will make you miss me more and then we can have a repeat of last night.” Cain chuckled and grabbed me, pinning me to the bed. “Deal?”
“Deal!” I giggled.
* * * * *
The music blared and echoed into the nothingness of the river as Aimee and I sat next to the pool at Cain’s house. It was close to noon and we already had the rest of the day planned, lunch and drinks and then some swimming in the heated saltwater pool. What could be better, other than having both of our men by our sides while enjoying the day? Aimee and I joked about Brice and Cain trying to recapture their youth with this adrenaline club. It seemed ridiculous.
The white concrete around Cain’s pool was warm on the bottom of my feet as I walked over to my phone, streaming the music to the poolside speakers. I switched songs to something with more of a beat, grabbed two glasses of a cranberry concoction from the bar cart and joined Aimee on the chaise longues. I had already filled her in on the details of last night and had excitedly shown her the gorgeous chunk of diamond that hung around my neck. She laughed as I told her about my embarrassment, thinking Cain was about to propose. I was glad I was able to amuse her; I almost wanted to run and hide at the time.
We both relaxed on the soft, white longues, taking in the sun and not saying much of anything. Aimee and I had a way with each other. Sometimes we could talk for days, and other times we could sit in complete silence and just enjoy the serenity of each other’s company. Cecilia brought a late lunch to the pool for us, which was completely unexpected. I felt guilty and a bit awkward as she delivered two perfectly prepared grilled chicken salads and two glasses of white wine. “Cecilia, you didn’t have to do that.” My tone was apologetic.
“Miss Jennifer, this is your house too.” She smiled. “It makes me happy to take care of you and Mr. Cain.” I stood and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek to thank her. As quickly as she appeared she disappeared, leaving Aimee and I to enjoy our poolside picnic.
Aimee smiled. “Lucky girl, I wonder if this is what it will be like when I live with Brice.” Aimee took a bite of her salad without looking up.
“What!” I nearly dropped my plate as I stared at her. “You’re moving in with Brice? When? How?” The thought actually excited me. Aimee had never been this serious with anyone.
“We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks. I haven’t said yes, but I’m really considering it.” Aimee’s big eyes stared at me, waiting for a response. “Well, should I?”
“I don’t know Aims… is he the one? Are you ready for that? I mean, I’ve been with Cain for a year and I’m still not ready.” I shook my head.
“Jen, you’re more than ready. You’re just scared. Hell, you told him yes before he even asked to marry you.” I grinned, embarrassed, as I looked at her. She was right. “Me? After we made it past two months I knew Brice was the one. I just keep waiting for him to do something to screw it up. He seems too perfect to me.”
I took a small swig of my wine as I nodded in agreement with Aimee. I had felt the same way at times with Cain. Although it was never Cain that seemed to mess things up for us, it was everything else. All of the drama and tragedy in our lives that both pulled us apart and then drove us together. As difficult as it was, I don’t know I would change a thing. It had allowed me to grow up and realize that it was possible to find the perfect person. “I think you should do it. Take a chance. If you keep waiting for him to screw up you will never be able to fully enjoy everything.”
Aimee’s head bounced in agreement as she smiled. “You’re right.”
“And if it doesn’t work out, you can always move in with me.” I giggled. “I have a ton of room.”
“No chance, you’ll be living in the palace before you know it. Mark my words, Jennifer Dunning. Sometimes I know you better than you know yourself.” Aimee raised her wine glass in a toast. “To us both moving forward.”
Aimee and I toasted, finished our lunches and soaked in the sun. The last two days had been a breakthrough for me. I felt a new sense of importance and self-awareness. I finally understood what I needed and wanted and, even more importantly, that it was within reach.
We had both come so far since our awkward teenage years growing up together. Through all of the difficult times, Aimee had been there for me. We played, we laughed, we cried. Not once as we got older did we share our dreams of having the lives we did right now. Even though we grew slightly apart during college, Aimee was there through the difficult years, even though it was long distance. When I moved back to town we reconnected as if no time had passed. Friends like Aimee were hard to come by. I smiled as I reflected on my now almost perfect life and drifted to sleep.
The sound of the tropical steel drums echoed throughout the quiet pool area. I opened my eyes and was disoriented as I stared through the orange tint of my designer sunglasses at the pool and then Aimee sitting next to me as she reached for her phone, silencing the sound of her drum ringtone and putting the phone back on the table. It rang again just moments later. “What the–?” Aimee grabbed the phone and answered it. “Hello?...What? Yes…I’m with her…Brice…calm down.”
Aimee sat up and stared at me. Her mouth hung open as she talked with Brice. “Aimee, what’s going on?”
She anxiously pointed to my phone, still sitting on the bar cart next to the speakers. While we had been sleeping in the sun we hadn’t notice the music had stopped. I quickened my pace as I grabbed my phone and noticed it was completely dead from playing the music. I rushed back to Aimee and shrugged my shoulders, looking for a sign of what was going on.
“Ok, I’ll tell her.” Aimee hung up the phone and looked at me. “Jen, they’ve been trying to reach you. There’s been an accident.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
My brain was still in a fog from the afternoon nap in the sun as I tried to process exactly what Aimee had been telling me. I only heard the words “Brice” and “accident” and then realized that couldn’t be correct. My stomach knotted as the reality set in and I thought of Cain and blankly stared at Aimee. “Aimee, what’s going on? What accident? Who’s been trying to get in touch with me?” I look at my phone as I insistently kept pushing the button to turn it back on, hoping that it would have magically recharged itself to reveal my missed calls.
“That was Brice. He said they’ve been trying to call you.”
“Is Cain alright?” I yelled. I could feel the adrenaline begin pumping through my system.
“Yeah, yes.” Aimee was still in a fog. “Cynthia has been trying to reach you. She couldn’t get you and so she finally called Cain, hoping you two were together.”
I quickly pieced the phone trail together as I realized what was happening. “Dad? Is he Ok?”
“I don’t know. Brice didn’t have any details. He just said your father was in an accident. To check your voicemail and something about your father is at St. Francis.”
Aimee shook her head, attempting to snap herself back to reality as I jumped up and ran inside. “I’ve got to go.” I ran up the stairs to Cain’s bedroom, tripping a few times as I attempted to skip steps, and threw on a shirt and shorts over my bikini.
Aimee was waiting for me downstairs, already dressed in clothes from her bag. “I’m coming with you, let’s go.”
We quickly jumped in the car and sped off toward the hospital. It was in the suburbs, at least a thirty minute drive on any given day. I tossed Aimee my phone as she plugged it in, trying to get a charge. The battery outline with the lightening bolt froze on the screen; a sign the phone had been completely drained of a charge. Frustrated, I grunted and mashed the pedal harder, wondering what could possibly be in those voicemails. Aimee called Brice and relayed messages back and forth between Brice and Cain, searching for answers. “Can they call Cynthia back and get more information?”
“They tried. No answer.”
“Can you call the hospital, see if we can get some info?” I felt tears begin to fill my eyes as I accelerated though the turn and onto the expressway, glancing only briefly into my mirror for oncoming traffic. Aimee wrapped up the call and then searched for the number of the hospital switchboard and was finally connected. She attempted to hand me the phone and I declined. “You do it! Put it on speaker!”
The tinny voice of the switchboard operator echoed in the car and was just barely audible over the revving engine. Aimee’s panicked voice frantically tried to connect to the right department and was continuously put on hold until she finally reached a nurse in the emergency room. “I’m sorry, ma’am, we can’t give out details over the phone.”
I interjected in the conversation as I held the steering wheel tighter and weaved through traffic. “This is his daughter. Please, is there someone I can talk to?” I pleaded through tears.
“I’m sorry. All I can say is that he’s in surgery right now. I don’t have any other information I can share.”
I grabbed Aimee’s phone and hit the disconnect button in a huff and returned my focus to the road. Aimee sat quietly, unsure of what to do or say as my phone finally buzzed from the center console. “Aimee, can you–?”
“On it!” Aimee grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. Six missed calls and two voicemails. She hit play and we listened to Cynthia’s frantic voice, crying on the phone. Sirens blared in the background and my hard pounder harder.
Cynthia sounded desperate and shaken. “Jennifer, we’ve been in a accident. Your dad’s hurt bad…” We could hear the paramedics telling her to get off the phone and the call ended. Aimee played the second message. It was Cynthia again. “They’re taking him to St. Francis.” The called ended again.
A few more messages were on the phone from Brice and Cain alerting me to call them. I was thankful that Aimee and I opted for a quiet day at the pool rather than a wild day. Aimee tried to console me with encouraging words as she resorted to clinging tightly onto the “oh shit” handles we had joked about the other day.
I had cut our drive time from thirty minutes to fewer than twenty as we both raced through the emergency room doors and ambushed the nurse at the front desk. She directed us to the third floor waiting room but offered no additional information.
Cynthia sat in the dark brown and beige waiting room chairs, her face scraped, neck in a brace and right arm in a sling. As we approached she attempted to stand but was obviously hindered by pain. Tears immediately began to stream down all of our faces as I gingerly hugged her. “They came out of nowhere. There wasn’t time.” Cynthia sobbed. “The truck broadsided the car.” Cynthia squeezed me as tightly as she could with her one arm. “He was bleeding a lot, Jennifer. They told me he had broken his leg, ribs and there’s some internal bleeding. He’s been in there for a few hours already.”
I felt a wave of guilt come over me. How could I be so careless to let my phone charge run out? I could have been here sooner. I peppered Cynthia with other questions and whether she had heard from the doctors or had other information, whom she had called and what she knew. Cynthia only had time to call me a few times and then call Cain. I was thankful she was able to do that.
Cain and Brice turned the corner to the waiting room and I ran to Cain, hugging him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re alright. When Brice called I thought it was you. I thought you had been in an accident.”
Cain gently rubbed my back and held me. “It’s Ok. I’m here. How’s your father?” I filled him in as we all sat in the waiting room, hoping for news, any news. Reese and the partners from DDC has arrived and joined us as we sat anxiously. A few hours later a doctor emerged from the double doors and briefed us on the surgery. Dad was stable, but not out of the woods yet. Other than a severely crushed leg, broken ribs and ruptured spleen, he had sustained a pretty significant head injury that caused his brain to swell. They had placed him in a drug-induced coma until the swelling subsided. We would be able to see him once they settled him in the intensive care unit. I thanked the doctor and collapsed in Cain’s arms as the circle of friends and extended family closed around us, attempting to console both Cynthia and myself, Dad’s closest family.
It seemed like hours until a nurse finally notified us that Dad had made it to his room. Cynthia, Cain and I approached as the nurse stopped us. “I’m sorry. Only immediate family.” She glanced at Cain and then Cynthia.
“But–”
“It’s Ok, Jen. Go. Your father needs you right now.” Cynthia delicately touched my arm and Cain kissed my cheek as I made my way through the large doors and down the stark white hallway.
The sounds of nurses and doctors whispering amongst themselves and beeping machines sent a panic through my body. It reminded me of the medical examiner’s office and I shuddered at the thought. I walked down the hallway as the nurse led me to his room. The entire area was set up like a fishbowl. The nurse’s station sat in the center of the room; each intensive care room was closed off by sliding glass doors, allowing the nurses to see everything that was going on. I stepped through the glass door and a wave of emotion filled me, almost bringing me to my knees. The nurse guided me to a chair beside the bed. “He’s in a coma right now, but you should definitely talk to him. Let him know you are here. If you need anything I’m just outside.”
Dad’s face was cut and scraped, his eyes swollen and a white bandage was wrapped securely around his head. The breathing tube was taped to the sides of his mouth as the machine methodically pumped air into his still, almost lifeless body. His leg was secured to the bed and isolated by a large metal brace. I slowly reached for his hand as I cried. “Dad? I’m here. It’s me, Jennifer.” I laid my head on his hand as I slowly prayed for him. Begging for him to be Ok and find his back to me.
I kept my eyes closed as I remembered our times together and how things had been so difficult between us. Now, we had been able to put all of that behind us. Things were better than they had been in years and now he was being taken away from me. I squeezed his hand, hoping for a sign and received nothing. “Please, Dad. It’s not time yet. Please, for me. For Cynthia.” I looked up at the ceiling as tears streamed down my cheeks, brushing by my ears. “Mom, please. He’s not ready. I need him here.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
I sat in the stiff orange chair with my head resting against the wall and my eyes closed. My breathing was in rhythm with the machine, in and out, in and out. My heart thumped along with the beeping monitor. For the last eight days we had all taken shifts sitting by Dad’s bedside, all of us praying and some of us talking to Dad. We had managed to convince the staff to make a few exceptions and allow some extended family into the room. I spent hours talking to Dad as he lay in bed. I reminisced about our childh
ood games and trips. We talked about Mom and I even read him magazines and talked about some work with him. I admittedly spent a good deal of time also talking to Mom, hoping she had some connection to keep Dad here. I only took breaks to eat, shower and change clothes. I slept in the room and Cain did everything he could to take care of me in between. He kept me together.
Different doctors had made their rounds throughout the day, checking his reflexes, pupil dilation and other stats. Nurses changed the bags attached to his arm through the intravenous tubes and moved him so he didn’t get bedsores. I sat helpless on those days and watched. Finally, yesterday, news had come from the doctor that the swelling had reduced and they could begin to cut back on the drugs keeping him in the coma. I wasn’t unsure exactly who might awaken, my father or someone that may not even remember me, or anything else.
Cynthia had slipped into the room while I napped. We had spent quite a bit of time together over the last week and when she wasn’t holding down the office for an hour or two, she was here with me, keeping a watchful eye on Dad as well. I partially opened an eye to see her sitting on the other side of the bed, lovingly staring at him. “Hey.” I managed a soft smile. “They said he’s improving. Hopefully anytime.” I leaned forward, slowly focusing my eyes in the dark room.
“Thank God.” Cynthia held his hand. “I just wanted to stop in for a moment. Do you need anything? I was going to grab some coffee and come back up.” I declined as Cynthia kissed him gently on the forehead and made her way around the bed, briefly hugging me and then disappearing through the glass door.
I leaned back in the chair and assumed my previous position, closing my eyes and listening to the machines, allowing them to put me into a deep trance.
The rustling noise from the bed caught my attention as my eyes flew open to see Dad flailing his arms and attempting to pull the tube from his throat. “Dad, calm down, it’s Ok.” I jumped up and I tried to grab his arms as I searched for the call button to signal the nurses. I yelled toward the doorway, hoping someone would hear me and come running. Dad’s eyes blinked rapidly as he tried to focus. “Dad! Dad! Calm down…it’s Ok.”