Come Back To Me

by Melissa Foster

  Beau watched her waddle out into the hall, desperately wanting to believe her. He brushed Tess’s bangs away from the bandages and kissed her forehead.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered.

  Her stillness seemed to magnify his question.

  Her skin was warm and soft. The faint scent of vanilla lay under the bitterness of the antiseptic. He picked up her limp hand and drew the letter “I” with his index finger, then he drew a heart. His eyes drifted to her swollen middle. He released her hand and turned away, perplexed, his brows furrowing in confusion.

  ***

  Outside the intensive care unit, Alice, Kevin, and Beau’s parents waited for news. Alice had convinced an ICU nurse that she’d gone to school with into giving them enough information to know that Tess was still in a coma and that the baby was doing fine.

  ***

  “Why hasn’t he come out to see us?” Carol Johnson’s eyes were red. She gripped a tissue as if it were a security blanket.

  Her husband, Robert, sat forward, elbows leaning on his knees. He turned toward her and shook his head. “He’ll never leave her side.”

  “Two minutes, that’s all I want with him.” Carol stood, her arms crossed, her shoulders rounded forward. “I just need to see him,” she said in a thin voice.

  Robert reached up and pulled her gently back toward her seat. His enormous hand encircled her tiny forearm. “We’ll wait, Carol. He’ll be out when he’s able.”

  “I’m going to get coffee. Carol?” Alice asked.

  Carol sank down beside her husband.

  Kevin stood. “I’ll go.”

  “Shouldn’t we call Louie?” Alice asked in an urgent, hushed tone.

  “No,” Kevin answered.

  “But he’s got no idea she’s here,” Alice pleaded.

  “Beau’s here. What are you gonna do, have another guy come in and be like, ‘Um, here I am. I was sleeping with your wife.’?” He glared at her.

  “We don’t even know they were sleeping together.” Alice picked up her pace. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. I’ll meet you at the cafeteria.”

  Safely secluded in the ladies’ room, Alice withdrew her cell phone and called Directory Assistance. “Bethesda, Maryland. Tole, Louis Tole, please.”

  ***

  The pleasantly-plump nurse changed Tess’s IV bag. “There, that should do.” The nurse moved gracefully despite her large size. “How’re you holding up, hon?” she asked Beau with a smile in her eyes. She took a washcloth and dabbed the exposed parts of Tess’s face. “Let’s see what we have here,” she bent down to check the bag of urine that hung from the side of the bed.

  Three nights without sleep had left Beau shaky, his eyes swollen and tired.

  “What a good girl,” the nurse said. She emptied the urine and replaced the collection bag, then turned back toward Beau. “Oh, hon, you’re looking a little tired. Why don’t you go get yourself some breakfast? Your family’s still waiting out there for you.”

  Beau rose to his feet. He’d forgotten about his parents. Suddenly it dawned on him that he’d forgotten about Samira all together. “Shit,” he mumbled.

  “Something wrong?” the nurse startled.

  “Nothing. I…forgot something,” Beau paced. He’d left Samira at the army base with her children and an interpreter. She was safe. It was her fear that worried him. He was all she had, all she knew. He withdrew his cell phone.

  “Uh-uh, hon. No cell phones in the ICU,” she shook her head. “Why don’t you just use this bedside phone?” She tapped the green receiver next to the bed.

  “Right,” Beau said. He waited until the nurse left, closing the door behind her. Beau picked up the phone and dialed. “Mr. Fulan?”

  “Yes?” he said.

  “It’s Beau Johnson.” Beau squeezed his eyes shut, ready for the disbelief, then the joy, both of which came quickly.

  “Yes, I’m thrilled to be home,” he proceeded to explain Tess’s situation to Mr. Fulan, then asked for the biggest favor he’d ever had to ask of the man, and hoped Mr. Fulan would agree. “I traveled with a young Iraqi woman and her children. She speaks little English, and she doesn’t know anybody.” Beau ran his hand through his hair, his eyes washing over Tess. “I was hoping you might be willing to go sit with her, just for a few hours. I don’t know who else to—”

  Before he could finish, Mr. Fulan interrupted, “It’s the least I can do.”

  ***

  Beau took a deep breath and pushed through the doors that separated the ICU from the waiting room. His mother glanced up, tears instantly filled her eyes. She brought her hand up to her mouth, tissue pressing against her teeth. Beau’s eyes welled with tears.

  Carol stood, trembling. The wrinkles on her face were new, the gray in her hair seemed out of place.

  Robert rose to his feet, his strong demeanor melted before Beau’s eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

  Beau bit his upper lip, unable to keep his tears at bay. His father’s embrace sent his heart racing. His mother’s frailty brought sobs from Beau.

  “Son,” his father’s voice cracked.

  Beau squeezed them to him. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how much he’d needed them. He’d been running on adrenaline, using all of his energy to get from one painful second to the next. His defenses down, he reverted back to a scared ten-year-old. “I’m sorry,” he cried. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have gone. It’s all my fault.”

  Robert kissed the top of Beau’s head, then rested his cheek there, fitting perfectly. “No, son, no. Thank God you’re home.”

  Carol cried softly. She pulled back from Beau, looked him up and down, then pulled him to her again.

  “Mom,” he whispered.

  Kevin and Alice stood to the side, holding hands. Alice turned away from the private scene, wiping her own sadness away.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come out yesterday,” Beau said. They sat in the chairs, Carol’s knuckles white around Beau’s hand.

  Carol shook her head. She reached across the seat and stroked Beau’s cheek.

  “How’s she doing?” Robert asked.

  “She’s still in a coma,” he wiped his eyes. “She stopped breathing—” sobs stole his words.

  “Oh, son,” Robert put his arm around Beau.

  “They said it might’ve been caused by the stress of the accident.” He stared straight ahead, hoping they were right. “She’s pregnant,” his eyebrows lifted.

  “We know. Alice told us,” Robert said. “And how’s the baby?” his tone was gentle.

  “So far, so good.”

  ***

  One by one, they had gone in to see Tess, Alice first, then Carol, Robert, and, finally, Kevin.

  “She’s gonna be okay.” Carol sat next to Alice and squeezed her hand.

  Alice cried openly.

  Carol drew strength from comforting Alice. She’d needed a purpose. She gathered Alice in her arms and consoled her.

  Beau and Robert sat silently staring at the double doors. Every passing second was one less he had with Tess. Beau’s leg bumped up and down. He twisted his wedding band.

  Kevin burst through the doors, his face sheet white. “Beau, she stopped breathing. Get in there.”

  Beau was through the doors and down the hall in seconds. Tess’s door was closed, the curtains drawn. “What’s going on?” he yelled to a nurse sitting at the desk down the hall.

  “She stopped breathing, hon. They’re taking care of her.” The southern nurse from earlier came to stand beside him.

  “Why? I thought it was a fluke!”

  “We don’t know yet, sir.”

  Tess’s door flew open. The doctor led the way, followed by nurses pushing Tess on a gurney. Beau ran beside them, “What happened? Where are you taking her?” he yelled.

  “It wasn’t an anomaly, Mr. Johnson. She must have a conduction issue,” she motioned for the nurses to take Tess into the operating room. “We have to take the baby. If we
don’t, they both might die.”

  Beau couldn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard her. His tongue felt as if it had doubled in size. His throat was closing. Tess might die.

  “Mr. Johnson, every second counts. I need your consent.”

  A nurse rushed over with a clipboard and put a pen in Beau’s hand.

  He looked at her with tears in his eyes. “Will she be okay?” his voice was barely a whisper.

  “We’re trying to save her. There are no guarantees about the baby. She’s very premature, but many—”

  “Tess!” Why don’t they understand? “Is Tess going to live?” Beau grabbed the clipboard from the nurse and scribbled his name.

  “We’re doing everything we can.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “She’s stable. She had a conduction problem to the heart. We did an ablation of the pathway to the heart,” Dr. Kelly spoke to the Johnsons, Kevin, and Alice in the waiting room.

  Stable. As reassuring as that word should have been, Beau found it unnerving. He clenched his jaw. She had been stable before. “What does that mean, an ablation?”

  “There are nerves, pathways, that stimulate the heart. Sometimes there’s an aberrant pathway that doesn’t conduct properly, causing abnormal electrical activity to the heart. We’re lucky we caught it. We burned the aberrant pathway that was causing the arrhythmia. She should be fine now.”

  Beau ran his hand through his hair. He crossed his arms and asked, “And the baby?”

  Dr. Kelly took a deep breath, lowering her eyes for a nanosecond—enough time for Beau to notice, and for the world around him to stand still. “She’s in the neonatal intensive care unit.”

  “She?” If a heart could swell to twice its normal size, Beau’s heart did it. His heart beat against his chest so hard he could feel it behind his eyes. Tears sprang to his eyes. “A girl,” he whispered.

  “She?” Carol repeated.

  Robert touched her shoulder, and nodded, as if to say, Not now, Carol.

  “Yes. She’s very premature, Mr. Johnson. A baby's ability to survive outside the womb increases dramatically between twenty-four and twenty-eight weeks, increasing from about forty percent at the beginning of the twenty-fourth week to more than eighty percent just four weeks later.” She paused, letting the information sink in.

  Beau squeezed his arms tighter around his chest. “And she’s?”

  “Roughly twenty-six weeks.”

  Beau quickly calculated how many weeks he’d been gone. His gaze narrowed.

  Dr. Kelly interrupted his thoughts. “Before the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, almost all babies will have short-term complications, like difficulty breathing, as your baby is having.”

  My baby?

  “Some preemies will also have some long-term problems, and others—”

  Carol gasped, turned her back.

  Robert took a step closer to Beau.

  “There are no guarantees, and unfortunately, we can’t predict the outcome at this time.” Dr. Kelly looked over her shoulder, following Beau’s glare.

  His eyes fixed on Alice. Alice crossed and uncrossed her arms. Her eyes danced around the waiting room. Beau took three heavy steps in her direction.

  “Beau? What is it?” Robert asked.

  Beau put a hand out behind him, palm up. Robert took the hint.

  Alice feigned a smile. “A girl,” her voice shook.

  “Alice? Twenty-six weeks? What the hell is—”

  Alice took two steps backwards. She looked up and saw Louie hurrying down the corridor. “Beau, I—”

  “Alice, I came as quickly as I could. Is she alright?” Louie burst into the waiting room.

  Alice spun around, “Louie, she’s—”

  Beau breathed heavily through his nose. “Louie?” He stood eye-to-eye with Louie, sizing him up. The angular nose, thick eyebrows, and curly hair might look decidedly nerdy on some, but on Louie, it had a handsome appeal.

  Louie reached out his hand and in a serious tone said, “Louie Tole.”

  Beau’s face reddened. Louie’s friendly demeanor and the concern in his eyes brought his good looks to the forefront. Beau’s gut twisted, pushing an acidic taste to his mouth. He couldn’t look away from the man’s thin pink lips. “Beau Johnson,” his words were heated.

  Louie lowered his hand, he looked to Alice, back at Beau, then took in the rest of the waiting room, the grieving parents, the doctor, worried and rushed, Kevin, standing behind Beau, arms crossed, eyes trained on Louie. “I’m a…a…friend of Tess.”

  “He’s our client,” Alice piped in. “We’re helping him fill a position. We’ve been working very closely the last few weeks, and Louie—”

  “I’ve become good friends with Tess. I was worried about her.”

  “You called him?” Kevin accused Alice with a disapproving look.

  Alice looked down. “Yes, I…I thought I should.”

  “Mr. Johnson, I’ll come back,” Dr. Kelly said and hurried down the hall. Beau had forgotten she was in the room.

  Beau paced, his limp more pronounced. “The baby…she’s twenty-six weeks?” He looked from Louie to Alice.

  Robert put his hand on Beau’s shoulder. “Son, let’s all calm down and talk about this. We all thought you were gone, even Tess.”

  Beau shrugged him off. He looked at Kevin. “You knew,” he pointed in the general direction of Louie, “about them?”

  Kevin looked from Beau to Louie and back again, then gave a small nod and lowered his eyes.

  “Beau,” Louie said, “I’m not sure what you think’s going on, but I can assure you—”

  A nurse rushed into the waiting room, abruptly stopping the deteriorating scene. “Mr. Johnson?” she said hurriedly.

  Beau turned, his eyes on fire.

  “There’s a problem in the NICU.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Jesus, Alice. I can’t believe you called him. What were you thinking?” Kevin fumed as he and Alice walked down the hall to the cafeteria.

  “I thought he should know,” she said.

  Kevin glared at her.

  “I screwed up, okay? I didn’t think it through.” Alice stopped and leaned against the wall. “She’s my best friend. All I was thinking about was her. She’d been spending all this time with him. I didn’t even think about Beau. I know he’s here, but, I mean, I thought...I don’t know what I thought.” Tears streamed down her face. “I’m scared, Kevin. She could die.” She turned away.

  Kevin put his arm around her, hovering between angry and in love. “She’s not gonna die,” he said.

  Alice sniffled, leaning into him. “She could. Beau will never forgive her—or me. What’ve I done?” Her eyes darted about the hall.

  “Geez, Al. Why’d you do it?”

  “I don’t know.” She pulled back and looked up at him. “I thought he needed to be here.” She looked away. “Maybe I’m one of those people.”

  “What people?”

  “One of those people who has to ruin other people’s lives, I don’t know,” she buried her face in her hands.

  “You’re not that person. You care, that’s all. You knew he’d be worried. It’ll be okay.” Kevin looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. Okay was one thing he was not sure things would ever be again.

  Louie leafed through an old copy of People Magazine in the waiting room of the neonatal intensive care unit. His eyes moved from the pages of the magazine to Robert and Carol. He set the magazine down and leaned forward, clasping his hands between his legs, “I’m really sorry about what’s happened to Tess and the baby. I didn’t mean to upset Beau.”

  Robert lifted his gaze, his face unreadable. “We’re all in a state of shock.”

  Carol clenched Robert’s hand. Her thin, arched eyebrows lifted, but her eyes remained dark. “So, are you and Tess,” she waved her hand in the air, clutching a tissue, “dating?”

  Louie looked down at the floor. He shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not su
re what you’d call it, but yes, we were spending time together.”

  Carol leaned into Robert’s side, as if the words had pushed her against him.

  Robert put his arm around Carol. “This is going to be a difficult situation for everyone involved.”

  Each time someone walked by the waiting room, the three of them looked up, expecting to see Beau, who’d excused himself to the men’s room fifteen minutes earlier.

  “We weren’t, um, we hadn’t…” Louie blushed. “What I’m trying to say is that we were close, but it’s not what Beau thinks. We weren’t…intimate.”

  Carol closed her eyes, her words came out in a rush of breath, “Oh, thank God.”

  Alice came in with Kevin trailing behind her. Her eyes were swollen, her face drawn.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to them all. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble for anyone. I just thought Louie should know what’d happened.”

  “That’s alright, Alice. We know you didn’t mean any harm, dear,” Carol said.

  Louie stood. “I can leave.” He put his hands in his jeans pockets. “I mean, I don’t want to. I want to know how Tess is doing, but I don’t want to cause anymore pain for Beau, or for you two.”

  Robert and Carol spoke in unison.

  “You don’t have to leave,” Robert said.

  “Maybe that would be best,” Carol said.

  Louie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He shrugged and extended his hand to Robert. “I’m truly sorry if I caused you any grief. It wasn’t my intent.”

  Robert tucked his chin into his chest, his eyes serious. He shook Louie’s hand.

  “I’ll call you,” Alice said as Louie passed by, catching, out of the corner of her eye, Kevin glaring at her.

  ***

  Beau stood beside Tess’s bed, his nerves afire. He stared at her bandaged face. “Damn it, Tess,” he said through gritted teeth. He paced, his injured leg throbbed. “How could you do this to us?” The monitors lulled him into a daze. His eyes glazed over.