The Wedding

by Sian Ceinwen

  “I’ve let the guys know. There’s a couple of interviews that they can’t cancel contractually, so they’re doing those and then coming back immediately.”

  Heather nodded, thankful that she wouldn’t have to have those conversations. She put her head in her hands and cried quietly as Ariana rubbed her back, which was soothing to Heather. Eventually, Robert and Sarah joined them. No words were exchanged; Heather didn’t have the strength to talk at all. Every time a doctor came into the room, Heather’s heart leaped to her throat, but they never came to her, just sought out some other patients’ loved ones to update them.

  After what felt like forever, a doctor entered the room, looked around it, and spotted her. He made his way over to her, and she couldn’t tell by looking at his face if the news was good or bad. The image of the scene of the crash flashed through her brain.

  “Miss York, my name is Doctor Davies, we spoke on the phone”—she shook his outstretched hand, feeling completely numb as she did so—“I have good news. Harrison is out of surgery and is in recovery now.”

  Heather felt a fresh round of tears come upon her as the relief she felt flooded her emotions, “Oh my god, thank you!”

  “What happened?” Robert asked.

  “Harrison was in an accident, he arrived unconscious, but our main concern was tension pneumothorax, a quite bad presentation of a collapsed lung,” he answered the unasked question about the medical term. “Once he was in surgery, we were able to relieve the pressure but discovered some internal bleeding that we were able to stop as well.”

  “But he’s going to be okay?” Heather asked.

  “He’ll need to remain in hospital for the next week or so, but there’s no reason that we wouldn’t expect a full recovery. He does also have broken ribs, so he’ll need to take care while they are healing,” Doctor Davies told them.

  “Thank you so much.” The relief she was still feeling was immense.

  “You’re welcome. If you’d like to come with me, Miss York, we like to have someone in recovery for when the patient wakes up.”

  Heather quickly gave hugs to Ariana and Harrison’s parents, promising to give Harrison their love, then followed the doctor through the hospital until she was brought to a room with the door closed. As he opened it for her to walk through, Heather saw Harrison lying on the bed, asleep. He looked so unbelievably beautiful, and he was breathing. That was all she needed from him. To keep breathing.

  The doctor pulled a comfy armchair over to the bed for her to sit in, and Heather asked, “How long until he wakes up?”

  “It could be many hours; it’s very hard to say,” Heather nodded as he said this and sat down in the chair.

  Harrison had been tucked into the bed with his arms resting at his sides on top of the blankets; she took his hand and held it in hers. His skin was warm, and she remembered him holding her hand in his all night at Gabriel’s birthday party. She desperately needed him to be okay.

  Heather considered getting her phone out and looking at it. No doubt, she would have missed calls or messages, but she didn’t do it. The only person in the world that she cared about right now was lying in front of her. She knew that Ariana would be letting the others know the news, but until Harrison woke up, there was no conversation that she wanted to have more than the one where she would tell him how much she loved him and needed him in her life.

  Time passed slowly, but Heather didn’t mind. She counted Harrison’s breaths, loving the sound of him breathing more than she had ever thought that she would. She watched the rise and fall of his chest. Heather only let go of his hand when the nurses came in to do their observations.

  Her phone rang occasionally, but she didn’t answer it. She did take time to send a text to Ariana, though.

  He’s still asleep. He’s stable.

  She didn’t bother waiting for a reply and just locked her phone again, then went back to watching Harrison. Sometime later, as the sun was getting low in the sky, Harrison groaned.

  Heather stood up swiftly and said, “Harrison?”

  He groaned again, then, after another few moments, opened his eyes and looked at her, then around the room, “Heather? Where am I?”

  “Oh my god, honey. You’re in the hospital. You were in an accident, don’t you remember?”

  He shook his head, and she pressed the button to call for the nurse.

  “Is Michael okay?” he asked her, sounding concerned.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know. They haven’t said anything,” she cringed.

  As they were waiting for the nurse, he said softly, “Angel? Did you just call me ‘honey’?”

  She smiled down at him, wanting more than anything to just kiss him, but also needing to be gentle with him because she was worried that she would hurt him.

  “Yes, honey, I did. You didn’t have to go and get yourself almost killed to convince me to do it, either. We have a lot to talk about.”

  Heather stopped talking as the nurse came into the room. They checked Harrison over and got the doctor to come and talk to them both. After that, Heather made some calls to Ariana and Sarah, to let them know that Harrison had woken up and would be free to have visitors tomorrow. Ariana told her that the band had arrived on a plane back from LA an hour ago and were itching to see Harrison. Then, finally, they had some moments to themselves in which they could talk.

  “So, all I needed to do was get myself crashed into and end up in surgery to get you to forgive me?” he asked her with a wry smile. “If I’d known that, I’d have done it months ago!”

  “No. You promised me that you wouldn’t put your health in danger, so that definitely wouldn’t have worked,” she laughed, “actually, it wasn’t your accident that did the trick.”

  “Really? What happened, then, angel?”

  “I saw Maddy last night,” she said, as casually as she could manage.

  “I’m sorry, you what?” He looked shocked.

  She took his hand in hers and held it tight as she continued, “I asked Cooper to get her to call me. Zoe gave me the idea, she said that it might help me to get past it if I had the truth about that night, so my brain didn’t keep filling in the blanks. She agreed to meet me; that was why I wasn’t free for you to come over.”

  A horrible thought occurred to her. If he’d been at her place, he might not have been in the car accident. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and pushed away the dark thought. It didn’t matter; he was here, and he was safe.

  “I made her tell me everything,” Harrison winced, “I don’t know how much you really remember, and now isn’t the time for that discussion, but, honestly, it wasn’t any worse than what had been in my dreams. Heck, most of it was actually much better than I expected.

  “Maddy has had a really tough time since it happened. I feel terrible for her. Anyway, by the time she’d left, I’d made my peace with her and what happened. When you and I spoke, I almost asked you to come around, but I didn’t because I wanted to see if I would have another nightmare last night.”

  “Did you?” he asked, looking wary.

  “Nope. I slept like a baby,” she grinned at him, “first full night’s sleep for me since October.”

  “Oh, angel,” he smiled at her.

  “Then, I was so happy. I was planning to tell you about it when you got back from LA, but then Ariana called me and told me you’d missed your plane, I found out you were here and that you were in surgery, I sat here all day, and you woke up, and I started telling you this story,” she finished in a rush, and he laughed.

  “I want to kiss you,” he said.

  She walked over to him and carefully placed her lips on his to kiss him. He lifted one of his hands to hold the back of her head and explored her mouth with his tongue. Heather could feel the arousal rising within her, she longed to be with him but knew that she couldn’t right now.

  “Harrison Fletcher,” she told him with a breathless voice, “if I wouldn’t literal
ly break you doing it, I would climb on top of you right now and ride you until the break of dawn.”

  He laughed; the sound of it was smooth and seductive and did things to her insides, “I think I might take that trade-off with the way I’m feeling right now, angel.”

  “Well, lucky for you, I am completely sensible and rational and not ruled at all by my emotions. Therapy has been good for me!” She flipped her hair and gave him the haughtiest look she could manage before smiling at him as she sat back down in her chair.

  “So, where does this leave us?” he asked her.

  “Well, it leaves me hating that fucking apartment I’ve been staying in and not wanting to spend another night away from you ever again,” it was true, she wanted to be home again, in his arms and in their bed, “I don’t know about you?”

  “Look, I love Hayden, and I appreciate him giving me a place to stay, but I’m ready to leave.”

  “It’s been a long five months, honey,” she took hold of his hand again and kissed it.

  “The worst five months of my life, angel,” he confirmed.

  “I was really worried about you,” Heather said quietly, “you were drinking a lot.”

  He looked ashamed, “Yeah, I was. I wasn’t coping, and I knew that I’d promised you that I wouldn’t put my health at risk, but I also couldn’t handle reality when I was sober.”

  “That’s really concerning, Harrison,” she said with a frown, “like, really concerning.”

  “I know, angel. Hayden cut me off many days. I owe him a lot for keeping me from hurting myself. I’ll speak to Brendan about it, and if it’s still a problem now, I promise to get treatment,” he smiled at her.

  “You still see Brendan?” Heather asked, unable to resist rolling her eyes.

  Harrison laughed, “Yes. You two really did not get along, did you? He’s actually been really good, and he’s probably another reason I didn’t hurt myself.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, and Heather had two questions that she knew she needed to ask Harrison. She’d had a lot of time to think today. There were two things she knew for certain, she wanted to marry this man, and she had to do her part to right some wrongs. Might as well start with the scariest one first.

  “Honey, I need to ask you something. I have an idea, we’d need to run it past Cooper, but I really think it’s a good idea,” Heather bit her lip, nervous about his reaction.

  “What is it, angel?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

  “I want to give an interview. You and me, Maddy as well if she’s willing. I want to tell the world what happened.”

  Harrison looked shocked, “Why would you want to do that?”

  “Speaking to Maddy last night, it highlighted so many things to me. The press conference that Aaron Hamilton and Cooper gave, it didn’t really clear much up for anyone. She has suffered badly, Harrison. You were both drugged, and, officially, you were poisoned. That’s a lot.

  “I don’t believe for a second that she would have slept with you if she hadn’t been, and I know you wouldn’t have slept with her. In her lowest moment, having woken up and figured out what she had done, she was then confronted with the picture and found out that someone had been in the room and taken a picture of her, naked, while you were sleeping. ‘Violated’ was the word she used to describe how it felt.

  “After all of that, the world turned on her. You know how the fans can be—they’re very protective of you, of us. In their eyes, she was the horrible person who broke us up. Maddy said that even after the press conference announcing the drugging, it hasn’t gotten any better.

  “I feel like if we gave an interview, told the truth. Hearing it from our mouths and seeing that we have come through this, well, if it can make her life even a tiny bit easier, then we should do it. Maddy didn’t ask for any of this; I know that we didn’t, either, but she just got caught up in our world. She was a visitor, and she got burned by the light we bear every day. Now she has to try and live a normal life wearing a permanent red ‘A’ on her reputation.”

  Harrison didn’t speak for some time, as he appeared to process what she was asking of him. Heather was still holding his hand, and she squeezed it for comfort. If they didn’t do this, it wouldn’t hurt them at all, but if they did it, it could be so beneficial to Maddy.

  “I love you, angel. I can’t lie; I’m scared by the idea of reliving that in an interview, but your reasoning is sound. I feel terrible for Maddy; I’ve definitely seen the shit online,” he smiled at the look on Heather’s face, “you’re not the only one who sank into the depths of reading internet articles about what happened. Part of my guilt was definitely around the way she was being treated, also feeling guilty to you for feeling guilty to her, if that makes sense.”

  Heather laughed, “Believe it or not, it does.”

  “Anyway, we should talk to Cooper and see if he’s open to the idea. We’ll almost certainly need legal advice and probably information from the LAPD about what we can and can’t reveal. Once we’ve done that, we can approach Maddy…or have Cooper approach her, maybe. See if she wants to be involved or, at the very least, give her the heads up that it’s happening if she doesn’t.”

  He was such a beautiful man. She’d missed him so much; he was so thoughtful and caring, which was why she wanted to ask him the other thing.

  “Okay, that sounds like a plan. So, there’s something else that I wanted to ask you,” she smiled at him, “you’ve been by my side for almost eleven years now, and I couldn’t ask for a better person to be my life partner. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

  She’d been rehearsing this in her head for hours now, practicing it to make sure she got it right. She dropped to one knee beside his hospital bed, still holding his hand in hers.

  “Most importantly, I don’t want to imagine my life without you in it. Harrison James Fletcher, will you marry me?”

  ~APRIL~

  THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!

  Only ten days to go until the release of ‘Games We Play’, the latest album for our favorite rock band, Cruise Control. No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke! We’ve been rocking out to ‘Rules To Break’ since January, and if the rest of the album is anywhere near as good, it’s bound to be a smash hit!

  The band recently canceled some promotional appearances in California when Harrison Fletcher was involved in a car accident. He spent a week in hospital, and our sources tell us that he’s well and truly on the mend. Hopefully, he’ll be fine by the time they’re ready to tour!

  Speaking of Harrison, it also seems that his on-again, off-again wedding to longtime girlfriend and fashion designer, Heather York, might be on-again? Heather was spotted at lunch with Gabriel Knight’s fiancé, Ariana Chamberlain, this week, and we spotted a very familiar rock on her finger.

  Will they be making a wedding announcement during the prime-time TV interview they’re giving on Friday? It’s been promised to be a shocking insight into their world, but many are wondering if the timing isn’t a little too convenient, given how close it is to the release of ‘Games We Play’. Still, we’ll be watching…

  Chapter 25

  THE PRIMEST OF TIMES

  HEATHER LOOKED AROUND THEIR apartment, though it didn’t really look like their apartment, right now. Crew members had been here for the past twenty-four hours moving furniture around, taking down almost all of their own decorations and putting up different ones. There was now some very convenient framed photos of her and Harrison, along with other members of the band all within easy viewing of the camera.

  The living room was full of people, cameras, and lighting. Their theater room had been taken over as a makeshift makeup studio for them to have their hair and makeup done away from the chaos.

  It was Wednesday, and she was missing her appointment with Zoe again this week to do this interview, which would be airing on Friday night. She’d been in the hospital with Harrison last week and had completely missed her sessi
on. She’d talked to Zoe on the phone on Thursday and told her everything that had happened. Zoe was definitely on board for the idea of this interview, though, which had resolved any doubts about it that might have been in Heather’s head.

  The rights for their exclusive interview had been sold for a very hefty price to a prime-time television show. Heather and Harrison had fought hard to ensure they only received twenty percent of the fee, which they would be donating to a charity that helped people rehabilitate from using drugs. Maddy would receive the remaining eighty percent.

  Part of these negotiations had included the show’s insistence on holding the interview in their private domain. Heather had been reticent about this, but she wanted to do the interview, and now that it was happening, she was comforted to be in her own surroundings. Her concern was more for Maddy and how coming to this place would make her feel.

  Heather’s cynical side was telling her that the show’s producers insisting on this so hard had been partially for that reason. They wanted her and Harrison to be at ease, while ‘the other woman’ was uncomfortable. The entire process had felt a little bit as though they were at war with the show. Perhaps, it was just Heather’s intense dislike for the media coming through, after what she’d been put through over the last year, though.

  Luckily, the host of the show, Carol Sampson, was kind and very well respected for doing these types of interviews. She had put Heather at ease, almost immediately, once they had met and helped Heather to feel better about it.

  Heather sat down in a chair to have her hair and makeup done. She’d been there for roughly ten minutes when one of the show’s producers brought Maddy over to sit in another chair. It was the first time she’d seen her since the night she had come to Heather’s old apartment.

  “Hey, Heather,” Maddy said, giving her a grim smile.

  “Hi, Maddy. Are you feeling okay?”

  “If you define ‘okay’ as ‘needing to puke,’ sure.” Maddy rolled her eyes.