Farewell to Goodbye

by Penny Childs

  Twenty-seven

  He didn’t want to leave her but knew her family needed time alone with her, so he let Bill push him back to his room and an orderly help him back into his bed. His neck and back were sore from falling asleep in the wheelchair. But he wouldn’t trade his time with her for anything in the world. He had let too much time without her pass already in his life. “Some company I turned out to be. I fell asleep within five minutes.”

  “I’m betting you need the sleep anyway.” He didn’t add the fact he didn’t think Mel had cared one way or the other.

  Trevor looked at a pile of magazines and a book now sitting on the table next to his bed.

  “I did a little shopping for you. Sounds like you’ll be here another day or two.”

  “I’ll be here until Mel leaves,” he told Bill.

  “And if she never recovers?” He had been listening to the doctors and knew the longer Mel remained in her coma, the slighter her chances became.

  “She will recover, Bill,” Trevor snarled, picking up one of the magazines and leafing through it. He looked up to find Bill staring at him, his expression one of concern. “What, Bill?”

  Bill shook his head, knowing better than to say what was on his mind. Instead he said, “At some point I’ll need to get everything on record. Maybe we can do it tomorrow. I’m sure Craig is going to need the same thing from you for his end of it.”

  “Craig?” Trevor asked.

  “Well, with Mel…he’s filling in for her right now.”

  Trevor clenched his teeth. She wouldn’t need filling in for if she hadn’t done what she had done. On an oath, he threw the magazine across the room. “She shouldn’t have done it Bill. She should have let me die.”

  “It’s not in her to do something like that.” Candice stood in the doorway. “You know that.”

  Both men looked toward her as she entered the room, stooping to pick up the magazine Trevor had thrown.

  “I told her not to ever push herself that way again,” Trevor said.

  “And she didn’t listen to you. Imagine that.” She shook her head. “That girl has been stubborn since day one. No one could ever tell her what to do.” She set the magazine down on the small table with the others. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing.”

  “I don’t mind at all Mrs. Rhodes.”

  “They’re doing some tests on Mel right now, so I thought it would be a good time.”

  “Is she…”

  She saw the hope in his eyes. “There hasn’t been any change.” Now she sank down into the chair by his bed and looked from Bill to Trevor. “She just doesn’t want to wake up, I guess. I won’t entertain the thought that she can’t. Not her.”

  “No, not her,” Trevor agreed.

  “I think she needs you, Agent Giles. I think she needs to know you’re waiting for her this time. I’m not saying this to hurt you, but she was devastated when you left before.”

  He shut his eyes as his heart filled with pain. When he opened them, Candice still had her gaze locked on him. “I won’t leave her again. That much I can promise.”

  She nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Mel needs to hear it too.”

  “Tell your husband that,” he said dryly. Bradford Rhodes would not stop glaring at him every time they were around each other.

  “Brad knows, he just doesn’t like it.” Candice smiled fondly. “He’s always been very protective of her. So has Neil. She’s told them both a million times she can fend for herself but whenever they’re around her they just can’t seem to help it.”

  “I know the feeling,” Trevor told her.

  “Yes. I suppose you do.” Her smile took on a reflective quality, her eyes shone with unshed tears. “You should have seen Brad the day she graduated from the academy and they gave her that badge. I don’t believe I’d ever seen a tear in his eyes until that day. And when…what happened to her in Mississippi happened…it crushed him. He blamed himself for not being there to protect her. He blamed you for not protecting her. Both of you,” she said, including Bill.

  “But most of all he blamed me for leaving her.”

  “Yes. You hurt his little girl and he couldn’t fix it, no matter how hard he tried.”

  “I know I did and it was the last thing I wanted to do. To be honest though, I don’t know if it would have made things better or worse if I had stayed.”

  “She called me a few days ago and we talked. I understand now what happened and I don’t know if it would have made it better or worse either.”

  “You know about…”

  “Of course I do. Mel and Neil are my children. I think they got their gift from my mother.” She sighed. “I didn’t get any of it. Must have skipped a generation. Neil is like you. He has to touch, except for Mel that is, those two have shared a link since the day she was born. But Mel…she’s something else. She can just be near someone, or think of them.”

  “She’s completely shut off right now. It’s like she’s not even there. I touch her and I can’t feel anything.” He was scared as hell.

  “She’ll find her way back. She just needs to rest.”

  God how he hoped she was right.

  Two days later he was released from the hospital but he did not leave. Instead, he used the cane he had been given to hobble his way down to Mel’s room, as he did every day when her parents left. He found Dr. Winters in her room this time.

  “I thought we finally kicked you out, Agent Giles,” she said with a smile as she wrote something on the chart she was carrying.

  “Yeah, well, you’ll have to kick harder if you think you’re going to get me out of here.” He moved to the chair next to Mel’s bed and sat down carefully, taking one of her hands in his. “I need to hear she’s okay, doc.”

  Dr. Winters took in a long sigh. “She is okay, as far as I can tell. There’s not a physical reason we can find for her to still be in a coma. It has to be her doing now.”

  “How long can she go on like this?”

  “I don’t know. Days, weeks, months…indefinitely. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear. I’ll just tell you the same thing I’ve told her family. Just keep talking to her and reminding her she has something to come back to. Eventually, you might get through to her.” She wrote something else down then closed the chart and looked at Trevor. “I have to ask you something.”

  He looked away from Mel to the doctor. “Hmmm?”

  “That first day, you said she risked her life to save yours. What did you mean by that? I heard she was found passed out on the couch in her office. Alone.”

  Realizing he was cornered, Trevor shrugged and looked out the window on the other side of Mel’s bed.

  “I was told by the people who were with her they had no clue what happened to her or why she was in the condition she was in. You weren’t even with her. Yet, you think she did something to cause this?”

  “I never said that.”

  “You did. You said she risked her life to save yours and I want to know what you meant by that. When she initially came to us it looked like her brain went into overload, but it seemed to take care of itself.”

  “Dr. Winters, some things are better left unexplored.”

  “Not if you’re a doctor. I have a curious nature, Agent Giles. What did she do to cause this to happen to her? You know. I know you do.”

  “You’re a medical doctor. I don’t think you’ll buy what I have to tell you.”

  “Try me,” she said, leaning on the rail of Mel’s bed. “You’d be surprised what I will buy. The brain…it’s a fascinating thing, capable of things most people can’t even imagine.”

  Trevor sighed. He was tired. “Do you believe some people have more than just the five normal senses?”

  She raised her brows. “Are you saying that the sheriff here has ESP?”

  “Maybe. What I’m saying is she made a connection to me, while that woman held me captive, that allowed her to give my boss and her deputy in
formation that led them to where I was being held captive. But, it was a difficult connection for her to hold, and this is where it put her.” He squeezed her hand.

  “You believe in that?”

  “Of course I do.” He thought to prove it to her by touching her, but stayed where he was. He didn’t want to take his hand from Mel’s and he just didn’t care whether the good doc believed him or not. It didn’t matter. Only Mel mattered.

  “Well, that would explain the abnormal brain activity we’ve been seeing in our tests.”

  Trevor perked up. “Activity?”

  “Yes. A part of her brain is very active, but it’s a part most people don’t use. We thought maybe the equipment was faulty. We checked it out and even went as far as to replace it, but it’s the same every time.”

  Trevor looked to Mel with new hope in his eyes. “Mel, where are you?” he asked her. Now he thought he knew what he might have to do. He might have to be more stubborn than his stubborn girl.

  “Wherever she is, she’s going to have to want to come back.” Dr. Winters sighed. She still had rounds to make. “Keep talking to her,” she said, heading for the door.

  Once the doctor was gone, Trevor tilted his head back and closed his eyes. And opened himself completely to her, leaving no corner hidden. “Look at me Mel,” he whispered. There were no walls. She needed to know once and for all she could trust him completely. She needed to know that he would never, ever leave her again. She needed to know if he had it his way they would marry under that big pine tree in her back yard. They would be surrounded by family and friends. He thought of the kiss he would place on her lips. Soft and warm. The day would be perfect. And after, they would get her the horses she wanted. The dogs. The cats. Any damn thing in the world which made her happy. He felt it then, first a stirring in his head, then in his hand.

  She squeezed his hand.

  “Mel?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking at her. He saw her eyelashes flutter and heard a soft sound escape her lips. “Mel.”

  “My daddy won’t like your plans, Giles,” she whispered hoarsely.

  With a smile, Trevor pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. “He’ll get over it.”

  The End

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who had a hand in helping me see this book to fruition.

  Thank you so much mom for helping me out with the tedious job of editing this. Over and over, and over and over… It was really cool to work with you on it!

  Thank you Ginger for doing the cover art. Also thanks for putting up with my “artistic temperament” (that’s not what she really called it, by the way).

  Thanks to everyone else who offered me the encouragement to see this through. It was not easy writing a novel, taking care of all of our “babies” and holding down a fifty hour a week job, but somehow we made it happen. What a fun journey it has been. I hope to go on another soon!