by Robin Huber
“What is it?”
“We need to talk about a plan. For Gabe.”
My glazed eyes stay locked on him, but his words aren’t computing.
“We still have very high hopes that Gabe could wake up soon. On his own. But—”
“He is going to wake up soon.”
He nods subtly. “Liv, you need to be prepared.”
“It’s only been three days. He was in a coma for three days after the accident—”
“An induced coma. He was in a medically induced coma after the accident. We woke him up after three days.”
I know this. I mean, I know what he’s saying, but...
“This is different. There’s no way to know when or if he’ll wake up...or what he’ll be like when he does.”
“No.” I screw up my face and shake my head. “No! What are you saying?”
“It’s okay,” Nina says.
“No, it’s not okay.” I spring to my feet and stand in front of Dr. Franklin. “You said he would be fine. You told him he was the perfect candidate. You told me! You said this surgery would be a piece of cake. You said he would be FINE!” I yell, surprising myself.
I glance down at Gabe, hoping that maybe it jolted him awake. It didn’t.
“I’m so sorry, Liv. I did tell you those things. I told him those things. Because I believed them.” He pulls his hand to his forehead. “Look, I’m not saying we should give up hope. We shouldn’t. You shouldn’t. His vitals are still good. He’s still breathing on his own. Hell, his brain activity is still good.” I can see the frustration on his face. “There’s no reason that he shouldn’t be awake right now!”
Nina stands in front of me and places her hands on my shoulders. “We just want you to start thinking about the next steps for Gabe. We need to have a plan in place if he doesn’t—if this becomes long term.”
I know what they’re asking me. I close my eyes and drop my chin. “Why are you asking me? We need to talk to Jackie and Danny.”
“It’s your decision. Not theirs,” Dr. Franklin says, his voice even now.
My eyes flash up to his and without any further explanation, I understand. “He made me his medical power of attorney?”
“Yes.”
“No,” I whisper. “Change it. Pick someone else. I can’t do it. I can’t decide for him. I won’t!”
“You have to, sweetheart. It can’t be changed.” Nina takes my hand and pulls me over to the couch. “He chose you because he trusts you with his life. Do you know what a privilege that is?”
Tears rush to my eyes and fall down my cheeks.
“You don’t have to make any decisions today. But when you do, if you do, remember that it’s because he trusted you to.” She pats the back of my hand.
“He’s going to wake up, Nina.”
She nods her head and smiles softly. “There’s not a doubt in my mind, darlin’.”
* * *
My eyes slowly open to the soft gray light that fills Gabe’s hospital room. It must be morning. I turn my head and see Jackie sitting in the chair beside Gabe’s bed. Her head is laying on his arm, her hand is wrapped around his, and she’s singing to him in French.
“What time is it?” I ask her.
“Early. 6:30. I couldn’t sleep. I left without waking Danny. Last night was the first time I’ve heard him snore in five days. He was sleeping hard.”
Five days.
I turn my hand over and uncurl my fingers to look at the words that are almost completely erased from my skin now. I close my fingers over what’s left of the ink and grab my phone. I pull up the picture that I took a few days ago.
I will love you
the same tomorrow
as I do today.
“Would you like me to get you a café?” Jackie asks, standing up.
“Yes. Thank you.”
She leaves the room and once again, I’m alone. I haven’t been alone with Gabe a lot. His parents or mine are usually with me, there’s the constant interruptions from the doctors and nurses, Audrey has visited a few times, and Trisha FaceTimes me at least once a day. But when I am alone with him, I’m alone.
I don’t know how much longer I can take the silence. I want him to wake up and speak so badly, I feel like I could scream. I throw the blanket off me and walk across the cold floor on my bare feet until I’m beside him. I lean over him, placing my hands on either side of his shoulders, and shout, “Wake up, Gabe! Wake up! For the love of God, wake UP! I can’t take this anymore. I can’t take it—” I trail off as a full body sob rakes through me, leaving through my eyes in waves of tears. “Please.” I cry, dropping my face to his, scratching my cheek on the thick stubble that covers his face now.
I sit up and stare at him. “How could you do this to me? How could you do this?” I’m so angry I don’t know what to do.
“Please, Brandon, send him back. Send him back to me. I can’t live without him. I’ll die too. I can’t live in a world without both of you. I can’t.”
I stand up and start pacing around his bed. My emotions shift between grief and anger like the opposite ends of a see-saw.
I lean over him again and shake his shoulders. “You’re here. I know you’re still here. Open your eyes, Gabriel! Do you hear me? OPEN YOUR EYES!”
Chapter 26
Gabe
I stare at Liv, asleep on the couch in my hospital room.
So beautiful.
I had my doubts going into surgery, but I remember everything. Every moment we’ve shared. Everything we’ve been through. The good and the bad. All of it.
She opens her eyes and sits up.
“Hey, sleepy head,” I say to her, but she stares past me like she didn’t hear me. “Hey, sunshine.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t look at me. She just stares across the room.
She looks sad.
“Liv, what’s the matter?” I ask, moving closer to her. “I’m okay. I made it through the surgery.”
She throws the blanket off her, walks over to the bed, and sits with her back to me.
I hold my hands out. “Liv, I’m right here.”
“Wake up, Gabe!” she shouts. “Wake up! For the love of God, wake UP! I can’t take this anymore. I can’t take it—”
She starts to cry.
“Liv?”
“Please,” she begs.
“It’s okay, Liv, I’m right here. I’m okay.”
She sits up and I see a man lying in the bed who...looks like me.
“How could you do this to me? How could you do this?”
I reach for her, but a bright flash of light blinds me.
“Gabe.”
“Gabe,” the familiar voice calls again.
The light softens and I see someone moving toward me. “Gabe.” His voice is closer now. Clearer. He closes the space between us and wraps his arms around my shoulders, slapping me on the back with one hand. “Brother, I’ve missed you.”
“Brandon?” I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him hard. “I’ve missed you too, so damn much.” I let go of him and step back so I can see his face.
It’s really him. He’s really here, standing right in front of me. He looks exactly the same.
A million thoughts race through my mind at once—a million things I want to say to him. I pick the most important. “I’m so sorry about the accident. I’m so sorry for what happened to you, Brandon. I would give anything to take it back.”
He smiles and shakes his head. “That wasn’t in your hands, Gabe. None of this is.”
“Liv...” I want to tell him every wonderful thing about his twin sister, but I don’t know where to begin.
“I know.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and says, “She needs you, Gabe. You have to go to her now. It’s time.”
“Wait.”
“It’s time.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be here. I’m always here, brother.”
Another flash of light blinds me.
Someone i
s shaking me and shouting, “Open your eyes, Gabriel! Do you hear me?”
Ohhhh...my head.
“OPEN YOUR EYES!”
Liv?
“S-stop. Y-yelling.”
She gasps and stops shaking me. “Oh my God. Gabriel? Gabriel!”
I open my heavy eyelids, but the light forces them shut again.
“Gabriel!” She holds my face in her hands. “Open your eyes, Gabe. Open them again. Look at me.”
I open them again, blinking until they adjust to the light, and I see Liv hovering over me like an angel.
“Hi,” I croak.
She laughs but her eyes are filled with tears. “Hi.” She drops her mouth to mine and kisses my lips, my cheeks, my forehead, and my lips again. “Oh my God.” She leaps from the bed and runs to the door. “He’s awake! Gabe’s awake!” she screams down the hall. She runs back to the bed and sits beside me. “I knew you would wake up. I knew you would come back to me.” She’s smiles through the tears that are running down her face.
I lift my hand to her cheek, ignoring the ache from the IV attached to it, and whisper, “Don’t cry, sunshine.”
She wraps her hand around my wrist. “You remember?”
“Everything.”
She leans down and kisses me again. “I love you.”
“I love you too. As much today as I did yesterday.”
She puts her forehead on mine and nods.
“Maybe more.”
A flock of nurses and doctors fill the room. “Gabe,” Dr. Franklin says, pulling a chair beside my bed. “Can you hear me?”
Liv sits up and wipes her eyes. “He can hear you.”
“Yes,” I answer hoarsely.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Dr. Franklin.”
He smiles and nods. “You look pretty cozy, but can you tell me whose hand that is you’re holding?”
I look up at Liv and say, “My fiancée.”
Nina smiles over Liv’s shoulder and says, “Congratulations.”
Chapter 27
Liv
Three months ago, Gabe asked me to marry him in his hospital room before his surgery. The next day, I wished I had. Today, I finally will.
Gabe was released from the hospital a few days after he woke up from the coma with a clean bill of health. After extensive testing, the doctors ultimately surmised that the coma was simply Gabe’s body’s way of letting his brain heal after the surgery.
He had no memory loss, no changes in his personality, no damage to his motor skills. The only thing that Gabe lost was the threat of his next seizure. He hasn’t had one since before the surgery and Dr. Franklin assures us he will most likely never have one again.
Looks like Roxy is out of a job. Thank God. She will never be out of our hearts, though. She’s a part of our family and today she will be a part of our wedding. She’s Gabe’s best man.
Once Gabe was back on his feet, he proposed again with the most beautiful diamond ring I’ve ever seen. The antique round-cut diamond is surrounded by sixteen French-cut princess diamonds that cascade down the sides of the hand-engraved white gold band. Gabe had it custom made, but it looks like it belonged to eighteenth-century French royalty. I look down at my one-of-a-kind engagement ring, resting on my finger where it will stay forever.
It’s hard to believe how much has changed this year. It wasn’t that long ago, but I can hardly remember what my life was like in Raleigh. The pain I endured after I lost Gabe was washed away by the tide that brought him back to me. But I’ll never forget the struggle, and I wouldn’t want to. I don’t think I would be able to appreciate the calm if it weren’t for surviving the storm.
I’m going to marry Gabriel North today. I laugh quietly to myself and butterflies fill my stomach.
“What’s so funny?” Trisha asks over the diamond-encrusted bobby pin that’s hanging from her lips. She’s in charge of my hair.
“I just can’t believe I’m actually going to marry Gabe today.”
“Well, believe it, sister,” she says, placing the last pin in my hair, “because you’re ready to walk down the aisle.”
“Not yet.” Audrey holds up my wedding dress—a simple, sleeveless, V-back gown made of ivory tulle and Alençon lace, accented with ivory ribbon that ties in the back and falls down the length of the delicate train.
Alençon lace is made in France, and authentic Alençon lace is extremely hard to find, so naturally it was the first and last dress I tried on.
Audrey and Trisha help me get into it.
I stare at myself in the mirror for a few long seconds, thinking of everything that brought me to this day.
“You okay?” Trisha asks.
I nod over a wave of emotion as I stare at my reflection. Trisha did a beautiful job on my hair. It’s hanging in long waves down my back, but the front pieces are swept off my face with the jeweled bobby pins. It’s casual, but elegant.
She also did my makeup, which I better not ruin with tears. It compliments my hair perfectly. Both look soft and natural. Perfect for marrying Gabe outside under our old oak tree.
“You did a beautiful job,” I say, turning around to hug her. “Thank you. I really don’t know what I would do without you.”
“You’re welcome.” Her voice shakes a little and my eyes prick with tears.
“Knock it off,” Audrey says, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
I pull her in for a group hug. “I love you both.”
“Okay, stop it,” Trisha says, standing up straight. She holds me back by my shoulders and grabs a tissue. “I cannot recreate perfection!”
I laugh and try to compose myself.
“And your hair and makeup would be hard to redo too.”
“Trisha.”
“Kidding.”
I laugh again. “Seriously. Thanks for being a part of today. It really means so much to me.”
“Liv, I’ve seen you on some of your worst days”—she smiles and holds my hand—“but today I get to see you on one of your happiest. There’s nowhere else I would rather be.”
“I love you, Trisha.”
“I love you too.” She hugs me and grabs another tissue.
“Okay, we seriously have to get it together now,” Audrey says. “It’s almost time!” She widens her eyes and lets out a little squeal.
My eyes widen to match hers and I inhale a deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”
I hear my mother and Jackie talking as they climb the steps to my and Gabe’s apartment, where I’m getting ready. I broke the lease on my condo before I ever stepped foot in it. Once Gabe decided to go through with the surgery, and I knew how much he’d need me after, I didn’t want to be anywhere but here in our home.
“Liv?”
“Almost ready, Momma.”
I stand in front of the dark wood-framed floor mirror beside our bed, staring at my lace-clad reflection. I turn from side to side, admiring my gown, feeling the soft tulle under my hands. I love this dress. I hope Gabe likes it.
I hear quiet gasps when my mother and Jackie walk inside.
“Oh, Liv,” my mom cries, crossing the apartment to stand beside me. She holds her hands to her face. “You are absolutely breathtaking.” She wipes a stray tear.
“Thanks, Momma.”
“I mean it. I’ve never seen a more beautiful bride.” She cries a few more tears.
“Momma, stop crying.” I smile and hold her hand.
“Just wait until your daddy sees you. Wait until Gabe sees you.”
“Do you think he’ll like it?” I ask Jackie, who is smiling at me adoringly.
“Gabe would marry you in sweatpants, bébé.” She laughs and reaches for my hand.
I smile and nod. “That’s probably true.”
“But what a gift to give him this vision to hold in his heart for the rest of his life.” She pulls me into a hug and whispers, “Tu es son ange”. You’re his angel.
My eyes well up.
“No!” Trisha yells, making
us jump. “No more crying!”
I blink back the tears. “I’m not crying.”
“Yes, you are and there’s no time to redo your makeup now.” She runs toward me with a q-tip, which seems to have appeared out of thin air. I wonder if she has them stashed in her bra for exactly this reason. Knowing Trisha, she probably does. She dabs my eyes, careful not to smudge her masterpiece.
“Baby, it’s time,” my dad says from the doorway.
I turn around and face him. “I’m ready.”
His eyes mist over, but not for long.
“Do. Not. Cry,” Trisha says, pointing her finger at him. “If you cry, she cries. And she cannot cry!”
He shakes his head and clears his throat until his emotions are contained. Then he smiles and holds his arm out for me. “Well, don’t make the boy wait.”
I smile and take his arm.
“Hold on! Your flowers,” Audrey says, handing me my bouquet of creamy white magnolias and baby blue hydrangeas.
I take them from her, imagining Brandon walking her down the aisle and taking his place next to Gabe in a matching suit, looking handsome and probably bigger than he was at twenty-one. I try not to let myself think about how much I miss him right now, but I see my mother wipe her eyes again, and my heart aches involuntarily.
I’m here, little sister.
Brandon. I love you, Brandon.
My heart is wrapped in warmth and I imagine him walking beside me as my dad leads me down the stairs. He helps me into the vintage blue Ford pickup truck that seemed only fitting for our outdoor wedding by the barn. I also thought it paid homage to Gabe’s pickup. It’s an F-150 like his, but about forty years older.
The ride to the back of the property seems to take forever, but I’m not really sure how fast this old truck can go. I see the barn and my heart practically leaps out of my chest, knowing Gabe is standing on the other side of it, waiting for me—along with thirty of our closest friends and family members.
I have to remind myself to breathe.
My dad helps me down out of the truck and Trisha, Audrey, my mom, and Jackie appear from the car behind us to help fluff my dress and smooth my train. They each give me a quick hug and then make their way around the barn to take their places for the ceremony.