by BWWM Club
They did not eat for next two hours.
*****
Kym folded the blanket and placed it inside her basket. It was the beginning of March and the weather was a little mild. She had told Julian that she would be at the house finishing the chapter but she had changed her mind when she had seen how beautiful the day had turned out to be and decided to go up to the old abandoned house to finish.
To her surprise she discovered that it was some minutes after four and Julian had said he would call her as soon as he left the office. She had finished finally! She had gone a little over the deadline because she had changed the last chapter somewhat but she had sent the changes to Sylvia and she had been exultant with the end results and now she was finished and it was time to give her husband her total attention.
She had fallen in love with him and was planning a romantic moment where she could tell him properly. She was so deep in thought that it was when he was almost upon her that she noticed she was not alone. By the time she turned around he was already brandishing the piece of plank he had in his hand which he used to hit her over the head with.
Kym screamed out as she felt the pain race through her brain and then she remembered nothing else as she slumped to the uneven ground in a faint.
*****
Julian frowned as the phone went straight to voice mail again. He had called the house phone and it had ringed without an answer so he had tried the cell phone but she was not answering. The last time he had called her it was sometime in the afternoon and she had told him that she would see him later and then he had gone into a meeting. He called her friends and they told him they had not heard from her since yesterday.
“You know how she is when she is writing,” Gabrielle told him carelessly. “I am sure it’s nothing to worry about.” But he was worried, why on earth was she not answering her phone?
Next he called her mother to see if by chance she had stopped by there.
“I have not heard from her since this morning Julian.” Gloria Rollins told him.
He got up from the desk decisively and decided to go and look for her. No matter what they all said, he had this vague disquiet inside him telling him that something was wrong. He glanced at the watch she had given him for Valentine’s Day that he had continued to wear every day and saw that it was a little past five. He would check up at the house to see if by chance she was asleep.
*****
She was not at home and the door was unlocked. He went through the rooms calling out her name but he knew that she was not there, the place was too quiet.
He had gone back outside when he saw the neighbor peering across the fence. “Hi Mrs. Willows have you seen my wife?” he forced himself to remain calm.
“I saw her heading up to the abandoned building sometime ago.” The elderly woman told him.
“Thank you.” He told her briefly and turned to go up there.
He remembered the time he had gone up the place to find her and admired the dense foliage and thought the place was too lonely and had thought about warning her against going there especially since it got dark so early.
“Kym,” he called out as he came nearer to the place. It was too quiet, he thought, surely if she was there she would have answered. He called her and made his way up the steps and onto the front porch and that was when he saw her. His blood froze and for a second he could not move. She was lying on the floor and there was blood coming from a wound on her head.
“Please no, don’t let her die,” he rushed to her side and felt for a pulse, his hand tremble. He almost collapsed with relief when he felt the pulse beating weakly against her neck. He reached for his phone and dialed 911 and told them his location and the condition of his wife. He then called his parents and hers and told them what he had found. All the time he was talking he felt the helpless rage going right through him. Who had done this to her?
The place was too rocky for the ambulance to navigate so the EMTs made their way up there with a gurney.
“Is she going to be all right?” he asked as they placed her gently on the collapsible bed.
“She has a pulse,” one of them said putting an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. “Do you know what happened to her?”
“I came and saw her like this.” He was hard put to answer the questions. “I’ll ride with her.” He said briefly as soon as they reached the ambulance.
*****
They were all waiting when the ambulance reached the hospital. He had sat there holding her limp hand and she had not regained consciousness.
They rushed her into the ER and the doctors went in immediately, leaving them outside the waiting room.
“Son, what happened?” James asked as soon as she was rushed into room.
“I don’t know,” he plowed his hands through his already tousled hair and felt his body vibrating. He wanted to hit something, someone for what happened. “I saw her lying on the ground when I got to the old abandoned building and there was blood,” his hands were shaking and he had to clench them to get them to stop. “I told her that she should be careful and maybe she should not go up there anymore but she did not listen and now this!”
“Take it easy son; she is going to be okay.” James clasped his shoulder briefly and felt the muscles bunch underneath his fingers.
He looked around the room and saw that they were all there. Her parents were sitting on chairs clasping each other’s hands and looking frightened and his mother the organizer was making the rounds for coffee. Gabrielle and Marla were standing close together as if giving each other comfort and as much as they were all there, he had never felt so alone in his entire life because she was not there. His love was in the room probably fighting for her life.
The doctor came out two hours later and removed the cap from off his balding head. They knew him because they had added a neurological to the hospital and his father was on the board. “Michael, how is she?” Julian asked him abruptly.
“There is a slight swelling of the brain where the memory is housed,” he said slowly, taking them all in and then looking back at Julian and James. “We have operated and stopped the bleeding but I think there is a chance that there might be some temporary memory loss.”
“How is she?” Julian asked him impatiently.
“She is still out but not critical, I will know further when she is awake.” Dr. Michael Jones told them with a brief nod.
“When will that be?” James asked him.
“I am afraid I am not quite sure,” he said regrettably. “Julian you are the only one who will be able to stay for the night, I would advise the rest of you to go home, there is not much you can do here at this time.”
*****
He kept staring at the white bandage around her head. The doctor had told him that whoever had done it had missed her temple by mere inches and that would have been fatal.
She was so still and pale with all the machines hooked up to her and he wanted to find the person who did it and break him into tiny pieces. He was so helpless and afraid. They had put in a cot for him to sleep on as the night wore on but sleep was the farthest thing from his mind; every time he closed his eyes, he saw her lying there in a crumpled heap with the blood in her hair.
*****
Kym felt as if she was drowning. Her brain was enclosed in a great fog and she kept seeing someone coming after with a piece of board. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound was trapped inside her throat and would not come out. She wanted to escape but he kept coming at her and she felt the intense pain as the board smashed against her skull rendering her helpless against the attacks and as she slipped into unconsciousness she wondered where Julian was.
*****
It was a homeless guy and the police had caught him huddled against a dumpster. He still had her blood on his hands and her laptop tucked inside his filthy backpack.
“I guess he was trying to protect his territory,” the detective said with a little shrug, looking at Julian apologetically as he said
it.
“She always went there so how is it that she never saw him there before?” Julian asked him coldly. They had come by a little past eight to give him the report.
“He used to be in the shelter downtown but he left there two days ago.” His name was Detective Paul Moore and he was giving Julian the report, fully aware of how influential his family was in the town. He had set men on the case as soon as he had examined the crime scene and had been relieved that his wife was still alive and had not been sexually molested.
“What’s going to happen to him?” Julian asked, suddenly weary and wanting to go back inside the room to be with his wife.
“He is being processed and it’s up to you and your wife if you are going to press charges.” The detective told him.
“I just want my wife to get well detective, I cannot think about anything else right now.” He told him wearily. “I am going to need her laptop because there is important information on it.”
“Yes Mr. Robinson, we will see that it is delivered by the morning.”
“Thank you,” he said with a brief nod and went back inside the room. She was still asleep and he saw a nurse checking her vitals.
“How is she?” he whispered.
“She is breathing normally,” the woman told him with a reassuring smile.
He sat near to her and took the hand nearest to him. “Darling if you can hear me I want you to know how much I love you.” He laughed a little shakily. “If you wanted me to get your attention then you certainly succeeded. You scared the living daylights out of me and I am afraid I am going to have to use the husband card and forbid you to ever go up to that building again. I know we say we are not a normal married couple but I love you and I don’t want to lose you.” He paused and bowed his head over her hand. “I can’t lose you baby,” he whispered and felt the tears coming.
Chapter 9
She was out for a week and for that entire week he did not leave her side even when her friends, his mother and her parents offered to sit with her. “I want to be here when she wakes up.” He told them grimly. He looked haggard and had only shaved that morning after his father told him that she would not like seeing him like that when she wakes up.
He had conversations with her every day. The office had sent work over for him and his father had made sure he had his computer handy. Other than that he would not leave. The doctor warned him that she might still suffer from temporary amnesia even when she wakes up; that’s why he made sure and talked to her every single day as if she could talk back to him.
He took breaks when the rest of the family and friends came over but never for long and he was always hovering around.
“Listen to this baby,” he said softly. “We are starting the renovations to the property I told you about, the one downtown and it’s going along great. I want to take you there as soon as you get out of this bed. I also want to take you to dinner and make sure you make up for not eating, whatever you want. I wish you would put me out of my misery and just open your eyes baby, I really miss hearing your laughter and the way you talk to me and you wandering around the place as you think of what to write next.” He stopped as he fought the tears that were suddenly appearing. He could not let her see him cry, he had to be strong for her. “I need you so much,” he ended huskily.
*****
“Give it to me straight Michael, what’s my daughter in law’s prognosis?” James asked as he sat with the neurosurgeon in the hospital cafeteria. He had just come from the office to see if there were any changes. It had been a week and she was still in a coma and he had seen him suffer a little bit more every day and he wanted to shout out with the helplessness of having money at his disposal and not being able to do anything. Michael was his friend as well as one of the best neurosurgeons in the country that was why he had not recommended getting a second opinion.
“The swelling has gone down and that is a very good sign and her blood pressure is normal and apart from that we just have to wait until she wakes up James.” He said with a sigh. “I know Julian is suffering seeing her like this but she will get better.”
“What about the amnesia you were talking about?”
“I am afraid that is quite possible.” He continued, his expression bleak. “But her brain shows normal reactions to stimuli so if there is amnesia it will be temporary.”
“How temporary are we talking about?” James asked him. Instead of feeling relieved he was feeling frustrated.
“It could be a day or a week or even a month.”
James stared off across the cafeteria bleakly. He was fervently hoping that there was some miracle.
*****
She woke up the very next day. Julian was just about to get up and look at her when she opened her eyes and stared straight at him. His heart hammered inside his chest and he became paralyzed for a second or two before reacting. He almost sprang on the bed beside her but managed to restrain himself enough to call the doctor. “Baby, you are awake,” he said his voice husky with feeling as he took her hand. To his horror she pulled away from him and stared at him confused.
“Who are you?” she asked her voice slightly hoarse from lack of use.
He was about to tell her that she was his wife when the doctor and two nurses came in. “Mrs. Robinson you are back with us,” the doctor said with a cheerful smile. He had noticed the look on Julian’s face and guessed his prognosis was correct. She did not remember him.
“What did you call me?” she asked.
“Your name is Kymonia Robinson and you are married to that very confused looking man right there,” the doctor pointed to Julian who had retreated to the corner of the room. “You suffered from brain trauma when you were hit over the head a week ago and he has never left your side. Do you remember anything?”
She shook her head and winced. They had taken off the big white bandage and replaced it with a smaller one. She looked over at Julian and tried to remember marrying him but nothing came and she felt the frustration flooding through her.
“Don’t try to force yourself to remember it will come eventually. In the meantime, I am going to examine you and make sure all your vital signs are intact.”
*****
She was released from the hospital the next day but it was not a very joyful release. She did not recognize anyone, not even her mother and they all felt like crying including her. Julian took her to her house where he was sure she would recognize the surroundings.
“Bring her around sometime son but in the meantime just keep showing her familiar things.” James advised him clapping him on the shoulder, his heart breaking a little at the look of hopelessness on his son’s face.
She kept looking at him strangely as if he was some serial rapist who was going to attack her any minute now. He did not know what to say to her so he kept silent all the way to the house.
“Where are we going?” she asked quietly looking out the window. It was the beginning of spring and even though it was cold the flowers had started to bloom gently.
“To your place,” he said forcing a smile.
“We don’t live together?” she asked him curiously.
“We have a strange marriage, not a normal one as we like to think of it. You need familiar surroundings to write and I agreed to it. So we spend some time here and some time at my place.” He told her with a little smile. “Somehow it seems to work.”
“And you agreed to that?” she was looking him over as if trying to somehow remember him.
He nodded gravely. “Your writing is very important to you and I wanted to respect that.”
“You sound like an outstanding husband.” She said slowly looking out the window.
“I am a man in love,” he told her with a self deprecating smile.
“Am I a woman in love?” she asked him.
“You never said the words but I think so,” he said gently.
He made sure she was settled in by making her sit in the living room where she looked around the room curiousl
y. “I obviously have good taste,” she said with a little smile. She had lost weight and her cheekbones were more pronounced but apart from that she looked her usual beautiful self.
“You do,” he said with a smile. He had not seen her next door neighbor when he was coming in and he knew he had to tell her that Kym was home but he wanted her to himself for tonight. “What do you want to eat?”
“Before that could I get a look at the rest of the place and the books I wrote?” she asked getting up a little unsteadily.
“Of course,” he came quickly to her side.
“I can walk by myself,” she told him a little coolly stepping away from him.
“Okay,” he dropped his hands and schooled his features so that she would not see what her actions and words had done to him.
She walked around the place slowly, touching the furniture as if her touch would relate to something familiar. She looked in the closet and saw the male clothes there and looked back at him for a moment. Then she went into her home office and pulled her books from the shelves leafing through them with a little frown and then looking at the back page where a smiling picture of herself stared up at her.”I am a bestselling author?” she asked in wonder.
“You are and your second book was also made into a television movie,” he said with a smile.
“And what do you do?”
“I am vice president for Robinson Holdings; we take over defunct companies and make them viable.”
“So you are rich?”
“I guess you could say that,” he said with a slow smile.
“How did we meet?” she continued her questions and he was very patient with her as he went back with her to the kitchen. His mother had had the chef send over a variety of dishes and he took out a pot roast and some salad and made two plates. They had the meal there and he remembered how he had came home that evening and had found her cooking for him and what she had done when the meal was not quite finished and he felt his body tightened in need. It was so bittersweet to have her sitting across from him and not being able to pull her into his arms and kiss her until they were both mad with desire.