Where Promises Die: A Second Chance Romance

by R. C. Stephens

  She had been so hesitant and filled with turmoil when she left him that he needed to clear her mind. He made a quick phone call to his agent Derek, and then he called Trish, his publicist, to see if things were somewhat under control over the ‘baby daddy’ issue. He didn’t want Grace waking up to another media circus. Trish explained the need for a court order to summon a DNA test from the mother. She told him to get his blood taken at the hospital. The whole situation was absurd. Requiring a court order for a child he knew could not be his was insane, but this had to be done right to clear his name—not only for the media but for Grace too.

  Two days later

  Eisav sat by Grace’s hospital bed as her doctor left the room. The weight of his words hung heavy in the air. Grace was still in critical condition. The swelling in her brain was coming down slightly, but she had developed a fever. The doctor had explained that the ventilator tubes could sometimes cause pneumonia. In her weak state, it would be difficult for her body to fight like it needed too.

  Eisav called Marie to update her and within twenty minutes, Jacob, Greta, Marie, and Ilana arrived at the hospital, teary eyed, and stood around Grace’s hospital bed. Eisav didn’t want to give voice to his thoughts because he truly believed that on some level Grace could hear him, but he wanted to tell his siblings and friend to get the fuck out and to stop acting as if she were dying. Yes, the doctor said the next twenty-four hours would be touch and go, but he knew in his heart that his Grace would never really leave him, so he sat quietly in a chair next to her bed, hunched over and holding her hand in his while Jacob, Greta, Marie, and even Ilana spoke to her. They tried to be funny and heartwarming, but Eisav wanted them gone. He wanted her all for himself like he always had. He inwardly laughed, thinking what her response to his thoughts would be. He had been doing this for days. Having conversations in his own head. She would say, “You brooding caveman. You can have me all to yourself later.”

  “Eisav, I’m going to bring Cain by later,” Greta said quietly by his ear.

  He gave her a concerned look and asked her to follow him outside. Behind the closed door, he wrapped his arms across his chest and gave her a burly glare.

  “She isn’t dying, Greta. She isn’t dying. I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to see his mother in this state. She’s going to pull through. Just tell him she’ll be home soon.”

  Greta scrunched her brows together. “I won’t lie to him. He’s been asking for her endlessly. I didn’t say she was dying, Eisav. I love her too, you know. I’m praying hard, but you heard what the doctor said.”

  Hot fury began to boil inside Eisav. He turned and without thinking, he punched the concrete wall, hard. His fist began to bleed.

  “Just great, Eisav. It would be better if you can keep yourself in one piece,” Greta chided. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “Dammit, Greta!” Eisav grumbled and walked back in the room, leaving his sister out in the hall.

  As soon as he sat by Grace’s bed, his siblings and Ilana left the room. He took a few tissues and held them against his knuckles to stop the bleeding while he watched Grace through a blank stare. Despair now gripped him by the throat. The doctor said the odds weren’t great but dammit, who the fuck cared about odds? Grace was strong, wild, and free. If anyone could give a serious fight, it was Grace. His family seemed to be giving up hope, but he wouldn’t allow himself to do that. He would never give up hope where Grace was concerned.

  The nurse came by to check on her and gave her more antibiotics for the infection. She let him know that the fever had come down a bit and that was promising. She also told him to keep doing whatever it was that he was doing because it seemed to be working. The nurse didn’t realize it, but her simple words had relit that spark of hope inside of Eisav that began to dwindle.

  “They can sometimes hear you,” the nurse hinted. “The words of a loved one, I believe, sometimes makes that small difference.” She smiled sympathetically before leaving the room.

  Once she left, Eisav sat quietly, contemplating for a moment. He had been pouring his heart out to Grace these last days, and it hadn’t been working. That’s when he had his lightbulb moment. He needed to sing. Grace always loved when he sang to her. So he began a melody he named after her, singing loud and clear, allowing his deep voice to penetrate every corner of the room. Yes, if someone walked into the room, they would think either he was fucking crazy or they would take a front seat and watch the show. Eisav didn’t care. A number of nurses began to gather outside her hospital room door, the news helicopter circling the air outside, but Eisav shut his eyes and sang from his soul.

  Ever since the day I left, my heart has never been the same. I’m empty without your grace. I’m empty without you, Grace. I need to find away. I need to find away.

  To look into those eyes again. I pray every day for our love to find its way back to where it all began. I met a young girl one day, and all it took was her smile to capture my heart. You captured it, and I’m never asking for it back again.

  Because ever since the day I left, my heart has never been the same. I’m empty without your grace. I’m empty without you, Grace.

  Eisav continued to sing the song that had gone platinum and won him an award at the American Music Awards the year before. It never got old. His heart ached each and every time he sang the melody. He hoped deep down on some level she could hear the words, and that they meant as much to her as they did to him. He understood that she had her reasons and hesitations where he was concerned, but he wanted to put that all to rest in her mind before she even woke up. As he ended the song, he fell back into the chair he had placed close to her hospital bed. The room was eerily quiet. It wasn’t like Grace to be so silent. She always had an opinion about everything and anything. It was the fire inside her that he was drawn to from the start.

  The day turned into evening as the sun began to set. The doctor walked into the room for another examination. Eisav watched as the doctor checked her vital signs and the lab technician drew more blood.

  “Her fever is down.” Dr. Henderson smiled warmly. “She’s out of the woods so to speak. If the blood work returns normal, I’d like to send her for another MRI to check the brain swelling. If it has come down significantly, we can try to wake her from the coma,” he explained.

  Eisav felt like a small brick had been lifted off his chest. This was a good development, but he needed Grace completely awake and okay to feel better.

  “Will she be okay then?” Eisav asked, his tone filled with wanton hope.

  The doctor pursed his lips slightly, but his overall expression looked sympathetic. “That’s what we’re praying for. Sometimes it’s hard to assess brain damage when the patient isn’t awake, but let’s not get a head of ourselves. We have a fighter on our hands. I can see that. I’m on call tonight so I’ll be back later when the blood tests come back,” he continued before leaving the room.

  Eisav stalked over to the window, feeling like he had been sucked into a pit of despair. Watching the sunset reminded him of the good old days with Grace. Almost everything reminded him of Grace. There was no life without her, and yet he was back in Iowa. Grace was by his side, and he had never felt so helpless. The helplessness was driving him crazy. He wanted to kick and throw and scream and cry. As he thought the last word in his mind, he walked limply over to the chair beside her bed and cried his eyes out. How could the doctor even mention brain damage? That couldn’t be possible. It just couldn’t. After a long while of shedding too many tears, his eyes grew heavy and he passed out on the hard chair. Life had always been kinder in his dreams anyway.

  “Mr. Eisav.” The voice of the nurse who had been tending to Grace pulled him from his dream.

  He opened his eyes slowly. His body felt stiff, his back had a spasm, and his legs felt like two logs that didn’t belong to him. He nodded to the nurse. “Good morning.”

  “Blood work came back. White count is back down to normal. Means the antibiotics worked and th
e infection is gone.” She grinned widely, tipping her head forward. “Dr. Henderson wants to wake her this morning.”

  Eisav’s eyes widened and his heart accelerated in his chest as he rubbed at his eyes.

  “Thank you, thank you.” He stood up to walk over to Grace’s bed. “Did you hear that, angel? Things are looking good. I’ll be able to look into those beautiful green eyes very soon.”

  He pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and shot Marie a quick text. Ilana had left for LA last night to take care of some business for him. Once the nurse finished checking Grace’s vital signs, he followed her outside the hospital room.

  “Yes, Mr. Eisav, can I help you?” She smiled kindly. Eisav thought it was weird that she called him that, but she had insisted because of his rock-star status.

  “Um, I’ve got a matter …” He began feeling slightly embarrassed. The nurse grinned as he explained the need for a paternity test and if there was anyway of having it done without flying back to LA. She directed him to the head nurse who explained the process of DNA collection. He was thankful that he could have his DNA collected and assessed at the hospital. The nurse explained with today’s technology the sample could be assessed against the woman carrying the baby and all information would be transferred via computer, as long as there was a witness to notarize their IDs. Since he was traveling, Eisav had both his passport and driver’s license on hand. He went down to the lab and took the test. He needed those results. He already knew that the child in question wasn’t his, but his publicist informed him that the world would need to see quantitative results. He was going to give them what they wanted, and he was going to lay any doubts Grace had to rest.

  As he was about to walk back into Grace’s room, a nurse stopped him.

  “The anesthesiologist is in there. You’ll need to wait out here.”

  He took a deep breath. He was probably in there to wake her up. As he took another step, his knees felt wobbly. The doctor had explained that she might not wake immediately as she was slowly weaned off the medication that kept her asleep. Eisav not only feared that she wouldn’t wake up, but also the possibility that the accident had caused lasting damage to her brain. He couldn’t fathom it.

  A few moments passed but it felt like an eternity had elapsed when the nurse gave him the go-ahead to enter the hospital room. Before she walked away, she warned him that it could take a day or days before Grace actually woke up. They needed her to start breathing on her own again and sometimes that process wasn’t smooth. With that news he knew he should be walking toward her room briskly so he could be there if she did open her eyes. It was important for him to be the first person she saw, but fear took a stronghold on him and as he lifted each leg to walk, he felt like he had to carry the weight of the world. Eisav slowly forced one foot in front of the other. Once he reached the door, he pushed it open and took a breath.

  He paused at the door, and Dr. Myers, the anesthesiologist turned to him. “Now we wait and see. Let’s hope for the best.” The doctor turned to the nurse. “Page me when she wakes up.” Then he was gone through the doors while the nurse stayed to monitor her vitals and fluff her pillow. It had been almost a week since the accident, but to Eisav it had felt as if he had aged twenty years.

  “I’ll give you two sometime alone.” The nurse winked. “Just buzz if you need anything.”

  Eisav forced a smile. “Thanks.”

  The nurse walked out of the room and once again Eisav stood beside Grace’s bed, feeling helpless and broken. So much had happened in the past weeks that it was too hard to process all at once: listening to Grace speak of how Father Joseph abused her, his confrontation with his brother, reuniting with Grace, and finally the news he was a father. It was enough to break a sane man, and he was broken to begin with. He rested his head against her bed and drifted off to sleep.

  A kink in his neck woke him up. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to look at the time. He couldn’t believe he had been asleep for six hours straight, but then again he hadn’t slept much in the past week since sleeping in a hospital chair wasn’t considered real sleep anyway. He called Ilana to update her on Grace and to find out what was going on with his accuser. Ilana explained that the woman was making things difficult, saying she didn’t want to put her baby at risk by taking the DNA test. Then she demanded that Eisav pay her hospital bills. Ilana was seething on the phone. She called Eisav’s attorney, Michael Chandler, who said they would petition for a court order. That meant some more waiting. It wasn’t the news Eisav wanted to hear. He wanted to clear things up with Grace immediately. When he got off the phone with Ilana, he once again found himself sucked into a pit of emotional despair. He began crying again. This crying thing was new to him. It felt terrible, but he had no other way of venting his emotions and in this moment he was fucking scared. He needed Grace to show signs that she could breathe on her own. As he wept over Grace’s bed, he poured his heart to her once again. “Tell me, Grace … What do I need to do? I’ll do anything for you … anything you want. Just please wake up and please be okay. I beg of you … I won’t live another day without you in my life. I’ve had time to think about it, and these past three years without you have been completely miserable, I just can’t picture my life without you in it, so I’ve decided that if you aren’t okay then we shall part this earth together. I mean it Grace. Living a life of misery is not worth it to me. I know we have Cain to think about, but he seems content with Greta and Dave.” He pressed his head on her arm. He needed to feel her soft skin against his face, and that’s when he felt it. A little twitch. He thought maybe he imagined it, but then he felt some more movement. A few fingers wiggling beneath his face. He lifted his head and took her hand in his. He stood up from the chair and watched her intently. His breathing was rapid and hope exploded throughout his body. As he watched her closely, her eyes began to flutter and the breathing machine slowed. She was breathing on her own.

  “Grace, Grace. You’re okay, sweetheart. It’s me … it’s Eisav. I’m here.” As tears streamed down his cheeks, he waited for a response for anything at all. She wouldn’t be able to speak with a tube down her throat. He picked up the emergency call button on her bed and pressed it. Immediately, a nurse’s voice came through the intercom.

  “Something’s happening. I think she’s trying to wake up,” he said, his voice cracking.

  “We see it on the monitor. A nurse will be right there,” a woman’s voice came through the intercom.

  “Grace, angel …” He pushed her hair back off her forehead. Her eyes began to flutter some more and then they opened slowly, wincing as if a bright light was shining in her eyes.

  The nurse walked in just as Grace began to tug at the tube going down her throat.

  “Shit! Is she okay? What’s happening?” Eisav shot off questions. His heart was beating a mile a minute.

  “Relax, sir, this happens sometimes. The patients wake up suddenly and try to pull the tube out to relieve the discomfort,” the nurse explained while tending to Grace.

  Eisav began to pace back and forth. He didn’t want to distract the nurse but watching it all go down was a little traumatizing. He felt a little lightheaded.

  “There we go,” the nurse said as she removed the last of the tubes.

  Grace began to cough and it sounded very dry. Eisav walked up to her bed and took her hand.

  “I’ll call the doctor,” the nurse said.

  “Huh?” Eisav turned his attention on the nurse, dazed.

  “I’ll notify the doctor that she’s waking up,” the nurse repeated.

  “Thank you,” Eisav responded, but he couldn’t pull his gaze from Grace.

  “Ei … Ei …” Grace tried to speak. Her hands came up to her throat. “Dry.”

  “It’s okay, take your time. I’m not sure if I can give you water,” he said.

  Grace lifted her pointer finger in the air.

  “Wait? You want me to wait?” Eisav asked with a shaky voice. His nerves
were completely frayed.

  Grace nodded, keeping her gaze trained on him.

  “I’m patient. Take your time.” He smiled and let out a long, cleansing breathe. She was awake and she knew who he was. That was a start.

  A slow smile curved her dry lips. “Eisav?” she croaked.

  “I’m here, Grace. You’re going to be okay,” he said frantically.

  “Eisav …” she murmured again, her voice thick and scratchy. “Don’t … dare … end your life or leave … Cain … with Greta … Dave.” Her tone was soft and weak yet carried a demanding self-assurance that was purely Grace.

  Eisav laughed for the first time in days. An honest laugh, long and gravelly. It made his entire insides shake with happiness. He felt as if he had been holding his breath this whole time.

  “No, baby, I’d never do that. Cain is coming home with you and me.” He looked to her, caressing her forehead in an almost frantic manner.

  “I’m sorry,” she began to speak but he hushed her.

  “No, baby, this is on me. I’m sorry. Don’t waste your energy. He’s our boy. That’s all that matters.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Grace you scared the living shit out of me. I’m just glad you’re okay. We can talk about the rest later.”

  She nodded her head.

  Dr. Myers walked into the room. “Glad to see you’re awake.” He smiled to Grace and Eisav.

  Two months later

  Grace had spent a couple more weeks in the hospital before she was moved to a rehab facility. She required a few more surgeries to set her bones and some plastic surgery to clean up the scarring. During that time, Eisav moved into Greta’s ranch and got to know his son to the point where he was the one taking care of him on a daily basis. He had wanted to wait for Grace to tell him that he was his father, but since it took her some time to heal and Eisav stepped in as a full time dad, it only made sense he tell his son the truth. Little Cain was tracing his father’s face with his small fingers while Eisav told him he was his son. The little boy looked to him with such awe that Eisav felt like a complete goner. He loved Cain through and through and would do anything in the world for him.