“Turn on the TV to NBC. They just showed his picture on the Today show,” she said, her voice trembling so badly she wasn't sure Sarah could understand her.
“The Today show? Why would Alex be on the Today Show?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know,” Corey snapped, “just turn it on. It’s him, Sarah, it’s him.”
“It went to commercial,” Sarah said even though Corey was staring at the screen already.
“Mommy, where’d Daddy go?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know, baby,” she said. Kneeling in front of the TV, Corey held her breath and waited. Was she crazy? It couldn’t be him. Not after a year. Why would he show up on the Today show suddenly? Maybe it wasn’t really him. The kids thought it was him, too. The commercials dragged by so slowly.
Finally, the Today show logo reappeared and the host sat on the couch telling all the viewers what stories were coming up in the next few hours. As she named them off, pictures of the people or products involved popped up at the bottom of the screen.
“And a last minute addition to today’s show is a man whose story of triumph over adversity to find love again will amaze you. We’ll meet John and Gretchen at the end of this half hour,” Anne said. She went on to say something else, but Corey was transfixed by the photo of her Alex sitting next to a blonde woman.
“I can’t believe it,” Sarah whispered, “it is him.”
Chapter Fifty-One
The Last Whole Piece
“John. Gretchen. You’ll be going on in about ten minutes,” the page said. “If you would both follow me, I’ll take you to the set.”
Gretchen took John’s hand and they left the green room. Even Gretchen looked a little nervous by that point. John wanted to sprint down the hall and escape. The death grip Gretchen had on his hand kept him from getting too far ahead of her. He wasn't sure whether she was holding him so tightly because of her own nerves or because she was afraid he would run, but John appreciated it either way.
“Okay,” the page said, “you two wait right here. Someone will come get you as soon as they’re ready to seat you on set. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Gretchen said.
Turning to look at John, Gretchen hugged him. She was trembling despite her smile. “I can’t stop shaking,” she said. “I’m so nervous. I don’t think it hit me until we got here just how many people will be watching us. If I goof this up my students will never let me live it down.”
“You’ll be fine,” John said. He wished she would stop bringing up just how many people would be watching them. He didn’t mind speaking in front of people and he wasn’t worried about answering the host’s questions. All of that felt oddly natural to him. He could stand in front of all of America and not care at all. It was just one person he was worried about.
Where was his dark haired memory woman? Even if she never wanted to see John again for some reason, would she be watching? Would she recognize him? John hadn’t taken the time to investigate any religions yet, but he prayed as they walked. He prayed whoever the woman he kept seeing was, she wouldn’t see him today. Be out hiking or boating, he pleaded. Anything that kept her away from a TV.
“John and Gretchen?” a man asked. They both nodded. “Great, I’m Howie. Let’s get you two into position for the interview.”
They followed him to a set containing a loveseat and a single overstuffed chair. He positioned Gretchen and John on the loveseat so John was facing the other chair directly and Gretchen was between them. Two other crew members came up to them to touch up their makeup and brush their clothes free of any lint. The lights above came on and the two aides scampered off the stage.
Anne LaSalle, with a trail of people behind her, approached the set. She shook their hands as her crew fussed over her. She ignored the crew completely, and said, “How are you both doing this morning?”
“Fine,” they both said.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“Very,” Gretchen admitted.
“Don’t worry, this will be painless,” Anne said. “I’ll ask Gretchen first to tell me about how she found you, and then I’ll ask John about waking up with no memory. After that we’ll talk about how Gretchen took you in and you two ultimately fell in love. It will be over before you know it.”
I hope so, John thought.
***
“Tell me what’s happening,” Corey begged Sarah as she hurried the kids out of the taxi.
Her kids sprinted ahead of her to the lobby, yelling, “We’re going to see Daddy!”
“Okay, they just started the interview,” Sarah said. “The woman he’s with is named Gretchen Gesner. Apparently she found Alex in the middle of the road in New Mexico.”
“New Mexico? How did Alex end up in New Mexico? We live in Chicago,” Corey said. New Mexico? It had to be him. It had to be.
“He’d been attacked or something so they took him to the hospital,” Sarah said.
Corey finally caught up to the kids just as they tried to duck under a security checkpoint. “Just a minute, Sarah, I have to go through a metal detector.” She tossed the still live phone into the bin with her keys and purse and impatiently waited to make it through the security check. Someone asked her what she was doing at the studio and whatever answer Corey gave the man prompted him to pin “Visitor” badges on her and the kids. Corey snatched her belongings back as soon as she saw them and headed in the direction the guard had pointed her in.
“Okay, Sarah, what’s happening now?” she asked desperately.
“Alex was in a coma for a week before he woke up,” she said.
“And?” Corey demanded. “Why didn’t he come home after he woke up?”
Sarah hesitated. “He couldn’t remember anything, Corey. He woke up with full amnesia of everything that happened before he got attacked. He says he still can’t remember anything.”
“What?” Corey cried. The kids kept yanking her down a hall, or she didn’t think she would have been able to walk on her own.
Everyone told Corey that Alex just took the cash and ran off with someone, that he must have been tired of her and the kids and bailed, but she never believed him capable of such a thing. Alex loved them. He would never have abandoned his family. Corey guessed forgetting who he was would be a great reason for not coming home, but she still didn’t know why he had left in the first place.
“After he woke up, the doctors released him, and the woman, Gretchen, took Alex in and let him live with her,” Sarah said. A crash of emotions swept through her. Alex had been living with another woman this whole time? At least he had someone, she told herself. What if he had just been turned out onto the street?
“You’re going to love this, Corey, Alex learned how to cook and started a catering business,” Sarah said.
“A chef?” She could not believe that. Alex had grown up with money and still had money. A lot of it. He had never so much as boiled water as far as Corey knew. How in the world had he become a chef? Running his own business, though, that sounded exactly like Alex. Ever since he disappeared, his brother and Corey had been trying to take his place managing the four car dealerships she and Alex owned.
“Excuse me, ma’am, this is a restricted area,” a security guard said as he held out a hand to stop Corey.
“Just a minute, Sarah,” she said. Turning to the security guard, she tried to explain but the kids beat her to it.
“We’re here to see daddy!” they yelled as they bounced up and down.
“Does your husband work here?” the guard asked.
“No, but he’s here. He’s on the Today show right now. I have to find him. It’s an emergency!” she said. Desperation brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t let Alex disappear again. This might be her only chance to see him, to make sure. He was so close.
“Well, if you wait here, your husband will be out as soon as he’s done. I can’t let you just wander around the studio,” he said.
“But my husband doesn’t know I’m here,” Corey
said. “He doesn’t even know who I am. Please. I have to find him. Please.” Tears started falling and Michael and Sasha quieted down as they saw their mother cry.
“What do you mean your husband doesn’t know who you are?” the guard asked.
He thought she was crazy. Corey knew she was seconds away from being escorted out of the building. “On the show today, there’s a man who was in an accident and ended up with amnesia. Have you heard about him?” she asked.
“I don’t know what goes on in the studio every day, miss. I just keep people out that don’t belong in there.” He reached for his radio and Corey panicked.
“Please,” she shouted. “The man, he’s my husband. He disappeared a year ago. I’ve been looking for him this whole time. If he leaves before I can see him, I may never find him again. Please, you have to help me.”
“Mommy,” Michael whispered, “are we going to see Daddy?”
She looked up at the security guard. He held the answer.
“Just a minute,” he said. Reaching up to his radio, Corey prayed he wasn't calling for someone to drag her away. Instead, he asked if there was a guest on the show that day with amnesia. The voice that crackled over the radio said there was. Hope sprang up in Corey’s heart and her eyes begged the guard to trust her.
Shaking his head, he spoke into the radio again. “There’s a woman out here who says she’s the guy’s wife. She wants to see him.”
There was a brief moment of silence before the other voice answered. “I’ll send someone down for her.”
A young man arrived a few seconds later and hurried Corey and the kids through the building.
“We need to hurry. They’re already halfway through the interview,” the man said. “Do you have a picture or some identification that proves this guy is your husband?”
“Yes, I do!” Digging through her purse, Corey pulled out her wallet and tore out her driver’s license to prove who she was, and a family picture that included Alex. It had been taken a few months before he disappeared.
The man leading them took the license and picture. Holding up the license, he looked back at Corey and nodded, then held up the photo she had given him and compared it to one he had brought with him. Corey stared at the newer picture over his shoulder. It was Alex. He looked a little different. There were scars he didn’t have before, which almost made her start crying again to see them, and his face was fuller than it had been a year ago, but it was him.
Remembering Sarah, Corey pulled her phone back out and asked if she was still there. “Yeah, I’m here,” Sarah said. The tone of her voice caught Corey’s attention. Something was wrong.
“What is it, Sarah?”
The man leading them suddenly stopped and stepped aside, revealing Alex sitting on the couch next to the woman who had rescued him. Corey’s joy at seeing him almost completely blocked out everything else. Almost. The woman next to him was holding his hand. She was looking over at him the way Corey used to look at Alex. She was in love with him. In between questions, he looked over at her. The way he looked at her said it all. He loved her, too.
“Corey,” Sarah said, “Alex and the woman, they’re engaged.”
The last whole piece of Corey’s heart crumbled away. Michael yanked on her hand and said something she didn’t hear, but his voice drew Alex’s attention.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Unexpected Guests
Anne asked John something, but a flurry of movement behind the camera caught the corner of his eye. He glanced over at the small boy waving at him. He looked…familiar. He was holding someone’s hand. Traveling up the hand that held him, John saw her. Her dark waves rippled around her crestfallen face. Their eyes met and tears spilled down her cheeks.
Everything started falling into place and John felt himself smile. “Corey,” he whispered.
Falling to her knees, she let go of the children’s hands and they ran forward.
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
John slid off the couch and dropped to his knees as they reached him. They clambered up the steps, burying John in an avalanche of hugs and kisses. “Daddy, we missed you,” Michael cried. “We didn’t know where you were!”
Sasha hung around his neck, kissing John wherever she could reach him. “Lub you, Daddy!” she said between kisses. John cried. She was talking and walking. He had missed it all. Looking up, he saw Corey walking shakily toward them. She wasn't looking at him, though, she was looking past him. At Gretchen.
Spinning around, John stared at Gretchen. Her hands were shaking even as she pressed them against her mouth in disbelief. There was pain in her eyes, but there was joy, too. She knew. Gretchen looked up over John’s shoulder and he turned to see Corey standing to the side. She looked so unsure. Standing up with Michael and Sasha still hanging off of him in different places, he reached out to her.
Corey started crying uncontrollably as she pressed herself against him. It wasn't until John saw his tears falling on her shoulder that he realized he was doing the same thing. “Do you know who I am, Alex?” Corey asked between sobs.
Alex. That was his real name. Alex Turner.
Pulling back, he looked into her eyes, the ones he had seen so many times without knowing who they belonged to. The love he had seen in the memories was still there, maybe even brighter than before. “I knew as soon as I saw you,” he whispered.
“Where did you go?” she asked. “How did you end up in New Mexico?”
John’s memories were reemerging, but it was like someone had just dumped them into his head. They were jumbled and fuzzy, but he thought most of them were there. “The painting,” he said, piecing together the days before everything disappeared. “The painting we saw at the charity benefit, the one you loved so much.”
Corey shook her head in confusion.
“I found the painter,” John said. His head felt light despite the years’ worth of memories weighing on his mind. Having them back made him giddy. “The painter lived in New Mexico and I commissioned him to do a painting for you.”
“But, Alex, why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” Corey asked. “You took out ten thousand dollars and just disappeared. We searched the whole state, the neighboring states, but we couldn’t find you.”
All those months of being angry that no one had ever found him, and it was his fault.
“I had the painting done for your birthday, but I didn’t want you to find out about it, so I took out the cash, because I knew how closely you kept track of money, and drove to an airport outside of town to fly to New Mexico. The artist lived in some little town in the middle of nowhere. I was going to pick up the painting,” John said. “I wanted to pick it up myself because I didn’t want it showing up at the house and you seeing it. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
“What happened?” Gretchen asked quietly. “How did you end up lying in the middle of the road?”
He looked over at Gretchen and felt crushed all over again. She stood there so quietly. Determined to be gracious, she was standing with hands clenching each other so tightly her fingers were white. John could tell she was dying to scream or cry, anything to show how she felt, but she also had been the one who wanted so badly to find out who John was. The bittersweet reality of it finally happening was plain on her face.
“I picked up the painting, but I got lost when I tried to head back to Albuquerque and couldn’t get any cell reception. I guess I turned the wrong way and ended up heading north instead,” John said. “I got a flat tire and the wrong group of people stopped to help me.”
Memories of the hulking men walking up to John sent a shiver down his spine. The leader asked if John needed help, and John pretended he was fine even though he had never changed a tire in his life. One of them picked up the tire iron from the ground, but instead of putting it to work on the tire, he turned it on John. Phantom pain shot through his shoulder as he remembered the first blow landing.
John fell right away, but they didn’t stop. Shielding
his head only ended with the blow smashing into his forearm. They moved onto his legs and body after that. John could feel his leg snapping as the tire iron hit it. He managed to block out most of the other kicks and hits by slipping into near unconsciousness.
Vaguely, he remembered someone taking his wallet and keys, and driving off. He still wasn’t sure whether someone had been changing the tire as the beat him up, or if he was just lying on the ground in pain for a lot longer than he thought, but either way, John knew they were leaving him for dead.
Until Gretchen found him.
“Excuse me,” Anne said with an amused expression on her face. “Would you all like to sit down and fill me in on what’s happening here?”
John turned around and realized that while they were all talking, the petite loveseat had been switched out for a full sized couch. Scooping Michael and Sasha up into his arms, he carried them toward the couch and sat down dead center. He chose the spot on purpose and watched Gretchen and Corey both sit on opposite sides of him. Gretchen put a comforting hand on his thigh as Corey touched his shoulder hesitantly.
“John, or Alex, apparently, would you like to introduce us to our unexpected guests?” Anne asked.
Hugging his squirming children tightly, John turned them to face Anne. “These two rascals are Michael and Sasha.” His voice caught as Sasha planted a slobbery kiss on his cheek. “These are my children.”
“We missed Daddy,” Michael said. “He was hiding and we didn’t know where he went, but now we found him.”
“Daddy!” Sasha yelled as she threw up her hands.
Anne smiled at them and looked over at Corey.
John took a deep breath and met Corey’s eyes. “And this is Corey Turner, my wife.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Numb
Numb was an understatement by that point. Gretchen could see her hand on John’s leg, but she couldn’t feel it. Little Sasha smiled at her over John’s shoulder, and she knew she smiled back, but Gretchen’s face felt frozen. John tried to warn her, but she didn’t listen. She pushed him to come to New York and this was her reward. His wife and two beautiful children.
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