by Kimber Swan
I place my head on the bed over his hand. My tears soak his hand.
Beep.
Surprised, I look at the screen.
“That’s it baby. Come back to me.”
The beeping stops again. This time the pause is even longer. I stand from the wheel chair placing my head over his broken body, not caring about the wires and tubes. The tears leaking from my eyes soak the hospital gown he wears. As I lay here, I realize there haven’t been any more beeps except for a long tone. My body shakes uncontrollably from the sobs being torn from me. The cramping in my stomach has become more painful.
“Dammit, you can’t take them both from me.” I howl towards the heavens. “It’s not fair. You’ve taken everyone from me.”
In my anger, I started pounding on Daniel’s chest urging him to wake up and come back to me. Dante and the doctors find me like this. Dante pulls me off Daniel and away from him. Instead of placing me back in the wheelchair, he lifts me carrying me away from the room.
I bury my face in his chest.
The last thing I hear is the doctor say is “Time of death 3:49 am,” then the door closes.
The shakes come as it settles in that Daniel is never coming back. He will never open his eyes again and gaze upon me with love. He will never see his child born. He won’t be here to help me raise our child. Daniel is gone and never coming back.
I’m only half a person now.
The other half of my soul is gone.
Epilogue
The last year has been the hardest of my life. Losing Daniel was something I never thought I would get over when I left the hospital room that day. Dante brought me immediately back to Dr. Stevens. She gave me a sedative despite my feeble attempts at protest. She stated it was for my own good and the baby’s.
At that point, I didn’t have it in me to argue further. I was happy for the numbing effects the sedatives offered. I slept for what felt like days. Every time I woke up, my pressure would sky rocket. Dr. Stevens kept me in the hospital for a week after that. Eventually, I could handle myself.
I did what Daniel would have wanted me to do.
Run the country.
It’s always about the country.
Somehow, the country survived my short absence. The only people that came to visit me were Daniel’s siblings, Dante, AnnaBelle, Donald, Trish and Josh. The new Duke of Balwart, Daniel’s brother, helped me manage the country as his brother aided my father. We spoke minimally about Daniel because of the effect it had on me. I became catatonic listening to any words spoken about him.
The council ran things most efficiently during this time, but I didn’t care about any of it. I know the people of Farquadt deserved more, but I couldn’t give it to the yet. It was this country that took everything I have ever loved from me.
When Dr. Stevens finally thought I was out of the woods, Daniel’s surgeon and doctor came to see me, looking uncomfortable. I thought they were coming to tell me the results of the autopsy performed, which would have been crazy if I really thought about it. We already knew the cause of death.
Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
After I was carried away from Daniel sobbing and screaming my agony, his heart started pumping again. No one said anything because they feared it would stop again. They didn’t want me to suffer through the loss again.
But it never stooped again.
It became stronger and stronger, steadier and steadier as time went on. They immediately ordered tests to measure his brain waves. The results were promising, showing normal brain activity.
I didn’t lose him.
He didn’t die as I thought he did.
When I could visit him, I held his hand every day and every night. I talked to him, telling what was happening. His brain waves were the most active when I spoke about our child. He remained like this for almost four months.
After those first few weeks, I took up my responsibilities again. I would visit Daniel in the morning then attend the meetings AnnaBelle arranged after then he and I would have lunch. I would eat while he laid there unconscious. I would return to work only to finish out my day as I had started it, visiting him. I took care of myself, making me stronger for the baby and for when Daniel finally woke up. The news of his death, his resurrection and the baby spread like wild fire across the country.
The bleeding that I had was from the trauma of the hitting the chair. The baby was fine and still in the same position. Dante was a mother hen, always looking after me. He never left my side even after the Baron supposedly committed suicide. After the news of his daughter’s death, he became despondent. He supposedly hung himself. We think he was murdered. There is no way he would have been able to tie the sheets around the pipe or that the pipe would have supported his weight. We never investigated it because truthfully, he was awaiting a trial and would have been convicted then executed. I think someone saved us the trouble.
When it was time for us to hear the heartbeat, we had exam done at Daniel’s bedside. Daniel responded by increasing heart rate. The neurologist recommended we perform as many appointments as we could in Daniel’s room. Dr. Stevens agreed. His responses were increasing with small things such as squeezing my hand or squinting his eyes. He was definitely listening. During one visit, the baby moved. I laid down next to him, placed his hand over my abdomen hoping he could feel it. When I looked at his face, I saw a lone tear leak from his eye. It was in that moment that I told him to take his time coming back to me, as long as he came back. Then the baby moved as if agreeing with me.
I knew without a doubt he was fighting to come back to us. We would be here when he woke up.
The doctors had never been more surprised when he finally opened his eyes, but not me. I was in the middle of an important meeting discussing additional taxes the council wanted to place on the already highly taxed people. AnnaBelle interrupted the meeting, whispering in my ear. I apologized to the council, adjourned the meeting and sprinted to him. By the time I arrived, I was winded.
When I saw him, I wept with joy. He saw me and gave me his sexy smirk, weak as it may have been, but there none the less. He was nonverbally saying “you doubted me.” There was nothing that would keep us apart. I knew then at that moment everything would be fine.
I hadn’t lost everything I loved. I wasn’t abandoned by God. I was not alone. The other half of my soul was still here.
After a while, the papers called me the “unknown royal heir who saved a kingdom.” Daniel and I became known as the couple who overcame death. Nothing would stop us from ruling and loving each other. It was our love that went against the odds. It brought Daniel back to me and our child.
Our daughter was born three months after Daniel woke up from his coma. Aurora Bridget Stephania Ashbrooke, Princess of Farquadt, is the apple of her father’s eye. It has been a tough road getting here but we’re here.
Daniel has had to regain his strength and learn to control his anger when he was too weak to merely lift a cup of water. He was still in the hospital the night my water broke. Dante had been in the habit of sleeping in my bed while Daniel was in the hospital. Like I said, he never left my side. That night I was thankful he was there. I don’t think he knew what to think when he rolled over into a wet spot.
Daniel was helped from his hospital bed by the nurses and brought to my bedside. He held my hand through everything. He leant me what strength he had to offer to push our daughter into this world.
I am thankful as I sit in the meadow off the back of the castle, where my parents are eternally resting, watching Daniel coo at our daughter. I never dreamed I could be this happy. I have the man I love and beautiful baby girl. The family I was denied when I was baby. If it wasn’t for the heir’s mark, I may have never found this life. Despite how barbaric we both feel it is, Daniel and I had our daughter marked, just as I was, by her uncle.
Daniel wants to get to work on expanding our family even more.
He doesn’t know yet but he already suc
ceeded in doing that the first night he came home.
I refuse to have any one else care for our daughter at night. We wake up every night with her. I breastfeed her then hand her off to Daniel to change her. It is during these hours when everything seems normal. We both want her life to be as normal as normal can be when you are a Princess. Neither Daniel or I had ever been given that opportunity.
One question I get asked often during interviews is that if I could change one thing what would it be? My answer is always the same. I wouldn’t change a thing. If I changed one small thing, then I wouldn’t have what I have now. Now, if we could just work on Dante getting a significant other, then life would be absolutely perfect.
Though, life as it is, is perfect.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I hope if you have read this book that you enjoyed the adventure as much as I did. This book came about while I was writing the trilogy Chance Encounters.
Thank you to all my readers for their support, love and comments by telling what was good and bad with the story. Please keep the comments coming. A writer can only thrive on the feedback from readers.
Thank you to Deb for reading every version of this story and helping me to decide the ending. I now you hoped for a different one, but she has been through too much in her short life.
Thank you Dawn for taking time out of your busy schedule to read and review it. I’m glad as we’ve grown up and life happened, we became close. I look forward to spending many years “glamping” with our families.
Boys, mommy is done writing, reading, revising, reading and writing some more. Thank you for allowing me the time to do this. I couldn’t be more proud of the men you are turning into. You two along with daddy are my heroes. Dream big and always chase those dreams.
Terry, words could never begin to explain a portion of what I feel for you. You are my light in the dark. I enjoy our talks and research. Thank you for always stepping up without me asking. You always know what I need. I will always love you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimber lives at home in New York State with her husband, two sons and dog. When she isn’t writing she can be seen sporting around town in a, God help her, minivan. She loves the challenges that being a wife, mom and nurse bring to her. Kimber knows that without the love and support from her husband, she would never be where she is today.