Restored

by Kari Alice

  He’d been to the hospital a few times to see Corrine, a duty he had to perform. Somehow he was still listed as Corrine’s emergency contact, which meant he was the one authorized to make Corrine’s medical decisions. He didn’t want to shoulder that responsibility, and if he made a wrong decision, then he would be blamed or even sued. He’d called a lawyer and waited anxiously for his call to be returned. Corrine had originally chosen him because she thought that they would be married someday. Her parents now were the logical choice for that responsibility, but they would still have to be legally appointed.

  Caleb hadn’t taken care of himself since he’d learned about the accident. His hair was wild. His clothes were surprisingly clean, but they hung on him. The staple of his current diet was black coffee from the hospital’s vending machine. His appetite had all but disappeared, and his stomach looked gaunt on what was a formerly athletic frame.

  When his cell phone finally rang, he jumped. The excessive caffeine was wearing on him, and his fingers trembled with each jittery movement. “Avery speaking.”

  “Hello, Caleb, this is Noah Simon. So I’ve looked into the Corrine Wylie case for you. Transferring the decision-making authority to someone other than yourself shouldn’t be a problem. Legally, you two aren’t bound in any way, so those decisions will be delegated to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wylie. I think originally she had referenced you as her emergency contact, and thus when she was unable to make her own decisions during this current hospital admission, you were assigned to make her medical decisions based on past history. There is no legal reason for you to remain as her emergency contact.”

  Caleb let a breath out in relief. This was what he’d wanted to hear. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he thought about the baby. “Thank you, Mr. Simon, for helping me with this matter. You have no idea how much stress this situation has caused.” Caleb cleared his throat before continuing. “What about the baby Corrine is carrying?”

  “This is where it gets a little tricky. Firstly, you must verify that you are the father. Based on what I was told, the baby was conceived approximately eight weeks ago.”

  “Eight weeks ago?” Caleb muttered. He walked to the wall calendar and counted back eight weeks. Predicting conception was sometimes difficult to pinpoint in the early stages of pregnancy, so he had to be certain that there was enough of a break between when he was last intimate with Corrine, or at the very least, when their relationship dissolved.

  “Are you still there, Mr. Avery?” Mr. Simon asked.

  “Sorry. Yes. I’m still here,” Caleb said, his voice sounding more lighthearted than it had just a moment earlier.

  “Do you believe that you are the father of Ms. Wylie’s baby?” Mr. Simon asked.

  “I haven’t been intimate with Ms. Wylie for at least ten weeks. It may have even been a few more weeks prior to that in all reality.” The words rushed out of Caleb’s mouth.

  “Paternity testing will be the next logical step then. Even though it may be unlikely that you are the father, legally we will still need proof if there is any chance that you may still indeed be the father.”

  “How soon could that be arranged?” Caleb asked.

  “There is a private-pay option in which you may be able to get testing done prior to ten weeks. The test is called noninvasive prenatal paternity test, or NIPP for short. You would be responsible for the cost of this procedure, of course. I don’t think the Wylies would pay for this service, but you certainly may choose that option. If that doesn’t interest you, then you will have to wait until eleven weeks of gestation,” Mr. Simon said.

  Mr. Simon seemed to know more about paternity testing than even Caleb did, though this was not likely Mr. Simon’s first case in which paternity had been uncertain. “I will pay for it myself. I want my name cleared from this as soon as possible,” Caleb said without hesitation.

  “Okay, I can arrange to have the specimens drawn as early as this afternoon. You’ll need to come to the hospital for blood work. The lab will need to collect a sample from both the mother and potential father to verify if there is a match with the unborn child,” Mr. Simon said.

  “I can head over there now,” Caleb said eagerly. Having this settled was just another step toward Lexi.

  “That’s fine. I’ll arrange it all now. Once the blood is drawn on both you and Ms. Wylie, the results will be back in as little as two days,” Mr. Simon said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Simon. You have no idea how much better I feel.” There was still uncertainty, but there was also hope.

  Caleb grabbed his keys and drove to the hospital. The sooner he had the blood drawn, the sooner he would be free of Corrine. Once it was verified that Caleb wasn’t the father, then he could go to Lexi and beg her forgiveness. He couldn’t go to Lexi with anything less than proof that he hadn’t fathered another woman’s child, especially after what he’d done with her in the cabin.

  Caleb went directly to the lab. He thought of Lexi and how being in a lab would make her dizzy. The only thing that mattered was winning her back. After he left the laboratory, he went to visit Corrine. As he entered the hospital room, various sounds and lights flooded his senses. Corrine’s heart monitor emitted a quiet rhythmic beeping, and screens that tracked her cardiac rhythm and vital signs were on both sides of the bed. Corrine lay there silent and still, though the scratches that had been so evident initially now looked lighter, as someone had cleaned the blood off of her face and arms. Caleb hadn’t noticed Mrs. Wylie sitting in a chair across from the bed until he was at the foot of Corrine’s bed. Mrs. Wylie seemed to be a part of the scenery that made up the room, being she had been there without a break since Corrine’s accident. When she spoke, Caleb flinched.

  “It’s good to see you, Caleb. I know Corrine would want you to visit more often than you have,” Mrs. Wylie said. Her voice held a hardness to it. She was sly like her daughter, and the implications of her words were delivered in her icy tone.

  “I want to visit her, and for her to be well,” Caleb said, unsure of what else to say. He didn’t like being around Corrine like this, but he couldn’t say that now.

  “You just missed Anthony. The young man that works with you at the clinic. Sometimes he’s here with Missy.” Mrs. Wylie’s voice warmed the more she talked.

  “You mean Tony?” Caleb asked, unsure as to why Tony would be visiting, though Missy was probably the connection there. They partied together, and who knew what else they did together.

  “Yes, I think he goes by Tony,” Mrs. Wylie said. Her voice implied that even acquaintances were visiting more than Caleb had.

  “That’s nice of him. I’m sure Corrine would appreciate that.” Caleb tried to keep things casual, but Mrs. Wylie was intense, and she seemed to refuse to acknowledge the fact that he and Corrine were no longer together.

  “Well, he does seem nice enough. He’s come several times.” Mrs. Wylie paused, but then she took on a more brusque tone. “I understand that you wanted to be removed as the emergency contact for Corrine?”

  “Don’t you think it would be more appropriate that you and Mr. Wylie have that responsibility?” Caleb asked.

  “For now I guess it is, but I worry about the baby. Do you think it will survive all this?” Her guard seemed to be down for the moment. She was likely genuinely worried about her unborn grandchild.

  Caleb willed himself to relax. He tried not to sound harsh or insensitive. “I don’t know. It’s really too soon to even guess, but it has to be strong to have made it this far,” Caleb said in a tone that was as comforting as he could muster.

  “You’ll be a good dad for the baby,” Mrs. Wylie said.

  Caleb’s stomach knotted at her assumption that he’d fathered the baby. He tried to talk, but he was cut off.

  “I know you two were have some minor problems, but you’ll see. It will all work out in the end.”

  “Actually, Corrine and I…” Caleb started saying but was interrupted again as Corrine’s doctor walked in, an acqua
intance of Caleb’s. Dr. Howard was in his forties but looked older because of his stout appearance and thinning hair.

  “Mrs. Wylie and Dr. Avery,” Dr. Howard said with a nod. “I’m glad to run into you both. We’re going to begin to taper Corrine’s sedation down today. Her blood levels are all within a normal range, so it would be best to begin decreasing the sedation medications now. Mrs. Wylie, you may want to call your husband. I’m sure he’ll want to be here when she wakes up,” Dr. Howard said as he rubbed Mrs. Wylie’s arm reassuringly.

  “Stay with her, Caleb. I’m just going to step outside the room to call Jon,” Mrs. Wylie said as she made her way to the door.

  “Once she gets back, you may want to slip out and get any loose ends tied up. It may be a couple hours before she really wakes up,” Dr. Howard said to Caleb.

  “I’m not sure if I should be here at all,” Caleb confessed.

  “I thought you two were together? You really should be here, Caleb,” Dr. Howard said.

  “That’s just it—we’re not together. Not only that, but there is no way that baby is mine, or at least I really doubt it,” Caleb said in a distressed voice.

  “I didn’t know. I guess that does complicate matters. That explains the paternity blood work that was drawn on Ms. Wylie earlier. I thought it was just protocol.” Dr. Howard sighed.

  Mrs. Wylie came back into the room. “He’ll be here soon. Jon is leaving work now.”

  Dr. Howard seemed unfazed by Caleb’s confession as he proceeded to change the medication pump setting. “First we’ll decrease the amount that she’s getting. We’ll take it gradually and see how she does. I’ll be on the unit the whole time. If you need me, just come and ask for me at the nurses’ station.” Dr. Howard nodded at Mrs. Wylie and looked regrettably at Caleb as he left the room.

  “Do you mind if I head out for a little while? There’s a few things I need to take care of at the clinic,” Caleb said to Mrs. Wylie.

  “I’ll be fine. Jon will be here soon. You will be coming back though?”

  “Yes, I’ll come back later,” Caleb said.

  Mrs. Wylie nodded, giving permission for Caleb to leave. Caleb departed, eager to escape the confines of the hospital room.

  When Caleb arrived at Hale Health, the parking lot was nearly empty. He glanced at the dashboard clock, which said twenty minutes after five. Being at the hospital had warped his sense of time. The clinic would’ve closed at five. He went inside anyway, as there really were things that he’d neglected and that needed his attention. The light was still on in Dr. Hale’s office, and Caleb knocked on the office door, hoping he didn’t startle Dr. Hale.

  “Come in,” Walter Hale said as he looked up from a patient’s chart.

  Caleb entered the office, still sporting the wild-man look. His hair wasn’t its normal perfection, and his eyes probably looked feral, with purple discolorations under both of them.

  “Sit down, Caleb. Tell me—how are things going?” Walter asked, probably to gain insight on Caleb’s wild presence.

  “Not good. I mean, Corrine is fine, and they’re tapering her sedation meds as we speak,” Caleb said. He raked his fingers through his hair, unsure of what to do with his hands. His fingers still shook from all of the caffeine he’d drank over the past few days.

  “Well, that’s good,” Walter said in a slow drawl. “What about Alexis? Where is she off to?” Walter asked, oblivious to the intimacy Caleb shared with her.

  Caleb’s heart sped up at the mention of Lexi’s name. He couldn’t get his words out. “What do you mean? Did she go somewhere?” Panic laced his voice. A prickle of sweat formed on his forehead and his palms.

  “Well, yes. She left today,” Walter said, clearly confused.

  “Left?” Caleb asked, impatient for an answer.

  “She resigned, Caleb. I thought she would have told you. She said she was going to pursue some other opportunities and that she only wanted you and Corrine to be happy.”

  “What? I don’t understand. Where did she go?” Caleb’s voice grew louder. His emotions spun out of control. He opened and closed his fists.

  “She didn’t say, just that she was going. No two weeks’ notice. That was it.” Walter’s voice grew harder.

  “I’m not with Corrine. If for some reason you see her or talk to her, tell Lexi that,” Caleb said before he left the office. He jogged to his SUV. The door of the clinic slammed behind him. He had to find her. Things couldn’t be like this. His life had become a nightmare.

  Caleb drove to Ashley’s house and saw Lexi’s SUV parked in the driveway. Caleb took the steps on the porch two at a time, but he slowed when Mike stepped out of the front door.

  “Get out of my way, Mike!” Caleb yelled.

  Mike put his arm out to slow Caleb. “Stop, Caleb! You don’t need to run in there like a crazy man,” Mike said as he gripped Caleb’s upper arm.

  “She can’t leave, Mike. She just can’t…” Caleb pleaded. He blamed himself for all that had happened. How had it escalated to Lexi leaving? This wasn’t a part of the plan, not on any level.

  “Listen to me first.” Mike shut the door behind him and went to sit on the porch steps.

  Caleb gave in and sat down beside Mike. “So what is she saying?”

  Mike inhaled and slowly breathed out. His shaggy brown hair hung in his eyes. “She doesn’t want to be a third wheel, Caleb. She thinks that if she’s out of the picture, then you might have a chance with Corrine,” Mike said in a controlled tone. “Ashley is a mess too, and I don’t know how to fix this.”

  Caleb moved like he was about to get up.

  Mike stifled his movements by putting his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “She’s strong willed, Caleb. I don’t think you’ll be able to stop her plans by demanding that she stay.”

  “You know Corrine…I don’t love her,” Caleb said adamantly.

  “I know that, but Lexi thinks she knows what’s best for everyone. She told Ashley that if you hadn’t met her, then you would still be with Corrine. You know she’s right,” Mike said in a soothing tone.

  “I don’t know. Maybe, but that doesn’t prove anything. I’ve never felt the way I do about Lexi for anyone else before,” Caleb confessed.

  “Then why did you shut her out when this all happened? Maybe you were grieving something?” Mike asked as his hand finally dropped away from Caleb’s shoulder.

  “I don’t think it was that at all. I didn’t want Lexi mixing with all of this mess. God knows she doesn’t deserve to be put through this. I knew that the baby would wreck her.” Caleb looked out toward the road. Darkness surrounded them, but it was broken up by the porch light and a few street lights that edged the street. “Lexi has only been with me. It destroyed me when I had to look in her eyes and tell her that Corrine was pregnant. It all felt like I betrayed her in some way.” Caleb’s eyes were damp, but no tears fell.

  “I’m sorry. It’s messed up,” Mike said.

  “I don’t think the baby is mine. I had blood work drawn today for a paternity test to prove that,” Caleb said.

  Mike’s voice grew raspy. “When will you find out for sure?”

  “In two days…” Caleb said.

  “Who do you think fathered the child then?” Mike asked. “There wasn’t much time between you two and her getting pregnant, you know—”

  “I don’t know who else she’s been with. You know Corrine though. She can be a flirt when she wants to be. At least that’s how she was when we first started dating… I don’t know how she got pregnant. She was always very cautious when we were together.”

  “I guess only time will tell,” Mike said.

  “I don’t have time. Lexi’s going to leave, and then what? I can’t lose her, Mike. She’s everything…”

  “Well, when will Corrine come out of sedation? Maybe she’ll be able to shed some light on the paternity,” Mike said.

  “Oh shit! They were decreasing her meds this evening. She should wakeup sometime tonight!” Caleb want
ed to stay and talk to Lexi, but talking wouldn’t solve the divide between them. Instead, he’d go back to the hospital, where he might actually get an answer to his problems. “I’ve got to go. Whatever you do, don’t let Lexi leave!”

  “I’ll do my best,” Mike said as Caleb headed back toward his SUV.

  At the hospital, more disappointment awaited. Corrine was awake, but not yet lucid. She slurred when she spoke, and then slept more. It would likely take a few more hours until the sedation fully cleared her system. Caleb waited, but when visiting hours ended, he was asked to leave for the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Wylie remained, since they were family. He would have no choice other than to return tomorrow, and then he would hopefully be free.

  10

  Savior

  Lexi rolled over in bed and tried to find her way back to sleep. She looked at the clock, surprised to see that it was 2:30 in the morning. She’d actually slept for an hour. Mike and Ashley had persuaded her to stay at least a couple more nights, but she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. She could have been persuaded to stay forever, but knew better. She would still have to pack and figure out just where she was going next. Her plans for leaving were final, but her destination was still unclear. Maybe she’d go back to Tampa? Leaving her steady job at Hale Health had been a rash decision, but what other alternative was there? Mike might have been somewhat convincing about Caleb not being the father of Corrine’s baby, but what if that was just a tactic to get her to stay longer? Maybe Mike had said that to make her give Caleb another chance. After all, he wasn’t a fan of Corrine’s. It would hurt that much more when she found out that Caleb really was the father…