by A. Aubry
“I sat at the hospital for three days, talking to her as she slept,” I confessed.
That was when I remembered that I’d never talked to Julianna about this. She hadn’t remembered anything that was said over the three days that she was unconscious. The last thing she remembered before waking up was one of her neighbors calling 911 before she passed out. I couldn’t bring myself to take her through the pain of three days without her. I guess now that I already started, it was only right for me to continue.
“I held her hand, kissed her bruises, willing her wake up and come back to me. I promised her over and over that I would never let this happen to her again, that I would always be there to protect her for as long as I lived.”
I looked down at Julianna who looked as though she was deep in thought, “I told her that I came back for her…it was important for her to know that I did that. I loved her so damn much by that point. There were nights where I cried for hours until I couldn’t cry anymore because I couldn’t picture my life without her in it. Her mother was there, and she told me stories about Julianna growing up, and I told her mother about how we met.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that was why she was in the hospital?” Cooper asked, “You never said she was unconscious.”
I shrugged, “It wasn’t my story to tell without Julianna’s permission. I promised that if she woke up, I’d tell you guys but then I got caught up in the whirlwind of her being alive and helping her cope. The main thing was that at that point, three weeks into our relationship, I knew that I wanted to marry her. I told her… ‘If you come back to me…’”
Julianna cut me off, “… ‘I’ll be with you forever’.”
Wait, what?
I leaned back in my chair and gazed down at Julianna in complete surprise, “How do you that’s what I said?”
Her reply was her hands flying up to her head as her eyes shut tightly, a worrying cry escaping her lips. What the hell was happening? Did I do something wrong? Say something wrong?
“Coop, help her!” I yelled trying to rub her back to help her calm.
Cooper was already out of his chair and on his way to kneel in front of Julianna. He began to examine her. My other family watched on in pure terror.
“Julianna, you need to tell me what’s wrong,” Cooper quietly demanded to her.
“Make it stop!” Julianna cried.
“Make what stop?” Cooper asked.
“The memories!” Sobs wracked her body as tears began to stain her face.
The memories of Michael’s attack never had this effect on her before. What the hell was happening to my wife? The last time I felt this defenseless, Julianna was lying unconscious in her hospital bed.
“What memories is she talking about, Coop? She already had all her memories of the attack. What the fuck is wrong?”
“This is very normal in patients who went through a traumatic experience that was paired with a brain injury…you said she hit her head, correct?” He searched around her head for the exact spot and I pointed it out to him, helping in any way that I could.
“When she was unconscious, her brain likely blocked out many of the things from the outside world as it tried to process what was happening. Before today, have you ever told Julianna what you said to her when she was unconscious?”
Now I was regretting that I never had.
“No, I never did. Why, what did I do?” My voice was shaking as much as my hand that rested on her lower back.
“You helped her remember, Finn. Those are the memories she’s getting back right now. When they do come back, I’ve had patients say they hurt like a bitch…especially if there are many memories that were repressed. In Julianna’s case, she had three days of her mind being aware of everything around her but pushing it off to process at another time.”
Julianna stopped sobbing, her breaths coming and going heavily from her lungs. Her eyes opened but she stared straight ahead as though they were trying to focus.
Her hands dropped from her head and her voice sounded almost as soft as when she first tried to talk after waking up in the hospital, “You didn’t want to go…”
“What? Julianna, what are you talking about?”
I used my fingers to gently turn her face so that I could look at her, but Cooper moved her back to look at him. She swatted Cooper’s hand away and turned her attention back to me. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly, my girl was back.
“You didn’t want to go get your morning coffee right away the morning I woke up. My mom, the nurse, they told you to go, that I would still be there when you got back. But when Erica told you she was going to do her checks, you finally went. I was screaming in my head for you not to go, that I was going to wake up…that I was coming back to you…”
“Oh, Jules,” I sighed and brought her lips to mine for a hard kiss.
“Mind if I do a few checks now?” Cooper rolled his eyes after he practically ripped us apart.
Julianna turned back to face him, “You were right, those memories coming back, they hurt like a bitch. Remind me to never go unconscious again.”
I smiled and shook my head. Even after having all of her memories crash back to her at once, she could still break the tension in the room. Cooper did some normal checkup things that I’d seen the nurses and doctors do for Julianna once she had woken up. By the end of it, I could tell Julianna was getting annoyed with the questions.
“For the last time, Coop. I can see the fucking light in my peripheral…now stop.”
I chuckled and pulled her tight against me, unwilling to let her go, “You heard the girl.”
Cooper went back around the table and sat down after saying everything looked good for now. As my family started to dissipate and clean up the party, Julianna looked up at me.
“You never told me all those things, Finn. Now I feel bad because I never got to say thank you for being there by my side when I needed you most,” she put her hand on my cheek.
“You don’t need to thank me. I would do anything for you because I love you so damn much.”
Her shy smile painted her lips, “I love you more, baby.”
I gave her a soft kiss, “You want me to take you back to my mom’s place? We can go lay in bed…talk some more about this…make love…whatever you want to do.”
“I think I should stay in the guest room. I feel bad about breaking your mom’s rule and all the drama it caused.”
I rolled my yes, “Baby, we’re married now. She won’t care.”
She giggled, “Please, Finn…it’ll make me feel better after this morning.”
“Fine,” I whined as I hugged her close and buried my face in her neck.
Just as the smell of my cologne comforted Julianna, her smell comforted me. I was just glad that she was alright and now she knew what I said to her in the hospital. I followed through on my promise, she was mine forever.
I’d been trying to sleep for the last two hours. It felt weird and very wrong not to have Julianna asleep in bed with me. A part of me really worried about her. Whenever the attack was brought up, she would have nightmares. Every night after she went to therapy she would have nightmares at least once a night. Readjusting my pillow for the millionth time, I closed my eyes. She’d been quiet ever since she went to bed. Maybe there was nothing to worry about.
“FINN!” Julianna screamed out from down the hall.
I jumped out of my bed and ran down the hall. Opening the guest bedroom door quickly, I made it next to Julianna in no time and took her into my arms.
“I’m here, you’re safe.”
She nuzzled her face into my bare chest as she put her arms tight around my torso, “He was there again…he said you weren’t going to save me…”
I put my mouth against her head, giving her soft kisses, “I will always be here to save you, Julianna.”
“Why did I sleep in here again?” She gazed up at me, her eyes still glossy with the tears that were in her eyes from her dream.
“B
ecause you are stubborn and felt bad about breaking my mother’s rules last night,” I teased her quietly.
“Don’t leave me alone…” Her voice was almost too soft.
Well there was no way that I was sleeping in the guest bedroom. I would just take her to my room.
“Okay, come here,” I picked her up from her bed and carried her bridal style to my room.
My mom’s bedroom door opened as I strode past it with Julianna in my arms, “Is she alright, dear?”
“Everything’s okay. She’s going to sleep in my bed tonight.”
The sound of her door clicking shut was my reply. Once we were in my room, I kicked the door shut before placing Julianna on my bed. Pulling the blankets up to tuck her in, I moved around to my side of the bed and crawled in beside her. Now everything felt better that she was in bed with me. I laid on my side and moved a piece of hair that fell in front of her face.
“You think you’ll be able to fall back to sleep? We only have a few more hours before we have to head to the airport,” I whispered.
She turned onto her side and got so close to me that I could feel her nose lightly press against my chest, “I think I’ll be all better now.”
I chuckled quietly and laid an arm over her protectively. My head laid just over hers on my pillow as I kissed the top of her head.
“Sweet dreams, baby. I’m right here to protect you.”
She sighed lightly, “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Her soft breathing that came just a few moments later was enough to lull me to sleep. She was safe now, she was in my arms.
“Baby, are you sure you don’t want us to stop at Caribou, so we can get you some caffeine?” I asked as the Uber was making a turn to the employee entrance of the TCF Bank Stadium.
“Finn, you know I don’t drink coffee so it would be a moot point. Besides, once the game starts the energy of the crowd will be enough to wake me up,” she looked over at me through her sunglasses.
I laughed and gave her a quick kiss as the Uber came to a stop. We climbed out, unloaded her suitcase and my duffle bag, and Julianna and I made our way into the stadium. By the time we got to the locker room, everyone was already in their uniforms and Angie was in the room talking to Bo.
“Uh, why are you wearing sunglasses inside, Julianna?” Our two best friends asked when they caught a glimpse of us walking through the door.
“Because she doesn’t drink coffee, that’s why,” I joked before giving her a quick kiss and heading to my locker to get dressed.
This morning had been hectic. Julianna had been nearly impossible to get up the second time that she fell asleep. She had said she was sleeping so much better with me than she did when she was alone. Funny thing was, the only reason I fell asleep was because she was in my arms. On the plane ride back, she fell asleep against my shoulder and I followed her lead to take a nap. We both didn’t wake up until we were about to land.
I quickly stripped out of my clothes that I’d worn on the plane and into my jersey and matching shorts. After tying off my cleats, I walked back over to where Julianna, Angie, and Bo were whispering about something.
“I’m so excited!” I heard Angie say as I joined the group.
Did she already tell them the news? It was something that I was hoping we could do together.
“Did you tell them without me?”
The fact that Bo hadn’t even realized I was wearing a wedding band should have hinted that he didn’t know.
“Tell us what?” He asked.
Julianna looked over at me and shook her head, “No, I didn’t tell them anything. I was just telling Angie and Bo that they could come in when they dropped us off after the game. You know, pizza and movie double date night?”
That made sense, we really hadn’t hung out with them much over the last week.
“That sounds amazing, baby.” I kissed her lips tenderly.
“Tell us what!?” Angie whined as she shook Julianna by the shoulders playfully.
I winked and yelled to everybody that I had an announcement. Tugging Julianna over to my locker, I climbed up onto the small bench that sat inside.
“As all of you know, I asked Julianna to marry me last week when we were in New York,” I announced to the group.
“Yeah, we know this already, McAllister,” Jordan yelled out teasingly.
“Well, yesterday we got married at the courthouse in Atlanta while we were visiting my family. I’d like to introduce you all to my wife, Julianna McAllister,” I helped Julianna up onto the bench beside me as the room filled with cheers and a loud, excited scream from Angie.
We stepped down from the bench and everyone came to congratulate us before Julianna and Angie went to go take their seats out in the stadium. It was time to get down to business from there, but our media people had told me during halftime that it would be announced in the stadium that we got married and that the Twitter page for our team had made a post as well. It was amazing all the love and support that we had gotten, nobody questioned just how long we were together.
With a win in our pocket, Julianna, Angie, Bo, and myself stuffed ourselves into Bo’s car as he got behind the wheel. It felt like forever since Julianna and I had been back to my apartment. It was now going to be our home. Damn, we needed to get started moving things out of her apartment so that we could officially live together. My thoughts were interrupted when I saw the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Terminal One sign for the airport.
“Why are we back at the airport?” I asked everyone in the car.
“This is your birthday present from me,” Julianna said from beside me as she took my hand in hers.
“You bought me an airport?” I chuckled.
“No, smartass. You and I…and Bo and Angie are going to Miami for the week. Consider this part one of our honeymoon.”
I gave her a quick kiss, complete surprise washing over me, “You planned this all on your own?”
She smiled and nodded slowly, “Just for you. Happy birthday, Mr. McAllister.”
“I love you so much, Mrs. McAllister.”
Her cheeks turned pink, “I love you more.”
We kissed deeply in the backseat of Bo’s car as he pulled into a parking spot. A birthday trip that would also double as a short honeymoon, this was going to be the best trip ever.
Chapter Thirteen
The last five days had been a blur. They were filled with lots of sun, some drinking, some swimming, and lots of bonding between me and my new wife when we weren’t hanging out with our friends. One would’ve thought we would have had more sex by now, seeing as this was technically our honeymoon until after soccer season was done, but every night for the last two or three nights one of us had passed out right after our heads hit the pillows. This morning I woke up and was still in my swim trunks from the evening swim that Julianna and I had taken.
“Would you like another drink, Julianna?” I looked over at her after I finished reading the sports section of the newspaper.
Julianna and I made it a rule not to have access to our phones whenever we were together. So, every morning I went to get the newspaper so that I could read up on the United’s competition. I wasn’t complaining any other time of the day though because Julianna and I had uninterrupted time together and that was all that mattered.
“Maybe just some water. We’ve been in the sun for a while,” she answered as she glanced over at me.
The fact that she wanted water reminded me of the night we met. The only reason we really met was because she went to the bar to get a glass of water and fell into my arms.
“Shall we find a drunk to shove you into my arms?” I teased with a light laugh.
She pushed her sunglasses down her nose and narrowed her eyes at me, “I don’t think we will need that. I would willingly fall into your arms anytime.”
I raised an eyebrow at her as Angie and Bo joined us at our four beach chairs, “Guys, you need to go out in the water! It’s amazing out there
today, very calm!”
Julianna stood up from her chair and put her book down, “What do you say, husband? Wanna check out the water with me?”
My eyes hungrily looked her up and down. She had chosen to wear one of the few bikinis that she had bought our first full day in Miami. If I remembered correctly it took a bit of convincing to get her to buy them…
“Julianna, come on…let me see how it looks,” I stood outside the changing room that Julianna was in for some new swimsuits. I had snuck a couple of bikinis into her growing pile.
“Finn, I can’t believe you put these in here. I don’t look good at all. My body wasn’t made for bikinis,” she whined from the other side of the door.
I rolled my eyes, “Jules, your body was definitely made for bikinis.”
She opened the door hesitantly and stood in the middle of the dressing room in a pink and blue bikini. Her breasts were covered up just enough with the small triangle fabric pieces, the ties on both of her hips just begging to be undone to take off her bottoms. The sight rendered me speechless as I licked my lips.
She put her hands on her hips, “See, it looks terrible.”
“No, baby. It looks amazing on you.”
She sighed in exasperation, “I know you’re just saying that, Finn.”
I looked around to make sure no one was looking and snuck into the dressing room, closing the door behind me.
“Finn…what are you doing?” She asked slowly.
“Oh, I’m showing you how hot you look and how fucking easy I can get access to you if you buy that right now,” I replied, pulling her into my arms.
I was already hard in my khaki pants and boxers. Julianna gasped as I pressed the bulge in my pants against her.