“Thanks, Mama, but I want to be here when Tim wakes up.”
Mrs. Southers tilted her head and smiled, tucking a stray lock of her daughter’s hair over her ear. “Well, ask Trudy for a pillow. Maybe you can doze in the waiting room. I need to get back. Call me with any news.”
“Okay, Mama.”
“It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Southers,” Tabitha added, giving Jessica’s mother a quick hug.
“You too, darlin’. Text me if anything changes.”
When she was gone, Tabitha turned to Jessica and sighed. “I guess all we can do now is wait.”
Chapter Twenty- Four
His hand was warm to the touch—a positive sign that his heart was pumping blood through his body and he was alive. Her caress was tender, and she lovingly stroked his long fingers as she stared into his sleeping face. The ventilator had been removed, and he was in the neuro-care unit room, Dr. Olson encouraging Jessica and Tabitha to takes turns staying with him until he awoke. His face seemed peaceful, as if he were in a deep sleep after a long day, his lashes curling upward from his closed eyes.
Other than the white gauze wrapped around his head, Tim appeared to be okay. His chest rose up and down with each breath he inhaled and exhaled on his own. His chiseled features had more color to them, and two days’ worth of scruff was peppered across his cheeks and chin, making her smile as she reminisced about her bearded love that first day he came into their lives. Reaching her hand up to his face, she stroked his skin with the back of her knuckles. Her gaze took in the injury on his head, brown stains seeping through the gauze, reminding her of the severity of what he had gone through. He seemed smaller, more vulnerable without his impressive mane of long hair. She hoped he wouldn’t be too disappointed knowing the doctors had done what was necessary to save his life.
Trudy had told her earlier that Tim was displaying “positive signs” of coming out of it. She said he had yanked at the tubes connected to his body before opening his eyes briefly and smiling. He had also squeezed her hand in the wee hours of the morning when she asked him to. These were little things suggesting he was slowly returning to consciousness. She said when he offered a full-blown thumbs-up on command, they would know he had turned a corner.
“Come back to me,” Jessica whispered. His dark whiskers were soft to her touch and she traced her index finger across his full lips. Her insides tingled, thinking back to their first kiss in the pool. To love this man out in the open was what she wanted more than anything in her life. He had to make it back to her, his personality and loving countenance unscathed and exactly as it was before the accident. But what if he didn’t remember her? What if he didn’t recognize her or the girls? The thought made her nauseous, compelling her to grip his hand tighter.
“I need you, Tim. Come back to me,” she urged, the familiar tears threatening to surface.
Clutching his hand in hers, she lay her head next to his arm and squeezed.
“I love you, Tim.”
Closing her eyes, the only thing she knew to do was to pray.
***
Hell.
That’s what it felt like. If there were another word to describe the doozy of a headache and the overall achiness he felt down to his bone marrow, hell would be putting it mildly. His throat was sore, and he had a hard time swallowing. The lights in the room were bright, and there was a continuous beeping from machines that pulsed through his head like a stabbing ice pick. Why was he here? He couldn’t remember.
“Well, look who’s back. I’m your nurse. My name is Trudy.”
The round face of an energetic African American woman startled him as she shone a bright light into each of his eyes.
“How’re you doin’ handsome? Do you know your name? Do you know why you’re here?”
Tim scowled and swallowed, trying to bring moisture to his dry mouth.
“Here,” the woman offered a thin straw to his lips. “Now, don’t you be gulping this water. Take tiny sips. I don’t need you choking and popping the staples out of your head.”
The water was cool and refreshing. He inhaled deeply after taking a few mouthfuls.
“You and I are gonna get along real well.” She smiled, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around his bicep and pumping it full of air. “What’s your name, honey? Can you remember that?”
Tim blinked sleepily, slowly resting his head back on the upright bed. “Tim.”
“Good job! Do you know why you’re here?”
Tim swallowed again, his head pounding, trying to remember.
“It’ll come to ya, baby. You need more rest, that’s all.”
He watched the woman check the machines that surrounded him and write on a clipboard. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but the words wouldn’t form on his tongue.
