“Are you okay with that? I don’t want to steal your husband away from you,” Mae asked.
“It’s okay. I want to organize some stuff with Cheryl, so the ride back together and some time alone at the apartment will be great.” Sara moved next to Mae, placing her hand on Stone’s shoulder. He didn’t move at the contact. “It’s time to wake up, Stone. I know you can’t see it, but Mae needs you. We all need you, honestly, but you’re hurting the woman you love. So, fix whatever is going on in your mind and open those eyes.”
She smiled. Sara’s words were true. Mae needed Stone to wake up, now more than ever.
“I’ll just be down the hall if you need me.”
“Thanks, Rhett.”
As soon as the door closed, she leaned over the bed and pressed her lips against Stone’s forehead.
And then Mae walked to the far wall, pulling the chair Sara had been sitting in closer to the bed. In reality, she wished more than anything that she could just jump right into that bed and curl up against him. But there were still too many wires and tubes.
Mae scooped up Stone’s hand, careful to not tug on the access line where medication and fluids were being pumped into him. Hour after hour. Day after day. “I thought you would be awake by now,” she admitted, scared of what she needed to say next. “I need you to wake up. Please. It’s time. I can’t… I don’t want to do this on my own.”
Her voice dropped to just a whisper. It was all she could muster. “There’s a baby, Stone. Our baby. You have to wake up now. There’s no alternative. We have a child to raise, and I refuse to do it without you by my side. All those things we said… It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Walking away. I did it, knowing we would have found our way back to each other. Maybe not anytime soon. But we would have. Because you’re it for me. So wake up. Now. For me. For our baby.”
Mae squeezed his hands three times.
I. Love. You.
“Please. Don’t make me get down on my knees and beg.”
His hand twitched in hers.
Mae jumped.His hand just twitched in hers.
No, no. It wasn’t a twitch. A purposeful squeeze. Mae’s eyes flew to Stone’s face, but there was no change. His eyes were still closed. His mouth pulled in a tight line. But she knew what she felt. She knew what he had done.
It wasn’t a random thing. He hadn’t had so much as an involuntary spasm since he came out of surgery, at least not that she knew of. Her finger pressed down on the call button, hands shaking as she waited for someone to come into the room.
“Mae, that handsome man of yours giving you trouble?” Anita smiled as she walked over to the sink and washed her hands.
“He squeezed my hand.”
The sweet nurse pursed her lips, walking over to the monitor where all of Stone’s vitals were recorded and displayed. Nothing had changed. Not even the steady beat of his heart. But Mae knew. She hadn’t made it up.
Stone had squeezed her hand. He was in there. He was going to wake up.
“I don’t see any change that would indicate he was waking…”
“I know what I felt. I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed mine back.”
“Okay, honey. I’m going to call the neurologist, and have him come see if there’s been a change.”
The flurry of excitement left the second Anita walked out the door. Mae sank back into the chair, her head coming to rest right next to Stone’s hip as she laid her hand on his leg.
“Please let me be right. Please come back to me. To us.”
Eight
“So, what’s the next step?” Sloane asked as Mae leaned back in the much-too-comfortable chair. She could fall asleep right then and there, not just because of the little bean zapping all her energy. Everything had been so heavy and terrifying over the last few days.
“Figuring out how to get Stone to wake up. The doctors agree that there isn’t anything medically holding him back. It’s his own mind. The new neurologist has suggested trying different stimuli…”
Sloane nodded. “Sometimes, the mental hurdles are the toughest to overcome when trying to heal. As long as we’re all taking the time to reassure him while we visit, there’s no reason to think he won’t find his way back.”
“I just want him here. All of him.”
