I HAD FALLENasleep after reading Sam’s last amazing letter. But, boy, did I have questions to ask her when I got back to Lake Geneva. Or maybe even when I called her again from the hotel. Why hadn’t she married Doc? What had happened to them?
I awoke to someone gently shaking my arm, calling my name. Morning light filtered through the plate-glass window of the waiting room. Adam Kolski hovered over me.
“Good morning, Jennifer. We could have gotten a more comfortable place for you to sleep,” he said.
“Is everything all right with Brendan?” I asked immediately.
“He slept through the night, just like you. No promises, but he can move his toes,” the doctor said. “He knows his name, and he knows yours. Actually, he’s asking for you.”
That perked me right up. “Can I see him?”
“Of course. That’s why I came to get you. I want you to talk to Brendan. I need to find out if he really knows you. Come with me.”
Kolski, the goddddd himself, opened the sliding doors to Brendan’s small room in the ICU. “Just five minutes,” he said.
I could see Brendan behind Dr. Kolski as I eased myself into the room. There was a rolled-up washcloth in his right hand. I took it away and slipped my hand inside his.
“It’s Jennifer,” I whispered. “Ready for our morning swim in the lake?”
There wasn’t any response from Brendan, which didn’t surprise me but also didn’t make me feel reassured about his condition. I had no idea how much damage had been done during the operation.
“I’m here. I just wanted you to know. Andyou’rehere, too.”
I was babbling a little but I didn’t care, and I doubted that it would make much difference to Brendan. If he could even recognize my voice.
Then, as I stood by his bed, a miracle happened, or so it seemed to me. Brendan squeezed my hand, the slightest pressure, but it sent shivers through my body. I lowered my head. “I’m right here, Brendan. Don’t try to talk. I’ll talk for both of us. I’m here, sweetheart.”
“Are you real?”
My head shot up and I looked at Brendan again. My God,he had talked.
“I’m here,” I said, my voice cracking with unbelievable emotion.Brendan had talked.“Can you feel my hand? That’s me squeezing.”
“I can’t see you,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“That’s because your eyes are swollen shut.”
He was silent for a long moment, and I thought maybe he’d fallen back asleep.
“I didn’t think… I’d make it,” Brendan said at last.
I could see he was trying hard not to cry, but then tears leaked out of his tightly closed eyes. “We’re going to be okay,” he said.
Suddenly I was seized with such an overpowering feeling of humility, but also love for this man. Brendan was reassuringme.He was there for me, even now, after his terrible operation. His voice was kind of faraway, but it was Brendan, definitely my boy. And he wanted to talk. “I was thinking… you sitting on the dock… shielding sun from your eyes… looking at me… I held that thought.”
I looked at Brendan’s face, loving him so much. And then another miracle happened. His eyes opened to slits. And he struggled to make a cracked, semidrugged smile.
It was only the best smile I’d ever seen in my life.
“I love you so much,” I whispered. “Oh my God, do l love you.”
“Don’t fight me on this… I love you more.”
And at that moment I understood something that had seemed impossible—Brendan was going to live.
Seventy-eight
DURING THE NEXTfew weeks everything in life seemed incredibly precious and had more meaning for me. Suddenly I was a regular at the Mayo Clinic and Lakeland Medical Center in Lake Geneva. All I was missing was a candy striper’s outfit.
