Chapter 21 An Angel
AN ANGEL
Eli
“Eli, we’re all waiting for you to wake up. Your brother’s going crazy with worry. Come on, Eli, open your eyes.”
A voice penetrates my sleep. A beautiful one. The one I’ve been hearing in my dreams. The one I’d be happy hearing the rest of my life.
“You look so peaceful like this. I miss your voice, though.”
There she is again—my angel. A light caress runs along my forehead from the softest hand I’ve ever felt. Why are my eyes so heavy? I want to open them, but I can’t. I’m too tired.
“It’s time to go home, Eli. You’d be so much more comfortable in your bed.”
It’s her. Damn, she’s mesmerizing and always pulling me out of my sleep.
But that’s okay because I’ll gladly go home and get comfortable with her.
“Anytime, sweetheart, just let me rest a little longer first.” She’s caressing my hand, squeezing it.
I wish she were squeezing something else that’s waking up.
“Come on, baby. I’m all yours.” If only my eyelids weren’t weighted down by a ton of bricks. Fuck.
“Eli. Please wake up. I need you…. We need you.”
She sounds angry this time. Or wait, maybe she’s sad.
“No, don’t cry. I want to hear your sweetness again.
” My hand is squeezed hard, and then something else is on top of it…
lips. She’s kissing my hand, crying. I can feel the wetness from her tears.
I can’t let her cry. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?
” Her lips go away, and I want to reach up to bring them back, but my arms are like lead.
If only my eyelids weren’t glued shut, I could look at my angel and tell her it’s okay.
“I just don’t know what to do anymore. I keep saying the same things over and over again. There’s got to be something else. What if he doesn’t wake up?”
She begins to cry. Her sadness pains me, and I don’t want to be the cause of it. There must be something I can do. I use all the strength I can muster to grip her hand.
“Eli? Can you hear me? Open your eyes. Lily, text Sebastian and tell him I felt something. Eli, squeeze my hand again if you can hear me.”
She sounds frantic now. I squeeze as hard as I can—anything to make her happy.
“Lily, he’s responding. I just pushed the button for the nurse.”
Why would I need a nurse?
“Eli, please wake up. Look at me.”
She’s pleading now. All I want is to make her happy, so I try to open my eyes, but it’s like the lines are crossed, and the signal won’t reach far enough.
“Come on, Eli. Don’t go back to sleep. Lily’s here, and your brother’s on his way. Just wake up.”
“Anything for you, cutie.” Fuck, why is this so difficult? I struggle internally for a few more seconds, and finally my eyelids peel back, only to squeeze shut immediately. Holy shit, it’s bright.
“Lily, close the blinds. It’s too bright.”
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that out loud. I don’t think my voice will work with as long as it’s taking my fricking eyes to cooperate.
I peek out of one eye, and thankfully, the room is darker, so I carefully pry both open and struggle to bring my surroundings into focus.
What the fuck? When did I get an IV? I’m still in the hospital, and a nurse is fiddling with the machines.
Lily is pacing with the phone to her ear, telling the person on the other end that my eyes just opened and that she’d rather he call her—whatever that’s about.
Cici is next to the bed with a death grip on my hand.
“You’re about to break my hand, babe.”
Ah, so my voice does work.
Cici laughs and leans in to hug me with tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Welcome back, Mr. Dubree. Your vitals are looking great. I’ll tell the doctor you’re awake, and he’ll be in shortly,” the nurse says before exiting.
Cici sits back, still crying and squeezing my hand.
I smile at her. “Whoa, what’s all the fuss about? I was only resting, cutie—no need for tears. Though, why did they give me an IV. I must have been sleeping pretty hard for them to do that.”
She and Lily exchange an odd look as Lily sits down on the other side of the bed. Lily hesitates before saying, “Eli… you’ve been unconscious for two weeks.”
“What are you talking about? I just got here…. They were about to release me.” They must be trying to pull one over on me.
“Eli, you’ve been in a coma. We’ve all been scared out of our minds with no clue when you’d wake up,” Lily answers while Cici continues shedding tears next to me.
I laugh. “This is a joke, right? Did Sebastian put you up to it to try and scare me out of racing?”
The doctor walks in then, halting the conversation. After greeting everyone, he runs through some routine checks, then reviews a file, reciting the results of the last scans they did when I was apparently unconscious.
Sebastian enters hurriedly, like he ran to get here, and is more ruffled than I’ve seen him in ages, probably playing along with the ruse.
I smirk and address the doctor. “So these guys are trying to tell me I’ve been here for two weeks. Supposedly in a coma. You must be in on this too?” I chuckle.
“I wish that were the case, but sadly, they’re telling you the truth. How about you tell me the last thing you remember,” the doctor suggests.
Hold up. I couldn’t seriously have been out cold for two weeks, could I?
“My car was clipped, spun out of control, and I was admitted for a concussion. Sebastian left while I was waiting to be released after biting my head off.” I scoff at Sebastian, who stands next to the doctor at the end of the bed.
“Cici was on her way to take me home. That’s when I closed my eyes to rest and must have passed out.
” Maybe it wasn’t a simple concussion after all.
“What day was it?” Sebastian asks suspiciously.
“Damn, our birthday. I guess I missed the party, huh?” Sebastian’s really gonna read me the riot act now.
Instead, his eyes go wide, while Cici and Lily gasp on either side of me, looking at each other in shock. The doctor flips a few pages, seems to find what he’s looking for, and is about to speak when a woman rushes into the room.
“Oh my God, Eli, you’re awake,” she exclaims, rushing toward me and practically shoving Lily out of the way to take her place. She leans down to hug me, and I’m too shocked to push her off. I recognize her from Cici’s office and the one time at the club.
“Does someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” I yell, frustrated at waking to a clusterfuck and a woman who I barely know throwing herself at me.
The woman, who I remember as Rebecca, leaps back abruptly and stares at me in shock.
“I’d like everyone to leave the room but the patient and Mr. Dubree so we can discuss the prognosis,” the doctor interrupts sternly.
Lily hugs Sebastian while whispering something in his ear and then comes around to the side of the bed where Cici sits. “I’m so glad you’re awake, Eli. We’ll be back in soon.” Cici rises behind her and starts walking to the door when something catches my eye.
“Wait! Cici, turn around,” I demand, causing everyone to freeze.
Time slows as she pivots, and I see the full picture of a very pregnant Cici.
“What the fuck? Someone better start speaking. I thought you said I was only out for two weeks. That doesn’t happen in two weeks. What the hell is going on?”
The doctor intervenes. “Again, I’m going to ask you all to leave so I can have a moment with the Dubree brothers.”
I’m closing my eyes tightly, trying to remember how the fuck Cici is having a baby, when another vision comes to mind.
Not Cici but Rebecca informing me that she’s pregnant.
My eyes pop open, and I point to Rebecca accusingly.
“Hold up. Why would I remember you telling me you’re pregnant?
None of this makes sense.” I shake my head, trying to clear the fog.
“Brenda, please escort Eli’s guests to the waiting room. I’ll be out shortly to speak with everyone. Thank you,” the doctor instructs the nurse who entered the room since he’s been ignored so far.
When the door shuts, I shout, “Mind telling me what the hell is going on? If this is some kind of joke, I’m fucking over it.” I’m getting angrier by the second.
“Eli, the best thing you can do is calm down. This probably feels overwhelming, but it’s better for a full recovery to stay calm. You said it was your birthday the last you remember, correct?” the doctor asks.
“Yeah. So what’s the deal? Have I been out for longer than two weeks?”
“No, what you’re experiencing is called retrograde amnesia.
Your birthday was eight months ago, and since you were admitted for a concussion that day, it makes sense that your mind went back to that moment.
Memory loss varies per case, as does recovery time.
Your memories could come back to you at any moment between now and months from now.
They may come back all at once or in pieces.
The most important thing you can do is take it easy and not overwhelm yourself with facts and details.
Don’t try to force it, as your memory should naturally come back on its own when your brain is ready.
There are rare cases where it doesn’t return, but that would be irregular with your age and overall health. ”
“You’re telling me I’m missing everything from the last eight months of my life?”
“That’s what it appears, but you seem to have remembered a conversation based on your comment earlier, so that gives me hope that you’ll recover your memories sooner rather than later, although there’s no way of knowing for sure.
” Brenda walks back into the room and starts unhooking cords from the machines while the doctor continues, “I’ll have Nurse Brenda take you down for new scans so we can evaluate any recent changes and see how everything looks now that you’re awake.
I’ll be in to discuss the findings after reviewing them.
In the meantime, I’d like to limit your visitors to one person at a time until further notice. ”