Epilogue
Z ander Tolston watched out the window of the ambulance—or interfacility transfer or whatever they called this—as it pulled up to a ramp.
When the back doors opened, his attendant smiled at him and announced, “You’ve arrived.”
“Glad to hear it,” he muttered, controlling his pain.
He looked at the big building that he’d spent months and months getting accepted into. His military teammate and hospital room partner, Xavier, had already left after his rehab time at Hathaway House but had promised to come visit. Apparently a wedding was happening a few months from now, but all kinds of plans for it were still ongoing.
Zander just wanted rehab plans for himself. He hoped the wedding wouldn’t detract from getting the care he needed here, but he was prepared to trust what everybody had told him—that Hathaway House was the place where he needed to be. He’d wanted to come for so long, and now he was here. It seemed to be a miracle. He looked around as he was helped out of the transport vehicle and into a wheelchair.
Even as he sat down again, the pain jarred him throughout his body. He had survived his injuries, but he had broken his pelvis, both legs, and several ribs. Multiple surgeries had attended to his pelvis and legs. His ribs had been wrapped and took forever to heal. Even now, if he took too deep of a breath, several ribs reminded him that they were still in flux. Plus, his weakened immunity also kept him down. He blew out a huge exhale.
“We’ll get you inside and get you settled,” the attendant said. “You’ll be just fine.”
“I hope so,” Zander replied, looking around. “Hathaway’s way bigger than I thought.”
“They did a massive expansion recently,” the attendant shared, “which is a good thing, since the demand for this place is insane.”
“As long as they keep up the good work,” he murmured.
“I haven’t heard anything to the contrary. Everybody I know of who’s here, or who has been here, loves it.”
“That’s good to hear. I have a good friend who came through this place, and he’s already come and gone. I was hoping to be here… before he left, but he did amazingly well.”
“I think a lot of people do amazingly well here,” the guy noted, as he wheeled Zander up the ramp. “And I suspect you will too.”
Zander looked over, grateful for the vote of confidence. “Maybe. It seems as if I’ve been a sickly child for a very long time.”
“You’re not a child now, and, after what you’ve been through, I don’t think anybody’ll see you in that light.”
“That would be good too,” he noted, with a smile, as he looked around. “It’s quite the place, isn’t it?”
“It is. Now here you go, up and in through the front door.”
And, with that, he was pushed into a reception area. A group of people stood around.
One woman detached herself, walked over, and greeted him. “Hey. What’s your name?”
“Zander, Zander Tolston.”
“And you are the arrival I’ve been waiting for,” she murmured. She reached out a hand to shake his and introduced herself. “Nelly, the nutritionist here. And I understand that we have some immunity to build up with you.”
“Yeah, you could say that. I seem to catch everything going around.”
“That’s okay,” she murmured. “We’ll get you fixed up just right.” At that, she motioned at another woman, calling out to her, “Dani.”
This was Dani, the woman who managed the place. Yet she looked way too young for the job title. Her smile that came his way was electric.
“Hi,” she said. “Welcome to Hathaway. We do have your room ready, so let’s get you in and settled right away.”
As Nelly wheeled him to his room, and Dani walked alongside him, he looked around and shared, “Xavier told me a lot about this place.”
“That’s good to hear,” Dani replied. “You should feel right at home. Plus, you’ll see him sometime soon, I’m sure. He’s no longer a rehab patient, but we see him often.”
“He told me about his time here, and I’m really happy for him. He did way better than he expected.”
“A lot of people do,” she murmured. “And you might find that that’ll be the same for you too.”
“I hope so. Right about now, I have to admit I’m not feeling 100 percent.”
“Nope, nobody is when they first get here,” Dani stated, “and the change can be overwhelming very quickly.”
He nodded. “I can see that. I’m not sure why, but just a lot is going on.”
“And nothing is important for you to figure out right now,” she noted, “except to rest. We’ll give you the tools that you need to contact any of us, and Nelly here will get you a nutritional shake full of vitamins and minerals to help bolster your system. We have orders from your doctors to ensure that we do the best we can to add some weight to you and to get your immune system strengthened.”
“Yeah, that would be helpful,” Zander agreed, “not to mention getting me back on my feet and, with any luck, back to living a normal life.”
“We’ll do everything we can,” Nelly declared in a bright, cheerful voice.
He looked over at her. “Aren’t you awfully young. Both of you actually.”
Nelly laughed. “Is twenty-nine awfully young ?”
He nodded. “It seems sometimes, yes.”
“Maybe,” she conceded. “And how old are you?”
“Thirty-three,” he replied, “and I feel as if I’ve lost twenty future years of a potential healthy life just because of all the injuries.”
“Injuries can totally set you back,” she declared. “So we’ll have to ensure that the rest of the years you have are at peak performance.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that,” he muttered, looking at her in surprise.
She smiled. “Hey, we’re here to help. Follow our instructions, trust us, and give us a chance, and we’ll do the best for you that we can.”
And, with that, he was pushed into a private room with its own bath. He frowned. “I get a room to myself?”
“You do,” Dani confirmed. “And, yes, you’re special, but we do try to give everybody a private room, just like your friend Xavier had one.”
“I did hear about that. I just figured he was lucky.”
“He was very lucky,” Nelly stated, with a smile. “But you’re here now, in our hands, and that makes you lucky too.”
He looked up, and, for the first time in a long time, he almost believed her. He nodded. “In that case, bring it on.”