When Time Stopped
Esteban
“Robbie!” My heart stopped when the car hit him.
His body was suspended for a couple of seconds, then slammed into the street headfirst.
The world was shrouded in a dark veil as I ran to him and knelt on the asphalt. “Robbie!”
His skin and face were scraped raw along the right side, his shirt and pants torn. I grabbed the back of his head to pull him up, but a warm wetness covered my hand.
Blood. It was everywhere. His sandy-blond hair had a pinkish hue, its soft strands matted with it.
My hands trembled as I kissed his temple.
The coppery taste of his blood branded me with the doom of losing him.
An inhuman cry echoed around me, as though my own soul had split in two.
No, no, no. This can’t be happening!
My knees were soaked with his blood. A gash on the back of his head spilled onto the street. “Help! Someone help!”
My throat burned. I couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not ever.
Miguel crouched on his other side, his hand on his pulse. “He’s alive, but you need to let go of him.” He gripped my shoulder. “Esteban, please. We don’t know the extent of his injuries. The paramedics will be here soon.”
Why aren’t you waking up? There wasn’t enough air. I couldn’t…
“Breathe.” Raúl’s rough but soothing voice was right beside me. He cupped my face as I hugged Robbie to my chest. “Baby, listen to me. You need to let go of him. I already called 911. They’re almost here.” His glazed dark eyes seized mine, and I released a hard exhale.
Everything was blurry. Sirens sounded in the distance, but I held on to Robbie.
“Esteban, I have him.” Eva’s face was smudged with tears as she laid Robbie on the street.
Blue and red flashed violently around me. Sirens blared as the paramedics worked on Robbie.
My heart pounded in my ears.
What the fuck were they saying? I couldn’t hear it. I crawled to get to him.
Steph hugged me from behind.
I fought her hold. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Let them work, hon,” she said next to my ear. “He needs them.” Her voice broke as the paramedics signaled for us to come.
I was numb as Steph led me to the ambulance.
“We’ll be right behind.” Steph closed the back door of the ambulance.
Raúl stood with some officers and a man I didn’t recognize at the edge of the street.
A slight chill ran over me. Was it him? Was he the one who hurt my Robbie?
My muscles strained against my skin. He’d taken his smile. My hands twitched.
The ambulance came to life with a jerk, pulling my attention back, and I intertwined my fingers with Robbie’s.
A paramedic checked on him while the other swerved through the streets of Condado at high speed.
A red car followed behind us. Was it Miguel?
When we arrived at the hospital, Miguel got out of his car. He grabbed me as they transported Robbie through the double doors of the ER.
I raked my hair back. “I can’t lose him. I…”
Miguel squeezed my hand. “He’s strong. There’s no way in hell he won’t come back from this. Trust him. Trust the doctors.”
The dam broke at that moment.
I shook in Miguel’s arms, letting my tears fall freely. “I can’t… What if…?”
Miguel caressed the back of my head. “He will make it. He has you.”
Robbie was taken into the operating room immediately. A dark roast was in my hands, courtesy of Gaby, who’d arrived soon after Raúl called her. The room was full, but an emptiness took hold of me. I might as well have been alone.
I looked at my watch. An hour and still nothing.
“Family of Roberto Fernández, please come to recovery.”
I ran to the intercom and pressed the button. “This is Esteban Miranda to see Roberto Fernández.”
The door buzzed open, and I dashed inside.
Robbie was asleep. Monitors beeped all around him. His breaths were calm, his pulse stable.
I squeezed his shoulder. “Baby?” No movement.
My chest constricted, and I rushed to the nurse. “Why isn’t he awake?”
She darted her eyes around the recovery area, then let out a soft exhale as the doctor entered.
She shook my hand. “I’m Dr. Echevarría. Are you his family?”
“Esteban Miranda. I’m his fiancé.”
She nodded. “Mr. Miranda.” Her hazel eyes shifted between Robbie and me. “The surgery went well. The back of his head suffered severe trauma, and his skull cracked, but we stopped the blood loss and relieved pressure from his brain. So he’s stable.”
His skull cracked?
My chin quivered, and something shattered deep within me. Was I that close to losing him?
I watched his chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm. Was he just sleeping or…?
I’d been in recovery with Dad after his appendix surgery and with Mom after a gastroscopy. They never called you in unless the patient was awake.
I frowned. “Why isn’t he awake?”
She pocketed her hands. “When a patient suffers this kind of injury, we have to let his body and brain do the work. His vitals are normal, and his body is functioning quite well for what he went through. But even though the swelling has been controlled, it may take time to heal.”
I took Robbie’s hand. His pulse was strong. His skin was warm as always. But he was not here. Not really.
“Doctor, talk to me straight.”
Her features softened as she looked at our joined hands.
“Based on the severity of the accident, we suspect Roberto may have suffered a diffuse axonal injury. We’ll run more tests to confirm, but the pattern fits.
The impact of this kind of accident is so fast and strong that the brain is literally shaken.
Such violent brain movement can damage its connections. ”
My heart stuttered. “What do you mean?”
“It means Mr. Fernández is in a coma. He needs to heal on his own, and we can’t predict when or if he’ll come to. That depends entirely on him.”
My hope was crushed in that instant. A heavy shroud fell around Robbie and me, covering us in a thick fog that wouldn’t disperse. A coma?
His eyes were closed, but his heart was beating. His chest moved to the rhythm of his breathing. I held on long after the doctor left even as they moved him into a room.
I was numb. Speechless.
Long gone was his soft voice. His warm smile. His love-filled brown eyes.
He was gone far away from me. And there was nothing I could do.
I jolted awake and turned toward the open door. “Mom? Dad?”
Dad hugged me.
“He’s gone,” I cried. “I can’t reach him.” I soaked Dad’s shirt. The wound was still so new. So fresh. How could everything be so fucked up? “Why? Why when I finally found him?”
“I’m so sorry, son. I wish there was more I could do.” He stepped back.
Mom held me and kissed my temple. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes life hits us with impossible situations, but he will make it. Robbie will come back to you.”
I buried my face in the curve of her neck and breathed in her vanilla perfume, traveling back to my teenage days. Days so hard only my parents could have helped me through. I never felt left out. Never felt different. And now, when I most needed them, they were here again with open hearts.
“Excuse me.”
We all turned.
His stern voice matched his face as he entered. An empty feeling took root inside of me. There was no denying who he was.
Robbie’s father was a surgeon at the hospital, but before a coworker informed him, I decided to do so by phone. He had been away at a conference and told me he’d be here.
We’d never met before. Both he and his mother had cut ties with Robbie until he left his wicked ways.
I rolled my shoulders back and walked to him, then extended my hand. “Mr. Fernández, we talked on the phone. I’m Esteban.”
He humphed and moved past me, ignoring my hand, and went directly to the bed as if my parents were invisible.
He kissed Robbie’s hand. “Don’t worry, son. We’ll make sure you get better. I’m here now, and your mother is on her way. We’ll sort things out.”
My skin rose in goosebumps. The tone of his voice. The glare he gave me. What did he mean?
He faced me. “The doctor tells me Robbie left you as his proxy if anything happened to him. I don’t know who you believe you are or how you brainwashed my son, but I will challenge it. We’ll be the ones making the decisions here.”
I froze, unable to make sense of what he was implying. Could he really do that? A lawyer did not sign the letter, but we exchanged it after I proposed. We wanted to be there for each other if anything happened. “But—”
He stopped by the door. “This is your fault, and I’ll protect Robbie no matter what.” He left without a glance back.
A heaviness settled over me. Maybe he was right. I should have seen the car coming. I should have never let this happen.
“It’s not your fault.” Mom’s soft voice broke through my dark thoughts.
“Maybe he’s right,” I said.
Dad squeezed my shoulder. “No, son. He’s just reacting to a bad situation. I’m sure he doesn’t mean it.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand. They…”
I’d never told them about Robbie’s parents. They thought they were okay with us.
I sighed. “They don’t approve of us.”
Mom frowned. “What do you mean?”
I clasped my hands together. “They won’t accept he’s gay.”
My father stepped back and took Mom’s hand.
“When I met Robbie, he was in a bad place. I knew he was like me when our gazes met, but there was something off. His art, as beautiful as it was, was full of self-hate.” I glanced up, meeting my parents’ eyes.
“He hated who he was, but after our talk, he decided to tell them. He came out, and they treated it like it never happened. They told him he was just confused. It was awful, and he called me. That’s when he moved in with me. He had nowhere to go.”
Mom covered her mouth. “How could they do that to him? And his mom? What did she do?”
I shrugged. “The same. I mean, she received me at her home when we went to retrieve his art, but she treated us as if we were a passing thing.”
My father balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaw. “Bastards.”
I grabbed his shoulder. “Maybe his father is bluffing. Robbie’s letter is valid.”
He rubbed his face, then sighed heavily. “You don’t understand. There’s a way.”
My heart deflated. If he said there was a way he could oppose it, then I was fucked. “What do you mean?”
Dad exhaled hard. “If Robbie’s parents say he wasn’t in his right mind or that there were no witnesses, they can attest that it is invalid.
It doesn’t mean it actually is, but in the time it would take for us to validate it, the hospital will default to the legal hierarchy until the dispute is over.
Since he’s a doctor here, he could move the pieces in his favor. ”
My stomach flipped. “Legal hierarchy?”
Dad nodded. “Robbie’s care would fall fully to his parents.”
“He can take that right from me?” My hands shook.
“Yes.” Dad squeezed them. “But I’ll do everything in my power to challenge him.”
“God.” I went to Robbie. “They left him. They never even called. Now they want to act as if they care?” My heart pumped hard. “They can’t do this to us.”
The beeping of the machines echoed around the room, the only sign that Robbie was still with us. “What am I supposed to do?”
Mom stood by my side. “Be here for him. That’s all you can do for now.”
After my parents left, the silence was almost suffocating. Unbearable.
I never thought his parents would do something like this.
I kissed Robbie’s temple. “I love you, baby. I’m not leaving no matter what.”