Chapter 49
Lily
Kai is pacing in front of me, chewing on his thumbnail, while I sit drumming out a pattern on my thigh to keep me calm.
Carlos has his head in his hands, and Elena and Paulo stare out the window, their arms around each other.
No one speaks as we wait for the doctor and nurses to finish taking all the tubes and wires off Marcus.
Apparently, it’s not a nice procedure to watch, so we were told to wait in this cold, depressing family room.
They really need to make this place more comfortable.
“It’s taking them too long.” Kai frets as he stops his pacing and rakes his fingers through his hair as he stares up at the ceiling.
“It’s been half an hour. I'm sure this is normal.” I try to calm him down, but the reality is I’m losing my mind.
“None of this is normal, Lily,” Carlos snaps from his spot next to me. I get his outburst, his son is in a coma for Christ’s sake.
“I know, but we need to be positive. The doctors wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”
“What if they take him off the machines and he isn’t doing as well as they hope?” He turns to me, his face a mask of pain and fury, and so much like the man I love, I can hardly bear it.
“You can’t think like that.” I try to keep my voice calm as I take his hand in mine, even though I’m having exactly the same thoughts. “We have to believe,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
“He isn’t done,” he whispers. And I can almost hear his heart breaking right alongside mine.
The door cracks open, the noise breaking through each of our silent thoughts, and Dr. Raven walks through. “I’m pleased to say Marcus is breathing on his own. He's still in the coma, but he'll hopefully come out of it in the next twenty-four hours.”
“My boy is going to be alright?” Carlos rushes forward to grasp the doctor's hands.
“Your boy is going to live, sir. We won’t know if the bleed affected him in any way until he wakes.”
“But he will live.”
“Yes.” Carlos drops the doctor's hands, as he mutters his thanks and prayers to whoever will listen.
The love he has for Marcus is palpable and utterly heartbreaking to see him hurting.
It gives me a little insight into just how my parents must have felt seeing me in such a state and being totally helpless to make it right.
Their control gone, and something inside me shifts as I start to understand exactly what Fiona and everyone else have been trying to tell me.
I can’t control everything.
But I can control how I react.
“When can we see him?” I say quickly.
“You can come through now the nurses have finished.”
“What are we all doing here then?” Carlos strides for the door without looking back, and Elena chuckles behind me.
“He has always just done what he wants.”
“I know someone else like that.” I smile at her as we follow.
We take it in turns to sit with Marcus as we wait for him to wake.
None of us knows exactly what will happen once he does.
He could not remember us. He could be completely a different person, and we have to expect the unexpected, but God, do I hope he’ll wake as him.
The man I fell in love with is in there, and he has to fight to come back to me whole.
While Kai is in with him, I go and get some fresh air and sit on a bench opposite the hospital entrance. Watching the people coming in and out, some smiling, some crying, and even new parents cradling their precious new babies and a wave of emotions hits me.
What if he doesn’t remember me?
Will I be able to help him remember?
Will he want to?
God, it all seemed so clear a few hours ago, and now I’m back to questioning everything. Jesus, Lily, you can’t control this.
“Lily?”
I turn towards the voice of my mum, who’s striding towards me.
Her arms spread wide as I stand and collapse into her embrace.
I had no idea she was coming today, but of course, my mum would have the intuition to know when I need her the most. “What’s happened?
” She kisses the top of my head, and I instantly revert to a child as she rocks me slowly.
“Nothing yet. They took him off the ventilator this morning, like I said in my message, but there’s still no change. He’s still asleep.” I snuggle further into her.
“I like how you’ve put that.”
“What do you mean?” I peer up at her.
“He’s still asleep. You think he’ll wake. You’re not thinking the worst anymore.”
“But what if he wakes and…”
She pulls away and grips my shoulders, looking me straight in the eyes. “And what?”
“And has forgotten me.” I drag my gaze down.
“From what you’ve told me about that boy and how you both are together, there’s no way he’d forget you. Nothing would keep him away. And you’re too stubborn to let him.”
She’s right. I’ll try everything I can to make sure he knows how I feel about him. How he makes me feel. And how I’m not backing away. He told me his heart only beats for me, and I know without a doubt that mine does for him.
“Lily.” Kai runs out of the entrance straight for us. “Lily, it's happening. He’s starting to wake.” His face is the brightest I’ve seen in what feels like weeks.
“What? How do you know?” I pull out of Mum's grasp.
“He squeezed my hand. Elena says it could just be a reflex, but I don’t believe it; it felt so strong.” He sounds so hopeful.
I look up at Mum, and she’s smiling at me. “Go be with your man. I’ll be waiting.”
“Love you, Mum.”
“Love you more, bug.” She kisses my cheek tenderly, her eyes glassy with tears. “Go be happy.”
I rush towards the hospital with Kai by my side.
Making it to Marcus’s room, we find Elena, Carlos, and Paulo gathered around his bed with Dr. Raven and a nurse hovering in the background, making notes on a clipboard.
“What’s going on?” I rush out.
“He’s coming round. You’re right, Kai, he squeezed my hand as well.
” Elena turns to me, her eyes watery, but there’s so much hope in their depths.
“I think he’s waiting for you, my love. His Petardo.
” She motions to me, and I step forward as she moves to give me space.
I grasp his hand in mine and run my thumb back and forth across his cool, smooth skin.
He squeezes back.
“That’s it. I’m here.” I kiss the back of his hand. “Come on.” My lips linger on his hand, and my eyes fix on his eyes.
His fluttering eyes.
His eyelids are moving.
“Keep reaching, baby.” I kiss him again and again, and the third kiss is when his eyes slowly open, but close again until he has adjusted to the bright light, and then they settle on mine.
The deep pools of dark brown eyes I’ve fallen into too many times to count stare unblinking into mine, and I smile against the back of his hand, my lips brushing the skin.
“Hey, Petardo.” His voice is scratchy and hoarse, but that nickname that used to grate on my last nerve and I grew to love hearing, makes my heart thump furiously.
The thought of never hearing him call me that again was unbearable, but hearing it coming from his lips, lips that are now curling into a smile, I can’t help the tears that flow.
“Hey, princess,” I whisper through my tears.
He turns his hand in mine to wipe them away. “Lily Chambers doesn’t cry.” His voice is barely a whisper as he forces out the words. I can tell it physically pains him to speak.
I huff out a laugh because he’s still here; he hasn't gone. He hasn’t left me.