Chapter Sixteen #3
Giving them a little space, Jay pulled up a seat on the other side of the room when a knock at the door sounded, then Zara entered, her presence a calming balm.
‘Hello, you three.’ She instantly went to Suzanne and enveloped her in a hug. ‘I told you he’d be okay.’ She placed a hand on Mark’s arm. ‘Hey, you, we’re thankful to see you awake.’
‘Me too,’ was Mark’s meek reply.
Still sobbing, Suzanne clung to Zara tightly, and they remained locked together until Suzanne felt she could let go. Turning then approaching Jay, Zara’s eyes reflected unconditional love as she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace that spoke of endless support.
‘Mark has agreed to try the treatment centre,’ he murmured into her hair.
Zara’s lips curved into a smile of relief when she pulled back to look at him, the depths of her eyes alight with pride. ‘That’s wonderful news,’ she said, her voice a soothing melody over the dissonant chords of hospital sounds. ‘Good on you for signing on the dotted line, Mark.’
‘It’s all thanks to this determined bugger,’ Mark replied, his voice small and vulnerable. ‘And you and Suz, too.’
‘We all care about you, very much,’ Zara replied with a fond smile. ‘Especially Suz, she loves you to bits, and then some.’
‘And I love her just as much, and more.’ Looking to his wife-to-be, close beside him on the bed, Mark’s lips trembled into a smile. ‘I’m a very lucky man.’
‘I’m so relieved you’ve agreed to rehab, my darling,’ Suzanne said, dabbing her eyes with the tissue Zara had just given her. ‘It means the world that you can see you need help.’
‘I’ve known it for a while, Suz, I just haven’t had the courage to follow through on getting the help I need.’ Mark not only looked like a broken man, he sounded like it too.
‘Even when things get a bit rough,’ Jay chimed in, linking his fingers with Zara’s, ‘we’ll be here to hold you up and nudge you onwards, and that goes for both of you.’
‘Yes, especially then,’ Zara confirmed, squeezing his hand.
‘Thank you, we love you guys,’ Suzanne replied, sniffling.
They stood together, a fortress against the winds that threatened to pull Mark into a destructive vortex. The challenges ahead loomed like thunderclouds, but within the confines of the hospital room, their combined hope shimmered, steady and unwavering.
‘There’s so much work I need to do on myself,’ Mark muttered.
‘Let’s just focus on one day at a time, hey,’ Zara suggested, her words a gentle caress against the harsh reality of their imminent journey.
‘Yes, one step at a time,’ Jay added, his gaze meeting Mark’s with unwavering conviction. ‘There’s no rush, just as long as you’re taking steps forward.’
Mark tried to smile but winced. ‘I’ll certainly try my best to.’
An hour later Jay and Zara left the room with heavy yet buoyant hearts, for in the face of adversity they had each other, and sometimes that was all that was needed to brave the whirlwinds of life.
Husband and wife emerged from the automatic sliding doors of the hospital, leaving behind the antiseptic smell and hushed whispers that filled the sterile corridors.
In a few days’ time Mark would be going home, too, with Suzanne as both his chaperone and his nearest and dearest.
The setting sun cast a warm, honey-hued light over everything in its path, painting long shadows on the ground.
Lost in their own thoughts, Zara and Jay walked side by side, their silence a comforting shield woven from their shared strength and resolute determination.
As they made their way through the hospital’s garden, fragrant with the sweet scent of blooming jasmine, Zara’s hand naturally found Jay’s once again.
Then she stopped for a moment to gaze at him, her eyes reflecting the fiery hues of the sunset.
‘It’s going to be difficult watching him go through it all, isn’t it?’ she whispered, her words both a question and an acknowledgement of their reality. ‘Especially for Suzanne.’
‘It will be, yes, but worth the end result,’ Jay replied, his voice weighted with the gravity of what lay ahead.
Heaving a breath, he looked up at the ever-changing sky, where streaks of pink and orange danced with shades of twilight blues and purples.
‘But we’ve all faced tough challenges before, haven’t we?
’ He offered a sad smile. ‘I know you’ll be there for your best friend, as I will be for mine.
And right now, that’s all that matters, moving forward. ’
‘Yes, very true.’ She smiled and reached up on her tippy toes to kiss him. ‘I love you, Jay Maverick, with all of my heart.’
‘And I love you, Mrs Maverick, with every single inch of me.’
They continued walking, and when they reached their car, Jay thought of his friend lost in a raging tempest within himself and had to stop from breaking.
He had to hold himself together, for himself, for his family and for Mark.
The forty-five-minute drive home was filled with much contemplative silence, the steady hum of the engine a welcome backdrop.
Along the way, they each acknowledged the obstacles that lay ahead in hushed tones, and as they turned onto the familiar street leading towards their home, Jay felt nothing but overwhelming gratitude for his gorgeous wife.
Together, they were more than just two entangled souls destined to love one another until their final breaths — they were a beacon of hope for their two friends temporarily lost in darkness.
A darkness that he and Zara both knew intimately, after losing their darling baby girl before she’d even had time to breathe.
‘I can’t wait to hug Amy and Lily,’ he declared as he parked the car. ‘I’ve really missed them the past twenty-four hours.’
‘And they’ve missed their dad too,’ Zara added, her voice a gentle promise in the gathering night. ‘But they also understand you’ve been helping their Uncle Mark.’
‘Our girls are so much like you, Za, kind, loving, spirited.’ He grinned. ‘And sometimes extremely stubborn.’
‘Ha, right, I think they get that from you,’ she replied, enjoying the kind of banter that had been missing the past few days. ‘I’m so grateful Helen was happy to come over and babysit for me, while I was at the hospital.’
‘Yes, she is a godsend, as is Carl.’ Jay drew in a slow easy breath. ‘They are the best neighbours.’
‘They most certainly are,’ Zara agreed.
With the moon now rising above, casting silver light over the hushed landscape, they wandered the pathway that led to the verandah and after kicking off their shoes, entered their house.
And as Jay knelt to hug his two incoming missiles, he knew that whatever lay ahead, it would only serve to strengthen the bonds between them all, turning the pages of their story with the gentle but unstoppable force of the winds he had often soared upon.