The Color of Love (The Color of Heaven Series) (18 page)

Lastly he expressed his regret over how everything went wrong the next day, and how Seth fell off the ridge.

“I wish there was something I could have done for him,” Aaron said, “but there wasn’t. I’m sorry. It was a bad fall.”

For a few minutes I wept softly and held Kaleigh, then we wiped our eyes and faced Aaron again.

“What happened to his remains?” I asked. “Did you bury him?”

He hesitated. “I’m not sure if your daughter should hear this.”

“Please, Mom,” Kaleigh said to me.

I gave Aaron a nod, so after a pause, he continued.

“I couldn’t bury him because the ground was frozen. All I could do was cremate him and save his ashes.”

I stared at him for a long moment. “That must have been very difficult for you.”

He lowered his gaze.

Quietly, I asked, “Were you able to save his ashes?”

I knew it would mean the world to Gladys to finally receive her son’s remains.

Aaron’s eyes lifted. “I put his ashes in a First Aid kit container, but I lost everything when I hit the iceberg. All my belongings went into the sea except for what I had on me, in my pockets.”

“How did you end up on the iceberg?” Kaleigh asked. “Did you have a boat?”

“Sort of,” he replied. “After a whole year on the island, I became so desperate to be rescued, I built a raft out of logs and sections of the airplane. I’d seen a few ships go by and I figured I’d take my chances.”

“How did you get onto the iceberg?” she asked.

Aaron took a breath and let it out. “I was only out there for a day or two when a family of orcas tried to knock me off my raft—or that’s what I thought at the time. I’m not actually sure what they were trying to do. Maybe they were just playing, but they ended up pushing my raft up onto a flat section of the ice. The raft sank after that, so in a way they saved my life.”

“You mean killer whales?” Kaleigh asked with fascination.

He nodded. “After I climbed off the raft, I was able to use Seth’s axes to get to the top.”

“Wow!” Kaleigh exclaimed. “That’s
amazing
.”

“Is it?” he asked. “I’m still trying to decide if I was extremely lucky over the past year, or extremely
un
lucky.”

“I doubt it has anything to do with luck,” I mentioned. “You’re here today because you were smart and resourceful and did what you had to do to survive.”

Maybe he wasn’t accustomed to receiving compliments, or maybe he just wasn’t used to talking to people, but he didn’t respond. All he said was, “Again, I’m very sorry about your husband.”

“Thank you.” I turned to Kaleigh. “We’ll have to tell Gladys all of this in the morning. And no doubt the RCMP will want a report,” I said to Aaron. “They may have sent out some helicopters yesterday to search for Seth and the wreckage.”

“I’ll do my best to tell them where the island is,” he replied. “It can’t be too far from where they picked me up. What’s left of the plane is in a valley, dead center. The pilots’ remains will need to be recovered. I’m not sure what happened to the other passenger. His name was Jason and he fell out of the plane as we were crashing. I explored every inch of that island over the past year, but I never found him.”

I thought achingly of these people who had died and wondered again how Aaron had managed to stay sane all alone.

“I should warn you,” I said, “the media’s been all over this story. It’s been on all the news channels and online sites.”

He seemed surprised to hear that. “Really?”

“Yes, partly because it was George Atherton’s plane that went down. You might want to have your incoming phone calls screened.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

Kaleigh yawned and laid her head on my shoulder. I stroked her hair away from her face. “I think it’s time for us to go back to the hotel,” I said. “I’m sure Aaron would like to get some rest.”

He watched me in silence as I stood up and gathered our things, and though I knew we had to go, I dreaded walking out the door and leaving him. It pained me deeply to imagine the loneliness he must have endured on the island. I consoled myself with the reminder that there were nurses here and other patients. He was no longer completely alone.

But still, I hated to go.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation. “My mother-in-law might want to meet you as well, if that’s all right. She may have some questions about Seth’s last days.”

“I’d be happy to talk to her,” he said.

“And from what I understand,” I added, “they’re trying to locate your family. I’m sure you’ll hear something about that tomorrow as well.”

He laid his head on the pillow. “I hope so. After all of this, I’d really like to see my parents. They’ve probably been very worried.”

I felt a heaviness settle in my chest and expand up into my throat. There was so much more I wanted to know about this man and his experiences, but he needed to rest, and so did we.

At least he and his family would be reunited soon. Thank God for that.

“I’m sure they’ll want to give you a big hug when they see you,” I replied. Glancing discreetly down at his ring finger, I asked, “Are you married? Do you have a wife or children?”

He shook his head. “No, but I hope to remedy that one of these days. If I learned anything on the island, it’s that life is short. Chop, chop.”

I smiled, approached the bed and clasped his hand. “Well, it looks like you’ve been given a second chance at everything. I’m happy for you, Aaron. I’m so glad you made it home.”

I bent forward to hug him and kissed him on the cheek. My lips lingered there for a moment longer than they should have.

“Please come back tomorrow,” he whispered in my ear. The urgency in his voice caused a jolt inside of me.

As I drew away, I felt myself becoming caught in the pale blue of his eyes, and again I dreaded leaving. Something intense and unfamiliar moved through all my nerve endings. I wasn’t sure what was causing it, but whatever it was, it felt important. My desire to learn more about this man overwhelmed me.

“I will,” I replied. “You have my word.”

Chapter Fifty

When Kaleigh, Gladys and I arrived at the hospital the following morning, we had to rush past the reporters. We were then met by a grim-faced Donna at the nurse’s station on Aaron’s floor.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

My stomach dropped. “Why? What happened?”

I had visions of Aaron falling back into a coma, or perhaps, because he was so frail, that his heart or some other organ had given out during the night.

The thought of him slipping away now, after coming so far, was like a hard punch to my stomach, and I lost my breath. I felt woozy.

“Come with me.” Donna walked out from behind the counter and led the three of us into the lounge. “We’ve had some bad news.” She paused and glanced uneasily at Kaleigh. “Officer Jerome called a little while ago to let us know that they tried to get a hold of Aaron’s family. As it turns out, his parents were killed in a collision involving a drunk driver two months ago.”

I covered my mouth with a hand. “Oh God, no. Does he know yet?”

Donna shook her head. “Officer Jerome is on her way here to deliver the news, but they were at least able to locate his sister, Penny. She’s making arrangements to fly here, but it might take a while because she lives in Hong Kong.”

A lump like a jagged boulder lodged painfully in my throat, and I sank onto the sofa and cupped my forehead in a hand. “That poor man. He’s been through so much. What else will he be asked to endure?”

Donna nodded in agreement. “We’ll have a grief counselor in the room when we tell him, but I thought it might help for you to be there as well,” she said to me.

“Why me?” I asked.

“Because he feels a connection to you.”

I felt a connection to him as well. I’d felt it the moment he spoke my name, maybe even before that, but this was not something I wished to say out loud to strangers, or to Kaleigh who might read too much into it. At the moment I was still trying to tell myself that it was the intensity of the situation causing these feelings in me. A sense of empathy about his ordeal.

“We barely know each other,” I said, still unable to make sense of it.

Donna absentmindedly fingered the tiny gold amethyst pendant she wore. “You should know that after you left last night, he asked for the picture of you from your husband’s wallet. He grew agitated when we told him we didn’t have it. The doctor had to give him a sedative to help him sleep.”

“But he doesn’t even know me,” I argued, feeling confused and perhaps even a little alarmed.

Donna sat down next to me and laid a hand on my knee. “I wouldn’t worry about this, Carla. He’s been through a terrible ordeal and it’s not surprising that he would experience some anxiety on his first night. The bright side is that he was quite cognizant of the fact that his anxiety was related to his trauma, and he informed us that he fully expects to suffer from PTSD over the coming months and instructed the nurse to ask the doctor to refer him to a therapist as soon as possible.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Exactly,” she replied. “He’s not what I would call irrational. He’s very self-aware. But even after all that, he made the nurse promise to get your picture, or a copy of it, back today. He just wants to have it with him, that’s all, and he said he knows you’re a stranger, but it was either that or another heavy dose of valium again tonight.”

I covered my eyes with the palm of my hand. “I can’t imagine what this must be like for him. I’m not sure what to do. I wish I could help him, but I’m afraid it’s beyond me. I’m just a bank teller.”

The lump in my throat mushroomed to the size of a small melon.

“We just need to stay with him,” Kaleigh helpfully put in, “at least until his sister gets here. I don’t think he should be alone. And the police better bring that picture back or I’ll Tweet about how mean they are.”

Feeling completely drained, I sat forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “Aside from the angry Twitter threat, Kaleigh, you are an amazingly good person. And you’re right. We shouldn’t leave him alone. He’s been alone for too long.”

Gladys wrapped her arm around Kaleigh and gave her a squeeze. “You’re a good girl.”

“When will the RCMP officer be here?” I asked Donna.

Just then, Officer Jerome walked into the lounge and held up a small plastic bag which contained the barely recognizable photograph of me. “Someone looking for this?”

Chapter Fifty-one

We decided that I should go to Aaron’s room first and give him the photograph before the others joined me.

His eyes lit up when I entered. “Good morning,” he said, sounding cheerful.

“Good morning to you.” I opened the bag, removed the photograph, and handed it to him. “I have something for you.”

He watched me as I moved around the bed, then he reached out to take the picture from me.

“Well,
this
is embarrassing,” he said. Holding the photo in his hands for a moment, he stared down at it, then his eyes lifted sheepishly. “I hope this doesn’t make you feel uneasy or anything. It was the only picture I had of another person the entire time I was on that island, except for Seth’s photo I.D., and let’s be honest, your face was…” He paused. “Well, you’re much prettier.”

The compliment caused a flurry of commotion in me. “You don’t have to explain. I’m glad it helped you.”

“It kept me from giving up,” he said, “and there were many times I wanted to.”

I wished Officer Jerome could have waited a few more minutes before joining us, but she walked in just then with Nurse Donna and a grief counselor. The three of them surrounded the bed.

o0o

Aaron stared blankly at Officer Jerome, and frowned. “That can’t be true.”

I took hold of his hand and he clasped it tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Dr. Cameron,” she replied. “I wish we had better news for you.”

He glanced at each of the others in turn, then lastly, his eyes settled on mine.

I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

He bowed his head and pressed his whole hand over his eyes.

I don’t know what came over me, but I couldn’t just stand there and hold his other hand. Instead I lowered the rail, slid onto the bed beside him, wrapped him in my arms and pulled him close. He wept quietly for several seconds while I ran my fingers through his hair and stroked his back.

o0o

Hours later, I woke from an uncomfortable position on the chair beside the bed and sat forward to check on Aaron.

He was still sleeping, so I relaxed and looked around for Kaleigh. Her backpack was on the floor by the wall, but her chair was vacant. She and Gladys had probably gone to watch television in the lounge.

When I glanced back at the bed, Aaron’s eyes were open and he was watching me. “When I was on the island,” he softly said, “I used to dream about family dinners and all the things my mother used to cook. She made an amazing potato salad.”