What Endures (2 page)

"How’s Diana?" she asked, steering the subject away from Bruce. She had enough to deal with at the moment, she didn’t need to add ‘Bruce-stress’ to it too. Fortunately, her relationship with Jason’s mother was definitely less complicated than her relationship with Bruce. In fact, she was glad she was able to foster a reconciliation of sorts between Jason and his mother over the years.

"She’s holding up, but still pretty devastated. I’m surprised you convinced her to go back to Harbor Bay.”

"She was just sitting around, waiting and worrying. It wasn’t doing her any good to be here. At least in Harbor Bay she has your mom, the store and her life."

"What about you Meg? Are you doing something other than sitting around worrying and waiting?"

"I’m packing as you can see," she said, keeping her tone light.

Thankfully, Tyler decided not to press the issue. "Again I ask, why are you packing? Are you going somewhere?"

"A hotel."

"I don’t mean to be repetitive, but why?"

She sighed. "The doctor doesn’t think it’s a good idea to try and fill in Jason’s memories right now. We should just start fresh, start new. Let him remember what he can when he can. So, I just thought it’d be better if I cleared out of here. It’ll raise too many questions when he comes home tomorrow and sees that we’re living together."

"They’re discharging him that soon?"

"Except for the. . ." She shrugged. “Physically, he’s fine to go home so, yeah.”

"Couldn’t you just tell him what you are to him? I mean that’s not filling in a memory. . .not really."

"Ty, that will just open a big can of worms."

"Megan," Tyler said gently, causing her to look at him. "It’s not like you can keep Jason’s life under wraps you know? With the news coverage and all. . .he’s bound to hear things. I mean he already knows about his baseball career just from watching TV."

She nodded. "I know, but. . ." She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "He already has enough to deal with Ty. And like you said, with the media, he’s gonna get bombarded with things as it is. I don’t need to add to it all by telling him about us. Besides, no one knows about us in the media. Jason and I always kept our relationship really private so on that front, I think we’re O.K."

"So what if he asks?"

She shrugged. "I’ll just tell him we’re. . .really good friends."

"You’re a lot more than that to him Meg."

She sighed and involuntarily glanced down at the ring on her left hand. A simple, Princess-cut diamond bordered on each side by a small emerald, and set in platinum. She slowly pulled it off and pocketed it. "Doesn’t matter right now."

#

Megan paused outside the hospital room and took several deep breaths. A few moments later, when she was confident that she had her emotions in check, she pushed the door open and walked in, a happy, cheerful expression firmly affixed to her face.

"Hi!" she said, directing a bright smile at the man on the hospital bed.

Jason was propped up on a pillow, the bed in an upright position, and watching TV. He smiled at her in greeting and quickly turned off the television.

"Megan."

"You remember," she said lightly.

"Of course," he said. "How could I ever forget you?"

But you did
. A lump formed in her throat and she forced the smile to remain on her lips, despite the pain pulsing through her. It was simply too easy. If she closed her eyes and pretended, she could convince herself that it was the same Jason. His charming, flirtatious manner had clearly survived the brain injury and while she enjoyed that aspect of his personality, right now, it was just too confusing. . .her emotions too raw.

In an attempt to stay focused, she forced herself to see him as he was. Jason was a professional athlete, so he was usually so fit and strong. But lying on the hospital bed, he looked weak, and he was much thinner, having lost a lot of weight while in his coma. He was also pale, having lost that golden tan that came from being out on baseball fields for most of his life.

Instead of the standard issue hospital gown, they had allowed him to wear his pajamas, although the left leg had been cut off to accommodate the bulky white cast that ran from his thigh down to his ankle. The leg was propped up on a large pillow and judging by the color and size of his toes, it seemed that the swelling had gone down. The swelling had gone down on his face too, but there were still bruises.

The most notable thing about him, however, was his head. His thick, dark hair had been shorn off completely when he had undergone emergency brain surgery, and while it was growing back now, the length was still too short to be much more than a fuzzy patch of brown across his head. The look made him seem younger, more vulnerable and made his green eyes seem bigger, more intense.

She could still make out the small scar across the left side of his head, where the doctors had cut part of his skull away in order to relieve pressure on his brain. It was healing now, but against the light fuzz of his hair, the wound still looked jarring.

Even with all these injuries, Jason Kincaid was still the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on, and still had the power to take her breath away with just a simple smile.

"How are you doing?" she asked, coming in and standing by the hospital table at the foot of his bed.

He shrugged. "O.K., I guess. At least they stopped with all those weird tests."

She smiled. "So, listen, I need to talk to you about something." She paused and riffled through her shoulder bag. "I wasn’t entirely honest with you before."

"You weren’t?"

She shook her head. "I’m actually a little more than just your friend."

He looked at her with a mixture of wariness and curiosity. "Really?"

She finally found the papers she was looking for and pulled them out. "I’m actually the person who gets to make your decisions for you. . .at least for a little while."

"What are you talking about?"

She handed him the papers. He scanned it quickly before looking back at her, his expression questioning. ‘You gave me your power-of-attorney. So I make your health care decisions for you. Also your business decisions too." She shrugged. "Basically I get to run your life."

"Why you?"

His question caught her off-guard and it took her a few seconds to compose her answer. "We were close. And you trusted me."

"How close?"

"Close enough for you to sign over control of your affairs," she said with a smile, hoping he would be satisfied with that answer.

Thankfully Jason didn’t push it. "So, how long is this for?"

"Until you can, and want to revoke it."

"What if I want to revoke it now?"

She fixed him with a calm gaze. "Do you?"

He sighed and shook his head, handing the papers back to her. "I can’t even remember half my life, I’m in no shape to figure out how to run it."

"It won’t be like this forever, Jason." She didn’t know if she said that more for his benefit or hers. Probably both.

He looked out the window of his private room and nodded. "Yeah."

Megan’s heart lurched at the vulnerability in his voice, and the look of confusion on his face. Without thinking, she came around and touched his hand in comfort. He gripped her hand, as if it were a lifeline and then looked at her with those piercing green eyes of his, and for a moment, she was lost. The tightly reined-in emotions threatened to spill over as she stared into those achingly familiar eyes. And yet, while the eyes may have been familiar, the look and emotion in them weren’t, and that jarred her back to the harsh reality.

She withdrew her hand, her movements awkward and obvious. "Um. . ."

"What?" he asked, sounding confused.

‘N-nothing," she stammered, wracking her mind for some plausible excuse. "I-it’s . . .nothing." She cleared her throat and moved back over to the table, putting more physical distance between them. "So, uh, listen. . .how do you feel about getting out of the hospital?"

"When and how fast?"

She chuckled. "The best I can promise is tomorrow. How’s that?"

He grinned. "Sounds good."

"O.K.," she said. "I’ll make the arrangements today then."

"Arrangements?"

"Well, you know, for home care and all that. Obviously you’re gonna need some help around the house while you’re recuperating. And you’ll need someone to take you to physical therapy. The doctor did talk to you about that, right?"

He nodded, looking concerned. "Yeah, but uh, what do you mean by ‘help’? From who? My parents?"

Jason couldn’t remember some of the more recent encounters with his parents, particularly Bruce. But, judging from the look on his face now, she would guess that whatever memories he had, they weren’t too different from the recent ones         

She shook her head. "I was thinking more of a home-care nurse."

He grimaced. "Another nurse?"

"What?" she said lightly. "I thought you liked the nurses here." Everyone at the hospital had been exceptional in their care and support of not only Jason, but of her as well. They had even set up a small cot for her in his room while she had been maintaining her vigil, and the nurses, she knew, were much more attentive to Jason than other patients. Most of that attention was derived from genuine concern, though she knew a few of them were just in awe of his good looks and celebrity status.

"They’re fine," he shrugged. "But once I’m out of the hospital, I’d like to leave the hospital behind, you know?"

She smiled, and a memory flashed through her head involuntarily.

"Are you O.K.?" she asked, leaning in against him.

"Yeah," he mumbled, but he was still fidgeting. And Jason didn’t fidget when he was ‘fine.’

"Jason," she said, but he was still looking around the hospital waiting room, fidgeting with his hands, while his feet tapped some erratic rhythm. "Jason." This time, he turned and finally looked at her.

"I’m sure your Dad’s gonna be fine," she said gently, reaching for his hand.

He laced his fingers through hers and then bought her hand up to his lips as he placed a gentle kiss against her knuckle. "Yeah."

"You want to head to the cafeteria maybe? Sitting around waiting is obviously driving you crazy."

He sighed. "I just. . .I don’t like hospitals."

"I don’t think anyone does."

"Yeah," he said softly, glancing around again. They were the only ones in the waiting room now. Diana had gone to make some calls, and well, Bruce didn’t really have anyone else besides Diana and Jason. She wondered how much of their being here was done out of obligation, as opposed to genuine feelings of concern.

"Sorry," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"About this."

"What are you talking about?"

"I didn’t envision us spending our first day as a married couple sitting in the hospital waiting for word on my father." He looked around the hospital. "I thought our first day of married life would be a little. . .happier, I guess."

"I’m happy," she said simply, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Besides, this is probably where the whole ‘for worse’ part of the vows come in. Hmm?”

He grinned. "And last night was definitely the ‘for better’ part.’

She blushed. "Jason!"

"Oh, look who’s all shy and modest now," he said teasingly. "I don’t remember seeing this side of you last night."

"And you’re not gonna see that side of me again if you don’t watch it," she said primly.

He chuckled and pulled her against him as he kissed her softly on the lips. "Anything but that."

She smiled against his lips. "I guess I found your weakness, hmm?"

Someone clearing their throat caused the two of them to break apart. They found Diana standing there looking at them uncomfortably.

"Mom," Jason said, standing up and pulling Megan with him.

"Um. . .they said your father’s stabilized. We can go see him if we want."

"Why don’t you go first? Megan and I will go in a little later."

Diana shifted, her eyes darting to Megan before they returned to her son. Megan could see where Jason got his fidgeting from. "Um. . .the doctors said your father’s stable but he shouldn’t be exposed to any, uh, stress or anything like that for now." She looked down. "And uh, given how things are with your father and I, maybe it’s best if you go in first, Jase.” She glanced at Megan again. “Alone."

She felt Jason stiffen besides her. "My relationship with Dad isn’t any better than yours, and Megan and I are-"

"Your Mom’s right, Jason," she cut in gently. "It’s fine. I’ll wait here."

Diana shot her a look of gratitude. "Actually I-I still need to contact your grandparents. Bill and Arlene aren’t answering their phone."

With another look at them, she walked out of the waiting room. The minute his mother was out of view, Jason turned to her.

"What was that about?"

She sighed. "Jason, you heard your mother. Your Dad’s in a precarious state right now. We shouldn’t expose him to any unnecessary stress."

"I know that," he agreed. "Which is why we’re keeping the marriage under wraps for now. Why we didn’t wear our rings. But what does that have to do with you not coming with me?"

"I just. . .it’s no secret your Dad doesn’t like me and-"

"Which is his problem, not ours," Jason cut in.

"And seeing me might just incite something," she continued as if he hadn’t interrupted. She reached up and touched the creases in his forehead. "Look, just go see your Dad, O.K.? When he gets better, then we can spring me and our marriage on him." She smiled. "I really don’t want to start our married life off by inadvertently killing your father.”

He smiled, and then nodded. "O.K." He leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on her lips. "I’ll go and see him. Keep it short. And then we can get back to our life, and leave my parents. . .this hospital. . .all of it behind."