by Amber Lynn
“How.”
Reid barely heard the whisper coming from his left. After looking over to Lynne to make sure she saw the determination in his eyes, he’d focused on Sarah’s and his hands connected on the stark white sheet. His eyes darted up to Sarah’s face, searching for any signs he hadn’t hallucinated the word.
Her swollen face showed no signs that it had moved. Both of her eyes looked like she’d spent two rounds with Nico on the ice, not that Nico would ever hit her, but Reid had seen a few black eyes thanks to his hands.
“Long.”
Even with his eyes on her, Reid didn’t see her lips move. They were separated just a little, but there was no movement.
“How long what, Sarah? How long have you been in here? Six days. Let me call a doctor so they can take a look at you.”
Reid reached down with his free hand to grab the call button next to the bed, but Sarah quickly, or as quickly as a person who couldn’t really move could, squeezed his hand. He looked back up to her face, trying to gauge whether it was a thank you or hold on just a second squeeze. The move was silly, since Sarah had shown no signs of movement other than the slight squeeze.
“No. Not yet. Ask. Me. Again.”
Each word was labored as it seemed Sarah had to think about them and work up the energy to get them out. Reid forgot about hitting the button and reached up to gently rub the side of Sarah’s face.
“Ask you what, honey? Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait. Your parents are here and I know we’d all like the doctor to come in and check on you. It’s about time for them to make their rounds anyway.”
Reid briefly glanced over to Lynne and Jack and saw they were both on the edge of their seats. With how softly Sarah was speaking, they probably thought Reid was simply talking to himself again. He’d done a lot of that over the days, having complete conversations that he supplied both sides of.
“No. Ring. Ask. Me. Please.”
Her voice was a little louder. Reid heard a gasp from Lynne, telling him she was able to hear Sarah that time. Even with the emphasis, Reid wasn’t sure what Sarah was talking about. He felt horrible that he didn’t know how to give her what she wanted. There’d been a number of things he figured she’d ask about when she woke up, but whatever she was getting at wasn’t one of them.
“Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. Let me get the doctor.”
Reid reached down again to hit the button, even though Sarah’s hand squeezed his tighter. He was usually able to tell what she wanted without words, but that was because her eyes told him everything he needed to know. With them closed and only a simple command, he was lost to help.
“She wants you to ask her to marry her again. You’ve planned the whole thing out while you’ve been sitting there. You can’t blame her for wanting to see if you can make good on the promise of seeing you ride in on a white horse.”
Lynne’s words made him scoff softly. Reid had dreamed up about ten different weddings for them while he waited for Sarah to wake up, and he hadn’t been shy about sharing the extravagant ideas with her. He hadn’t been sure she could hear how crazy they were, but it had to be a good sign for their future if she was really asking him to propose before she could even open her eyes.
“Is she right? You want me to propose again?”
Instead of answering, Sarah squeezed his hand harder. It was all the indication that he needed to know that was what she wanted. He let a short laugh out as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.
“I promised you a proper proposal, and I’m not sure this qualifies. You’ve got a juicy drug cocktail working through you and I’m sure even with it you know that you’re a little beat up. I actually thought I’d do the whole proper thing the last game of the season. I’d be out there on the ice with a microphone giving a nice little speech to the fans to thank them for all their support and then I’d turn my attention to you and get down on one knee.”
When Reid said corny, he meant it. The last game of the season was months away, not exactly the timetable he wanted to work with, but the plan was still solidifying in his mind.
“Ask. Me.”
“Okay, okay,” Reid said has he switched the hand holding her so he could reach into his pocket.
He’d kept the ring tucked in there, not really thinking that a proposal was imminent. If anyone had questioned why he was glued to Sarah’s side, he had it handy to say she was his fiancé, and even though it wasn’t an official connection, he figured it held more weight than just being the boyfriend.
“I have a feeling by the time we get married, I’ll have proposed at least twenty times, because I will be doing this again after you’re up and around. Are you sure you don’t want to go over what happened and where you are? It’s been six days, so there’s quite a bit of catching up you need to do.”
Reid was worried how Sarah would take all the news, especially about Aaron. He highly doubted she’d be as happy as he was that the asshole was dead. Then there was the news that she had a long recovery ahead to get back up on her feet. There had been dozens of tests it seemed done on her spine, and none of them had showed permanent damage, but her legs were going to keep her from walking for months.
“Would you just ask her already?”
The tears in Lynne’s voice were impossible to miss, along with the sniffle following them. Reid had spent so much time crying that he was fairly certain it’d take until Sarah was up and walking around again for his tears to reproduce.
The iciness coming from Lynne had dissolved the second she’d arrived at the hospital. Reid had pulled some strings to get the Lewises on an immediate flight to Duluth to be with their daughter. Sarah had still been in surgery by the time they’d arrived and found Reid in the middle of a breakdown in the waiting room.
Doctors had told him very little about Sarah’s condition, which left him in a state of complete despondency. His family had been there with him, doing what they could to keep him focused on positive things. At that point, there was absolutely nothing positive Reid could think of other than the fact that they hadn’t come out to tell him Sarah was dead.
When Lynne got there, she took the hospital by storm, demanding answers. From the doctors and nurses and from him. Her need to know everything going on had snapped him out of his stupor. He was forced to tell her why Sarah had stayed with them for almost a month and break every happy thought she had about Aaron. She took her mistaken allegiance well, wrapping her arms around Reid and apologizing for the way she’d acted.
Reid never faulted her for wanting what she thought was best for her daughter. He just thought as her mother, Lynne should have known Sarah better than things indicated. With Sarah showing signs of comprehension and consciousness, maybe Lynne would have a chance to learn her daughter was her own person and didn’t need others to guide every decision she made.
“Well, I guess we know where you get your stubbornness.” Reid leaned down and kissed Sarah’s cheek while he slipped the ring on the hand he’d been holding like a lifeline. “Sarah Jean Lewis, you’re in absolutely no shape to answer this, and I say that with more love and respect than you can ever know, but would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
The ring was a little loose on Sarah’s finger, sliding on with no resistance. If he’d needed to put it on her other hand, they would’ve had to settle for the proposal sans ring, because of a sling restricting the movement of her right arm. Even without any specific injuries aside from bruises on her left arm, he was afraid to move anything too much.
“Yes.”
Reid wanted to hold her, kiss her, anything to celebrate the yes more than just sitting there holding her hand, but he knew it would have to wait. Liquid appeared at the corner of her eyes and he reached up to dab the moisture away.
“Don’t cry, not for this. There will be plenty of tears in the months ahead, even if I do everything I can to prevent them.”
“How bad?”
The idea of sugarcoating things was something Reid had
gone back and forth on. He didn’t think it’d be up to him to fill her in, which was why he kept suggesting getting a doctor to join them.
“I think we’ll have the whole in sickness and health thing down by the time the wedding rolls around. I’ve heard the doctors go over the list, but most of what I heard was the amount of metal they had to stick in you to put you back together. I’m pretty sure you’re classified as a robot at this point.”
Humor felt like part of the basis for their relationship, so Reid relied on it to try to lighten the news he didn’t want to relay. Sarah was already crying, and he wanted to keep them happy tears as long as possible.
“Not me. I know I’m alive.” Sarah said, stringing her words together a little clearer.
Reid expected they’d get around to it. That wasn’t right. He figured if Sarah had any recollection of what happened, that it’d be the first question she asked.
“We don’t have to talk about that now. Let’s get a doctor to come in and check on you. You haven’t even opened your eyes yet, so let’s focus on that before we dive into anything else.”
“Is he dead, or at the very least in worse shape than I am?”
The words were coming out fine, but her voice dipped down so only Reid could hear the question. Reid rubbed his thumb across the top of her hand and studied her face to see if there was any emotion he could pick up. Her voice had held no hint of what was going through her head, but the words gave him hope she’d feel close to the same way he did about Aaron’s demise.
Leaning down next to her ear, Reid whispered his answer. “He won’t be bothering us anymore, but let’s focus on you for now.”
“Are we still in Duluth?”
There were no secondary questions about Aaron. Reid had plenty of questions he hoped to eventually get answers to about what happened at the airport and in the car. He’d pieced together what he could, but there were things only Sarah could answer. Her memory didn’t seem to been an issue, like the doctors had warned it might.
“We are. Now that you’re up, I think we’ll start talking about moving you back home, but there’s no hurry. I made some calls and got all the best people I could to look over your files and the prognoses all seem good. There’s just going to be some work ahead to get you back on your feet.”
“You said six days. Isn’t your break over?”
Reid had watched as Sarah’s eyes moved behind their lids. He silently rooted for her to open them. When he saw her lashes separate a fraction after she asked the question, he held his breath instead of answering. Her grip on his hand became stronger as he watched the fight on her face. She wanted to open her eyes, and Reid knew more than anyone that when she wanted something, she got it.
He didn’t count the time he sat there in silence. He was grateful that Lynne and Jack hadn’t moved to take over his watch of their daughter, because they would’ve needed a tank to get him away from Sarah.
“You can do it. Let me see those pretty eyes of yours.”
The swelling around them had gone down quite a bit from the first time Reid was allowed to see her after the crash, but the deep purple hadn’t faded. Reid didn’t care about the marks. His fiancé would always be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Sarah grunted softly as her eyes inched open. She didn’t quite get them opened all the way, but Reid saw what he needed to in order to breathe easier. Her pupils were so small, making the green of her eyes even more pronounced. They seemed a little cloudy, but neither of them showed any direct damage from the crash.
The most important thing Reid saw when he looked in her eyes was the love she’d shown him in a very short amount of time. He knew people wouldn’t understand the fact that they were talking about marriage and their future together so soon after meeting, but all he had to do was look in her eyes to know that by her side was the only place he wanted to be.
Chapter Twenty-three
“You know, no one is expecting you to walk down the aisle on your own. I could carry you or grab a bunch of Reid’s teammates and make them carry you in like a queen.”
Jack had walked behind Sarah as she made her way to the doorway at the end of the aisle she’d walk down to meet her groom. Sarah’s plans were a little harder than she’d originally envisioned, but she was determined to walk instead of using her crutches or being carried. When Reid had originally talked about them being married, he’d said they’d get married that summer, and Sarah had done everything she could to hurry her recovery along and make that a reality.
The reality was that along with the broken bones, the spine that everyone thought had made it through the crash wasn’t quite okay when all the swelling went down. Once she realized the summer wedding wasn’t happening, Sarah focused on fall. Neither of them wanted to wait until even the summer date they’d talked about, but fall seemed like the earliest Sarah would be on her own feet. That was a requirement as far as she was concerned.
Reid’s schedule made things tricky, especially since the season would just be starting and he’d taken a leave of absence to be with her the season before. They’d had to wait until the schedule for the season came out before they could find a weekend he had off and get the invitations out. Sarah had thought it’d be a small event, but the last count she’d seen was over a hundred people in the confirmed column.
That was at least a hundred people who were going to see Sarah either make it down the aisle or fall flat on her face trying. Sarah was really rooting for the former.
Reid had lobbied for them getting married on the ice at the arena, which he assured Sarah would be covered to eliminate any slips. The idea had been considered up until they found a small church that felt like it had a history that spoke to them. They both got the sense of belonging in the intimate setting, and short of getting married in the backyard of their new home, there wasn’t anywhere they could come up with that gave them the same feeling. The home option was out because of the number of guests filling the church.
“I’ve got to do it myself, Daddy. He knows I’ve been working on it, but he hasn’t seen me walk on my own in almost a year.”
The leaves were turning shades of red and yellow outside thanks to the changing late October weather. There were no white horses bringing Reid down the aisle towards her, and the idea he’d had about them saying their vows while skydiving was quickly ruled out, but they were going to be surrounded by people who cared about and loved them both as they officially started their lives as a married couple.
“I know, but the father in me had to offer to make things easier on you. I think we both know that me carrying you all the way down that aisle would be as a momentous event as you walking, so we’ll let you be the center of attention. Just remember that I’m right here beside you in case you need someone to lean on.”
“You’ve always been there, so I expect nothing less. Are you ready?”
Sarah pushed away from the wall she’d leaned against to gather herself and smiled at her father. She’d only walked a couple dozen steps it felt like and even the stoppage didn’t help relieve how tired it made her feel.
“Am I ready to hand you over to my replacement as the man you depend on most? I’ll never really be ready for that, but I’m ready to walk down that aisle beside you and threaten Reid’s health if he ever treats you wrong.”
Sarah’s smile widened as she shook her head. She saw Jack signal the person standing on the other side of the door, who was the lucky person that got to trigger their entrance music. There had been all sorts of ideas batted around as far as how traditional the wedding would be. Sarah had teetered on whether to go the full formal affair with the same old music every bride marched down the aisle to.
The attire ended up as traditional as it came, with Sarah in a full white dress to make sure the skirt didn’t trip her legs up. She’d opted not to wear fancy heels, since she could barely walk in tennis shoes. The ballet flats that looked like they’d been in a war with a box of glitter were as dressy as she could get a
nd feel any safety about getting down the aisle.
Reid and his groomsmen were in black tuxes with pale pink ties that matched the bridesmaids’ tea-length asymmetrical dresses. Reid had Nico and his brothers standing up with him, none of which seemed excited about having to get dressed up.
On Sarah’s side of the aisle, Kellie was her matron of honor and a few friends from high school filled out the three other spots. One of those friends was May, who’d heard about Sarah’s accident and sent flowers with a long note about how their time apart had made her realize she never knew the real Sarah behind the girl who followed along with the pack. The note ended with a request to relearn everything she could about her best friend.
With all the rehabilitation Sarah had been working through, they hadn’t had a lot of time to work on rebuilding their friendship, but Sarah was happy to see her friend standing up with the wedding party when she rounded the doorframe after the first note of the song started.
The song was not traditional, but it said everything in its lyrics that Sarah wanted Reid to know about how he made her feel. It was about someone being hurt and let down over and over, but then someone walked into their life and made everything make sense. Reid claimed he felt the same way about her, but Sarah didn’t think he truly knew how much them meeting at the speed dating event changed her life.
For the first time in her life, she was the strong woman she’d always dreamed she could be. Decisions were hers to make, even if she had trouble telling him no. He never asked for anything he wasn’t sure she’d agree with, which meant so far things were working out in her favor.
Sarah focused in on Reid after she took a second to look around the room and see the smiling faces watching as she came into view. There were whispers she could hear passing around through the crowd, but once she made eye contact with her soon-to-be husband, the rest of the room didn’t matter to her.
