Love's Second Chance (Second Chances Series)

by L. P. Dover

Laying my head in my hands, I cried. I cried for the loss of another human being, for the man that lost his wife, for Galen, and for Carson. My heart hurt for them all. I was thankful Galen got his kidney, but my heart shed tears for the other man. I knew his pain, and I knew his loss. “Can you give me his name?” I asked Jason.

  “I’m sorry, Korinne, but I’m not at liberty to give his name out. If you want, I can always give him your information. When, and if, he’s ready to ever come in contact with you he can. He’s in a sad place right now, and I know he needs this time to mourn his wife. I know you understand.”

  “Of course,” I agreed. “Please tell him how sorry I am, and also how grateful I’ll always be for this.”

  “I will.” Jason smiled. “Now go see your husband. I’m sure he’ll be waking up soon. He has a lot more to live for now, and he doesn’t even know it yet.”

  Grinning widely, I nodded. “Yes, he does.” Leaving Jason’s office, I secretly wished I knew who the man and his wife were that saved Galen’s life. Maybe one day I would find out, but at that moment I couldn’t have been more thankful.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Wow! You have an amazing setup here,” Sarah said as she walked in the door.

  I finished placing the last ornament on the tree and turned to her. “Hey, Sarah. Yeah, I was hoping we were going to be at home for Christmas, but unfortunately, we’re not,” I said, looking toward the bed where Galen was lying.

  Sarah frowned and looked over at Galen. “His numbers are good though. The tests are coming back normal and the transplant seems to be doing well.”

  I sighed. “I know. Every morning I keep saying it’s going to be the day, but then it never is.”

  “Maybe you’ll get a Christmas miracle. After all, miracles do happen,” she added, glancing down at my stomach.

  Looking down, I smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. They do happen, but I fully give credit for this little tyke in here to Galen,” I said, rubbing my belly. It was still flat, but in a few months I’d be showing. I couldn’t wait.

  “I see you brought the tree and everything.” Sarah laughed.

  “Of course. We couldn’t have Christmas without the tree. Other than his birthday, Galen’s favorite day is Christmas. My mom even made his favorite Christmas snack in hopes he’d wake up for them. I have a whole tin of them waiting to be eaten.”

  Sarah looked at me and smiled. “Galen would be crazy not to wake up. I can’t wait for him to find out about the baby. Although, when he wakes up, I have to admit I’m going to be sad to see you go. I’ve enjoyed talking to you while you’ve been here.”

  “Ohh …” I drawled out while pulling her in for a hug. “I feel the same way. It’s been great hearing stories about Carson, and getting to know you.”

  “And the same for you,” she replied. “So where is everyone?”

  “They’ll all be back in a couple of hours. Galen’s mom refused to eat cafeteria food on Christmas day, so she’s making dinner and bringing me a plate. She also said that the baby needed to eat something healthy.”

  “Well, she’s right. You know how mothers and mother-in-laws can be pushy sometimes, but at least you know they care,” she said to me. Looking down at her watch, her eyes went wide. “Oh hell, I need to hurry. I have to go clock in or I’ll be late. I’ll see you in a little bit?”

  “I’ll be here,” I answered warmly.

  Once she was gone, I went to sit by Galen’s bed. All of the gauze had been removed, so he didn’t look like a mummy anymore. I took his hand in mine and leaned over to kiss him gently on the lips. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart, you will not believe the amount of peanut butter balls my mother made for you. I swear you’ll have a ton of them to last for weeks. I’ll make a deal with you … if you wake up, I promise not to eat them all.”

  I waited for him to banter along with me, but he didn’t. Taking the tin from the table, I opened it to reveal the chocolaty goodness inside. “So help me, if you wake up over this my mom will never let me live it down,” I said out loud to myself.

  The scent of peanut butter filled the room and I fanned it across Galen’s nose, thinking he would wake up. “All right, Galen, here goes peanut butter ball number one disappearing into my mouth.” I placed it in my mouth and moaned the whole time I chewed it. It didn’t work, but it sure did taste good. “Peanut butter ball number two, here it comes,” I said lifting it to my mouth.

  “You’ll make yourself sick eating all of that chocolate, Korinne,” Elizabeth teased. I turned and smiled as Brady and Jenna came in carrying huge boxes alongside her.

  “You know my brother is going to be pissed if you eat all of his peanut butter balls,” Brady warned, but then burst out laughing. “Oh never mind, go ahead. He deserves it after keeping us waiting for so long.” After Galen’s accident I had come to the conclusion that Brady joked like that to brush off how he truly felt. I could see it in his eyes that he worried for his brother.

  “That’s why I was taunting him, in hopes he would wake up.” I sighed.

  Jenna piped in and said, “You know your mother will never let you live it down if he wakes up over the peanut butter balls.”

  “I know.” I laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

  “How about we eat some dinner and sing Galen some Christmas carols?” Elizabeth suggested. “It is Christmas after all.”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” I murmured.

  The boxes they brought in were all filled to the brim with food and presents. I stood there frozen, watching all of them pull out the contents. “Oh my,” I breathed. “Did you bring the whole kitchen?”

  “I told Mom she was overdoing it,” Brady chimed in. Jenna was off to the side and nodded her head behind Elizabeth’s back, agreeing with Brady. I stifled a laugh and that earned us all a scowl from Galen’s mother.

  “You can’t tell me you all would have rather ate cafeteria food?” she asked, looking at us all. When no one answered she smiled triumphantly. “That’s what I thought.”

  Once everything was taken out of the boxes, we all grabbed a plate of food. The morning sickness still knocked me on my ass at times, but nothing could stop me from eating the plate of food in my hands.

  “What are we going to do if he doesn’t wake up?” Brady asked. Everyone paused to stare at him, completely taken aback by the question. “I mean, there is a possibility that he won’t. I just wanted to know what we would do,” he stated quietly.

  They all turned to look at me then. I guess to see what I was going to say. Looking at them I said, “He’s going to wake up. I can’t afford to think otherwise.”

  “Of course he’s going to wake up, Ducky, but it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan if things don’t work out,” Jenna replied.

  I got up from the table to go to Galen’s bedside. “I understand that, but it’s Christmas. We need to celebrate the good things right now and not the bad.” Everyone smiled at me and nodded their heads. The mood was lightened for the time being, but I would have to face the choice eventually if Galen didn’t wake up.

  “How about we sing some songs?” I suggested, thinking maybe it would get us in the Christmas spirit.

  We crowded around the bed and sang Christmas songs to Galen until we could sing no longer. Nurses that passed by the room even came in and sang with us. The time eventually began to get late and it was wearing down on us all. Our hope for Galen waking up on Christmas day was slowly diminishing with the passing time. Deep down, I thought it would’ve been Christmas that would pull him from his slumber.

  “Korinne, honey, I’m going to go home and get some rest,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll be back in the morning. Make sure you call me if anything changes.”

  “Will do. Are you all leaving?” I asked, looking at everyone.

  Jenna gave me a hug and nodded. “We’re all exhausted and you look like you could use some sleep, too.”

  “I know, but I’m staying here with Galen.”

  “We
know,” she whispered. “Merry Christmas, Ducky.”

  “Merry Christmas, Twink.”

  Once they left, I settled into the recliner by the bed and covered up with a blanket. That is how I slept for the past two weeks, curled up on the recliner, holding Galen’s hand on the bed. Christmas night was going to be no different. I hadn’t slept well since the accident, but sitting there exhausted and tired, I fell into a deep and dream-filled sleep.

  “What are you doing, love?” Galen asks.

  Turning around abruptly, I see Galen coming up behind me. “Oh my God, Galen!” I yell excitedly. Running to him, he catches me into his arms and I plant my lips fiercely onto his. He feels so real, so solid. “Are you really here?” I ask.

  Galen laughs and takes my face into his hands. “Of course I’m here, why wouldn’t I be?”

  I ran my hands over his face, his arms, and over his stomach. There were no bandages, no broken bones … nothing wrong at all. “You’re not real,” I cry.

  “Babe, you’re not making any sense. I’m standing here right in front of you. You’re touching me and I’m touching you. How could I not be real?”

  “This is a dream, Galen. I’ve wanted to dream about you for weeks, and now this is my chance … my chance to spend time with you.”

  I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest. He smells like he always does and I breathe him in deeply. “Please come back to me, Galen.” The tears come harder and I grip onto him to keep me in the dream, with him.

  “Don’t cry, my love. I will never leave you.”

  “But you don’t know what’s happened,” I said sadly.

  Galen lifts my chin and kisses me on the lips, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. I promised you I would never leave you and I will always keep my promises to you.” He takes his hand and places it on my cheek. Lifting my hand, I intertwine my fingers with his to keep his hand in place and to savor any and all contact with him while he’s awake in my dream.

  “I love you so much, Galen.”

  He stares deep into my eyes and smiles. “And I love you.”

  “Korinne, wake up.”

  “No, I have to stay with Galen. I can’t leave him,” I said out loud with my eyes still closed. I wanted desperately to fall back into the dream. The fogginess had begun to clear and my eyes snapped open. “A dream, it was all a dream,” I whispered.

  “Korinne.” The sound of my name stopped me cold. The voice was achingly familiar, and it was a voice I hadn’t heard in weeks.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I closed my eyes and asked, “Are you real?” I waited for a few seconds and then I heard the voice again. Surely I couldn’t be delusional?

  “Let’s see. I’m in the hospital with two casts and some broken ribs. I only know that about the ribs because it hurts like hell trying to breathe. Although, I do feel a little messed up. It must be the pain meds.” The grip on my hand tightened and I gasped. My eyes shot to the bed, and there he was, a smiling and wide-awake Galen. I was up in a quick second and showered him in kisses, my hugs, and my love. “Maybe I should get hurt more often,” he mumbled against my lips.

  “That’s not funny,” I argued. “I was so scared.”

  “What happened to me?” he asked, sounding confused. “I remember the car and that’s about it.”

  His voice sounded dry, so I poured him a cup of water. “Here, drink this,” I said while holding the cup for him.

  “Thank you.”

  “You were out for about three weeks. Hence, the Christmas tree,” I responded, pointing to the tree.

  “How is my family?” he asked. I glanced at the clock and smiled. There was only thirty minutes left until midnight. I groaned and lowered my head, thinking about how my mother was definitely going to tease me. “What is it?”

  “Well, first your family is fine. They actually left not too long ago. I’ve stayed here every night since you got out of intensive care. My mother, however, is never going to let me forget about this day.”

  “Why is that?” he asked curiously.

  “You see that tin over there?” I said, pointing to the red Santa tin on the table. “Well, that whole thing is full of your favorite Christmas snack from my mother.”

  “That whole thing is full of peanut butter balls?” he asked in awe. His eyes were as wide as could be and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yes, well anyway, my mother tried to say that you would wake up if she made them for you. I actually tried bribing you with them.”

  “Did you now?” he asked, trying to laugh, but grabbed his side, hissing in pain.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t laugh?” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, it’s a bad idea,” he ground out. “I’m curious though, how did you bribe me?”

  I smiled and turned my head. “I said I would eat them all if you didn’t wake up.”

  “You could have them all and I wouldn’t care right now. I may have been out for the count, but I know I missed you. I can feel it,” he admitted softly. “Oh, Kori, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have taken the bike out. I shouldn’t—”

  Putting my fingers to his lips, I shook my head and cut him off. “It is I who needs to apologize. If I wasn’t sick you wouldn’t have left to get me medicine.”

  “I couldn’t stand to see you suffer,” he cried. A tear escaped the corner of his eye, and I wiped it away.

  “I’m fine now. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “What damage did I go through?” he asked wearily.

  “Oh my, I think you went through everything. First off, you had a head injury which led to the coma. You broke your leg, arm, and three ribs all on your right side. Your leg will have some scarring from the road rash, and lastly, you needed a kidney transplant.” I took in a deep breath and let it out quickly. That was a lot to say in one breath.

  Galen stared at me in surprise. “Wow! I guess I got lucky.”

  “I wouldn’t call any of that being lucky,” I mumbled.

  “I wasn’t referring to that. I was saying I was lucky that I got a kidney so fast. Most people have to wait for those things, don’t they?”

  “They do, but yours came by surprise,” I confessed to him.

  “How is that?” When the tears started forming in my eyes, his face fell and he began to look angry. “Korinne, you didn’t, did you? Please tell me they didn’t use your kidney.”

  I lifted our intertwined hands and placed a finger to his lips. “I was going to give you one of my kidneys, but it didn’t work out.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” he sighed. Giving him an evil look, he shied away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. So whose kidney did I get? It couldn’t have been my mother or my brother. Did Jenna do it?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Then who?”

  Taking a deep breath, I sighed. “There was a woman that passed away a couple of weeks ago. She died while you were here, and she happened to be your same blood type. Her husband gave the hospital permission for them to give you her kidney.”

  He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it. He did that a few times until he finally got the words out. “Oh wow, I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for him.”

  “I know,” I cried.

  “Do you know who the woman was or her husband?” he asked.

  Shaking my head, I said, “No, Jason wouldn’t tell me. I told him to give the husband my information so I could talk to him someday, but I doubt the man will call.”

  Galen shrugged. “Probably not, but it would be nice to tell him how thankful we are. I know I would love to thank him. So who’s this Jason you’re talking about?”

  I smiled. “Jason Andrews is your doctor and surgeon. He did both surgeries, the one on your skull and the one with your kidney. He used to also be one of my good friends. You’ll meet him soon.”

  We sat in silence for a second while Galen seemed to be contemplating something. “Would you have really given yo
ur kidney to me?” he finally asked.

  “Of course I would. You would have done the same for me, wouldn’t you?” I asked incredulously.

  “In a heartbeat. So why couldn’t they use yours? I thought we had the same blood type.”

  “We do,” I smirked. “But there was a reason why.” I let go of his hands and walked over to pick up the blueprint from under the small Christmas tree.

  “What are you doing?” he asked and smiled.

  “I’m giving you your present … Merry Christmas!” I shouted and handed him the blueprint.

  “Oh no, we were supposed to turn this in to the builders weeks ago,” he groaned.

  “It’s okay. I had to make some changes,” I assured him.

  He narrowed his eyes and said, “But I thought we finished it.”

  “We did,” I replied. I said no more after that because I was too excited watching him unroll the blue print. He was going to find a major surprise inside.

  When it was completely unrolled, the picture taped inside caught his attention. He took the picture off and narrowed his eyes at the layout. Glancing back and forth, he looked confused. “Are we adopting?” he asked, looking at me. “I swear this extra room says it’s going to be a nursery.”

  I smiled. “No, we’re not adopting.”

  “Then why do we need a nursery? This picture is of a baby, right? Or at least it looks like one,” he joked.

  I took the picture and placed it over my stomach, looking down at what was the image of our child. When I glanced up, Galen had tears in his eyes. “Please tell me this is true,” he cried.

  I nodded excitedly. “It’s true, Galen.”

  He held his arms out and I gently leaned down on him. “I would do anything to be able to hold you tight right now. I can’t believe we’re having a baby. You have no idea how happy this makes me.”

  “Believe me, I do. It didn’t seem real at first, but it is. You gave this miracle to me,” I sobbed whole-heartedly.

  “No, my love, we gave it to each other.” We held each other, crying and laughing for hours, and when the sun came up it shone through the blinds. A new dawn and a new beginning was what were in store for us.