Clean Romance: Loves of Tomorrow (Contemporary New Adult and College Amish Western Culture Romance) (Urban Power of Love Billionaire Western Collection Time Travel Short Stories)

by Unknown

  “What is the prognosis?” asked Doug as he closed his eyes and barely held back his own tears.

  Mascow put the chart beside him, and finally looked up to make eye contact with Doug. “His brain was damaged. He will have lifelong injuries because of that. Because the left side of his brain has been damaged, there might be partial, or full paralysis of the right side of his body. He could very well have a lot of behavioral issues, which is hard to tell at this point. The severity of the effects has yet to be determined. He’s actually immobile and on life support. When he awakens, we’ll be able to get more answers.”

  Doug sprung his eyes wide-open and raised his voice, in partial excitement, and partial disbelief. “So, he’ll definitely wake up then?”

  Mascow never came out and said it, but he wishes he would have phrased the prognosis differently. Instead of saying ‘when’ he awakens, it might have been better if he said ‘if’ he awakens. “I say with complete sincerity and hope that he does. I really mean that. In most cases, persons with a traumatic brain injury do survive, but I can’t make any guarantees.”

  Sheila moaned and sobbed even louder. Mascow gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder and excused himself. “I will leave you folks alone, and respect the fact that you want privacy.” He walked out of the room and gently closed the heavy, wooden door.

  Kayla quietly walked up to Sheila, and wrapped her loving, warm arms around her. They fit together nicely in their loving embrace, because at 5’9”, Kayla could easily hold the head of the 5’1” Sheila under her chin. They held each other softly, and stilled themselves as they tried to make sense of the situation.

  Doug patted his wife on the back and rubbed it softly, over and over again in the same spot. “Sweetheart, I want you to go and get yourself something to drink or a snack. You need something to keep you going.”

  “But, what if he wakes up and his mom isn’t by his side? I would be a failure if that happened.”

  Doug engaged in a loving, soothing chat with her. In essence, all he really did was ensure her that he would call her cellphone immediately if Stephen woke up. When she finally left, he took a seat on a cheap, brown, vinyl chair. “Kayla, thank you so much for being here. Would you be able to do something for me?”

  Kayla walked over to him and squatted herself right in front of his chair. She nodded. “Of course I will. Just tell me what you need.”

  He pointed out three fingers and made a short list. “I just need three things from home. First, get the red remote control car. That’s Stephen’s favorite. When he wakes up, I want him to have it. Second, I would like you to call his school teacher and explain to her that he’s not going to be in class for a while. Lastly, call Pastor Rick and tell him exactly what happened. Can you do those three things for me?”

  Truth be told, she had already planned to call Pastor Rick. As a Christian, she looked up to him and his church leadership to help people grow to love Christ. He was the one that reached out to her and mentored her. He eventually won her over and got her to follow Christ. “Of course I can do those things. I’ll do them right now.”

  She briskly walked out of the room and moderately thudded the door closed. Doug was all alone in the room by himself, which was something that he often tried to get. During times of extreme distress and disappointment, he liked to be alone. He liked it quiet. He liked the solitude and yearned for it.

  He didn’t know how long he would have to wait in the waiting room, but in many ways, he really didn’t care. He just wanted his son to wake up, and well, just to survive and live. Every parent’s worst nightmare is that their child will tragically die, especially at a young age. That’s the barrel of the gun that Doug was staring down.

  Doug knew that he would be in the waiting room for a while, but he still underestimated it. Instead of it being just ‘a few hours’ or ‘a while’, it ended up being eighteen hours. Sure, he left momentarily to do things like go to the bathroom or make a phone call, but he was pretty much a makeshift prisoner.

  Then, a glimmer of hope arrived. The resilient, and precious Stephen, woke up. The hospital was able to remove him from life support, but he was far from recovered. He was having delusions and confusion. Grammatically speaking, he also couldn’t organize his speech and communicate clearly.

  Arguably the most tragic part, was that the right side of his body was not moving. It was not moving at all. Mascow was right. There was hemiplegia – or paralysis on the entire right side of his body.

  The real damning part of his problem, is that Stephen is right-handed. Not only would he lose the motor functioning on one side of his whole body, but it would be the dominant side. That meant difficulty writing, grasping, and having full muscle strength.

  Sheila got her wish. She was right beside him immediately after he woke up, as was Doug. Kayla was asleep at home, but she was promptly woken up by a phone call from Sheila. “Sheila! He woke up! He’s alive.”

  Kayla leaped out of bed and burst out one, excited comment. “Praise God!”

  It took a few weeks, but Stephen’s ability to understand the reality around him was coming back. He wasn’t sad, per se. He didn’t complain about his injuries or loss of motor function. He just wanted to go home and play. He was a boy, and that’s what he loved. He asked a lot of questions, though. “Mommy? When will my right side be fixed?”

  A tear slowly leaked out and she delicately held his hand as she answered. “Sweetheart, sometimes when things are broken, we can’t always fix them. Your right side might be broken for a while, but you’ve got your left side working just fine.”

  Stephen looked over at his limp arm, and then looked up at Sheila while he lay in his hospital bed. “Can I still play? Even if I only have one side that works?”

  She smiled from ear-to-ear as she nodded and kissed him on the forehead. He could not only play, but she would make sure that he did play. “Of course you can. You can even still play with mommy and daddy.”

  Young children have a habit of saying whatever is on their mind, whether good or bad, polite or impolite. That was Stephen, for sure. “I want to play with daddy, not mommy, because he likes to play catch!”

  For the first time in a few weeks, his parents had laughed as they took a little comfort that they were getting their son back. Of course, they didn’t want him to be paralyzed, but they drew that up as a side issue of minor importance. They were so happy that he was alive, that they frankly didn’t care about his hemiplegia.

  Neither parents had ever dealt with a traumatic brain injury before, nor did they know a family member who had one. Through no fault of their own, they didn’t have any idea just how awful and rough it would be to cope with a child who had one. They were told the usual things from the medical community – that it would be hard, and would require a lot of work.

  Some things can only be accurately understood when they are experienced, though. To draw a comparative illustration – replacing a car engine is hard, complicated, and frustrating. A person might be told that would be the case, but only a person who has ever replaced a car engine would know how it truly feels. The same is true with a traumatic brain injury, but regrettably, a brain cannot be replaced.

  *****

  “Stephen! Dinner is ready!” shouted his mom from the kitchen.

  He walked out as best he could – with the bracing of a child’s walker. He stepped slowly, and paced himself into the dining room. He took a slow, and meticulous seat onto the dining room chair. He sniffed and pulled his lips into a smile. “Mm! Pasta.”

  As was often the case, Kayla was seated at the table and joined them for dinner. She smiled over at Stephen and gave him a loving pat on the back of his hand. The still-five-year-old stuck out his tongue playfully at her and laughed.

  Kayla squeezed his hand softly and brought her chin to her chest. It touched the small, golden cross on the necklace chain. “I’ll pray for us.”

  Doug and Sheila closed their eyes and waited patiently. Kayla spoke passionately a
nd with full energy. “Lord, thank you for giving us this dinner together. I thank you so much for blessing this wonderful family, and for giving many blessings onto me. Please allow us to enjoy this meal. In the name of Jesus, amen!”

  Stephen reached his left hand out to get some of the spaghetti, but Kayla scooped some up for him. He sneered and frowned at her. “I can get it!”

  Kayla pulled back her arm and put it on her lap. She didn’t mean to make him feel bad. She just subconsciously did it because she has a helping, and kind hearted. She watched him try to whirl the pasta onto a dinner fork, but he was having trouble.

  The pasta was not staying in a neat roll, and was sliding off the fork. When he tried to quickly plop the spaghetti onto his plate, it fell on the table instead. “Oh! Man!” he madly threw the fork aside and splattered some sauce on the floor.

  Kayla felt bad and didn’t want to see him struggle anymore. If she could have thought of a way to eat the pasta for him and nourish him instead, she would have even done that. She wanted him to have a nice meal, and enjoy it. “Stephen, I would be honored to help you with that. I’ll get some for you.”

  She scooped a large wad of pasta onto his plate. He then pointed to the salad with the romaine lettuce, in a large wooden bowl. “Can you pass that bowl over to me?”

  Sheila reached out and pinched the edge of the bowl between her thumb and fingers. She placed it in front of his plate. He began to pinch the salad with the tongs, when Kayla again reached over to try and help him. “Here, let me…”

  She snatched the tongs from him, and pinched some salad onto his plate. He put his elbow on the table and rolled his eyes. The loving mother, not surprisingly, noticed and asked him what was wrong. “Stephen, are you okay?”

  He squealed a complaint and managed to rise up from the dining room chair. “Can’t I just eat without everyone doing everything for me?! I’m not a crippled loser!”

  He braced himself with the walker, and hobbled his way back into his bedroom. When he arrived at his destination, he slammed the door closed. Much like his father often wanted, he wanted to be alone – with piece and solitude.”

  Kayla bit her bottom lip and felt like a real jerk. She felt like that quite a bit. She felt like that for years, actually.

  When she was a little girl, her father abused her and always made a point to call her useless. The factory-worker would come home from a hard day and hit her when he upset her. It was sometimes with his fists or a stiff belt. If he was really upset, he would use a whip that he made out of a snipped garden hose.

  Nearly every day brought a thrashing from him. His ‘useless’ daughter took the blame for everything that upset him – from a bad day at work, to money problems, to vehicle problems, to relationship problems with his wife.

  That’s another part that made it even more traumatic – her mother. Instead of rushing to her daughter’s defense, she would just give the green light and let it happen. He would beat her, and she would sit around and watch. Sometimes, she would smoke a cigarette, while other times, she would ‘comfort’ her daughter by telling her that the beating would be over soon enough.

  Eventually, the police found out because her mother blurted it out. It was a stupid move, but she turned in the father for the abuse, and gave them explicit details. He was then arrested, tried, and convicted.

  The detectives then found out that she did not assist or report him for many years. In most legal cases, simply knowing about a crime and not reporting it, does not lead to criminal guilt. When it comes to child abuse, reporting is mandatory and is punishable for those who don’t report it.

  That’s what happened with mom. She knew and didn’t report – at least not until Kayla’s father had an extramarital affair. When mom found out, she nailed him with a divorce and reported the abuse, so that he would get, in her words, his ‘just deserts.’

  He got his just deserts, and so did she. When the nine-year-old Kayla was removed from the home and placed into foster care, Doug and Sheila entered the picture.

  They became the new mom and dad and they were great at it. They helped with homework, spent a lot of time together, and were a loving family. When Kayla was old enough to move out and attend college, they made sure that she knew how precious and loved she was to them.

  Kayla, now 24 years-old, made them a part of her and considered them to be her real mom and dad. After all, they were the ones who stepped up to the plate and took care of business. She knew very well that there was always more to being a parent than to share DNA.

  When she 15 years-old, she finally made the decision to receive Christ and follow Him in everything she did. She joined her Baptist mom and dad and made a new life for herself. It was transformational, and more than good.

  “Can I go talk to Stephen? I just want to apologize to him” she said as she sulked.

  “Of course. You can just go into his room. Take your time” urged Sheila lovingly.

  Kayla walked down the long hall, and up to the pine, dark-stained door of Stephen’s room. She knocked and politely asked him if she could come in.

  “Whatever,” mumbled Stephen.

  She opened the door and he was sitting on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. He looked fine, but it was obvious to her that he was ticked off. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about how I treated you out there. I should ask permission before I help you.”

  Stephen pulled his head forward to look at her. His skin looked a little pale, but it wasn’t clear what might be going on. “Stephen, you look a little pale. Are you okay?”

  He nodded and then sighed deeply. Sometimes, it is amazing how even young children are able to conceptualize supernatural things, and deem what is fair and unfair. “I’m not angry about you scooping food, actually.”

  She hummed and made a soft clicking sound with her mouth. She was a little surprised to hear that, but didn’t know how to respond, or what to think. She finally poked him with a question about what he might be feeling. “Oh! I just assumed you were upset about me doing that. What are you upset about?”

  “I’m mad at God” he stated bluntly.

  She never would have expected such a comment from a little boy, let alone a boy from a deeply spiritual family. She stuttered after being struck by that question. “Uh…What? You’re mad at God?”

  He pouted ‘yes’ with a stiff tone as he nodded.

  She walked over to him and held his hand. Keeping solid eye contact, she asked him why. “I can’t believe in a million years that you would be angry with God. What’s the matter?”

  He put his objection as best as he could. “Mommy and daddy tell me that God always answers prayers. I pray to God every day, and I don’t think he likes me. I pray for my side to get better, to make new friends, to be able to do more things by myself, and he never answers me.”

  Kayla’s heart throbbed in sorrow. She really hated seeing such an innocent little boy suffer and have hardship. It tore the strings of her heart and made her agonize mentally. She always saw young children as innocent and worthy of love and affection. She hated the fact that he was hit by a car, and was now partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. “Honey, God always listens and answers prayers. He loves you with all of his heart.”

  The little boy tried to understand certain parts that were hard to visualize. “Well, maybe his heart isn’t big enough. Why does God let so many people get hurt?”

  And therein lied the golden question that many atheists and non-believers always ask about God. If God is so great, and so powerful, then why does he allow suffering and evil?

  Regardless of any religious beliefs people may have, that question is a tough one. For Kayla, that question stuck out like a sharp blade and took a slice out of her faith in God. The little boy had challenged belief in God and made her think.

  When she left Doug and Sheila’s home, different beliefs began to fester in her mind. Indeed, Stephen had a good point. Why did God allow such things to happen?

  ****
*

  “Hey Chuck. I’m going to be going to the YMCA to work out. Do you want to go?” she politely asked him on her cellphone.

  Technically speaking, they were a couple. Kayla visited his home to help take care of Stephen, so they talked a lot. One thing led to another, and they started dating. Their relationship was still budding though. It had only been together for just a few weeks.

  Kayla had a hard time bonding romantic relationships with other people. Her parents were abusive and mean. They didn’t show her any love. As such, she doesn’t really know what love is. By her efforts, she tried to prevent the relationship from even forming.

  One thing about Chuck is that he is persistent. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He kept hitting her with random acts of kindness. He would bring her a cup of coffee or help her with maintenance and repairs at her home. He kept popping up and he eventually got his way.

  He kept asking her to hang out and she kept saying no. She had tons of excuses. She was too busy, too tired, or simply didn’t feel like it. One day, she finally relented and agreed just to get him off her back.

  They went out to a dinner at a local Italian restaurant. She wasn’t even crazy about Italian, so she was dreading going there – especially since she didn’t want to go in the first place. The dinner was okay, but he wasn’t done with just a dinner.

  They went to a local park, and he said he wanted to sit and talk a while. She was lukewarm about it, but she didn’t see any harm – so she agreed. The park was just a few blocks down from a homeless shelter. Some of the locals were annoyed that the people living there always hung out on the street and were begging for money.

  He at least found a subject matter that she liked – pop culture. She was immersed in the latest gossip and news. They had discussed how Kim Kardashian had already had three spouses before she was thirty five years old. “I think she’s got some issues, to say the least” opined Chuck.

  A little girl and her mother walked up to the bench that Chuck and Kayla were seated at. When she walked up, Chuck smiled at her and said hello.