The Journey Home

by Kelly Elliott

  “Don’t do this to me,” I whispered. Jack looked up, confused. I repeated myself: “Don’t you take this from me.”

  Jack was about to speak when the doors to the waiting room opened and Tim came walking out. Everyone jumped up and made their way to him.

  Tim looked at me, nodded, and smiled before turning back to Mitchel and Mary.

  “Tim, please tell us what’s going on,” Mary said as she wiped tears away.

  Tim took a deep breath before speaking. “He’s in a medically-induced coma.”

  I closed my eyes briefly and silently prayed.

  “There’s some swelling in his brain, and they’re not sure if there has been any brain damage.” Tim looked at me and then at Mitchel and Mary. “To allow the swelling to go down, and allow faster healing the doctor’s feel it’s best to take this approach. I’ll let them talk to you more about that. He broke his left femur, along with three ribs. Cale also suffered a splenic rupture. The doctors were able to repair it without having to remove the whole spleen.”

  Mary let out a small sob as she said, “Oh, thank God.”

  Mitchel cleared his throat. “How long will they keep him in the induced coma?”

  Tim shook his head. “That will be up to his doctor. They will schedule him for a CT either first thing in the morning or possibly even later this evening. He’ll talk to you about all of that.”

  Jack walked up to Tim and reached for his hand. “Jesus, dude. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been on the boat with us.”

  Tim smiled weakly. “I’m glad I was there.” He walked up to me. “May I talk to you in private, Maddie?”

  “Sure,” I said as I followed him down the hall to the elevator. He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair as we stepped in. We stood in silence until the doors opened and we walked to the cafeteria where he ordered a cup of coffee and a bottled water.

  When the girl looked at me, I smiled and said, “Just a bottle of water for me, please.”

  We sat down at a table and I tried to smile, but he was scaring me. What if he didn’t tell Cale’s parents everything? What if something else was terribly wrong?

  “You’re starting to scare me,” I said.

  He frowned and said, “I’m sorry. Shit. I didn’t mean to scare you, Maddie. I just didn’t want to ask you this in front of everyone.”

  I stared at him. “Okay. Ask me what?”

  He looked down at his coffee, then back up at me. “Are you pregnant, Maddie?”

  My jaw dropped. “How did…how did you know?” I asked. “I just found out this morning.”

  He smiled and nodded. “The way you kept touching your stomach today. The flush on your cheeks. My wife did the same thing when she found out she was pregnant. When they say you glow…you really do glow. Cale had told me something was different about you today. He said you were so happy. I overheard you telling him you wanted to talk to him alone. I wasn’t being noisy, I just overheard and figured it out.”

  I smiled and felt heat move across my face. “You have a child?”

  “Almost. She’s due in two weeks,” he said, sitting up taller.

  “I didn’t know. Congratulations!” I said, looking away. He reached to take my hand.

  “What is it?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip and I fought like hell to keep my tears at bay. “A little bit ago, I felt a pain. A sharp pain, like a cramp. What if…” A sob escaped my throat and I sniffled loudly. “What if I lose the baby?”

  He shook his head. “Maddie, cramping is normal, especially in a first pregnancy. Don’t stress about it. Stress is the worst thing for…” He stopped talking and looked away. “Well, shit. Just try not to stress about Cale. I promise, he’s going to be okay.”

  I let my head hang as the tears began to fall. “What if he has brain damage? Or he can’t remember me or Lily?”

  He squeezed my hand tighter. “Have faith. Pray hard and keep positive.”

  I nodded and said, “I will, yes. I will, for sure.” I saw Monica and Jack approaching us. I smiled as Jack helped Monica to sit down.

  “Man, before you know it, I’ll need to be lugged around by a cart or something.” Monica said. She looked between Tim and me. “Is everything okay? Tim, were you holding something back up there?”

  “No. I just wanted a few moments alone with Maddie. Just making sure she’s okay and all that.” He turned to me and winked. I smiled and mouthed, Thank you.

  I spent the rest of the evening convincing Mitchel and Mary to go home to shower and change. Jack and Monica were picking up Lily from my neighbors’ and were planning on staying at our house so that Lily would be more comfortable. My heart hurt for her—I’d left with her so upset.

  When they finally got Cale into an ICU room, and everyone had left, I made my way to his room. I sat at the side of his bed and took his hand. The nurse told me that Cale could hear everything I said. I’d tried to stay strong and positive, but I couldn’t. I lost it and began crying.

  “Please don’t leave us. Please, God. Please don’t take him from the kids or me. Please.”

  MY BODY HURT everywhere. I tried like hell to respond to Maddie. Was I just dreaming she was talking to me? She kept crying. Asking me not to leave her. But I would never leave her.

  Jesus it felt like I had been hit by a bus. Where was I?

  “The swelling is completely gone,” a voice said, “and all scans show normal brain activity. We just need him to wake up now.”

  I didn’t recognize whoever was talking. His voice was deep, and I didn’t know it.

  “Why isn’t he waking up?”

  Maddie.

  “Just keep talking to him. He’ll wake up when his body is ready.”

  I felt someone touch my hand and warmth spread through my achy body.

  Maddie.

  “Cale? Baby, please wake up now. Lily keeps asking for you. She’s been saying ‘Daddy.’ Not ‘Dada,’ but ‘Daddy.’” She sniffled, faintly crying. “I really need you. Please. Please come back to me. I can’t live without you. I can’t lose you.”

  I forced my eyes open. Everything was blurry. I looked around and my head was pounding. I’d never had such an awful headache in my life. I tried to take a deep breath and stopped almost immediately.

  Oh, fuck. I’d hit the side of that boat. It was all coming back to me. I’d turned my body as best I could, but my left leg hit first. I remembered hearing a cracking sound. I’d closed my eyes before the rest of my body slammed into the boat, and that was the last thing I remembered.

  I was pretty damn sure my ribs were broken, since it hurt to breathe. My left leg hurt like a son of a bitch.

  Maddie had her eyes closed and she was holding my hand. I wanted to just look at her before I said anything. When I saw a tear slide down her face, my world about fell apart. Our wedding. I’d fucked up our wedding.

  I tried to talk, but nothing came out. Maddie dropped her head onto the bed as she cried. I lifted my fingers some to show her I was awake and could see and hear her.

  Nothing.

  Swallowing hard, I forced myself to talk. “Maddie…” It came out barely a whisper.

  I moved my hand more and she lifted her head and looked at our hands.

  “Maddie…” I whispered again. She snapped her head up and looked at me. Tears streamed down her face as she jumped up.

  “Cale? Did you say something?”

  I nodded. “Maddie,” I whispered, hoarse.

  The smile that spread across her face lit up the entire room. “I love you so much.” She started crying harder, but she also laughed. She gently kissed my lips. When she pulled back, her eyes searched my face. “We’re selling the boat.”

  I laughed, then quickly stopped and groaned. “Ribs…so sore.”

  “Oh, God. I’m so sorry.” She kissed me again before hitting the call button. A few seconds later, a voice spoke.

  “May I help you, Ms. Powers?” a nurse said.

  She grin
ned bigger. “He’s awake.”

  “I’ll page the doctor now.”

  Maddie’s smile faded as she wiped away more tears. “You scared me, Cale.”

  I shook my head. “I’m so sorry. I would never do anything on purpose to hurt or scare you. I hate knowing that you’ve been so upset.” I remembered the wedding. “What day is it?”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head as if she, too, had lost track of the days. “It’s Tuesday.”

  “Tuesday? What? The wedding is in three days. How long…holy shit. I’ve been out since last Thursday?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. They had you in an induced coma for a few days so your brain swelling could go down and your body could heal a bit before you began moving around. Your spleen tore, but they repaired that, too.”

  Jesus. All the worrying and pain I’d put her through. I hated myself. “My ribs…are they broken?”

  She cleared her throat and gave me a sad look. “Yes. Three broken ribs, and the femur in your left leg.”

  Son of a bitch. “Yeah. I remember hearing something in my leg crack when it hit the side of the boat.”

  She grimaced. “Oh, Cale.” She leaned down and kissed me. “I…love…you…so…much.” She kissed me after every word, then sucked in my lower lip and began kissing me more passionately. When the door opened and a male voice cleared his throat she pulled away.

  I smiled and winked. “Well I know one thing that isn’t broken.”

  Her face flushed and she stood, taking a few steps back as she continued to look at me with nothing but pure love in her eyes.

  I SMILED AS my mother walked in holding a tray. I inhaled the best I could and said, “Oh, man, Mom. That smells good.”

  She smiled and set the tray down. There was fresh, cut-up fruit, two whole-wheat rolls, and a huge bowl of chicken and dumplings.

  “Well, hell. If I’d known breaking a few bones would get you to cook like this, mom, I’d have done it years ago.”

  Mom sneered at me. “Funny. I didn’t make it though. Your bride to be made it.”

  I pulled my head back and looked down at the chicken and dumplings. “Maddie made this? My Maddie?”

  She giggled as she pulled up the side chair and sat down. She grabbed the remote and put the TV on some stupid reality show. “Yep. Your Maddie.”

  I spooned up some of the soup and a dumpling and blew to cool it off. The moment it hit my tongue, I was in heaven. “Damn. Mom, did you have some of this? I had no idea Maddie knew how to make chicken and dumplings.”

  She nodded. “Yep, it’s really good.”

  “It’s delicious. Where the hell did she learn this? The dumplings are homemade.”

  My mother laughed and looked at me. “She’s an amazing woman. She loves you so much, Cale. It practically pours off of her.”

  My heart slammed in my chest. “I love her so much, too.” I took another bite. “Hey, Mom, can I ask you something?”

  She changed the channel to some show where people were rushing around and making cupcakes. “Or course you can, Cale,” she said. “You can ask me anything.”

  “Why do you think Maddie hasn’t gotten pregnant yet?”

  She picked up the remote and turned off the TV. She turned her whole body to face me. “Cale, I know how badly you both want a baby. I’m thinking right now it’s probably a good thing Maddie isn’t pregnant. I can’t even imagine what the stress from the last two weeks would have done to her and a baby.”

  I nodded. “It’s been five months since we started trying. Five, Mom. Damn. Zoey practically got pregnant the second I touched her. It isn’t fair.”

  She narrowed one eye and looked at me. “Do you regret Lily?”

  “What? No. My God, I could never, ever regret her. She’s my life.”

  She nodded and looked away for a few seconds. “What Maddie needs is to not think about it. She needs to relax, and just know that it will happen when it happens.”

  I took another bite of my dumplings. “I think she’s given up.”

  “What? Why would you say that?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. She hasn’t talked about it lately. I mean, I know she got busy with planning the wedding, and Lily’s first birthday. But these last few days…she seems so happy. Like she’s content with everything. But I’m far from being content. We should be married now. We should be on our honeymoon right now and working on that baby. Now she’s home, cooking dumplings.”

  “Maybe she enjoys this lifestyle. Maybe she likes being home and taking care of you, cooking your favorite things. By the way, she made lemon cheesecake.”

  I licked my lips and moaned. Lemon cheesecake was my ultimate favorite thing.

  My mother smiled and said, “I’ve never met anyone like Maddison. She’s strong, but willing to lean on others. She’s smart as hell. I swear, though, sometimes the girl lacks common sense.”

  I chuckled, trying not to move much.

  “She’s probably the best mother I’ve ever seen. Far better than I ever was. I watch her sometimes and wonder why I was never that way with you. I make excuses, of course. I was too young when I had you. I wasn’t really ready to be a mother. I got caught up in a world I really didn’t want or need to belong in—”

  “Mom,” I said. “You weren’t a bad mother…always.”

  She made a face at me. “Ha, ha. The bottom line, Cale, is that girl would walk over hot coals for you. The only thing she truly needs in this world is your love and Lily’s. If you’re meant to be blessed with another baby, it’s in God’s hands.”

  The door to the bedroom opened and Lily came walking in. “Daddy! Bird!”

  My heart broke that I couldn’t spend much time with my girl. “Hey, Princess.”

  Monica came in behind Lily. “Peanut missed her daddy and threw a pretty massive fit to get into this room.”

  I smiled as my mother picked up Lily and brought her to the other side of the bed. She set her down and Lily looked at my dumplings. “Nummy!”

  I chuckled and then groaned when pain shot through my side. I put some of the soup on my spoon and blew on it to cool it off. Lily had her mouth open and ready for some yummy goodness.

  “When did she start saying that?” I asked, putting another spoonful in her mouth.

  “About a minute ago,” Maddie said as she leaned against the doorjamb, watching me feed Lily between my own bites.

  “Well, the kid sure is smart.” I said with a wink. “Takes after her father, that’s for sure. Knows a good, home-cooked meal when she tastes one.”

  Maddie laughed and came over to kiss me on the forehead. “Do you like it?”

  “Like it?” I said. “I love it. Where did you learn to make it?” I took another bite and Lily pulled on my arm for more.

  “Michelle has been teaching me. Today’s lesson was lemon cheesecake.” She wiggled her eyebrows and I moaned.

  Mom stood up and picked up Lily. “You know what your father and I need? We need time with the little princess here. How about if I take Lily for tonight and most of tomorrow? That gives y’all a bit of time to just relax. Maddie made enough chicken and dumplings to last five days.”

  Maddie laughed as she watched my mother. “Mary, are you sure? I know I could use a day of sleeping in.”

  I’d been home from the hospital for a few days, and my parents had been here ever since the accident. Monica and Jack had practically camped out in our house for the last three days, and I was pretty sure Maddie was ready for everyone to leave.

  “I’m positive. You’re probably sick of seeing Mitchel and me. And I need my own bed again.” She started to walk out of the bedroom as she talked to Lily. “Come on, Princess. Let’s go pack an overnight bag and plan our slumber party.”

  Thirty minutes later, the house was cleared out and it was just Maddie and I. Except I had no clue where Maddie was. I was about to call out for her when I saw her standing at the door. She was wearing a light blue corset and her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail
. She looked hot as hell. My eyes trailed up and down her body and I licked my lips, taking in the thigh-high stockings that were help up by a matching powder-blue garter belt. She had on white pumps.

  “I’m pretty sure I just died and went to heaven.” I said as she ran her tongue along her lips.

  “I figured that your broken bones didn’t mean I couldn’t show you what I’d planned to wear on our wedding night.”

  I closed my eyes and moaned. I wanted to bury myself deep inside of her. “Fuck. Maddie, you’re killing me here.”

  She put her finger in her mouth and then pulled her hand out from behind her back. I chuckled as I watched her put the nurse’s hat on. She slipped two hairpins in and winked at me. “Nurse Maddie is here to take care of you, Mr. Blackwood. Are you finished with your lunch?”

  I looked down at the empty bowls. I’d eaten everything my mother had brought in. Maddie took the tray from me. She turned and started out the door, but not before looking over her shoulder and saying, “I’ll be back to give you a sponge bath after I take this to the kitchen.”

  I pulled the covers away to reveal my favorite pair of sleeping shorts. I looked around. No way I could take them off by myself with this damn broken leg and my messed up ribs. I yelled out the bedroom door, “Maddie! Bring scissors with you when you come back.”

  She poked her head around the corner and gave me a puzzled look. “Why?”

  I pointed down to my shorts.

  “Your shorts?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I want you to cut them off.”

  Maddie came back and stopped in the doorway to our bedroom. She slowly began to walk over to me. The come-hither look on her face instantly had my poor dick jumping in anticipation. I wondered how the hell were we going to have sex when I had so many broken bones.

  “Did you bring scissors?” I asked.

  She moved to the right side of the bed and crawled onto it slowly. We had a Tempur-Pedic mattress, thank goodness. I didn’t feel Maddie moving on the bed.

  “Oh, ye of little faith,” she said. “I’ve got this.” She slowly moved up and gently kissed me on the mouth.