And if that meant she got all of her memories back, so be it.
The ICU was guarded by security twenty-four hours a day to keep patients’ visitors to a minimum. Luckily, the guard didn’t seem to be in much of a mood to do his job, because he didn’t look up from his phone as we passed him. AJ dropped behind me when I came to a stop outside Noah’s room. I gently knocked on the door then opened it. I smiled at her parents, who were sitting and reading as Noah slept.
“How is she?”
“Doing well,” Mr Ainsley answered. “She’s been asleep since we got here at half nine . . . If she asks, we’re saying we came in at ten like she told us to.”
I smiled as AJ moved into view beside me.
“Ajax, honey.” Mrs Ainsley got to her feet. “Lovely to see you.”
She moved across the room and gave him a hug, which he returned with enthusiasm – making Mrs Ainsley giggle as she swatted her hand against his chest.
“Still looking as gorgeous as ever, Mrs A,” he said, winking. “Your husband is a lucky man.”
“AJ,” a voice that brought a smile to my face said. “I know I’m stuck in the past, but you should’ve left those cheesy lines there too.”
I laughed as AJ crossed the room and gave Noah the gentlest hug I had ever seen him manage. He was a bear-hugger – even I’d got out of breath once or twice when he squeezed a little too hard – but he was as gentle as a feather with Noah now. I appreciated it, and I know she did too.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Nono,” AJ said to Noah, placing a loud kiss on her forehead. “You scared seven shades of shit outta of me, just so you know. Apologise.”
Noah laughed, and so did her parents. I smiled but I also watched her face, noticing how she winced ever so slightly with the action. Her head was still giving her trouble. I looked at her father, and he glanced at me at the same time, seeming to have noticed the same thing. I gestured for him to come out into the hall with me.
“I’m showin’ Elliot where the coffee and tea station is,” he said.
Noah’s eyes dashed to mine and I saw panic fill those pretty greens.
“I’ll be right back,” I assured her. “Promise.”
She relaxed, nodded and looked back at AJ, who was asking her why she hadn’t yet apologised to him and making her grin. I left the room with her father while she was distracted, and we walked down the hallway until we were out of earshot.
“The nurse told us she had a bumpy night,” Mr Ainsley informed me. “She didn’t want us to be called, but her headaches got bad enough that they gave her morphine to kill the pain. She’s having another MRI done this afternoon to compare with the earlier scans from when she was in her coma, but as far as the doctors are concerned, she’s a miracle. She can talk, her motor skills seem to be normal, and she’s engaging in conversation to try to jog her memory. The only obvious brain damage that they can see is the severity of her amnesia.”
I digested this as I shifted from foot to foot.
“What if she wakes up and forgets everything again?” I asked nervously. “I’ve read stories where a person will wake up every day and remember nothing from the day before. Someone like Noah, who hurt their head in an accident.”
It scared the life out of me to think something like that could happen to Noah on a daily basis.
“Son, you can’t go and worry about every little thing that might go wrong. The list would be never-ending otherwise.”
“You’re right.” I nodded as I scratched my chin. “Of course you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just scared shitless, but I can’t show it in front of her. She looks at me like I can make everythin’ better and I don’t think I can. I’m not the man she thinks I am, sir.”
To Noah, I was the man she knew when we were twenty-four, but that man no longer existed. I could see it in her eyes when I looked at her . . . she was in love with me, but not the man I was today; she loved the man she once knew. I couldn’t begin to think what I would do if she got her memories back and that love in her eyes faded to nothingness. It was a possibility I had to try to prepare for . . . She’d picked Anderson over me once before, so who was to say that she wouldn’t pick him again once she knew everything?
“You’re every bit the man she thinks you are and you’re more. You’re the man my child will end up with, I know it in my heart. I call you ‘son’ for a reason, Elliot.” Mr Ainsley embraced me before I could say a word. “Day by day, remember? We’ll see our girl back on her feet, just you wait and see.”
We separated and I straightened my spine.
“I’ve one other thing we need to talk about,” he continued.
Dread washed over me.
“What is it?”
“It’s Anderson. He showed up here in the middle of the night, and when the security guard wouldn’t let him in to see Noah, he threatened to file a police report.”
“He what?” I blinked in disbelief. “A report? On what fuckin’ grounds?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” Mr Ainsley pinched the bridge of his nose. “Doctor Abara, he’s the lead doctor who looks after Noah, he observed the night she awoke in Anderson’s presence and he doesn’t want him around her right now
