The Fourth Sunrise (22 page)

“
Because I started bringing in new material for her to read. She loved hearing my book about you. Then one day, I was reading to her and as clear as hearing a voice out loud, but I knew it wasn’t because I was alone in a hospital room and my mom was obviously not in any condition to speak, I heard the words: ‘Find the real truth.’”

“
Find the real truth!”

“
I know it sounds weird and there were many days when I thought my grief had started to make me slowly lose my mind.”

“
So, what did you do?” I asked.

“
I found the truth. It all started with me finding her letters.”

I took a deep breath and looked outside the truck’s side window. The night was still dark and the stars were the only lights in the sky. It was a beautiful night, and we were on the road to Aspen. We had about thirty minutes left.

“How did you find the letters?”

“
In her mailbox in Washington, D.C., I knew something was up when her post office box was the biggest one they had. I swear, when I walked up to it with her keys in my hand, it looked like a high school gym locker. Then I remembered how happy she’d be for a few days after she came back from Washington, D.C. Joel, the locker was filled with your letters chronologically organized.”

“
How could she save them all in the post office box? I know from running a leukemia foundation that the post office only allows a month of mail to stack up in your box, at most.”

“
This was one of those private post office box places, the kind that exist inside of packaging and shipping stores. Perhaps she had a private arrangement with the manager not to mess with her mail, just to let it stack up and let her store it in there. Anyway, it was full of your letters.”

I nodded.

“Joel, your letters just ended with no explanation. I didn’t understand. If things ended well between you and my mother on the third night, why weren’t there any more letters?”

“
How does the third book end?” I asked, hesitant to explain. “How does the
Third Sunrise
satisfy the reader and make them want to read possibly a fourth?”

“
It doesn’t. I have a loyal following of readers for my series but
The Third Sunrise
book just ends with a cliffhanger.”

“
Real life isn’t a romance novel,” I said.

“
Then why did you respond to the first email? You obviously hadn’t spoken to my mother for thirteen years.”

“
Why did I respond?” I laughed. “Have you heard the first part of the story, honey? I don’t have many years. All I knew was that Christine contacted me. When I got the first email from someone who I thought was your mother, it rejuvenated me. It made me feel alive again. I was young again, that first-kiss, first-love, only-love kind of young. Finally, it made me ‘feel’ again.”

“
What did you do over the last thirteen years that you didn’t talk to my mom?” Megan asked.

“
I bought a ranch and moved here.”

“
Here?”

“
Well, here being Delta, Colorado.”

“
Wait a minute! You moved to Delta, Colorado?”

“
Yes.”

“
When? I asked you where you were living but you never said Delta, Colorado.”

“
No, I didn’t. I did, however, say that I moved to a nice quiet place.”

“
Wow. All of this is amazing.”

“
So, when she said she wanted to meet back here, I was already living here. I have been here for the past ten years. I thought by now I might at least run into someone who ran into her, but…nothing. For ten years, I knew nothing about her. To be honest, it was all I could do not to go insane because I longed for her so badly that I moved to her hometown and waited, every day, for her to show up. There was some small comfort from the town, which had once been her town. I was drawn to it like it was somehow magical, just because Delta, Colorado, was where we met. Deltarado Days was even more magical, kind of like
Brigadoon
.”

“
Wow,” Megan said. “That’s one of my favorite movies. Once every hundred years, this Scottish village appears. And Tommy falls for Fiona.”

“
You got it. Deltarado Days felt like it only came every hundred years to me, but I still had to try.” I took a deep breath and paused for a second and then said, “Needless to say, not much had ever changed, not even after I moved to Delta. I loved her as much as ever. And Delta made me feel a little closer to her, even if she wasn’t there.”

“
The Delta connection is just tremendous. I think she is going to respond to you, Joel.”

“
Why? It’s almost too much pressure for me to handle. I don’t want to be your last hope.”

“
You’re not our last hope, Joel. You are and have always been our
only
hope.”

After that, we sat in silence until we were about five minutes from the hospital. I slowed down to the speed limit of Aspen streets.

As we neared the hospital, Megan said, “Joel, before we go in there, I need to tell you something. This has been on my heart the entire time I have listened to your beautiful story about my mom. Thank you for being the man my mom remembers. She remembers you exactly how you are. You are a beautiful man. Thank you for loving my mom the way she deserved to be loved. My dad didn’t know how. He was reliable, brave, and trustworthy, all of the Boy Scout stuff. But he was not interested in my mom’s happiness at the level that she needed as a woman—she wanted to be understood, to be cherished, even to be liked as an individual. Trust me, if he would have known what to do, he might had been stubborn enough to have tried it. But you, Joel, you are the real deal. You love my mom in a way that is right out of a storybook.
Her
storybook. I love you so much for that.”

“
You love me?” I was surprised to hear those words from anyone, especially Megan.

“
How could I not love the man who made my mom as happy as she was? She was always so happy after her Washington, D.C. trips, after she read the letters from you. She was so much fun to be with, and she absolutely glowed after her trips to read your letters—and now, having met you, I know why.”

“
Thank you, Megan, and I love you, too. It is so easy to love the child of the woman I love. Even still. The woman you have demonstrated yourself to be tonight is a heroic one.”

Megan and I hugged for the first time at a stop light. Hugging her felt like the same as hugging a niece and I had plenty of those. Between us flowed a platonic protective energy. We paused, and then Megan said, “You know, I have started writing
The Fourth Sunrise
.”

“
But it never happened.”

“
I know. But it
started
to happen. The hospital is right up this way.” Megan guided me into the hospital.

“
Will they let us in to see her at this hour?”

“
Don’t worry. The security guard has a crush on me and he lets me visit her whenever I like. He isn’t worried about me disturbing her sleep. She’s in a coma.”

“
That’s well and fine for you, but I doubt he has a crush on me,” I said.

“
He’ll let you through. I’ll tell him you’re my angel.”

Chapter Twenty-six

I parked my truck right outside Aspen Memorial Hospital in the visitor parking lot.

Megan led the way and sure enough, the security guy let us through.

My heart was pounding as it always did moments before I anticipated seeing Christine. This time, it would be different. She was comatose.

We made our way to the elevator and we went to the third floor.

When we got off the elevator, we made our way down a long hallway that seemed to last forever. Her room was at the end of the hallway to the east side of the hospital.

I held my breath as we walked in. I had no idea what she would look like. As I entered the room, I saw a woman lying on her back with IV’s in her arm.

I stared at Christine and she looked as beautiful as she ever had. She looked as if she was lying in peace. My heart dropped after I got over the fact I was seeing her for just the fourth time in my life. This was serious, and I had no idea what Megan’s plan was. I thought it was a farfetched dream that somehow my presence could wake her up. “Where is your brother in all this?” I asked.

“Let’s just say, my search for you was something I figured was on my own, and I didn’t want to give him any more false hope, just in case it all blew up in my face. We both already lost our dad. I just couldn’t get his hopes up and...”

“
I understand.” I walked over and asked Megan if she minded if I opened the curtains. It was still reasonably dark, but it was nearing 5:30 in the morning and the sun would soon be up. “What should I do?” I asked Megan. I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. What I wanted to do was to lie next to Christine and just cradle her in my arms. Under the circumstances, that seemed inappropriate.

Megan walked over to me and said, “Just take her in and when you feel like it is time, speak from a place that you have shared with her.” Megan glanced at Christine. “I think we got a response.”

“How would we know?” I asked.

“
Do you see how peaceful she is resting? She is calm.” As I watched, Megan grabbed a chair and placed it next to the bed. She gently took out Christine’s left hand and held it in hers.

“
Mommy!” Megan said. “I’m here.” She repeated that phrase three more times.

I concentrated on Christine’s aged, but still very beautiful face. As I looked upon her waiting for a reaction, all of the love in my heart just oozed out of every pore of my body and spilled into the room with an energy of its own. She wasn’t moving. Megan looked up and said, “She must be asleep. I’m going to speak a little louder.” Again, Megan told her mother she was there while holding her hand.

Then I saw it. Christine’s left eye twitched. “I saw it,” I said excitedly. “Her eye twitched.”

“
She is now awake. Her eyes aren’t open, but she is. I feel her, listening. She knows I’m here, but she doesn’t know you are.” Megan motioned for me to take her place, sitting next to Christine.

I held my breath a little longer than I desired because I made myself a bit lightheaded. I wanted the right words to come out of my mouth. I didn’t know what to say so I took Megan’s place, sitting to her left. Then I held Christine’s hand. The second our hands touched, I felt the magic that was always between us. “Hello, sweetheart,” I said.

There was no movement. Then I said, “Slow dancing with you in the library was single-most greatest moment of my life. The second and third dance weren’t bad either.”

Then something happened that Megan had previously said she had only felt: her mother’s smile. I saw a very slight smile. Christine knew I was there. She knew I was beside her.

“Christine,” I said. “I have always loved you more than anyone should ever love a woman from afar.” I held her hand tightly. Then I released it a bit. Then the most amazing thing happened when I eased up on my grip. I felt her trying to grip my hand! Christine’s small hand was showing the slightest bit of strength. I looked up at Megan. “She’s gripping my hand!”

“
You’re kidding! She has never done that for me. I am lucky to get a twitch and a feeling.”

“
She has a hold of my hand.” I lifted my hand up slightly to show Megan that Christine was indeed gripping it.

Tears burned in my eyes and a warm tingle spread down my spine. I was so scared to believe it was really happening, that Christine was aware, when I had walked in here, not really believing there would be any reaction to my presence.

“Read to her, Joel.”

I looked at Megan and asked, “Read? What do I read?”

“How about this?” Megan reached in her bag and pulled out
The Third Sunrise
, the book she had shown me in the truck. And she began turning the pages to the end of the book.

“
Read it again, but change it,” Megan said.

I knew what I was going to do. I looked down at the letter and began to read it out loud with my changes created on the fly.

My Dearest Christine,

The day I first laid eyes on you was the most amazing, most heartbreaking experience of my life. Knowing how you have enriched my life in so many ways, I can't ever imagine a world that you aren't a part of. But today (I sit by you holding your hand) and I am (62) years old. I have quickly become the age I feared the most. I have known you for almost (44) years. That is amazing to me. I have seen the woman of my dreams only (three times) in my entire life. Because of you, my heart is full each day. But also, because of you, I ache every second of every day that I haven’t been with you.