Defining Moments (A Moments In Time Love Story 2) (13 page)

Heat stayed away for over two hours, and every one of those minutes Melisa shook with fear. She paced around the house and glanced out the window more times than she could count. Several times, she had considered going to the inn, but it could make matters worse. So she stayed put, feeling as if she were going to throw up. When the clock struck midnight, she called his cellphone, but it went straight to voicemail. Since there was nothing else she could do, she took a shower and climbed into bed.

When Heat arrived a few minutes before 1:00 a.m., Melisa was still awake. With sluggish movements and without saying a word, he got undressed and climbed into bed next to her.

Melisa bit her lip and inhaled silently, gathering the courage to ask him. “How did it go?” she murmured in the darkness.

All Melisa heard was his labored breathing. He shifted, and she could feel his breath fanning her cheek. He had come close. He could bear to be close to her. She sighed with silent relief.

“Horrible,” he said finally and flicked on the light.

Melisa’s heart broke when she saw his eyes. He looked as if he had been crying. “What happened? Did you get to talk? You didn’t hit him again, did you?”

Heat pulled himself to a sitting position, leaning against the pillows. “Not this time. God knows I wanted to. We talked for a while, then he got sick… a bout of stomach cramps.” He shook his head. “I’m so pissed at him and I want to hate his lying ass…but I understand how you feel.”

“Is he okay?” Melisa asked, sick with worry.

“When I left, he was. I tried to talk him into going to the hospital but he refused. The landlord’s daughter, Charlotte, is a nurse. She gave him something for the pain.”

“What if she tells someone?”

“She didn’t seem to know who Scott was. She calls him by his fake name. And her mother assured me that no secrets leave the Drawbridge Inn.” He paused. “I can’t believe he’s back. It was scary to watch him suffer.” Even if he was too angry to admit it to anyone, watching Scott in so much pain had affected him deeply. And he felt the overwhelming need to be there for him. “What he did was twisted. I don’t even know who he is. But why the fuck do I still care about him?”

“What you feel is normal. No matter what he did, he used to be an important person in your life. That’s why you’re finding it hard to turn your back on him.” Melisa closed her eyes and sent up a prayer of thanks. Heat was on her level. They could share their fears with each other.

“I guess you’re right.” Heat turned to her with a small smile. “Did you mean what you said earlier?”

“I said a lot of things.” Melisa laughed, even though there wasn’t much to laugh about.

“Did you mean what you said? Do you love me more than you loved him?”

Melisa didn’t hesitate. “Yes. You are the love of my life.”

“Then”—Heat drew her to his side and planted a kiss on the top of her head—“we’ll get through this. Like we made it through all the other shit.”

Melisa swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yes, we will. Where do we go from here?”

“The only thing we can do at the moment is be there for Scott until… He said there’s no cure for him.”

Melisa nodded, her eyes burning. “He’s just waiting. I feel so sorry for him. I do care about him, you understand that, right? I will hurt when…”

“Yes,” Heat replied. “I know. I will hurt too. I asked him to stay in Serendipity for a while so we can be there for him. He has no one else.”

“Thank you… thank you for doing that.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t find what he did disgusting. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for what he put you through. It’s just…” He shook his head. “There’s not much time left.”

“What about us? I’m so sorry for not confiding in you.”

“I understand why you didn’t, but Mel, you should have told me. You should know by now that you can trust me. I’m your husband. But you’re here, you’re home. That’s what matters to me right now. Everything else, we’ll figure out later.”

Scott’s health deteriorated from one day to the next. He still stayed at the inn, and Melisa and Heat stopped by daily to see him. Heat came in the mornings after his shifts and Melisa in the evenings after leaving the bakery. Not wanting to flaunt their relationship in front of Scott, they never visited him together.

The second week after the truth came out, Melisa dropped by to bring him some pies and cakes from Mel’s Delights and was shocked to see a very different man. He was thin and frail-looking, his eyes hollow and jaundiced, his hair thin and lifeless. She wished she could run away, avoid seeing him dissolve into nothing. But she couldn’t. They had promised to be there for him no matter how hard it got.

“Scott, I think you should go to the hospital,” Melisa begged him again as she plumped his pillows. “Maybe they can do something.”

Scott shook his head. “It’s too late. There’s nothing they can do apart from pumping painkillers into my body. Charlotte is helping me with that.” He dabbed sweat off his brow. “All I can do is wait.”

He was right. Charlotte, who came to see him every two days or when he was in intense pain, did take great care of him. Melisa had watched her tend to Scott with a gentleness that was often reserved for children. She was about Melisa’s age, a single mom with piercing blue eyes and long brown hair that she kept braided, who seemed to genuinely love taking care of people. She even carried a keychain with a slogan that read
Proud to be a nurse
.

True to her word, Charlotte didn’t mention to anyone that she was treating a mysterious man at her mother’s inn.

“Don’t worry,” she’d told Melisa the night they met, “I’m no blabbermouth. It’s no secret that the people who stay here are running from something.” She dabbed Scott’s forehead with a cool cloth. “My mother enjoys helping people who no one else wants to help, and who have nowhere else to go. She believes there’s good in every person. I warned her it could be dangerous, but if she has a room free, she never turns anyone away.” She handed Scott a pill and a glass of water. “I don’t know what your friend here is running from, but that’s his business. The only time I’ll say something is if I suspect him to be a danger to my mother. But I think he’s too sick for that.”

“Charlotte said her father died from cancer as well,” Scott said, breaking through Melisa’s thoughts. “She took care of him until the last minute.”

Melisa sighed, but her heart was breaking. “Fine. But promise me to keep drinking.” She handed him a glass of water. It was late in the afternoon and the water jug next to his bed, which Mrs. Drawbridge brought to his room every morning, was still full.

“What’s the point?” Scott put the glass back down again without taking even one sip.

Melisa understood. She wanted to hurl anything and everything breakable at the wall, wanted to curse whatever had brought this fate upon Scott. She wanted to scream and shout and sob. But she had promised herself she would not cry. She wanted to believe that maybe, if she didn’t cry for him yet, he might live longer. One day more, one week, one month, maybe six? But she knew it was not realistic of her to wish for him to live beyond a month or two. He looked like he wouldn’t even last another day.

Heat, too, was tortured daily by his best friend’s worsening state, and he always looked defeated after seeing Scott. But he and Melisa both tried to ignore the inevitable and pretend life was normal, even as every day the Scott they’d known and loved slipped further away, and they knew the end was fast approaching.

Today, Melisa stayed longer so she could have dinner with him, to make sure he ate. But he only ate a quarter of his food before nausea seized him. She helped him to the bathroom and as he bent over to vomit, she gazed up with her eyes closed. Tears broke through her resistance, poured down her cheeks, and trailed down her neck to be soaked up by her blouse.

A few minutes later she cleaned up, wiped his face, and tucked him into bed. She went home feeling as if the weight of the whole world were pressing down her shoulders. Heat was at the station, so she talked to Carlene over the phone to update her on what had been happening. Then she checked up on Ben, and finally curled up in bed with a bowl of ice cream for comfort and a movie for distraction. For the next two hours, she tried to forget.

It didn’t work. Her stomach was in knots and she stayed perpetually on the verge of tears. In the end, she perched at the windowsill and gazed into the darkness, wondering when the curtain would fall.

Melisa sighed as she trudged down the corridors of the Drawbridge Inn.

When she neared Scott’s door, she slowed and held her breath, as she always did whenever she came to visit. She had no idea why. After a busy day at Mel’s Delights, she was exhausted. She wanted to go home, have a bath, eat dinner, and go straight to bed. But she had promised to come and see Scott every single day. And each day counted, since they had no way of knowing which would be his last.

Something didn’t feel right. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but her whole body sensed it. Breathing out, she knocked. Mrs. Drawbridge had given her and Heat a key, but she’d forgotten it at Mel’s Delights. She paced in front of the door as she waited for Scott to open it, knowing it would take him some time. She waited a while, then knocked again. She pressed her ear to the door and heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner. Who would be vacuuming Scott’s room? It couldn’t be him, since he broke out in a sweat just walking to the bathroom, and Melisa had told Mrs. Drawbridge that she would be cleaning Scott’s room and not to send a cleaner.

She tapped on the door again, calling out Scott’s name this time.

The sound of the vacuum died and the door was yanked open by a tall, bottle-blond cleaning lady.

“Hi, I’m looking for…” She tried to remember Scott’s fake name but couldn’t. “I’m looking for Mister… The man who’s staying in this room.”

“No,” the woman said in an annoyed voice. “This room is not occupied. The person who stayed here left this morning.”

Melisa’s breath froze inside her lungs. She craned her neck to look past the woman but there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room. “He left? By himself? He was here last night. I saw him. Did he check out or move to another room?”

“He was picked up by an ambulance.” She sighed and placed a hand on her hip. “Look, lady, I’ve got work to do. You should talk to Mrs. Drawbridge.”

“Thanks,” Melisa said, and the woman closed the door. Melisa stood in front of it for a few more heartbeats. Her knees felt too weak to carry her. Finally she forced herself to move, her heart thundering in her ears. Maybe Scott had decided on his own to go and be treated at the hospital after all.

On her way to Serendipity Memorial, Melisa called Heat. He said he’d meet her and didn’t ask any questions, which was just as well, since she had no answers. And she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know them.

She found parking easily and ran into the hospital and through the corridors, to the information desk. She was lucky enough to almost collide with Charlotte, who looked very apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I had to bring Mike in. He was beyond my help. I couldn’t let him die in my mother’s…”

Melisa’s heart plummeted. “Where is he? Is he…?” She couldn’t even bear to say the words.

Charlotte shook her head again, but her face remained sympathetic. “No. He’s alive. But I don’t think for much longer.”

“Tell me where he is, please.” There was no time to care about Scott being seen by someone who knew him. If Charlotte had rushed him to hospital, it must have been serious.

Charlotte led the way to Scott’s room. “He’s in there.” She pointed through the large glass window. “You can go in and see him. He was asking for you.”

“Why didn’t you call me immediately?”

“I didn’t have my cell phone, and Mike was in too much pain to remember your number. I was on my way to contact you now.” Her pager beeped and she peered at it. “I’m sorry. I have some things to attend to. Go and be with him.” She squeezed Melisa’s shoulder and hurried away.

Melisa wanted to walk into the room to be by his side, but couldn’t find the courage. She was sure the smell of death that had surrounded Scott for weeks was much stronger now, and she wasn’t ready to breathe it in. She pursed her lips and placed the flat of her hand against the cool glass, wishing even from a distance that he would feel her touch and hang on to whatever threads of life were still within his reach.

She remained outside for a long time, and watched the man she used to love lie attached to all kinds of blinking and beeping machines, his face gaunt, his thinning hair plastered to his forehead. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, still holding on. For how long? A few minutes? Another hour? Another day?

As she thought about losing him forever this time, tears pricked her eyes and the part of her heart that used to love him shattered into a thousand pieces and crumbled to dust. She wished Heat would get here fast. She didn’t know how she would handle it if Scott died right now. She needed someone to help her hold it together.

Almost as if her prayers had been heard, she turned and saw Heat running down the corridor toward her. He must have been in the area to get to the hospital so fast. Or had she been waiting outside Scott’s room for longer than she thought? He gathered her into his arms and she clung to him.

“We should go in,” he said as he released her. “He needs us.”

Melisa nodded.

Holding hands, they entered the room, and at that moment Scott opened his yellowed eyes and gave them a weak smile. Melisa let go of Heat’s hand. She knew how hard it must be for Scott to see them together. He was suffering enough.

“Are you okay, man?” Heat asked, his face riddled with concern. “You have to hang in there, you understand?”

“Too… too late,” Scott said, almost in a whisper. “I’ve lost.”

Whether he was talking about losing to death or losing Melisa, she had no idea, but his face was wracked with a dark sorrow she wished she could wipe away.

“We love you.” Melisa forced herself to be strong for all of them. “We’ll never forget you.” She sat at his bedside and took his frail hand into both of hers.

“Thank you.” He stretched out his other hand toward Heat, blinking furiously. “Take care of her for me.”

Heat glanced at Melisa. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” Scott’s voice weakened and his eyes were on the verge of closing. “Can I have a… one moment with her?”

Heat squeezed him on the shoulder. “Sure you can. I’ll be right outside.”

When Heat left the room, Scott watched Melisa for a very long time, a tiny smile on his lips.

For a moment she looked past the skeleton on the bed and saw the man she had fallen in love with. She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. “I forgive you,” she said as a tear plopped onto his pale skin. “I forgive you for everything.” She didn’t want him to go wherever he was going with a guilty conscience. But she still prayed a miracle would happen and he’d be healed. Even if they were no longer a pair, she wanted a world with his smile in it.

“You were my first love, you know?” Scott said weakly. “I know Heat is yours. We were not meant to be together. But I am blessed to have had you in my life for many happy years. I couldn’t ask for more. I will always love you, Melisa… forever. Be happy.” The last word was barely audible, but Melisa heard it. Scott’s lips twitched in a wavering smile and he closed his eyes.

Before the machines started beeping, Melisa knew the time had come. She felt like she was drowning as she laid her forehead against his and sobbed, her tears spilling onto his face and down his cheeks as if he, too, were crying. But he couldn’t. Never again.

He was gone.

She wanted him back. Why had he returned to Serendipity? If he hadn’t, she would never have known, would never have watched the life drain out of his body. She would never have hurt him by having to choose between him and Heat. If he hadn’t returned, she would have been happy with the man she loved first. But he had come back, and she’d had a chance to say goodbye—a chance she was grateful for, but it still hurt so much.

She closed her eyes and forced her mind to conjure up happy images of Scott—his glinting, grey eyes, his crooked smile, how happy he had looked on their wedding day. She tried to recall years of memories, but they were all clouded. As she cried harder, she heard someone else enter the room, or more than one person. She didn’t lift her head from Scott’s.

“Come back,” she begged. “Please come back.” She lifted her head and looked down at his tear-stained face. She wiped the tears off with the bed sheet and kissed him on the cheek, breathing in deeply, searching for his smell, but it was not there. He had taken it with him.

“Mel, baby, he’s gone,” Heat said as he tried to pull her away from Scott’s body. The man who had borrowed that body was no longer there.