Eternal Hearts (Incurable Hearts 2) (14 page)

Christopher

“That sounded like good news,” my mum said, as I put the phone down.

“Ava is coming home, she sai
d they wouldn’t be long,” I beamed, proudly.

“Good, she should never have had a reason to leave in the first place” she warned.

“It won’t happen again I can assure you”

I was just glad she was coming home. In the short time she had been staying here I can’t imagine my life without her. The pain watching Henry drive her away was as painful as losing Jas even though I knew I would see her again. Sixteen years I had missed out, there wasn’t a
single day I wanted to waste now. When she gets back I’ll tell her how sorry I am and promise I’ll never lie to her again.

My mum was the only one to stay when I sent everybody home. I was grateful for her presence, she was upset at the thought of Ava leaving when we had only just found her and angry with me of course. The smile on her face told me I was forgiven. I sat and unwrapped the gift Ava gave me before she left.
It was an album in the same style as the ones I have in the living room, I couldn’t believe it, she had never shown me these photographs before. They were of her as a baby, as a toddler and one school photograph. She was beautiful in every single one of them. She also looked happy in every one. I was touched she thought to do this.

“You can see both you and Jasmine in her at that age” mum said
, looking at a picture of Ava as a toddler.

“Jas should have told me about her, I would have helped”

“I know son, but you have her here now. That is all that matters”

“They should be back by now” I frowned.

“I’ll give Henry a call,” she said, getting up to get her phone.

She disappeared and I carried on
looking through the photographs, apart from looking at Ava in the photos, I looked at her surroundings in the background, the places the photos were taken looked clean and nice, her clothes looked clean and expensive, I relaxed knowing she was well cared for and loved, even if it was by strangers. When my mum returned she didn’t look happy.

“It goes straight through to voicemail, Ava’s too”

“Strange, I’m sure they will be here any minute”

We lost track of time engrossed in looking through the album, then looking through it again and didn’t notice how much time was passing.

It was a knock at the door that bought it to our attention.

“That must be them,” I said
, jumping up to let them in.

The second knock had me stepping up my pace, only the police knock like that. I opened the door and no surprise, there were two police officers standing on my porch.

“Are you Christopher Jenson?” one of them asked.

“Yeah, what can I help you with?”

“Can we come in?” the other one asked.

“Um, okay”

I was dying to know why they were here but it didn’t look like good news, so I didn’t ask, the longer I was in the dark, the better. I showed them through to the kitchen. I was expecting my mum to ask what I have done now but she didn’t.

“What is going on?” she asked beginning to panic.

“Are you Fiona Robinson? We were told she would be here,” the officer asked.

“Yes I am. Please tell us what has happened,” she begged.

“I am PC Brentwood and this is PC Macintosh. There has been an accident involving one Ava Collins-Reed and one Henry Robinson”

“Oh my god, are they okay?” mum asked
, suddenly gripping my arm for dear life.

“Henry has minor injuries, he
is walking and talking…”

“What about Ava?” I asked cutting in, anticipating their reply.

“Ava has sustained more serious injuries. She has been taking to Addenbrookes Hospital…”

“I have to go, mum are you coming?” I rushed her.

“Mr Jenson…” one of the officers called out but I was already out of the door. I wasn’t going to stand here when I could be on my way to the hospital to see my daughter. Banging my hand against the steering wheel didn’t help, I’ll never forgive myself for this, if I hadn’t lied in the first place she wouldn’t have ran off like that. I don’t know if the police left when we did or not, I was completely thinking of Ava, I kept telling myself she wasn’t dead, they would have told me straight if she was. With everything that had happened, I was going to fix this. I would not lose her. I put my foot down and drove straight to the hospital.

“I’m looking for Ava Collins-Reed” I asked the receptionist frantically, trying to keep my cool.

Her face was unreadable but then she wouldn’t know anything from here. A nurse who was passing heard me ask and lead us to intensive care. She is not dead, I repeated over and over. Then again, there are still a lot worse things that could be wrong.

“Where is she?” I asked again.

“Right here, she received a nasty bang to the head and as a result is in a coma, we won’t know the extent of her injuries until she regains consciousness.”

I forced myself to look through the window of her room, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. She was laying there covered in bruises and cuts, the amount of wires and tubes coming out of her scared the hell out of me.

“I was about to come and look for you,” my mum said.

I turned around to see whom she was talking to, Henry was walking towards us with his arm in a sling and scrapes down the right side of his face. Apart from that I wanted to know how come he was walking when Ava looked like she was about to knock on heaven’s door.

“What the fuck happened Henry?”

“We were on our way back when this maniac come swerving across the road, I couldn’t get past him. I tried to keep her safe,” he said.

I could see the guilt etched on his face. He was waiting for my blow, I wasn’t happy my daughter was in here but I didn’t blame him, not one bit.

“We know you did darling, by the sounds of it, you are both lucky to be alive. Who would be so careless?” my mum wondered.

“Good question, is he in here too?” I asked Henry.

I would like to pay him a visit and put him in the same place as Ava.

“From what I have been told, he carried on driving, so I imagine he is fine” he replied.

This was a joke, how can someone be so reckless and hurt someone so badly yet they walk away fine?

“How is she?” he asked.

“Take a look for yourself” I said, showing him the window.

“Oh my god. She was conscious until we hit the tree” he murmured quietly.

I felt sick at learning she was awake, watching what was coming, not knowing if she was going to survive it.

“You can go and sit with her, only one at a time though,” the nurse said.

I had forgotten she was still here.

I let Jas down when she was in hospital, today I had no time to think about it before I was through the door and by her side.

She looked even younger and more fragile lying there, unmoving. I took hold of her hand and softly held onto her. The only time in my life I have prayed was once for her mother and now for the second time, for my daughter, and then pathetically I prayed my pray would be heard. I know for a fact I can’t survive losing Ava as well.

Alex and Nat soon joined my mother and Henry. Their support meant everything to me, I could always rely on them whenever I needed them. I never once left her side, I didn’t even notice the time slipping away until a woman I didn’t recognise was standing at the window with tears in her eyes.

I watched as my mum went and spoke with her, and then in turn make introductions to my family. I was about to get up and find out who she was when Ava began to stir. She didn’t move much but it was enough for me to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

“Ava, can you hear me?” I asked eagerly.

She tried clearing her throat not realising she was hooked up to machines, it caught her by surprise and she began gasping for air.

“It’s okay Ava, you are in hospital,” I said
, trying to soothe her.

I was rushed out of the room by the doctors and told to wait.

“What’s going on Chris?” Everyone was asking at the same time.

“She woke
up and panicked,” I told them.

I guess everyone knew me well enough to leave me be, the strange woman was still talking with my mother but I paid her no attention, all I could think about was Ava. It felt like hours but the nurses began leaving her room, the last one out said I could go and sit with her again and that she was awake.

“Hey” I said, as I walked through the door and saw she was definitely awake. “How are you?”

I knew it was a stupid question but I had to hear it from her.

“Sore, they said I knocked my head pretty hard but there is no lasting damage. I have a couple of broken ribs and my arm is fractured in three places but apart from that I’m fine,” she said weakly.

“
I’m so relieved to hear you talking,” I said sitting next to her.

“So am I. I thought I was going to die” she shuddered as much as
her pain would allow her, “How is Henry?” she asked, beginning to panic as she remembered he was with her.

“He has some bruises but he is fine, he is more worried about you” I told her.

“This wasn’t his fault, you know that right?” she asked defending him.

“I know darling, the idiot
whose fault it is drove off and left you both. Look, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I shouldn’t have done what I did and then lied to you about it”

“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have left, I wouldn’t be in here if I didn’t” she said.

“Let’s forget about it then, start fresh” I offered.

“It’s a deal”

We sat talking like nothing had happen, which I was thankful for. We decided a holiday was needed, the whole family. A couple of weeks away, to relax and truly get to know one another, and for her to recuperate from her injuries.

There was a soft knock on the door before it opened, the woman from earlier gently walked in and smiled at Ava. I noticed Ava knew who she was.

“Hello darling, I have been so worried about you,” she said, coming to stand on the other side of Ava.

“I’m fine, I can’t believe you came all the way here”

“Of course I did, so, are you going to introduce us?” she asked Ava looking at me.

“Yeah, Aunt Grace this is my…dad, Chris Jenson, dad this is my Aunt Grace from London”

I couldn’t believe what I just heard, she called me dad. It was the final piece in this new chapter in my life. My daughter calling me dad, something she should have been doing since she learnt to speak.

“It’s nice to meet you, I trust you have been taking good care of Ava?” she said
, looking me directly in the eye.

What was it with me, am I only destined to meet strong willed women?

“He has been doing his best and he hasn’t been doing too badly,” Ava said warmly.

“Apart from ending up in here” Grace replied.

“That wasn’t his fault...”

“I know, I know,” she laughed softly, “I have been told what happened. So, the last time we spoke, you were looking to stay. Is that what you still want?” she asked Ava.

“Yes, do you mind?”

“I’m not going to stop you from being with your family, I still want my
Skype time and visits mind you. You will always be my niece and I’ll always love you”

It was plain to see the love Grace had for Ava. I wanted Ava to live with me permanently but I didn’t want to take her away from Grace. She will always be a part of her life and
I’ll be forever in her debt for raising her to be the young woman she is today. We had already planned our first family holiday, it was only right Grace and her family were invited too.

Ava’s face lit up when she heard my idea, she waited for her reply.

“Just let me know the dates and I’ll see what I can do. It has been a long time since we got away, it will be good to take a break.

“This is going to be the best holiday ever” Ava smiled at us both.

Seeing her smile like this and knowing she was happy filled me with joy. I never wanted her to lose it.

“
I’ll let you rest, I don’t think your dad is going to leave your side so I know you are going to be looked after”

She left shortly after giving Ava the third degree and threatening to come back down if she found out she wasn’t resting. She left me her phone numbers and her address in case I ever needed them. Ava fell asleep and as much as it pained me to leave her, I went to join the rest of my family.

“Hey, she is sleeping. Why don’t you all go home, there isn’t anything any of you can do here and she is going to be okay,” I told them all.

“You need rest too son”

“I’ll be fine, take Henry home, he looks like he is going to fall asleep on his feet” I said.