Operation: Endurance (When the Mission Ends) (18 page)

Colton gave his shoulder a squeeze as he left the waiting room.

They were on their second cup of coffee each when finally an older doctor came over to them, reaching out his hand. “Are you Chris Robertson?” At Chris’s nod, he continued, “I’m Dr. Andrews. Ms. Hyatt gave me permission to share her condition with you.” He looked questioningly at Colton.

“I’m sorry. This is my brother, Colton. He helped me bring her in this morning.”

The doctor gave a sharp nod before turning back to Chris. “Ms. Hyatt is suffering from a severe case of pneumonia. When you brought her in, her pulse oxygen levels were extremely low and her fever was extremely high. She’s also dehydrated and appears to be suffering from general exhaustion. We’re getting her admitted into ICU right now. She’s already on an IV and antibiotics so hopefully, we will see some improvement over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

“Can I go in and see her?”

The doctor gave a sharp nod. “She’s asking for you, but you need to let her rest. Don’t get her worked up. The effects of the medicine on top of her physical condition mean she’s going to sleep a lot. Don’t let it worry you. They should have her in her room in about fifteen minutes. There’s a waiting room in the ICU. You can wait there and I’ll send someone out to get you when they’re ready for you.”

“She’s going to be okay, right?” He needed that reassurance.

The doctor’s wrinkled face became guarded. “She’s young and overall healthy. There’s no reason for her condition to worsen, but we’ll know more within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

For some reason, that tiny reassurance didn’t reassure him at all. Every time he got even the slightest glimmer of hope, it was snatched away. That couldn’t happen with Julie. Not again. Somehow she needed to know that he was nearby and that he needed her to live. She couldn’t die.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later and things hadn’t improved any. If anything, Julie was getting worse. She hadn’t awoken since they’d admitted her. Chris knew that for a fact because he hadn’t left her side. He’d pulled his chair right up beside her bed so he could hold her hand, the one that didn’t have the IV in it. Her dark, inky lashes feathered over her pale cheekbones. He knew the moment that he left, she’d slip away from him and he couldn’t allow that to happen.

He lived in fear that the nurses were going to kick him out, but so far, they had left him alone. Maybe out of respect for Julie since she was on staff at this hospital, or maybe just
because his desperation over the situation showed. He didn’t really care why, as long as they let him continue to stay.

Colton and Penelope had both been in and out, urging him to go home and sleep, but he couldn’t do that. Something in his eyes must have shown that because they didn’t push too hard, just continued to place food and coffee into his hands at regular intervals.

Her every breath seemed to be a struggle, the rise and fall of her chest uneven, the rattle in her lungs terrifying. He looked over her beautiful pale face, almost the same color as the sheet, but the sheet actually looked healthier. The grey cast to her skin tone hadn’t dissipated and that scared him. She lay there so still. Always so active, the stillness scared him the most of all.

He would give up use of his leg just to see those hazel eyes open and focused on him again. She’d said that she loved him on the way to the hospital. Had she always loved him? And what about Aaron? Knowing where her mindset had been since Aaron died, he was really scared that she’d just give up.

He stood and leaned to press his lips to the top of her head, taking in her essence of jasmine and pear. Even with all the aromas of medicine and disinfectants around, she still smelled like Julie. That tiny tidbit gave him the smallest morsel of hope. “You need to come back to me,” he whispered in her ear. “I need you here, Butterfly. Please, please, just wake up for me.”

The door opened, but he didn’t turn to see who it was. Honestly, he didn’t really care.

“Chris.” Colton’s rough voice carried over the hush of the room.

He didn’t look at him. He just kept watching Julie’s face for some sign of life.

“Chris,” he said, sterner now. “You won’t do her any good if you get sick, too. You need to get out of here for a little bit. Go home, take a shower, and take a short nap. I’ll stay with her. If there’s any change, I’ll call you and you can be back here in ten minutes.”

Finally, Chris looked at him. “I can’t. I wasn’t there when she needed me. I can’t leave her now. If I do, she may give up.” His voice cracked with emotion, but he didn’t care. “She can’t give up.”

Julie took another photo of the old stone house, framing it perfectly so the rising sun reflected off the ridges of the white stone. The building was so beautiful. At least one hundred and fifty years old, it had an age and patina that builders just couldn’t replicate today. Add in the setting and she’d pretty much found Nirvana here.

She glanced up at the sky. The property was filled with huge, old cottonwood trees and bits of fluff floated around in the morning air reflecting the sunlight. If it wasn’t for the balmy temperature, she could have been convinced it was snowing. The perfection of it made her spin in a circle, soaking in the heat of the morning sun. She smiled as the hem of her dress twirled and danced around the tops of her knees.

The morning dew dampened her bare feet as she explored the old yard. She raised her camera, framing the tire swing within the photo of the house in the background. As she clicked the shutter, a man stepped out of the front door. She gasped and dropped the camera to the ground in shock.

“Aaron?” He stood on the porch looking just like she remembered, his tall, muscular form dressed in casual jeans and an oxford shirt rolled up at the sleeves. She could see the veins of his forearms from here. His glasses were perched on his nose and that dark lock of hair that she’d always loved fell carelessly over his forehead. How was he here? How was this possible?

She didn’t know, but she had so much she needed to tell him. She needed him to know how sorry she was. She ran up to the porch, but then skidded to a stop three feet away from him. She lifted a hand to touch him, but couldn’t. What if this was just another dream? The tears welled in her eyes and she didn’t have to move the last little bit toward him. He did it for her as he wrapped her up in a hug.

“Shhh, it’s okay. Don’t cry, Julie. Please, no more crying over me.”

She could feel his arms around her and it was just too much. She began to sob in earnest, savoring the heat from his chest, the pure alive throb of his heartbeat. Finally, she was cried out and she looked up at him in shock. “How is this possible?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It just is. We live here.”

She hadn’t really paid attention before, but now she looked around. “Where is here? You died, right? Am I dead now, too?”

He pulled her down to sit beside him on the porch swing and shook his head. “No, you aren’t dead. It’s not your time yet, but Julie, you can’t keep on like this. You need to let me go. This is the way it was supposed to be.”

She began to shake her head. “No, you never would have died if you hadn’t known me.”

“Julie, my dying was out of your hands. My death was fate. That would never have changed, but because of you, I was able to die knowing what it meant to love and be loved.”

The tears welled up in her eyes again, but he took her face and held it so that she was looking into his eyes.

“Julie, honey, you have to stop blaming yourself for this. I know you loved Chris and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just thankful for the few months we had together. They were the happiest of my entire life and I died a happy man. You did that.”

“But how can you even think that way? I never gave you all of my love. You deserved so much better than the little bit I gave you.” Her voice clogged with tears.

He kissed her forehead. “Honey, our lives progressed the way they were supposed to. Your love was perfect for me and because of it I’ve received the best gift anyone could ever give.”

At that moment, a sweet tiny voice tinkled out of the trees. “Uncle Aaron, I found the flowers.”

Aaron’s eyes brightened with joy and a brilliant smile lit up his face. Julie turned to the newcomer, a sweet little toddler with dark hair and a long white dress, wet at the hem from the dew. She carried a handful of bedraggled daisies. She looked up and smiled at Aaron as she began to timidly climb the steps to the porch. Julie was enchanted by her dimples until she got a look at the brilliant sapphire blue eyes that were so familiar.

Chills swept over her and she glanced over at Aaron. He watched her carefully before turning back to the little girl. “Come here, darling. I want you to meet someone.”

Julie rose out of the porch swing, not sure if her legs were going to hold her as she crouched in front of the little girl who smiled shyly at her.

Aaron crouched down with her and grabbed the little girl’s grubby hand and set it within Julie’s. A zing of recognition flooded her, but she didn’t dare trust it. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Julie, this is Nalia.”

“
Nalia?” she asked.

“Well, I couldn’t very well keep calling her Nugget, could I?”

Shock reverberated through her system and her knees completely gave out. She collapsed to the wooden boards of the porch, unable to tear her eyes off her little girl.

The little girl whispered to him, “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, baby girl, she’s gonna be just fine. She’s just surprised to meet you today. Why don’t you go pick some more flowers and then we’ll come push you on the tire swing, okay?”

“Okay.” The little girl skipped off happily, looking the very picture of innocence and health.

Julie turned her stunned gaze to Aaron. “How? How is this possible? How is she here with you? Oh my God, where are we?”

“Calm down Julie. It’s okay. I don’t know all the answers. It just is. What is this place? For me, it’s Heaven. I’ve been entrusted with your little girl and we have a wonderful life here, even if it’s the afterlife. You’ve given that to me. You gave her to me. I don’t know how it all works. All I’ve been told is that somehow our connection and your love for me brought her to my world. No, your love for me wasn’t the same as what you feel for Chris, but that doesn’t make it any less real or powerful.”

He smiled at the little girl skipping in amongst the flowers, the light shining in his eyes. That love for her little unborn baby girl, Nugget.

When he turned back to her though, his expression had turned fierce. “You are not allowed to regret us, because our love gave me the best thing ever. I love your little girl, Julie. She may not be mine, but I love her just as if she was and I’ll be here to take care of her for as long as you need me. You have a long, happy life ahead of you, but you have to get your head out of your ass about this. I loved you and you loved me, and everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Now you need to get on with your life. Chris needs you.”

He smiled back toward the little girl. “She has your sass, but his stubbornness.” He turned his smile back to her and told her gently, “You won’t have an easy path ahead of you, but if you trust it, you will have immeasurable happiness over the next few decades.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this. It was just a year ago, but she looks older. How is this possible?”

“You’re not meant to understand it. Things work differently here. Just have faith. You can’t control everything, honey, but that’s the way life works. Embrace the chaos.” He brushed his pants as he stood up and offered a hand to her to help her up. “Now let’s go play with your little girl for a bit before you have to head back.”

The doctors said she was getting better. They’d even moved her out of ICU and into a private room, but as Chris examined Julie’s immobile form, he just couldn’t believe that. They said she was sleeping and healing, but she still hadn’t woken up. If she was truly better, wouldn’t she be awake by now?

His hand shook as he brushed it up against her cheek. This fear that she wasn’t going to come back paralyzed him. He didn’t know what to do anymore, besides sit by her bed, pray, and wait.

The door opened and Pete strode in. He was in his police uniform so he was probably on his lunch break. He glanced at Chris before concentrating his attention on Julie. “Has she woken up yet?”

Chris shook his head.

A frown creased Pete’s forehead as he looked questioningly at Chris’s hand, resting on Julie’s cheek. He leaned back on his heels as he stared hard at Chris. He cleared his throat. “I didn’t realize you two were an item.”

Chris slipped his hand from Julie’s cheek and took a step back, shaking his head at the same time. “We’re not. We’re just friends.”

Pete examined Chris, like he would a science experiment. “Well, that’s good because I don’t think she’s in a place mentally where she’s ready to date someone else after Aaron.” He pursed his lips. “I would really hate it if someone took advantage of her grief.”

There was no mistaking the edge of a threat in the growl of his voice and while it made Chris’s hackles rise, he could appreciate Julie’s friend was trying to protect her.