Jordan: That’s better :) Love you.
Jordan: Shit! Now I’m doing it. Pass me that cup.
Max smiled and put his phone back in his pocket, relieved that something other than worry had occupied his mind for a few seconds.
By nine o’ clock, the hospital was quiet and that’s when Rosie came through the glass doors. She was a large woman, short and round with her frizzy black hair which was always neatly tied back. She had an abrupt way of speaking but Max had discovered very shortly after meeting her that she had a soft spot for him. It was definitely something he used to his advantage.
“Doctor Coleman is still on duty in the casualty ward,” she whispered. “So you can’t stay too long tonight. As soon as I knock, you need to leave.”
Max nodded and quietly slipped into Danny’s room. Rosie closed the door behind him as he moved across the room and sat down on the chair beside her bed. He sat there for a long while, staring at her. The bandage around her head had been removed and although the wound seemed to be healing, the scar along the side of her head was gruesome. The blackish-blue bruises on her cheek had also healed and there were now only faint traces of tiny cuts on her face.
He took her hand in his. “It’s not the same without you,” he said softly. “I keep wondering how I could have ever ended our friendship.” Although the conversation was one-sided, Max spoke to her every night, hoping it would bring her back to him. The guilt he felt escalated every time he saw her lying there so helplessly. “I would give anything to have it be me in that bed instead of you. Isn’t it strange? The man you claim to love hasn’t been here once and yet the man whose feelings are completely irrelevant, would trade places with you in a heartbeat.” He sighed deeply, feeling again the hurt her words had caused but that didn’t matter now. Her getting well was all that mattered.
A knock at the door jolted him and at the same time he felt her fingers twitch beneath his hand.
Rosie popped her head in. “Doctor Coleman is done for the night and he’ll probably come by to check on her before he leaves. You need to get out.”
“Rosie, I think I felt her fingers twitch.”
“That’s nothing to get excited about, Mister Shepard. Those things happen all the time.”
“I’ve been here for twelve days and that has never happened before.”
“Get out!”
Max looked down and noticed the slightest movement of her eye. “There. Did you see that? I think she’s waking up.”
Rosie hurried into the room and grabbed his arm. “Mister Shepard, you really need to leave. I could get fired if he finds you in here.”
“Just give me a second.” Max leaned closer. Again her eyelids fluttered. “I’m not imagining this, Rosie.”
Rosie, too, stopped and looked over at Danny. Her eyelids fluttered a few more times before she eventually opened them. She looked around the room, dazed and disoriented.
“Where am I?” she asked, her voice sounding hoarse.
“You’re in the hospital.” Max replied, relief spilling through him. “You were in a bad accident.”
“An accident…I…I don’t remember…”
“You’ve been unconscious for about two weeks.” Max took her hand but she did not look comfortable with the gesture.
Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Are you…are you my doctor?”
His eyes widened at the question.
Rosie looked down at her with concern. “Don’t you know who this is?”
“No…I don’t…I don’t know. We haven’t met before…have we?”
Max looked up at the nurse, the only person who could offer some kind of explanation. “Rosie, what’s wrong with her?”
He noticed that Danny was becoming more panicked. Her breathing had elevated and her eyes were searching the room but not focusing on anything in particular. The heart rate monitor began beeping faster.
“Danny, are you alright?”
She looked at him then, completely confused, as if she did not recognize her own name.
“No…I…I don’t know who you are…or…where I am. I don’t know…I don’t remember.”
“I’ll get Doctor Coleman,” Rosie said, rushing out of the room.
“Just calm down,” he said reassuringly. “Everything’s going to be alright.”
Doctor Coleman came in a few moments later. He looked at Max and then at Rosie. “Mister Shepard, you should not be in here. Please leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh, yes you are,” Rosie said, grabbing his arm and pushing him to the door.
“I can’t remember,” he heard Danny say as Rosie ushered him out. “I can’t remember anything.”
Once outside the ward, Rosie released his arm. “Go home, Mister Shepard.”
“Rosie, I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Your lady is awake now. You can’t see her looking the way you do. All dirty and scruffy and smelly. Doctor Coleman is probably going to be busy with her for a while so go home, have a shower, get cleaned up and, for God sakes, shave. Come back tomorrow morning. I’m sure the doctor will let you see her then.”
Max nodded, feeling slightly strange. He was so happy that she had woken up yet now he was worried in a different way. He hoped that maybe she was just confused after being unconscious for so long. He left the hospital, hoping that when he returned she would be back to her old self again.
* * *
Danny stood in the bathroom, staring at herself, not really recognizing her own face. It really was not a face she would want to remember. She looked horrid. She lifted her hand to touch the scar on the side of her head and cringed. She had the same thick, ugly scars across her chest and back. What a sight to wake up to.
After the series of tests the doctor had done, she still could not remember much of anything. No-one looked familiar. Her name was Danielle Peterson. That much had come back to her. She remembered that her biological parents were killed when she was just a baby. Other bits of her childhood were still a blur. She recalled certain foster homes, certain faces but it was all very vague.
Memories of Jake were a bit clearer. She remembered arriving at his two-bedroom cottage when she was eleven years old. She had been so nervous and afraid of being rejected again but it had turned out completely the opposite. He had raised her with so much love and had been the world’s greatest dad, but her last vivid memory was Jake dropping her off at school when she was fifteen years old.
She could not remember anything after that. She did not know what food she liked, where she lived, who her friends were. The man in her room earlier had known who she was and yet she could not remember ever meeting him. Danny. He had called her Danny.
“Danny,” she said to herself, hoping it would stir something inside her but there was still nothing.
There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Miss Peterson, are you in there?”
“I’ll be out in a sec.” She walked out of the bathroom and was greeted by the friendly nurse she had seen earlier.
“I’m Rosie,” she said. “I came to see if you need anything. My shift ended a few hours ago, but I wanted to make sure you’re alright before I go.”
“Thanks. That’s very kind of you but I’m fine.”
“You must be feeling all alone in this world, child. Not remembering a soul but don’t you worry. Your man will be back any second now and I am sure he can help you fill in the gaps.”
Danny looked up at her quizzically. “My man?”
“Yeah. Your fiancé.”
“I’m engaged…? To him?”
Rosie laughed. “I know he didn’t look like much when you saw him but that’s what happens when you’re worried out of your mind and spend twelve days loitering around a hospital.”
Danny was taken aback. “He never left?”
“Not until you woke up and it took a bit of convincing.”
Danny smiled to herself. She did not know this man, did not have a clue as to what type of person he was, but hearing that caused the slight flutter of butterflies in her tummy.
* * *
Max returned to the hospital feeling refreshed and energized. A hot shower had done him good. It was 5a.m. Lauren and Amber had already arrived and were waiting for him outside the ICU ward. Charlie was there, too.
“We are not allowed to see her yet,” Lauren said. “The doctor needs to speak to us first. I am not sure what is going on.”
“She was a bit dazed when she woke up,” Max explained. “She couldn’t really remember—” He stopped when he noticed Doctor Coleman walking towards them.
“How is she?” Max asked.
“She’s fine…physically.” Doctor Coleman let out a weighted breath. “She can walk. She can speak, but she still can’t remember much of anything. Danielle is suffering from retrograde amnesia. I think it was brought on by a few things. From the scans it looks like the damage to her temporal lobe was worse than I originally anticipated. That coupled with reduced oxygen to the brain because of her lung injury and it seems like a large chunk of her memory has been wiped out. She remembers bits of her childhood but that’s about it.”
“Is it permanent?” Amber asked.