AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” she asks, sleep lacing her voice.
I chuckle, and the nurse flashes me an annoyed look.
“You need to get out of my patient’s bed.”
“Oh, right, of course. Sorry.” She looks sheepish as she rubs her eyes and swings her legs over the edge.
“Get in, please, Jack. I’m not leaving until you do.” Sighing, I sit on the edge of the bed and raise my eyebrows in question. She shakes her head. “Legs as well.” I do as she asks. “Stay there.” After watching me for a few seconds, she seems satisfied and finally leaves.
Once the door closes behind her, I look across to Zara, who’s sitting in the reclining chair next to the bed. “Are we married? The nurse called you Mrs. Davis.”
She shakes her head. “No. She must have just assumed.” She leans forward and takes my hand. “I like how it sounded though.”
She smiles, and I give her a small smile back, uncomfortable at how relieved I feel knowing we aren’t married. I can’t help but wonder what our relationship is like. Why aren’t we married? If Jacob is almost three and we’re happy, then surely marriage is the next step? Questions swirl in my mind. Questions I don’t have the answers to, and for some reason, can’t bring myself to ask Zara about.
Aria
Opening my eyes, I sit up quickly, taking a few seconds to realize I’m in my old bedroom rather than in Jack’s. I haven’t slept in my own room for weeks, but it felt too strange to sleep in his bed when he barely knows my name, despite desperately wanting to feel close to him.
I hardly slept at all last night. My heart physically aches when I think of Jack not remembering me, or anything we’ve shared in the past few weeks. It had taken everything in me to walk away from him in the hospital, knowing Zara would waste no time in filling his head with lies of their “relationship.”
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I pad across the room to the bathroom. After turning the shower on, I use the bathroom and brush my teeth as I wait for the water to warm up. When the room fills with steam, I pull off my sleep shorts and tank and step under the hot spray. Tipping my head back, I close my eyes. Tears pour down my cheeks, hidden by the water from the shower. I rarely cry, but I seem to have cried more in the last twenty-four hours than I ever have before. I guess that’s what happens when your heart shatters. Emma had tried to assure me on the way back from the hospital that Jack will remember, that he won’t be able to forget a love like we shared. But the fact is, hehas forgotten, and not even the doctor could guarantee he will ever remember again.
I spend far too long in the shower, not wanting to get out and face the day. Knowing I have to, I eventually turn off the water and dry off. After getting dressed, I pick up my phone and make my way downstairs. It’s later than I thought when I check the time, and I can hear voices coming from the porch. Making my way to the door, I pause.
“Someone has to tell him! He has to know they aren’t together! What about Aria?” Libby asks.
“The doctor said we have to let him remember himself. If we influence him, he might never remember Jacob’s birth or the first two years of his life,” Emma replies.
“I get that, Mum, but Zara is influencing him! She’ll be telling him all sorts of crap!” Taking a deep breath, I push the door open and walk out onto the porch. “Aria!” Libby rushes toward me and pulls me into a hug. “Are you okay?”
“Not really,” I say.
She steps back and out of the embrace. “You have to tell him, Aria. He loves you. He loves you so much.”
“I love him too, but your mom’s right. He has to have the chance to remember Jacob…” I trail off and burst into tears, embarrassed to be breaking down in front of Jack’s parents, but powerless to stop it. She pulls me back into her arms as I cry on her shoulder.
“Oh, sweetheart. Please don’t cry. Everything will work itself out,” Emma says. I feel her hand on my back. I wish I could believe her, I really do.
“We need to speak to Zara. Surely she knows she won’t get away with lying to him. When his memory comes back—”
“Ifhis memory comes back,” I say through my tears, cutting her off.
“It will come back, Aria. It has to.”
Pulling back, I wipe my tears. “What time are you heading to the hospital?” I ask.
“As soon as we have Jacob,” Emma says with a frown. “You are coming, aren’t you?”
I shrug one shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“Please come,” Emma begs. “Jack will want to see you.”
I only wish that were true. I imagine he hasn’t even thought about me once since I left the hospital.
“Come with us to get Jacob and then decide?”
“Okay,” I sigh, giving her a small smile.
