Page 36 of Echoes of Eternity

Lifting her head, Emily started to think about her life moving forward and felt stuck in a thick darkness. Horror rippled through her from head to toe.

There was no life or future without Ryan.

As Jason helped her over and into a chair, a doctor suddenly came out. “In regard to Mr. Fitzgerald.”

They hurried over to the doctor, yet time seemed to stand still in that moment as they waited for the doctor to speak.

Jason lifted his eyebrows. “Give it to us, doc.”

The doctor removed his glasses and pulled down his surgical mask.

“We successfully woke him up and he’s in recovery now. He’s okay, and you will be able to see him shortly. I’m sorry for the scare.”

As the doctor left, Emily staggered over to a chair and started to cry and thank God profusely. Jason wrapped an arm around her and wept with her.

“God kept him alive, Em.” Jason smiled through the tears. “He kept him here!”

“Amen.”

They were able to recompose themselves entirely within a few minutes. Emily looked at Jason and shook her head. “We can’t let Ryan know this happened.”

“Why?”

She shook her head as more tears spilled out. “We just can’t. I don’t want to relive this moment ever again.”

“Okay.”

Emily and Jason were finally allowed to go see him. As she walked into the hospital room, her steps stopped short of the bed, alarmed by his physical appearance. He had bruises and cuts all over his face, and his arm was in a sling. Ryan looked like he had been jumped in a dark alley only to stumble out and into the road where he had been hit by a bus.

Walking closer to her husband, she grabbed his free hand gently and smoothed her thumb over the top of it as she whispered in her heart, “Thank You, God.”

Ryan’s eyes were still closed.

Jason walked to the end of the hospital bed and shook his head as he looked down at the floor. The weight of the situation out in the waiting room still appeared to weigh heavily on his heart.

“He’s lucky he didn’t die. That freeway can be crazy.”

“Why was he even on the freeway?” Emily asked Jason. “Where was he going?”

“No idea.” Jason smoothed a hand over his face. Sighing, he shook his head. “Hopefully he can clear that up when he wakes up.”

After an hour of watching the little television hanging on the wall, Jason stood up from the chair he was in.

“You hungry? I’m going down to the cafeteria and I can grab you a sandwich or something?”

“I’m not hungry, but I do need to eat. Thank you.”

Jason left to get food while Emily continued to sit patiently in a metal chair beside the hospital bed. Still holding his hand, she wept quietly as her mind kept replaying the few moments in the waiting room.

“I hate it when you cry.” Ryan’s voice was but a whisper. Looking up and over at him, she saw him awake and leapt to her feet.

“Ryan!” Leaning over, she kissed him and he moaned in pain. “Sorry.”

“What happened?”

“You were in a car accident. You don’t remember?” Emily furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head.

“No. The last thing I remember was lying in the grass last night in the yard with you.”