Delights in Time Ch. 03

"Well, I'll stay tonight and we can decide tomorrow what to do about the girls and school and all the other day to day crap that we still have to live with. I'll take the spare room so you can have the big bed. You probably need a real bed to sleep in after what you've been through."

"A bed would feel great. I don't think I've slept in the last two days. But I'll stay in the den like I used to so often. I'll be fine there and I think the master bedroom is still a mess from the paramedics."

They parted and both went to a fitful sleep. Reese had more trouble than he expected partly because he was so exhausted that he was beyond sleep. He did finally get a few hours but was already awake when the girls came in to wake him. They brought coffee and he was grateful for the caffeine and the company. He had missed his girls so much and he finally took the time to see them as they were now. They changed so much at this age that the almost two years he had been away made a tremendous difference. They were beautiful women now, not the little girls he had left behind.

They all gathered at the kitchen table where Sabrina made a huge breakfast of eggs, ham and hash browns. Reese was surprised at how much he put away. He hadn't had a really good meal now for over a month. Everything tasted wonderful. Sabrina and the girls watched in amusement as he shoveled food in his face. He grinned as he enjoyed.

It was finally time that they could go to the hospital. Reese got the car from the garage and he and the girls all went in together. Sabrina stayed behind to clean up and then follow them. She had hopes that things would begin to change. She crossed her fingers and said a small prayer.

At the hospital, they were told to wait for the doctor before being admitted to ICU. Reese sat with the girls and tried to keep them calm until the doctor finally arrived. He was a young man that they hadn't seen before and he sat down with them for a consult. He told them first that Roz was not awake yet but that all signs were that she would wake soon. Her vitals were strong and her physical condition was satisfactory. They had taken her off the respirator last night and she was breathing fine on her own. That was a good sign. He was there primarily as a psych consult and he wanted to ask some questions. Reese suggested that the girls be taken to the room while he and the doctor talked.

When the girls were gone, Reese gave the doctor the background on the divorce, his leaving and the intervening years. He was blunt and held nothing back. They talked for about 20 minutes before the doctor was satisfied. He seemed to have all he needed and he rose to leave. He looked down at Reese and spoke.

"There is one thing that you have to do right now before you go into your.., her, room. You have to decide whether you are going to be here for her or not. If not, I would advise you to walk away now and let her find her own way back. If you intend to leave again as you did before, know that it would almost certainly result in this happening a second time and the next time she will probably be successful. The choice is yours."

With that he turned and walked away. Reese watched him go with clamped jaw and clenched fists. It was anger he felt and he wondered at himself. Why would he be angry? He knew that Roz loved him and had always loved him. She had hurt him deeply and she had done so deliberately but it was he that had struck the deepest wounds. She had no defense against what he did to her. She was already feeling guilt and remorse and he then destroyed her in every way he could. Coldly, cruelly and deliberately. He was no better than she and in some ways, worse. So why was he angry that people expected that he might walk away again?

He relaxed his jaw and unclenched his fists. They were right. He had his pound of flesh once and that was enough. They wouldn't become husband and wife again, and most probably they wouldn't become lovers again. But they were the parents of two wonderful girls that needed them and that was a start. They could become friends eventually. He finally relaxed and let the relief of making a decision wash over him. He stood and walked to Roz's room.

She was still unconscious when he entered the room. Sabrina and Jada were there, Jacey probably off talking with one of the nurses. She looked little different than she had the night before. He moved toward the bed and stood watching her face. She looked strange, without the light that he remembered always around her eyes, even when she was sad or angry. The life that was always there. Now, it seemed to be absent. He raised his eyes to Sabrina and then to Jada. Without speaking, they both rose and left, leaving him alone with Roz. He took a chair beside her bed and sat watching her. He noticed her hand, laying along side her body and reached for it without thinking. He took it and was surprised by how warm it seemed when she looked so cold. He kept it in his as he sat back.

He was dozing, remembering the heat and the insects and the bone crushing weariness as he struggled to find his way out of the jungles of Belize from where he crashed his plane. It had been a fuel line blockage that brought him down, fortunately giving him time to loose altitude and speed so that when he did come down, it was in some semblance of control. He could feel the whip of the branches across the canopy as he slid to a stop. He remembered the relief when he found he was still alive and in one piece. He began walking, following the sun toward what he knew to be a small town somewhere in the distance. He was just beginning his trek when he felt someone watching him. He looked around in fear and the jolt brought him awake and back to the hospital room. He opened his eyes to see Roz awake and watching him.

He dropped her hand and stood, ringing the buzzer for the nurse. He moved toward the bed then and took her hand again. She didn't speak but she continued to watch his every move. She wouldn't take her eyes off of him. He finally moved over to her and spoke her name.

"Roz? Can you hear me? Do you know who I am?"

She didn't answer nor did her expression change, but he did feel her hand squeeze his. Her eyes blinked several times and she opened her mouth to speak but couldn't form the words. He reached over for a glass of water and held her head up so she could drink. She took water greedily and when she had her fill he let her head back down gently. She sighed, moved her tongue over her dry cracked lips and finally spoke.

"Reese. You're alive? Am I dreaming or are you here and alive?"

"I'm here Roz. I'm here and you are the one we almost lost. Rest and let me get the girls."

"No. Don't leave. I want to see you and look at you. I thought I had lost you forever. I remember now! I knew you were dead and I didn't want to live. I tried to end it. I tried to join you but I failed. Are you here now really?"

"I'm here now. Just rest until the doctor can see you. You're going to be all right so just rest. I'll be here when you wake up again. I promise."

Just then, the nurse came in, followed by the young doctor that he had spoken to earlier. Both moved immediately to Roz and began talking to her and taking her pulse and listening to her heart. The doctor peered into her eyes with his probe and finally moved back, smiling.

"Well, everything appears to be fine. I think you are going to make a full recovery thanks to the quick work of your daughters. You have some very fine young women there Mrs. Delgorio. You should be proud."

Roz just smiled as he turned and walked away. She tried to move up to a sitting position and with the nurse's help succeeded just as Jada and Serena walked back in. Jade squealed as she noticed her mother's eyes open and she ran to hug her. Serena followed and took her hand with tears barely contained. Jacey was quick to follow and another reunion took place. Reese stood back and watched it all with a smile on his face. He left the room to allow them their time together.

He sat down in the lounge, realizing how tired he was. It had been just over a week ago that he had fueled his plane and started back to the states to have dinner with his family. Now, a week later, nothing was as he had planned. He had crash landed in a foreign country, walked for days to find civilization and arrived back in Illinois to find his ex wife had almost died and his whole family in a crisis, brought on by his supposed death. He almost laughed thinking no one could write a story any more bizarre. He was smiling to himself as Sabrina came out to tell him that Roz wanted to talk to him. She said she was going to take the girls out for lunch at McDonalds. She smiled and asked if he wanted her to bring anything back for him. He told her that he had been living on McDonalds in Costa Rico and couldn't think of a thing he wanted.

He walked back into the room to find Roz looking much better. One of the girls had obviously brushed her hair and helped her with some lipstick. She was still pale but now at least had some color back. She smiled at him as he walked in. She motioned to a chair and asked him to sit for a while. He did as she asked and smiled back.

"You look 100% better than the first time I saw you last night. You scared me Roz. You looked like you were dead."

"I tried and I'm sorry. It was a cowardly thing to do. I have no excuse except that I thought you were dead. I know that's no excuse to do that to the girls but I was not thinking very clearly. I know that now. It was the pills and the liquor."

"Well, that's past. Now you just have to get well and strong and get home to the girls. They need you Roz. Don't leave them again."

"I won't. Reese, I want to tell you so many things that I didn't get a chance to tell you before. So many things that I did wrong and things that I learned about myself that aren't pretty. I want to apologize for everything. I hope you'll give me the chance to say what I need to say to you."

"Roz, please, you don't have to do this. I've had time to think and I discovered things about myself that I wasn't proud of. Between us we screwed up a lot. But I want to tell you this before you start. I forgive you. For everything. I forgive you and I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you."

Roz just stared at him and then began to cry. Not hard, crushing sobs but a soft crying. Tears fell and she let them. His words were the words she had waited to hear for the past two years. They were the words that she couldn't say to herself. She couldn't forgive what she had done but he was asking her to forgive him and he said he forgave her. She felt the pain fade and her heart open up for the first time in so long. He forgave her! Nothing else was important now.

She felt his arms around her and she held on for dear life as she returned the embrace. It was going to be OK now. They had a life together, as friends and as parents. That was enough. It was all she needed to grow strong again and find her way. They could share their daughters and the joys of new life. They could watch as they found their own mates and had their own children and made their own mistakes and they could be there for them when their world collapsed as it was sure to do. It was life: the good and the bad, and she wanted it all. Now that she had someone to share it with, she would fight for every precious second of it.

The end.