Grief, Lust, and Consequences Ch. 02

Emily slowed her speech as she saw Katy start to glaze over.

"Listen, don't be surprised if he doesn't know where he is or can't remember who you are right away. It will come back in time."

Katy was disturbed at that notion. Could he have forgotten the last six months? How extensive was the injury? A single tear crept out of the corner of her eye and trickled down her cheek.

"Oh, don't worry dear. The traffic officer says he's lucky to have only the injuries he has. I'm sure he will be fine!"

"Um... oh god.... Okay." Katy stammered. "He's just in here?" she asked, pointing toward the door.

"Yeah he's been out so he probably won't wake up to speak but he's just in there. His wife came around about thirty minutes ago."

Katy's visage soured at hearing that Bethany was here. How did that happen? She surmised that Bethany must still be listed as an emergency contact. Katy did her best to hide her disgust.

"Emily... thank you so much!" Katy offered as cheerfully as she could.

"Yeah, don't mention it!" Emily started off down the corridor before calling back, "Later when it's all sorted, we should have a catch-up!"

Katy stood at the door trying to assemble all of her emotional resolve. She wasn't quite prepared to have to deal with Bethany on a day such as this. She inhaled deeply and calmed herself before opening the door and walking into the room.

The first thing that caught her eye was her brother's tall frame laying on the bed. His head was wrapped up in white bandages that were stained pink at his right temple with blood. His right arm and shoulder were also bandaged, though not seeping blood. She was relieved that he appeared as whole as he did, but the beeping of the monitors ringing in her ear set her nerves on edge.

Equally disconcerting was her seeing Bethany sitting at the bedside chair customarily scrolling through her phone. Katy could not imagine what Bethany hoped to accomplish by being here other than to add drama to the situation. The room was dark save for a light near the head of the hospital bed and Katy hoped the darkness hid the furious scowl that involuntarily crept across her face.

Katy tried to keep her composure before speaking, but was only partially successful. "What are you doing here?" she blurted out plainly.

Bethany's eyes glared back in much the same way as they had when she shot her cross looks to Jeff in the past when he was being sweet to his sister. "They called me saying he was in an accident." She said in a patronising tone. "I thought to be here if he would need anything, of course."

Katy stepped further into the room and let the door close behind her. "Well he doesn't... and a bit late for you to pretend to be seeing to his needs anyway." Katy struggled to keep the contempt hidden in her tone.

Bethany shot a look up that was a mixture of frustration and anger and gave a gasp. "As if you would know anything about it..."

Katy interjected, "I know enough! I think you should leave."

Bethany stood up, looking as if she was preparing to shout back at her, but stopped herself when she saw Katy's obviously pregnant curvy frame come into the view of the lights.

"Oh... I see," Bethany started in a nervous but angry laughter. She pointed at Katy's belly, her finger shaking with rage.

Katy was suddenly petrified that Bethany had riddled out the truth of what was going on. She held her breath waiting for her to continue.

"His precious baby sister gets knocked up by some random man-whore and of course he's got to drop everything and take care of you instead of his fucking wife! Fucking typical Now he can go play house with his little sister and pretend to have the family that he kept going on about."

Bethany was incensed, but Katy was relieved. She had to focus all her energy on not cracking her face into a smug and triumphant grin.

Bethany continued, "It's always been you... you were always his favourite no matter what! He would always drop anything for his precious baby sister." Bethany's tone finally revealed her true disgust and dropped the fake patronising camouflage.

While Katy secretly relished her confirmed status as her brother's long-time "favourite", she couldn't let Bethany's words stand unanswered. Her hands clutched her purse and started to shake in indignation. Though Bethany had no idea how much his sister had commanded his attention as of late, Katy couldn't bring herself to let these overarching accusations against her brother stand. Her hazel eyes gleamed with righteous anger and she fired back at her.

"You can stop that right now! My brother treated you like a queen and you could hardly be bothered to act as if you even liked him most of the time! You can say whatever you like about me, or this," she said pointing toward her bump, "but you had better stop acting like you got a shit deal from him because you didn't! He got a shit deal from you!." Katy was beginning to tremble with rage and stopped to calm herself before she totally lost control and gave into her urge to come across the bed and lay hands on her neck.

Bethany looked as if she would burst into flames at any second. After a prolonged and tense silence, she reached down and snatched up her purse from the floor.

"Well I'll just leave him for you to take care of then, his little fucking favourite, Ugh!" Bethany glowered before adding under her breath, "Fucking ridiculous! And don't think I don't know something is up. A friend of mine saw him in his truck getting tossed off by some whore!"

Katy almost gasped at the revelation that the people who spectated on her escapade with her brother in the lay-by were connected to Bethany in some way. But she shook the notion and brought her attention back to the matter at hand and snapped back at her while Bethany marched toward the door, "Oh, he's in much better hands now!"

The door shut behind her and Katy could still hear her going on as she stormed down the corridor. Katy walked over to the vacated beside chair, still shaking with anger and finally sat down, exhaling deeply as the rage started to diminish. Her attention settled on her brother as he lay on the bed still completely out of it. Katy was glad that he didn't happen to awake in the midst of that ordeal. She reached out and took his hand in hers and sighed heavily.

"Well, I've run her off for you." She said aloud with a chuckle. "You totally owe me for that, by the way. Handled it quite well if I do say so myself!" Another sigh and a moment later she breathed out, "Please be okay."

Katy spent the next several hours at her brother's side. He stirred occasionally, but never woke. She would speak to him when the silence got too much for her. Her eyes were getting heavy in the wee hours of the morning when the door clicked open and Emily stopped in.

"Hey Katy, just wanted to check if you were still here and how you and your brother were getting on." She said softly.

Katy jerked up from her transitional sleep state a bit startled.

"Oh, god. Did I wake you?" Emily said apologetically.

"You're fine Em." Katy responded sleepily. "I probably should get up and go change and shower anyway."

Emily stepped into the room and continued. "I'm just coming off my shift. I can grab a coffee with you in the cafe downstairs if you need to talk to someone!"

Katy rubbed her eyes and started to stand up. "Aww, thank you Em. I would like that!"

The two made their way down to the cafe and ordered their drinks. Katy's fatigue was starting to calm the sense of inner panic that she had when she arrived hours before. And of all the people to chat with, Emily had always been a kind and steady friend, even when they would go lengths of time without seeing one another. Katy ordered a decaf flat white and joined Emily at one of the tables in the cafe.

Emily started speaking as they were both settling in their seats. "How is he?"

Katy sighed and looked up at her while answering, "Still out of it, seems to be resting peacefully but he's not been awake yet."

"I thought not, he may sleep all day... typical for a blow to the head like that," Emily offered while sipping her cappuccino.

"So..." Emily went on, darting her eyes down toward Katy's obvious bump. "Pregnant, ay?

Katie blushed and sipped her drink. "Um... yeah, so that happened. Not planned, but I'm set on keeping it."

"Well, best of luck to you on that!" Emily said sincerely. "My older sister had a kid pretty young. It wasn't easy, obviously, but my little nephew is cute. Though he can be a little rascal all the same."

Katy smiled and continued to sip her drink. "Thank you, Em. Not everyone has been so understanding."

Emily crossed her legs and continued her questions, "And... who's the father?"

Katy knew that it was an innocent, perfectly reasonable question from a friend, but this was the first time of what she was sure would be many that she would need to explain her situation in a way that was believable. She fidgeted slightly before answering.

"Not exactly in the picture," she offered, looking down at the table.

Emily softened her questioning posture and replied in consolation, "Oh, I see... Sorry to pry."

"Oh, don't worry. You're not prying, just the way things are!" Katy replied looking back up.

Emily paused and set her cup on the table before continuing. "So... different subject... I've got to ask... just to say that word gets round..." she trailed off and Katy's eyes peeked up.

"Yeah? Go on," Katy said while getting a twinge of nervous energy.

"Just that... the nurses were saying that your brother's wife left in quite a rage last night after you arrived."

Katy cringed at the spectacle that Bethany could have created that summoned the attention of the hospital staff. She was also getting a little nervous over where this line of questioning could lead.

"Oh... yeah." Katy said in a low tone. "She actually wasn't supposed to be there. They've been split up a few months now at least." She tried to reign in the latent disgust of Bethany being there in the first place before continuing. "She was there just to make trouble and I had to tell her to go. I'm sorry that she made a scene. She's pretty awful to be honest."

Emily looked up. "Oh, I see..." She trailed off as if she had more to say.

Katy set her cup down and put her hands on top of her thighs. "If there's something you want to ask, go on and ask it." She ended that question with a bit of a chuckle to hide her growing nervousness.

"Just that... and I know the timing is probably awful... If he's available...I thought I might call on him at some point? I mean, if he's keen to get back out there? Figured you would know being his sister and all, and I wanted to see what you thought about it."

Katy couldn't help but burst out laughing. Again, she was quite relieved that this was the reason for Emily's vague line of questions. There was also the slightest bit of possessiveness that welled up inside as she realised that as long as she and her brother were in a place where people knew them, she would always have to pretend that she wasn't the object of his love and affection.

"Oh god.." Katy began to respond. "Are you keen on my brother?" Katy said between amused chuckles.

Emily sat up and feigned insult, "What?? Am I not allowed? I'd have said something years ago but he was always with her and then they were married! Figured if she's out of the way now..."

"I mean... it's a bit messy and he's having a tough time with it as I'm sure you can imagine." She picked up her coffee again from the table. "I don't think he's chomping at the bit to get 'back out there', but I'll pass along your well wishes if you'd like me to." Katy winked at her and grinned at the humorous circumstance that was playing itself out. This chat afforded her the first true reason to grin and laugh since her brother had missed her appointment the previous day.

"Don't be afraid to throw in some embellishments while you're at it!" Emily said through laughing.

The pair finished chatting and Katy was able to get from Emily that her brother was scheduled for a visit from the doctor on-duty later in the morning. She drove back to their family home, cleaned up her abandoned dinner from the previous evening, and got a quick shower. While getting dressed she tried to think of anything that she could bring that would be comforting or something her brother needed. While pulling her top over her head, her eyes fell on the small pictures sitting on the nightstand next to her side of the bed. She gave an audible exclamation and went and snatched up the photo of her brother with her over the pint of mint chip ice cream and put it in her purse.

Upon arriving back at the hospital, she was able to determine that he had not yet been seen by the doctor that morning and finally again sat down in the chair next to him.

"Morning!" she said out loud cheerfully amidst the beeping of the monitors. "I've brought you something that I hope helps you jog your memory."

She set the picture on the small table next to the hospital bed. Her brother didn't move, but continued to sleep. Her own fatigue from the ordeal of the last day was beginning to catch up with her. She drifted in and out of sleep for the next forty-five minutes until she was startled awake by the sound of Jeff rustling in the bed.

"Arrgghhh...Fucking hell..." he moaned and lifted his hand to his head.

Katy leaned over and took his hand to keep it away from the bloody bandages.

"It's okay," she said softly.

He turned his head, his eyes searching the room as if they were unable to focus. "Katy?"

"Yeah, it's me! You're in the hospital. There's been an accident," she said as comfortingly as she could.

"Oh god... wh- what's happened?" he said, trying to sit up, but unable to make it very far.

"Just lie down and rest, the doctor will be in soon."

He winced in pain and rested his head back on the pillow. "Where's dad? Is he here?"

Katy's lip started to tremble, but she remembered Emily warning her that his memory could be foggy for a while.

"Oh, Jeff.." she said, unable to finish her sentence.

Jeff turned his head toward Katy and for a brief moment his eyes seemed to focus on her and he smiled.

"I've always quite liked your hair," he said softly before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Katy's heart both overflowed and broke at his delirious comment. She kept his hand in hers and kept her tears at bay. She only had a few more minutes to sit back down and collect herself before the doctor arrived and picked up his chart. Katy stood and greeted him.

"And you are his wife?" the doctor asked.

"No, I'm his sister." Katy stopped for a moment before adding plainly, "I'll be taking care of him." She kept her followup to that answer silent in her head, And doing a much better job than his wife ever did.

"Well, your brother is quite lucky. It could have been much worse. He's got a bad concussion and some lacerations on his right side, but he should be just fine with a little bit of time."

Katy sat down with a sigh of relief while the doctor checked his vital signs before he spoke up again.

"Has he been awake? Speaking?" he asked without looking up from the chart.

"Yes, but..." she began, then pausing until she had his full attention. "He's a bit out of it. He was asking for our father, but he's been gone nearly ten months!"

The doctor nodded and explained. "Yes... with a concussion like he's got, the memory will be a bit here and there until the swelling goes down. So don't be too alarmed unless it persists for more than a few weeks, and even within that time it will likely start coming together for him."

Katy nodded to the doctor as she finished marking his chart before speaking up. "How long until he can come home?"

"Probably a couple of weeks at least. He's going to be very dizzy for a while and will have trouble walking before then. It's best to keep him here for that period and we'll also be able to react if something comes up. But I'm sure he'll be fine."

The doctor replaced the chart at the end of the bed and turned to leave the room.

"Thank you," Katy whispered out before settling back down in the chair.

For most of the next several days, Jeff slept as the swelling went down from the concussion. He was awake for a few hours each day to eat. Upon waking, he often thought it was months or even years in the past and asked about their father more than once. Katy would try and explain to him what had happened which often left him confused and unsettled. Each time he would fall asleep and wake back up, he would go through piecing together what had happened all over again. Katy's heart broke over it, and instead of having to keep telling him that their father was gone, she would say he was just out and leave it at that until he fell back asleep. The doctors didn't seem very concerned and assured her it was all normal, but that did little to calm the fear in her heart. She wanted him to remember her... the heat and joy they had found together.

Katy remained by his side as much as she could. He often needed help sitting up and doing simple things like standing and walking to the bathroom on his own. But, as the days went on he was becoming more coordinated and steady on his feet.

Late in the evening of the seventh day of his hospitalisation, Katy sat in her usual bedside chair reading a book while he slept. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she felt his hand touching the top of hers, stretching the heart rate monitor wire as he reached out to her. She dropped the book and her eyes shot over to him. That look... the look of longing, desire, and love was back in his eyes after nearly a week. She took his hand in hers and leaned toward him.

"Jeff?.." she said softly.

"It's me, Shortcake," he said back to her in an equal tone. "I'm feeling a little better... though my head is still pounding."

Katy got up from her seat and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly as he returned the embrace. Katy stopped and looked in his eyes, still seeing the spark of memory and recognition in them, but wanted to test it before she overwhelmed him.

"What all do you remember?" she asked him intently.

"Not much, to be honest," Jeff said, reaching up to hold his head. The bandages had been removed and he now sported a short line of staples across his right temple.

"The last thing I remember is kissing you good-bye in the morning..." he paused as if in deep thought.

Katy smiled from ear to ear and leaned in and kissed Jeff on the lips. She was pleased beyond measure that his memory was coming back, specifically the memory of the two of them. She released the kiss, still leaning over him with a smile spread across her face. Without looking she reached down and took his hand and placed it on her belly.

"I'm hoping you remember this as well?" she asked with a sparkle in her eye.

Jeff grinned at her, "Of course I do!"

After a few moments of thinking and recollecting, Jeff went on. "And I remember you saying that her car was parked out front and being annoyed and worried. But the next thing I remember, almost like it was a dream, was saying how I liked your hair. I'm not sure if that happened or if I dreamt it up."

"Oh, she was parked there," the smile temporarily left Katy's face as she continued. "And she was here too."

"Oh, god..." Jeff again raised his hand to his head, but not from pain of injury. "I'm sorry if you had to deal with that while I was knocked out."

Katy reached back down to take his hand. "It's handled, she thinks you're back taking care of me because I was silly and got knocked up and need my big brother to come to my rescue and leave her behind." Katy started to laugh as she continued, "Oh! So, Emily is one of the nurses here and apparently has an eye for you."