Lost And Found

A little something different for me. A longer and more involved story. As usual, no car chases, no gunfights, and no sex with animals.

****

Robert Stevens was calm and smiling contentedly in his dream. His arm was draped over Peg's body as they spooned, his hand resting gently on her soft breast. Her wonderful scent swept over him - her hair, her perfume, her natural scent. Oh how he loved that scent, and oh how he had missed it. It had been so long since they had slept together like this, so long since he had had his arm around her and felt her presence in this way.

As he slowly emerged to consciousness he began to realize that he had it wrong. He wasn't spooning with his one true love, he was hugging a pillow. He didn't have his hand on her breast, that was just the softness of the pillow. He tried to open his eyes to see where he was, but his eyes wouldn't open. He hurt. He really, really hurt, in every part of his body. He became aware of sounds - beeping and air pulsing and footsteps and voices. He became aware of a tube in his nose, and needles and wires. And he hurt all over. He must be in a hospital, he realized. But Peg's scent. That was still hanging in the air. That part of his dream had been real. Unable to see, he was confused. All he knew for sure was terrible pain. He lay still in case there was somebody there to hurt him - in case Peg had found him and had come to finish him off. Then he heard it.

"Hello, Robert."

It was her voice. She was really there - wherever "there" was. But how could that be? How had she found him? Would she hurt him again?

"No, no, no," he muttered as he tried to move. It hurt to move. He struggled a bit, then he lay still.

"Be easy, Robert, you're going to be okay," came Peg's sweet voice, trying to sound reassuring. "You're in the hospital, but you're going to be okay. I'm so happy to found you."

Again he struggled, but again he found he couldn't move much.

"Don't try to move, darling, you're in casts and bandages. Do you remember what happened?"

He was silent. He didn't remember, but he wasn't sure if he should have, and he wasn't sure if Peg was the reason he was hurt. Well, he knew she was the reason he had been hurt in the heart for a long time, but he didn't know if she had caused him to be injured this time.

"You've taken a terrible beating," Peg told him, gently. "Some thugs jumped you and beat you senseless. You have broken bones and internal injuries. But the doctors say you will recover and regain your strength."

Robert's mouth was so dry. He wanted to speak, but his tongue and his lips were too dry to work together. Seeing him trying to talk, Peg wet a washcloth and pressed it against his mouth to give him some moisture.

"W-why are you here?" Robert asked. "How did you find me? Did you set those men on me?"

She was stunned. How could he imagine such a thing? After a moment she rose. "I have to let them know you're awake. They'll want to come in and check you over. Then I'll call the girls and Charlie." With tears in her eyes she left the room. "I'll be back, and we'll talk more."

She notified a nurse and soon there was a clutch of men and women in scrubs gathered around his bed.

When finally she was let back into room she went to his bedside and gently took Robert's hand. She wasn't sure if he was still awake. With his eyes covered it was hard to tell.

"Sweetheart, I did nothing to hurt you," said, softly. "Why would you think so? No, I love you, and not a minute has passed since you left the hospital in Columbus and left me behind that I haven't thought about you and wondered what happened to you."

Robert didn't stir. Minutes passed. Finally he turned his head toward her.

"Are you and Charlie still together?" he asked, softly.

"No, Robert, Charlie and I have never been together. Charlie is our friend. You have always been, and will always be the only man for me."

At that Robert turned his face away from her. Why had she come all this way after all these years just to lie to him?

She saw it. She closed her eyes. All this time gone by, and already she was lying. And he knew it. She had to. At least for now.

Finally he decided to change the subject. "Why can't I see? Am I blind?"

"The doctors tell me that your eyes were injured in the beating. They are covered so they can heal. They say your vision may be affected, but you will not be blind. The bandages will come off in a few days, then we'll know more."

"We? You mean me," he thought.

"You never told me, why are you here?"

"I'm here because you are my husband, and I love you. After you disappeared we searched and searched for you, but you had just gone. Every evening after work and every weekend Charlie and I drove down every street, talked to everyone we saw trying to find you. I was distraught. We didn't know if you were dead or alive. Your head injury from the bike accident had changed you, and we were frightened about your ability to cope on your own.

"For weeks and weeks we searched. Finally we had to give up."

There it was again. Peg and Charlie. Charlie and Peg. He hadn't been wrong. And here she was admitting it. Did she think he was stupid?

"But I've never stopped loving you, and hoping one day we'd be together again."

Robert was tired. He was confused. His head ached and his body hurt. It was wonderful to hear Peg's voice and to be bathed in her scent. But he was so tired.

"I need to sleep," he said, softly.

"I'll go back to the hotel and make some calls, and freshen up a bit, and I'll be back this evening," Peg said. She leaned over the bed and kissed him gently on the lips. He didn't respond. He was already asleep.

As she walked past the nurses' station she was approached by Robert's doctor. "Ms. Stevens, I wonder if you would take a few minutes and help us with your husband's medical history. All we know is that he was delivered to our emergency room a week ago, unconscious and badly beaten. We admitted him as a John Doe. He had no identification on him, and his friends in the homeless camp just knew him as Bobby, or The Mayor. The officers who responded to a 911 call about the beating searched his kit, and they found a piece of paper with a phone number. That's how we contacted you."

Peg shook her head. "Robert was an executive of a telecommunications company where we live in Ohio. Seven years ago he was in a terrible bicycle accident and suffered a closed head injury. He was in a coma for five weeks. When he finally came out of it he was confused - the injury changed him. He went from being a confident, funny, and very smart man to being frightened and nervous. My loving husband was transformed into a suspicious introvert."

"We found that he has a metal plate in his skull, no doubt from the earlier accident. Did he have any other preexisting conditions we should know about?"

"Only high blood pressure, which he controlled with medication. And after the accident his blood pressure seemed to have returned to normal. How was he when he came in?"

"Well, we ran a full battery of tests to assess his condition. Apart from being malnourished and badly in need of a dentist, he appeared to be healthy. The only drug we detected in his system was marijuana. And of course since he's only now awakened, we've been unable to do any sort of a behavioral assessment.

"If I may ask, how did he come to be living on the street here?"

"After he recovered from the immediate trauma from the accident, the hospital began physical therapy and occupational therapy. And he began seeing a therapist for the mental changes we were seeing. All of this activity was exhausting for him in his condition, but he made good progress on the physical side. The mental side was tougher. Somehow he became convinced that Charlie Ford, his best friend, and I had been involved behind his back, and had caused his accident trying to kill him. No matter how we denied it he was convinced, and he became afraid of us. As the time approached for him to be released to come home, he managed to sneak out of the hospital and disappear.

"Charlie and I and the police and all our friends searched and searched, but he was just gone, like a ghost. That was the last we knew until I got the phone call six days ago. Thank goodness he kept my phone number."

"Thank you," the doctor said. "You've filled in some blanks, and as we continue to observe him we'll look to fill others. As soon as he's alert enough we'll schedule a psych consult. Monitoring his blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate, I can tell you that when he recognized that you were in the room, his anxiety level spiked. If that continues, we may have to ask you to take a step back from visiting. Is there anyone else who could be with him who might not trigger that response?"

"I'll see if one of his daughters can come. They were girls when he left, but they are young women now. He'd have no reason to fear them. Of course he has no reason to fear me either, except for his imagination."

With that Peg left to go to the hotel. She was exhausted, apprehensive, and guilty. Her mind raced. Although she loved and had missed Robert terribly, life had settled into a comfortable routine since he left, and his return would doubtless complicate things. And what to do about Charlie ...

*** Six days before, in Ohio: ***

Peg toweled off after finishing her post-sex shower. Charlie just had to have it so nasty. Since Robert had been gone, Charlie Ford had met her sexual needs. But whereas with her husband sex had been a tender, loving session of mutual care and concern, Charlie had to be athletic. Sex with him was like a wrestling match. And after resisting for six years, she had finally given in and begun to let him have anal - so dirty and nasty. And why did he have to smear cum and her fluids all over her body? No, the sex was worth it, but oh how far it was from how she had been raised and how Robert had treated her.

And after so much time together and regular fucking, her connection to her missing husband had faded, and her feelings for Charlie had grown. He had been such a help and such an anchor for her after the accident, and then after Robert had disappeared. She would not allow herself to call it love, but it would be hard to describe the difference.

Oh, but there were differences. Robert was educated and urbane. Charlie had finished high school, and he was smart - but his were street smarts, not sophisticated or cultured. She and Robert enjoyed talking about books, and attended opera. Charlie liked action movies and NASCAR. No, she had come to rely on Charlie, and she had developed feelings for him, but he could never replace Robert.

"You know, it's coming up on seven years since he ran off," Charlie said, lying sprawled on the bed, his body on full display, cock still glistening with semen and lube, and whatever else she didn't want to ponder. "You can have him declared to be presumed dead and we can get married."

"Yes, I know how long it's been," she replied, pulling underwear from her dresser drawer. "We have talked about this before. I still have hope he will be found. And Charlie, I appreciate all you do for me and the girls, but I still regard you as a friend - Robert's friend - but not as a husband. And Charlie, please don't wipe yourself off on my sheets. I don't want to have to deal with stains when I wash them." She pulled on her underwear carefully. Charlie had pounded her pussy and her back door hard, as usual, and as usual sex with him had left her sore.

Just then her phone rang. She picked it up off the dresser and saw an unfamiliar number. She almost didn't answer, but something told her she should.

"Hello, is this Mrs. Stevens?" a female voice asked.

"Yes, this is Margaret Stevens."

"I'm calling from the Oklahoma Medical Center. A man we believe to be your husband has been brought into our ER. He is badly injured from a beating. This phone number was found with the man's belongings in a homeless camp. We have this man as a John Doe, but a woman at the camp told the EMTs his name is Bobby Stevens."

"I'll be there as soon as I can catch a flight," she quickly replied.

"They found Robert!" she cried as she ran over and hugged Charlie. "He's alive, in a hospital in Oklahoma. I have to go." She went to the closet and pulled out a suitcase and began packing. "Will you drive me to the airport or should I call for a ride?" she asked over her shoulder.

"I'll drive you. I'll take a quick shower while you pack," Charlie said, struggling to hide his disappointment. Robert had been his friend, and he was genuinely relieved that he was alive. But damn, this really screwed up his plans.

They agreed that she would fly out on the first plane and he could come along later, after she was able to scope out the situation.

*** Back to the present ***

Back in her hotel room, Peg first called Charlie. "Charlie, I don't think you'd better come. He's very agitated whenever I mention you. He seema to believe that we had something to do with the accident."

"Did you break the news about us?"

"No, he's in no shape to digest that information. He's barely conscious, his eyes are bandaged shut, his arms and legs are in casts and he has internal injuries. Plus, he's had another concussion and brain injury."

"I should have been there. I could have kept him out of the hospital."

"Well, that horse has left the barn. I had a visit from a police officer this morning before Robert woke up. He asked some questions, and showed me pictures. He was living in a homeless camp under a bridge. All his belongings were crammed into and attached to a shopping cart. He was sleeping on the ground with a couple of old blankets he'd scavenged, I guess."

"So, what Pedro told me was true," he thought. He asked, "Did they find anything useful?"

"All they found was a paper with my phone number on it, and a family photo from our last Christmas together. He had cut my face out of it, so it only showed him and the girls."

"He always was a smart guy," Charlie chuckled.

"Charlie stop. This isn't funny. The man has been destroyed, and he has done absolutely nothing to deserve it. He deserves to have his old life back."

"Well, that isn't going to happen, I'm afraid."

"I'm hanging up now. I have to call the girls. They love their father and have been worried. Don't come here. I'll let you know if things change."

With that she got her tablet and set up a Zoom call with the girls. Lisa had been a sophomore in high school when Robert disappeared, and Laura had been in 8th grade. Now both were in college, Lisa at Northern Illinois and Laura at Northwestern. Thank goodness Robert had set up that college fund for them. How he got enough money into it to pay their way Peg didn't know, but there it was.

"How's Daddy?" Lisa asked as soon as the connection was made. Peg waited a moment before answering until Laura came into view.

"Your father woke up today. He is very confused. He still has that paranoia that we saw after the bike accident. He seems to be convinced that Charlie and I had something to do with the accident. We may need for one of you to come and be with him, because the doctor says my presence might be too upsetting for him."

"Why does he think you and Uncle Charlie had it in for him?" Lisa asked. "What did the two of you do to give him that idea? Did you have an affair before the accident?"

Peg acted insulted. "I love you father, I have always loved your father, and Charlie can never take the place of your father. I don't know what put the idea in his head that anything else was going on, but somehow that happened."

"I have my last final before summer break tomorrow morning, and I can come after that," Lisa said. As the older sister she had long been in the habit of taking the lead.

"I can come next week," Laura said, not wanting to be left out, and longing to see her father again.

*****

When Peg got back to the hospital, she was told that the doctors were in with Robert, and she should sit in the waiting room for a while. When she got to the visitor's area at the end of the corridor, she saw a rough looking woman sitting and waiting. She was younger than Peg, but life had clearly been hard on her. She was clean, and she wore an old dress, one that might have been in fashion 10 or 12 years before. It was well worn. Her black hair was not styled at all, just brushed. It was going toward gray. The woman looked up shyly as Peg approached.

"They told me I could sit here," she said, defensively, as if she expected to be kicked out at any minute. "I'm here to see my friend."

Knowing where Robert had been living, Peg guessed this woman might be from Robert's encampment.

Smiling as she sat down near the woman, Peg asked, "Are you a friend of Robert?"

The woman looked confused. "My friend is Bobby," she replied. "He's the mayor."

"Really? The mayor is here, and you know him?"

The woman laughed. "He isn't the real mayor. That's what we call him, because he takes care of everybody when they have a problem."

Peg took a photo from her purse. "Is this Bobby?" She asked, showing it to the woman.

"Yes, that's Bobby, but that's an old picture. He doesn't look like that now. He's older." She hesitated for a minute, trying to figure out what to do. Finally she reached out her hand. "I'm Mary. I'm Bobby's friend. Some people call me the Deputy Mayor."

Peg looked at the woman and took in her appearance. She was brown, but had features that did not point to any particular racial background. She could be pretty, Peg thought, if she had her hair fixed, and makeup.

Peg reached over and took her hand. "I'm happy to meet you. I'm Peg, Robert's wife."

Mary recoiled, pulling her hand back and covering her mouth in terror. "You're HER! He told me about you - what you did to him. Oh my God are you here to kill him? Please don't hurt him. I love him and he loves me."

Mary slowly reached into a knapsack, and pulled out a knife. She stood, and moved to stand between Peg and the corridor leading to Robert's room. "I won't let you hurt him," she said, wielding the knife. "He protects me and I protect him!"

Somehow Peg stayed calm and maintained her composure. "Mary, I'm not here to hurt Robert. I love him too, and I'm here to help him get better. Please put the knife away before somebody sees you. I don't want security to make trouble for you. Please come and sit down so we can talk. I promise I have not hurt Robert before, and I won't hurt him now."

Mary stood her ground, but when she heard footsteps approaching behind her, she slipped back over to her chair and sat down, concealing the knife under the cushion.

Peg smiled at her. "It appears we both love the same man," she said. "Thank you for looking out for him and for being his friend. I've been looking for him for years, ever since he ran away from the hospital."

"He said he had to leave because you and your lover were going to kill him so you could be together."

"Mary, Robert was a successful executive. We had a wonderful life. We have two great daughters, and we live in a beautiful home and have dear friends, all back in Ohio. But Robert was in a terrible accident, and he had a brain injury. He was in a coma for a long time, and when he woke up he had somehow come to believe I and our friend Charlie had arranged for a truck to hit him on his bike and try to kill him. It isn't true, Mary. Charlie is Robert's best friend, and neither of us would do anything to hurt him. Robert's brain injury made him suspicious and nervous. Tell me, is he still that way?"

"I'm the only person he trusts," she replied. "He even lets me take his ATM card when he needs money to help somebody, and when he has one of his headaches. He won't let anybody else know he has it."