Written In The Stars: Book Two

CHAPTER ELEVEN: TIME WILL TELL

He couldn't stop his damn leg from shaking. It just kept bouncing up and down like a ball, and there wasn't a damn thing Elijah could do to make himself settle.

There was a speaker that kept going off, pulling him out of his own thoughts and back into the present constantly. Magazines spread out across a coffee table in front of them, no one but Eva had touched, and even then, Elijah could see her eyes only focus on a single spot of a page, before flipping it every five minutes or so.

Paintings from local artists hung on the wall, adding a bit of color to the otherwise tan room. Like Eva, his eyes would focus on a spot on one painting for several minutes, move to the frame, then eventually another painting.

"Can someone say something, please," Mitch begged from beside him.

Elijah noticed the different groupings. Mitch and Mary had sat next to him on the couch, leaving Eva to sit on a chair on one side of the table, while Jonathan sat in the one across from her.

"Elijah, what have you been up to?" Mary asked. "I'm surprised you weren't at the house this weekend. You only have a few more months worth of work. I feel like whenever you're there, we really don't have time to talk. You always keep so busy."

Elijah let out a low laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. When he spoke, it sounded as if he hadn't used his voice in weeks or months. The sound coming out cracked and faded. "Got my associate's degree in psychology a few months ago. Now I'm working on another. I was never much into school before, but I like to learn, and all the studying keeps my mind off other things."

"Off drinking," Jonathan asked, "or off Maddie?"

It slipped past him before, but Elijah noticed it this time. Her roommates had all called her Madeline. Then things between her and him shifted, and he used the name. He guessed hearing 'Madeline' hurt her too much to hear when they went their separate ways, and she learned to embrace her childhood name. "Both," Elijah answered finally. "I'm not here to steal your girl, John. I may not be in her life anymore, but she'll always be my best friend."

"And the love of your life," Jonathan finished for him.

Elijah stopped his leg from bouncing long enough to lean back on the uncomfortable maroon couch. "Like I said, I'm not here for that. I'm here for my friend."

"You aren't her friend," Jonathan felt the need to point out.

Elijah shook his head. The pleasantries were over. "Maybe not, but she's mine."

Mitch let out a cough, grabbing their attention away from one another. "Maybe the two of you could measure dicks another time, huh?"

"Elijah is our son, Jonathan," Mary added in. "I respect why this is difficult for you, but I'd recommend you respect your fiancé's parents. If something goes wrong, and the world takes away our daughter tonight, I need my son by my side. No one knows how to find their way out of pain like he does."

The group went uncomfortably quiet, and Elijah focused on the sounds coming from the other side of the room. A woman's silent tears fell down her face as she looked straight ahead at nothing at all, while her young son sat by her side, playing a game that kept giving off these whistle and crunch sounds. It had to be close to four in the morning by now, long past the child's bedtime, but the mother seemed incapable of moving.

"I didn't know you were going to college, Elijah," Mitch spoke through the quiet. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Elijah let out a cough, then scratched the overgrown stubble on his cheeks. "Once I got back home, it gave me something to focus on. It was just a couple of online courses, and I didn't think I'd see it all the way through. Just needed to pass my time with something productive I could focus on.

"Then I just added more and more classes. I don't sleep more than a few hours a night, so I could take on more than I originally planned. I was only halfway done with the first degree before I started working on the second. There wasn't enough money put away for me to afford a decent university, but it's easier this way. I can take on what I want and do things at my own speed."

It was a bit of a lie. Elijah had money. He wasn't swimming in it by any means, but he'd inherited a fair amount after his father passed. Apparently, the man just liked to pretend he didn't have a pot to piss in. Then there was his grandfather's death a year later. Since he hadn't updated his will, the half that was meant to go to his father instead went to Elijah.

Between the two deaths, Elijah could have easily afforded to transfer to a university now that his grades were decent and could have done so with zero debt. It just hadn't been something he wanted. That, and a lot of places weren't interested in hiring an ex-con anyhow, so it seemed moot to spend money on something that wouldn't get him a career.

Fortunately, Elijah kept a paycheck coming every two weeks, and hadn't touched the inheritance until he bulldozed his dad's house, and started the rebuild on a new one. He could have spent money on a down payment for a house of his own, while having plenty left over to furnish the whole place, but Elijah wasn't sure how much longer he could live in this city.

"Martin's?" a doctor asked as he stepped into the room.

Everyone stood, but Elijah felt his legs wobble beneath him for sitting so damn long.

"That's us."

The man walked over, clearly exhausted after his long shift. Maybe in his late fifties, early sixties. Truth was, he could have been closer to Elijah's age, and he wouldn't have been able to register it.

"Ms. Martin is out of surgery and in a recovery room. She's coming out of her anesthesia now, but we'll need to monitor her breathing and heart rhythm for a period.

"It won't be a quick recovery. Ms. Martin will have to be in a wheelchair until her leg heals. Because of her shoulder injury, crutches won't be an option for a while. Her leg can take anywhere from three to six months to heal. When the time comes, we'll set her up with a physiotherapist to regain muscle strength. For the time being, someone will need to monitor her, help her with daily tasks. Her trying to do things herself can lead to more damage, so she will need to be monitored closely."

Another doctor walked into the room, and Elijah remembered her as the woman who'd brought them up. He expected her to turn to the woman with the young child, but instead, she joined their group. "Are any of you Elijah?"

He barely recognized his own name so it took a few moments for it to fully sink in. "Yeah?"

"She's not fully coherent yet, since the effects of the anesthesia are still wearing off, but Ms. Martin keeps saying your name. I'm not sure if she's asking for you, but if you'd like to visit her, you'll have to keep it brief."

Though Jonathan's glare could probably be felt from across the city, Elijah turned his attention to Mary and Mitch. After he gave him a quick nod, and she gave him a light squeeze, Elijah stepped away from the group and allowed the doctor to lead him out of the waiting room.