Doctor's Orders

36. Resuscitation

There was an odd comfort in the familiarity of home, the glow, the sounds, the scent. Somehow, home and family seemed to lessen the harshness of grief. 

"Fantastic meal, Mrs. Jansen," Harry said as he cleaned the last bits off his plate. It was actually kind of surreal to have him sitting there, in my childhood home, at our dinner table.

"Thank you, Harry. And please call me Mary Lou."

"Are you Ellie's boyfriend?" Chloe asked as if it was the most reasonable question in the world. I guess it was a reasonable assumption for a 5-year-old to make, especially since the word had been tossed around the last time I'd been home. But my family didn't really know of all the events that had occurred since then. 

I smiled, squeezed Harry's hand, hoping he'd play along, and said, "Yes, he is." The little smile on his face was priceless. 

"Ell," my mother said. "There's a private visitation tonight, for family only, before the open visitations tomorrow." I nodded, not even having to think about whether or not I would go. Of course I would. 

After dinner, Harry and I went to our rooms - he was in the guest room across from mine - to get settled in. I changed into something appropriate to wear for the visitation and went across the hall.

"Hey." I smiled at Harry, sitting on the end of the guest bed, checking his messages.

"How are you doing?" He asked. 

"I don't know yet. I'm sure it will be hard when I see him tonight. Are you...I mean, will you come with me?"

He tilted his head a little and remarked, "Your mother said it was for family only." The way he ended the sentence made it sound like he was asking a question.

"Well, you're my boyfriend, so you are family for the weekend." I smiled sheepishly, but then I added, "I hope I didn't throw you off by that, saying you're my boyfriend. I mean, I'm still taking this very slowly, but my parents don't know about everything that happened in the past month."

He came to stand directly in front of me, towering over me so that I had let my head fall back to look up at him. "You didn't tell them anything?" 

"No," I said, shaking my head for emphasis. "I didn't want them to think badly of you." I looked down, and then looked up with my eyes, not completely facing him. "I mean, it was a shitty thing to do, but we've already covered that." I gave him a teasing little smile.

He stepped closer and pulled my chin up to face him. "I know. And again, I'm very sorry. You really are incredible, you know that?"

"Why?" I laughed. "I just called you shitty!"

"I think it's incredible that you didn't tell your family about something I did to hurt you, when you could have hashed over it for hours with them. I was actually a little surprised that they weren't somewhat cold towards me."

I hadn't even thought about that. "Did you expect them to be?" 

"A little, I guess. I mean, I hurt you. Most parents wouldn't be crazy about a guy that did that to their daughter. So, thanks for not throwing me under the bus," he said, smiling gratefully.

"Well, thank you for coming with me, even if it meant potentially being hated by my parents." I pushed up on my toes and kissed his cheek. "You're pretty incredible, too."

Just then my mom appeared in the hallway. "Are you two ready to go?"

"I think so," I said, and looked at Harry for confirmation. With his assent, we followed my family outside, but Harry insisted on driving. Chloe asked if she could ride with us, and Harry immediately said yes. It tickled me that he had taken such a liking to my baby sister.