What The Heart Craves (Complete)

Chapter 22 - Part 2

Adonis

"Lacey." He gave her a smile.

She stared at him for a few moments before she looked at me, confused.

"What's wrong?" I frowned slightly.

"Who is he?"

I tried to process her words. She didn't know Aiden. That meant she'd lost memories. How far back did the loss go?

Her eyes settled on our linked hands and she frowned as she pulled her hand out of mine. My gut twisted as she looked at me with confusion.

"You don't remember Aiden?" I asked her, and she shook her head.

Aiden looked at me with alarm, but I shook my head at him. We didn't want to upset her, so I was trying to talk to her as calmly as I could muster. She remembered me, but that she pulled her hand away from mine spoke volumes. She didn't remember us.

"Where's my mom and dad?" She looked around the room.

"They're on their way." I looked to Aiden. "Call them and tell them she's awake."

He looked at her one last time before he walked out of the room to call her family.

"What happened?" She gently touched her forehead.

"You had a tumor, and you had surgery to remove it," I said.

She looked at me with alarm, her eyes wide and scared.

"You're okay," I said her, even if I doubted my words.

It killed me not to touch her, but until she remembered what we had, I couldn't. I felt relieved when the doctor came to check on her and I waited outside with Alden.

"It sucks. I can't believe she doesn't remember me." Aiden sounded despondent. "At least she remembers you."

I ran a hand through my hair.

"She remembers me, but she doesn't remember what we had."

I could only hope that the memory loss was temporary, and with some time she would remember everything. She had survived the odds, and she was with us now, and I felt grateful for that. It could have been so much worse.

My eyes went anxiously to the doctor when he exited her room.

"Her vitals are good," he said. "But there is some memory loss."

"She doesn't remember me at all," Aiden told him and he nodded.

"Only time will tell whether the memory loss is permanent."

Permanent. The word vibrated through me. What if she never remembered what we'd had before? Could I hope that because she'd loved me once, she could love me again?

I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to get a hold on the emotions that swirling around in me. Just when we'd finally found each other, it felt like we were being pulled apart again.

The sight of Alex and his parents walking towards us took me away from my difficult thoughts. "Is she okay?" He knew she was awake, but he was asking me if there was any damage that the doctor had warned us could happen.

"She's okay," I nodded. His parents looked relieved at my words. "She has some memory loss."

I couldn't keep it from them. They would find out eventually.

"Memory loss?" her mom repeated.

I nodded. "She doesn't remember Aiden, and she doesn't seem to remember that we were together."

The last sentence was hard to admit, like saying it aloud made it more real.

"Is it permanent?" Her father asked the question.