The feeling that was thrashing around inside me could not be described in words. Relief, shock, love, happiness, all combined into one single emotion so strong that it almost knocked me over. I slapped a hand to my mouth, feeling tears steadily trickle down my cheeks.
I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it.
I flung myself forward, throwing myself at Dannon. It was probably a stupid move because of the tubs that were running up his arms and through his nose, but I didn’t care. And Dannon didn’t seem to care either. He smiled brightly, his arms wrapping around me. He didn’t hug me tightly, but that was okay. Just the feeling of him hugging me back, him breathing into my ear, was enough for me. This moment was perfect. It was more than perfect. It was the moment that I’d been dreaming of. Who knew that dreams actually did come true?
We hugged for a long time. I wept into his shirt, but he didn’t seem to care. And why would he? He was probably so confused right now. I mumbled incoherent things into his chest, things that I couldn’t even understand. Dannon simply soothed me with his hand stroking through my hair.
Finally, I pulled away and Dannon’s hands immediately went to my cheeks. I held them there, closing my eyes. “You’re awake,” I croaked out, two ecstatic tears dribbling down my cheeks. “Oh my gosh, you’re awake.”
Dannon smiled and my heart almost stopped. That smile, so bright and loving. I was going to cherish it forever. “I am,” he whispered.
It was then that I realized how rusty his voice sounded. He was probably so thirsty right now. My eyes widened, and I jumped off the bed, clapping my hands together. “Are you thirsty?” I demanded, ready to leave the room. “Wait, am I even allowed to give you water? Damn, I have no idea.”
Dannon laughed, pulling me back onto the bed. I collapsed, letting out a small shriek. Instead of glaring at him like I usually would, however, I smiled brightly, unable to be annoyed with him. The happiness was too much.
“I think I’ll just call the doctor in here,” I announced, reaching over to press the button that signaled the doctors were needed. Technology was so helpful these days. “There. They’ll have the answers.”
Dannon smiled, his hand falling into my hair. I closed my eyes contently for a moment before opening them again. “If this is a dream I’m going to bawl when I wake up.”
“Nope, not a dream.” Dannon smiled.
I smiled back, taking his hand in mine. My smile only grew as Dannon squeezed my hand comfortingly. I’d become so used to having no reaction at all. “How is this possible?” I asked softly, my voice just a notch over a whisper. “I thought that you were supposed to . . . to leave while you were in a coma.”
Dannon shrugged nonchalantly, though you could see the confusion and happiness written all over his face. “I don’t know,” he breathed. “I’m sure the doctors will tell us.”
On cue a doctor came in, a concerned expression on his face. When he saw Dannon awake he almost dropped his clipboard in shock. “Dannon!” he exclaimed. “You’re awake!”
Dannon smiled, the smile still present on his face. “I am.”
The doctor, with wide eyes, consulted his clipboard as if it was going to help him any. Dannon and I both watched silently as he did so, waiting patiently for him to speak. “This is a pleasant surprise,” he murmured, smiling at us. “We’ll do some tests to see how the cancer is, all right?”
Dannon nodded. “All right.” He looked at me, smiling. “I’ll see you in a bit?”
I grinned, pressing my lips to his cheek. “You bet.”
I hopped off the bed and scurried out of the room, my phone in my hand. I dialed Kyla’s number swiftly, bringing the phone to my ear as Dannon’s door closed behind me. I leaned against the wall, a smile on my face.
Damn, it felt so good to smile again.
“Bri!” Kyla exclaimed, the worry and relief clear in her voice. “I woke up this morning and you weren’t there. Garrett said you went to the hospital. Are you all right?”
“You’re never going to believe what happened!” I exclaimed, ignoring my friend’s questions. It wasn’t to be rude. I just couldn’t keep the words inside me.
“Holy shit!” Kyla shrieked even though I hadn’t told her a single detail. She paused before muttering a quick, “Sorry guys! It’s Brianne.” She turned her attention back to me, the anticipation clear in the undertone of her voice. “You sound back to normal. What happened?”
I could distinctly hear crew members groaning because Kyla woke them up. Oh well. Everyone needed to hear this. “Dannon’s awake!” I shrieked, not at all caring that patients were probably ticked off that I just woke them up. Sleep didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that Dannon was awake. Awake. “He’s awake, Kyla. He’s come back to us!”
Kyla gasped and then she was screaming and yelling out in glee. “Seriously? That—that’s amazing! What—how? I don’t even—oh my God!”
I laughed. “Yeah, I’m serious. The doctors are doing some tests to see where he stands with the cancer, but he seems absolutely fine.”
Kyla sounded like she was close to hyperventilation. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” I heard zipping, and I instantly knew that she was getting out of bed. “Everyone! Guys! Dannon—he’s awake! Oliver—he’s awake!”
I laughed, feeling the familiar sense of joy—pure joy—jumping around in my stomach, making its way to my throat. I missed this feeling so much. So, so damn much. “Can you put Garrett on the phone?” I asked. “I need to tell him.”
“Definitely!” Kyla shrieked, her voice high-pitched with happiness. This always happened when she learned exciting news. With this news her voice was almost so high-pitched that I couldn’t hear it at all. “Hold on, he’s right here!”
Garrett, who obviously hadn’t heard Kyla’s shrieking, seemed confused to be handed Kyla’s cellular device. “Brianne, hey,” he said softly. “Do you need me to come pick you up?”
“Garret—how could you not have heard Kyla?” I demanded, my voice light. Before he could even think to defend himself, I cut him off. “Never mind, that doesn’t matter. Garrett—something amazing has happened!”
“Must be huge,” Garrett breathed. “You sound—normal.”
“Dannon’s awake!” I practically screamed. “Garrett—he’s awake!”
There was a pause before suddenly Garrett was whooping so loudly that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “What?” he demanded loudly. “Oh my—oh my gosh! That’s fricken—amazing! I’m coming down there right now.”
“Okay!” I laughed giddily. “I have to tell Tom, but I’ll see you later.”
“Count on it.”
I hung up the phone and immediately dialed up Tom. In reality he should have been the first one that I called, but I couldn’t resist telling Kyla and Garrett first. I smiled, bringing the phone to my ear, waiting impatiently for Tom to pick up. How was he going to react? Was he going to scream like Kyla had? Or was he going to be calm?
Or should I make this even better by seeing his face when he found out?
Yep, I was going to make him come here wondering what the heck was going on, and he would be surprised by seeing his son awake in the hospital bed.
“Hello?” came Tom’s voice after the third ring.
“Hey!” I said cheerfully, grinning.
“You sound awfully cheerful.”
My smile grew. “You might want to come to the hospital.”
Tom didn’t answer for a moment. “Why?” he asked slowly.
“Come and you’ll find out.”
With that, I decided to go for a mysterious exit and hung up on him. I looked around and sighed contently, a bright smile plastered on my face. Now all there was one thing to do: Wait for my friends to come see the miracle for themselves.
| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |
Tom burst into tears when he saw Dannon sitting the hospital bed with a bright smile on his face. He’d run to him and thrown his arms around him, crying freely. Dannon had immediately wrapped his arms around him, hugging him back. I kept a small distance, leaning back against the wall and watching the scene in a peaceful silence. How perfect was it where two men were able to cry without being ashamed? No picture, no words, could define a moment like this.
“It’s good to see you, son,” Tom murmured, pulling away from Dannon, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.
“It’s good to see you too, Dad.” Dannon smiled. He glanced at me, gesturing for me to join them. I immediately complied, standing beside Tom whilst holding onto my arm. “The doctors took some tests to see how the cancer is. The results should be in soon.”
Tom nodded, trying to regain his composure. I couldn’t understand why. He looked his strongest when he was showing compassion. “All right. I’ll be back; I want to go speak to the doctors.”
And then he was gone, disappearing into the hall.
I lowered myself onto Dannon’s bed. Dannon held out his hand, and I immediately took it in mine. Things felt so normal. It was as if me bawling my eyes out this morning while begging for him to wake up had never happened. “Garrett’s on his way,” I said, smiling at him. “And I’m sure that the crew isn’t far behind.”
Dannon laughed. “That’s gonna be a pretty full room.” He paused, looking me up and down. “How have you been holding up?”
I sighed, looking everywhere but at him. Suddenly I felt ashamed that all I’d done was mope around. Dannon was going to be so upset when he found out. He’d wanted me to be strong, to hold my head high. Move on. I don’t think he understood just how hard that was.
“Brianne?” Dannon murmured after a moment.
“I’d be lying if I said I was holding up good,” I said softly. I glanced at him tearfully. “I tried to do what you said and be strong. Seriously, I tried. But it was hard.”
Dannon let go of my hand and held his arms out. I stared at him for a moment before allowing myself to collapse into him, snuggling into his chest. He was so warm . . . so alive. Dannon hugged me tightly—well, tighter than he was before anyway—as though if he let go I was going to fall apart. “Listen to me,” he said softly into my ear. “I don’t want you to ever fall apart because of me again. Just know that I will never leave you. Even if I’m not physically here, I will always be here, okay?”
I nodded, blinking tears away. “Okay,” I whispered.
“All right.” Dannon let out a breath of air. “Deep conversation over, come and give me a kiss like I know you’ve been wanting to.”
I laughed, spinning around and pressing my lips to his. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, lightly pulling him closer. I knew that he was weak and couldn’t handle much. In fact, I was surprised that his voice was as strong as it was. In the movie Stepfather, when the son woke up from his just-over-a-month coma, you could barely hear the guy’s voice it was so weak. Dannon sounded almost normal.
So weird.
Amazing, but weird.
Dannon pulled away, gasping for air. “Sorry,” he forced out between struggles for air. “I’m a little out of energy right now.”
I brought a hand up, stroking his cheek gently. “I’m sorry, I should have pulled away sooner.”
Dannon coughed, choking out a laugh. “Don’t apologize.”
“I see you two have gotten cozy.”
Dannon and I looked over at the doorway. Garrett stood there, his arms crossed over his chest. He was acting nonchalant, but you could tell that he was relieved and amazed—not to mention happier than he’d ever been in his life. He was struggling to keep from smiling too largely, and he was failing miserably.
“Garrett!” Dannon called out, his voice casual. You could tell by his expression that he was failing at concealing his happiness as much as my brother was.
“Dannon, my man!”
I scooted over at Garrett moved forward. It was a good thing I moved because if I hadn’t Garrett would have crushed me. When he reached the bed, the boys proceeded to do their “manly” hug. I watched with a small smile on my face, loving the entire moment. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the fact that I was a sap. Or maybe it was because I never thought that I would be able to see something like this ever again.
“I’m sorry to ruin this little reunion, but the test results are in,” came the doctor’s voice from the door.
We all turned, our eyes landing on the doctor and Tom in the doorway. I braced myself for what was coming next.
It was time.
| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |
“It’s odd,” the doctor said, consulting the results in front of him. “The last time we tested you, Dannon, the cancer was spreading throughout your body. It was certain that you weren’t going to survive. But now there is no sign of cancer at all.”
My mouth dropped. My gaze snapped over to Dannon, trying to figure out his reaction from his facial features. Dannon’s face remained blank, as though he couldn’t process what the doctor was telling him. When I looked at Tom, he was wearing the same expression.
“What?” Tom asked after a long, excruciating silence.
“We cannot explain what happened. There have been cases like this, but they are extremely rare—extremely. No one knows what to make of it. The cancer just disappeared. It was like it was never there at all.” The doctor smiled. “I don’t know what made the cancer go away, Dannon. But it’s a miracle. You should consider yourself lucky.”
A miracle. A miracle. I suddenly broke into a huge smile, my eyes shooting up to the ceiling. God had heard. He’d heard and He’d given Dannon back to me. I couldn’t believe this was happening, but there was one thing for sure: I was never going to doubt God again.
Dannon let out a long, slow breath. He glance at me, to our intertwined hands, and then back to the doctor. “So, I’m . . . free?”
The doctor smiled brightly, nodding. “You are free.”