Chapter 52
JASON’S POV
I couldn’t stop shaking, when Leah had called me, Chris and I, we were at the police station. They had told us that he was under suspicion for the death of his wife and where were a lot of un-answered questions regarding his sister-in-law’s death.
When I explains the whole story about Mandy being Leah and the paper she had giving me plus all her nightmares, they started to believe me and ask me some questions. What also helped was Chris who was also witness to her nightmare and when she had explained to him about her past.
When I heard Leah’s voice on the phone, I could tell how scarred she was and when the cop took the phone from me I was angry, but he needed to know more so… When I heard her say, Oh God, and her father’s voice after, the officer took my phone off speaker phone. I didn’t know what was going on, I could only imagine and I didn’t know which was worst.
Two officers told us to go in their car and we raced our way up there. I took over 2 hours but instead of going to the house like I thought we went to the hospital.
They parked at the front of the hospital and we all got out. Chris and I both followed the officers and they told us to stay right there. They asked the front desk something and then turned to us.
The guy who had been talking to Leah, was Officer Kane, he came back to us and looked at me.
‘She got hit pretty badly, so expect her to have a lot of black and blues. She got very lucky, she has no internal bleeding, but she has two broken ribs.’ He said.
‘What about her father?’ Chris asked.
‘He died at the house.’ He stated.
‘Good.’ Was Chris reply.
‘But she’s ok right?’ I asked him.
‘When she got to the hospital she was unconscious. She woke up about an hour ago.’ He said.
‘Unconscious?’ Chris and I said at the same time.
‘Yes.’ He said.
Chris and I looked at each other and I looked back at Officer Kane, ‘Can we see her?’ I asked him.
‘Only one at a time.’ He said.
‘Go.’ Chris said hitting my shoulder.
I nodded, followed the officer into the elevator and went up to the third floor. She wasn’t in ICU so that was a good sign.
‘Go ahead, she’s in room 3423 bed B.’ He said nodding to me too go forward.
I took a deep breathe, trying to prepare myself for what I was about to see.
When I saw her room number outside the door I went in. There was another patient with her, in that room. A female officer was sitting in a chair near Bed B, which I knew was Leah’s bed.
The Officer looked at me and turned to Leah, ‘Miss, I believe someone is here for you.’ She then looked back at me, ‘I’ll be just outside the door.’ She said to the both of us.
She got up and passed beside me. I took another deep breath and took the step so Leah and I were able to see each other.
Ok, a deep breath wasn’t good enough, I thought to myself. I felt like someone had just stabbed me, the tears rolling down my face. I didn’t move, I didn’t speak, I just stood there like a fucking idiot.
‘Hi.’ I heard her say.
I couldn’t answer.
Her eyes looking deep into mine, I tried to concentrate on them and not the rest of her. Like Officer Kane had said, she was black and blue.
‘Jason?’ she asked. I knew I had to at least say something, do something.
She broke eye contact and closed her eyes. I could see her tears as well.
I finally took a step towards her and then I was able to continue.
I got to the chair the woman was sitting in before and I placed it closer to Leah’s bed. I sat down, I wanted to take her hand but she had bruises on her hands as well. My tears wouldn’t stop, it wasn’t about being a man right now, it was seeing the love of my life like this.
‘I’m here baby.’ I whispered to her.
She opened her eyes and turned to look at me. ‘I’m here.’ I repeated.
‘I’m so sorry.’ She said.
‘Why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about.’ I told her.
‘Yeah I do.’ She said nodding, ‘I gave up, at the end, I gave up, and I couldn’t do it anymore.’ She whispered with her voice cracking at the end. Her tears rolling down her bruised face.
‘Baby…I did too.’ I said honestly.
She looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
‘I thought you’d be dead by the time we got here. I wished it wouldn’t be that way but, when we spoke, I was still back home. We drove here and I didn’t know, no one told us anything.’ I said to her.
‘Us?’ she asked.
‘Chris came with me at the station and he came with me here.’ I told her.
She nodded. ‘Do you forgive me?’ she asked me.
‘There’s nothing to forgive. If you need to hear it, yeah of course I forgive you. Do you forgive me?’ I asked her.
She smiled a little, I could see she was in pain, ‘Absolutely.’ She said.
She gave me her hand to hold, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’ I said.
‘You never have before, I know you won’t now.’ She said.
I gently took her hand and just held it. ‘Come here.’ She said tapping the bed.
‘Um, no.’ I said shaking my head.
She rolled her eyes, ‘Let’s go come here.’ She said again.
I got up and very slowly sat on the bed. ‘I know I’m not pretty right now, but I missed your face, I missed you, and your smell. I just need to look at you and for you to hold me. I’ve had worse than this but if it hurts, I’ll tell you I promise.’ She said.
I smiled remembering my shower while Chris fell asleep before all of this happened.
She looked at me for a while and then placed her head against my chest. I could hear her breath me in and it made me laugh out loud.
She raised her head and seemed confused.
‘Took my shower when Chris and I were doing game night.’ I said smiling at her.
‘And who won?’ she asked.
I smiled.
‘Good job baby.’ She said and looked into my eyes.
‘Can I kiss you?’ I asked being embarrassed that I didn’t know.
She laughed at me and shook her head.
‘Sometimes you are so clueless.’ She said. ‘Yes Jason, you can kiss me, anytime, anywhere, the answer will always be yes.’ She said.
I smiled at her and leaned closer to her. I knew she couldn’t move much with her broken ribs but she leaned in a little and our lips touched. It wasn’t a sexual kiss like before or when were having sex, it was more of a love kiss. Showing her how much I love her. Our lips moving and when I felt her tongue touch mine, I knew this girl had to be mine forever. For her to kiss me, even just like this and in so much pain, I knew I could never let her go.
I broke the kiss and looked at her. ‘I love you.’ I said to her, looking strait into her eyes.
‘I love you too.’ She said back.
I heard someone clear their throat and I turned to see Office Kane and the woman.
‘Miss Heart, I know you answered our questions earlier but I have answers for yours.’ He said.
‘I hate that name.’ she said. ‘And what are they?’ she added.
‘Well, the papers for a Leah Kingston were legal but not all of them. School was legal, and so you should be good with that. The birth certificate obviously wasn’t and so was the passport.’ He said to Leah.
‘OK so what do I do now?’ she asked him.
‘Well, we could put you into child services but you’ll be the legal age in a short time so there’s no really big point for that. If you want your given name to change, you need the proper forms to fill and send your request but for now, it’s Mandy Heart I’m afraid. Once you change your name to Leah Kingston, you’re school grades and should be set except you’ll have to change a few things with them.’ He said.
‘Change like what?’ she asked.
‘You’re social security number, also, that needs to be verified so you can have a job and do your taxes.’ He said.
‘Ok. If you can give me a number or tell me where to get the forms that would be great because I have no idea where to get any of that.’ She told him.
‘No problem, I know you’re here for a few days. I’ll make sure you have all the information you need.’ He said.
‘Thank you.’ Leah said smiling.
He nodded, ‘Is it alright if we send the other young man in?’ he asked.
‘Yeah.’ Leah told him.
Chris came into view, he nodded at me and continued walking. When he saw Leah, he stopped suddenly with his mouth open.
‘Stop.’ Leah said to Chris.
He was having the same reaction as me.
She looked at me for help.
‘Chris have a seat before you fate.’ I told him, pointing to a chair.
‘Chris!’ I said louder.
He snapped out of it and looked at me and I was still pointing to the chair he got the message.
He brought the chair close to her bed, ‘Shit Leah, you in a lot of pain?’ he asked.
‘They gave me something but it’s not that bad.’ She answered.
‘What do you mean, did you see yourself?’ Chris asked her.
‘Yeah, I did when I went to the bathroom. It’s not that bad.’ She told him.
Chris looked at me and I just nodded, she looked in bad shape but she just confirmed to us that she had worse. It broke me inside that anyone has to endure that.
‘So…I want to move.’ She said looking at the two of us, managing to change the subject.
‘Is that still going to happen?’ she asked me.
‘I’m going to fallow you everywhere and anywhere you want.’ I told her.
She smiled her amazing smile, ‘I want to move.’ She said.
‘Well, I guess we’re moving.’ Chris said smiling back at the two of us.
‘We found 5 places that looked sounded alright and so we need to see them I guess.’ I told her.
‘Ok well, when we get home we need to start calling.’ She said.
‘Home?’ Chris asked with a smile.
‘It is though, isn’t?’ she asked both of us.
‘Sounds great to me.’ I said to her and Chris just nodded in agreement.
‘Shit.’ Chris said. His hand went to his pocket and got his cell phone out. ‘Tell me if someone is coming.’ He whispered.
‘Hey babe.’ He whispered.
‘Yeah she’s here, she’s…good. 2 broken ribs and bruised up but, she’s great.’ he whispered.
‘Ok, I’ll ask. Hold on.’ He said then looked at Leah and handed her the phone.
I could see Leah wasn’t sure, I knew she was wondering if Laura would be pissed but I got Leah’s attention and nodded my head for her to keep going.
She smiled at me and took a little breath.
‘Hi.’ Leah said.
‘I’m ok, it looks worse than how it feels to be honest.’
‘I’m so sorry about everything Laura.’
‘Leah, always Leah please.’ She said shaking her head.
‘Yeah, when I come back, I’ll finally let you over.’ She said smiling.
‘Ok, love you too, here’s Chris.’ She said handing Chris back his phone.
‘So, as bad as you thought?’ I asked her.
‘No, I didn’t give her enough credit before. She always makes me notice how great she is by just being her.’ She told me.
‘I love you.’ I told her.
She smiled, ‘I love you more.’ She said to me.
I kissed her again but this time, our kiss was more urgent but we couldn’t do anything. I didn’t want her to be in pain plus Chris beside us, nothing would ever happen for awhile.
She broke the kiss ‘I missed you.’ She whispered to me.
‘I missed you like crazy.’ I confessed.
I kissed her and at the same time her food tray arrived. I looked at her confused, usually it takes a while for food to get here.
‘I told them I was hungry.’ She whispered to me while basically hiding behind me. I laughed, not surprised she was hungry, things never changed.
‘Well then, let’s see what you’ve got.’ I told her bringing the bed table closer to her while Chris got off the phone.
I knew she needed to stay in the hospital for a few days to make sure she was really ok, and I wasn’t going to leave her side. I just needed to know what Chris wanted to do.
****Please Comment and Vote! Thank You!!****