Last Heartbeat (23 page)

“Oh my gosh! You are finally awake, Alexia. I have been scared to death. Phillip and I couldn’t wake you up and I made him call 911. I am sorry. I had to tell Phillip about your heart. I knew you were going to tell him, but the paramedics and doctors need to know how to take care of you. Can you please forgive me?” She hurries over and gives me a hug.

“Thank you, Kristen. I’m not mad at you, because you saved my life. I did want to tell Phillip, but it looks like I made a mess out of my plans of doing so. If I hadn’t told you right before class, you would not have known, so I am grateful that you knew what was wrong. What all did you tell Phillip?” I looked at her to see if she told him everything.

“I told him you had a heart transplant and that you were going to talk about it that evening with him. Nothing more.” Kristen is looking at me with a smile and I knew she didn’t tell him that my heart could possibly be his brother’s. She was saved that for me, I could tell.

Phillip looks between us and smiles. “What more is there to tell me Alexia? Are you telling me that something else is wrong with you?” He stopped smiling, and now concern is on his face.

I look to him and then Kristen, “Yes, I need to talk to you about something else. I have to talk to my parents first to make sure about something, before I tell you. Can you wait until after I speak to them?” I squeezed his hand.

He still has worry on his face when I look into his eyes. “What is it? Is the heart rejecting your body? Please tell me you aren’t going to die soon.”

“No Phillip. It isn’t that. I don’t believe I’m rejecting this heart. It feels stronger than ever right now. I miss my medicine and I can’t do that. But you know right now, I am broken and have been pieced back together. I was barely alive when I received this heart so someday it will stop working. I would understand if you wanted to leave me because I’m not strong enough to be what you deserve. You deserve someone healthy and who can take care of you for a long time. I will never know when my time comes up so feel free to leave before you get too involved with me, the broken girl.” I look into his eyes, and they seem to be thinking about what I just said. He is scaring me right now and I am selfish enough to hope me stays with me. I should push him away now, but I can’t. I’m not strong enough.

“Alexia, you are perfect to me no matter if you think you’re broken. To me you are not broken and never will be. I plan on having you right by my side for as long as you will let me. You are the strongest person I know to have went through what you already have and survived. So what if your heart had to be replaced with another one? You are still you and you’re stronger for it. I never want to be without you in my life. I know things could happen anytime, to anyone. That means we need to live while we can and not be afraid of what might happen. I could reject my liver just like you could reject your heart, but don’t be afraid of me leaving, because I am here to stay so get use to it, my princess. There’s one more thing, I want you to know I love you and I should have said it sooner. I always want you to know that I love you and only you.” He smiles and kisses me sweetly on my lips.

As he looks at me, I realize that I love him the same way. I forgot that Kristen was in the room and I believe Phillip did too. We both jump when we hear someone clear their throat. We look up to see who it is. My parents are standing beside Kristen and they all have smiles on their faces. I think my face is blushing because they all witnessed everything Phillip said to me. He smiles like they already knew how he feels.

“Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, if you heard everything I said to Alexia, I want you to know it is true and I would love to have your blessing to date her and please let her move in with me so I can take care of her.” He smiled and squeezed my hand.

My mom speaks first. “I could see how you felt about Alexia before I heard what you said. You truly seem to love her, and I appreciate that you haven’t left her side since she has been here. Do you realize the task you will have to take on to make sure she doesn’t forget her medicine again? What about the future with her not being able to give you kids?” she asks Phillip. I am now scared of his answers.

Phillip squeezed my hand to comfort me. “I do realize how hard it is to have to take medication everyday, because I have to take it too. If I had known earlier that Alexia must take it, I would have reminded her to do so. We are still young, and yes down the road we may decide we want kids, but she doesn’t have to carry a child for us to have them. We could adopt or find a surrogate to carry our child, but right now we don’t need children. For one, we both are still in school, and secondly, we just have found each other so we need to take things slow. I promise to be there for her if you would give us your blessing.”

My dad is looking between my mom and me, “Alexia, I will give my blessing for you and Phillip to date. He really seems to love you and he can take care of you. I think your mom has to give her blessing too. If you decide to move in with him, I want both of you to not start a sexual relationship, until you both get to know each other better and be prepared if you do. This is something really serious you both need to think about and discuss further. Phillip, I hope you know what you are really getting into. Having a liver transplant is serious, but a heart transplant is more so. Please don’t let her forget to take her medication, and Alexia, don’t let Phillip forget his. If Alexia gets put back in the hospital, I will bring her back home for good. I never want to be scared and unable to be here fast enough to get to the hospital if you needed me. So if your mom gives her blessing, I will.” My dad just surprised me with his comment and giving his blessing. I wonder what has happened the past three days while I was out.

I look to mom, who seems to be thinking about something, and she looks up at me. “Alexia before I decide, may I speak to you alone first?”

I look at Phillip, and he understands and he gets up to leave. Dad and Kristen follow him out the door without a word.

“Okay, Mom. Everyone is gone, so what do you need to tell me? Is something wrong with my heart or did I damage it?”

“Alexia, the doctors here said your heart is strong, and by the test they have done, it seems that your heart is stronger than ever. Missing your medication only put your body in shock and you couldn’t wake up. Mostly you scared everyone to death, but you will be fine. The doctors told Dad and I before we walked in that you would get out of the hospital tomorrow. Now with that out of the way, let’s talk about something I haven’t told you about -
how you got your heart
.” She smiles at me a sits down in the chair Phillip was sitting in and grabs my hand.

“What haven’t you told me about my heart, Mom?” I look into her eyes and she seems sadden.

“Well, on that day the doctors said you were going to die, I went down to the chapel to pray. I was praying for a miracle and that you would live. I only had you in my life for fifteen years and hated to have to give you up. While I was praying, another woman came in and sat down in one of the benches in the chapel. She looked scared. I knew something bad must have happened to someone she loved, because she looked terrified. I went and sat down beside her. I put my arms around her, because she really needed a hug. I was afraid to ask her what happened so I kept quiet. While I was hugging her, she decided to tell me what was going on.” Mom paused and now I see in her eyes, that she is remembering what happened on that day.

I have this dread that comes over me. “Mom, what did she tell you happened?

“The lady’s name was Jennifer Ryan. She came to the chapel to pray for her sons, because a drunk driver hit them and they where in the emergency room. The boys names were Gabe and Phillip Ryan.” She pauses and holds tight to my hand then continues. “While we were talking and praying for her sons and you, her husband comes rushing in to get her. He looked like he was going to pass out, and I knew something must have happened to the boys. They hurried out of the chapel and I didn’t see her again until a few days later. I had gone back to the chapel everyday while you were in the hospital because it comforted me. Jennifer came in and sat down beside me, and tears were running down her face. She told me Gabe had died, but Phillip had lived, only because Gabe signed the donor card on his driver’s license. She was happy to find out that Gabe decided to do that, but she didn’t know he had until everything had happened. Jennifer was happy that he saved Phillip and even saved a young girl with his heart that day. I knew she must have been talking about you so I told her everything about you and told her that Gabe was a miracle even though he didn’t make it himself. It gave her joy to know a part of him did save many lives that day. She told me not to tell you whose heart you received, because the hospital told them it was suppose to be confidential. Now I could be in trouble that I told you this, but I think you needed to know.”

“Mom, do you think what I feel for Phillip has to do with this heart, Gabe gave me? What do you think Phillip will do if he finds out?” Tears start to come down my cheeks, because I am afraid of what will happen now.

“Alexia dear, you love Phillip all on your own. You can’t have Gabe’s feelings. The doctors say that is impossible because I asked all those questions way before we got to that day I almost lost you. What Gabe did that day, was to give you both a chance to live. That was a miracle. Who knows? Maybe he had a premonition that something was going to happen and he was ready if it did. I do think you need to talk about this with Phillip before you move in with him. I will give you my blessing to date him and move in with him, but only if you tell him first.” She smiles at me and rubs my face like she always does when she is worried about me.

“Thanks, Mom. And I know I have to tell him. I will tell him tomorrow when I get out of the hospital. All of this talking has made me very tired and I need to take a nap. Can you do me a favor and tell everyone go home and get some rest. You and Dad go and take Phillip back to his place. Rest up for a while and tell him to take a shower because he needs one.” I yawn really big and she understands I am tired.

“Okay, baby girl. You get some rest and I’m sure we will be back after a while. A good shower for all of us will do some good. I will tell Phillip you are already asleep.” She kisses me on my cheek and turns the light off in my room so I can rest. Then she leaves.

I thought Phillip would come back in, but he doesn’t. I am glad because I have to go over everything my mom just said to me and sort it all out. I need to tell him tomorrow. I hope he will love me after I do. I yawn again and it isn’t long after that I fall back to sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Phillip

What I see when I walk into the dorm room will haunt me forever. Seeing Alexia lying on her bed and not waking up scares me to death. It is worse than when I was in the hospital after waking up after my surgery and finding out that my brother, Gabe died and saved my life in the process. Gabe shouldn’t have died for me, but I have learned to be grateful for his gift, although it took me a long time to get over his loss.

Kristen jumps in and gets my attention to call 911. I call and the operator keeps asking me questions about what is going on. I don’t know how to answer these questions, because I barely know Alexia and if she makes it through this, I will definitely make it my first priority to know everything. I keep asking Kristen questions, but she ends up taking the phone from me. Kristen starts answering right away, and I am surprised that she knows Alexia so much better than me. I am upset and grateful at the same time. What really surprises me the most is that Kristen tells them that Alexia has had a heart transplant.

I am so in shock that I missed Kristen yelling for me to go downstairs to meet the paramedics. Kristen has to slap me to get me moving. I hurry downstairs, and the paramedics are all ready here when I make it down. We make it back up to the room in a hurry. As soon as they get inside the room, they begin to work on Alexia. While they work on her, Kristen comes over to me and tells me about Alexia. She says that she was lucky that Alexia told her about the transplant this morning and Alexia told her that she had planned on telling me after classes today. I wonder why Alexia hadn’t told me before now, since I told her about mine. This is something else we have in common.

The paramedics have loaded Alexia up on the bed to wheel her out to the ambulance and they ask if one of us is going. I tell them that I am and Kristen tells me she will follow us in her car. The drive to the hospital is terrifying and brings back bad memories. I ask the paramedic, if she is going to be all right and he tells me that she is stable, but they have to get her to the hospital and run some test to make sure. Hearing that she is stable makes me feel a little better.

I text Jacob and Tyler and tell them to come to the hospital when they get done with classes. I don’t tell them everything, but I let them know Alexia is stable. I remember that I needed to call Alexia’s parents, and I will as soon as I know how she is. Why has this happened to my beautiful girl? She is too precious for this to happen to her. I will tell her how I feel about her as soon as she wakes up; at least, I hope she does wake up.

We arrive at the hospital and they wheel Alexia back into the emergency room. They tell me that I have to stay out in the waiting room until they know what is wrong with her and asked if I am related to her. I let them know that I am her boyfriend and her parents are in Cleveland. They said that they would give me an update soon. Now I have to wait in the waiting room - alone.

I don’t have to wait too long by myself because Kristen comes in soon after. She says that she picked up Alexia’s phone off the table and hands it to me so I could call her parents. She tells me that it should be the last number she called. I look at her phone but I am afraid that I shouldn’t call until I hear from the doctors. I know if I were in their shoes, I would want to hurry and get into town to be close to Alexia.