Mending the Soul (32 page)

Jenna couldn't believe what she was hearing.  She was having kind of a hard time processing everything, but she knew that when she had left the house earlier, that she had made a mistake.  Nicholas wasn't cheating on her, he was planning a surprise baby shower for her.  The tears welled up in her tired eyes.

Nicholas brought Jenna's hand to his mouth, giving it a soft kiss, and wondering if he was having any sort of impact on her.  He looked to her stomach where his other hand rested, and watched his hand while he rubbed all around the baby pouch.  His eyes traveled up Jenna's body to her bruised chest.  Her hospital gown was pushed over slightly, and he could see a few bruises from the seatbelt.  He couldn't see anything on her neck since there was a white brace around it to help her in case of whiplash.  The left side of her face had a nasty bruise from where her head had hit the side of her vehicle when it was hit.  Nicholas put Jenna's hand back on the bed, and drew his hand up to her face to lightly trace her bruise.  As he pushed some hair off her face, he felt a small patch of wetness.  He looked at his finger, thinking that he had hit some blood, but saw only a clear liquid.

Nicholas brushed his hand against her face again, feeling more wet trails.  As he looked closer, he saw that there were tears coming out of Jenna's eyes.  "Jenna!  Jenna?  Are you able to hear me?"  He said urgently.  He saw her eyelashes flutter, watching her try to open her eyes.  "Jenna, baby, open your eyes honey.  Come on, you need to fight to wake up for us."  Nicholas pleaded.  "Come on baby, use all your strength to open your eyes and come back to me."

Nicholas watched as Jenna's eyes opened just a small fraction.  He grabbed the wand next to the bed and pushed the call button for the nurse.  He kept encouraging Jenna to open her eyes, and each time she tried, she got them open a little more.  Finally, just as the nurse and doctor were walking in, Nicholas saw the beautiful hazel eyes that he had been begging to see.

"She's awake!"  He shouted to the nurse in excitement.  "Jenna, you're going to be ok.  I'm right here with you."  He said softly, with tears filling his eyes, as he touched his forehead to hers.  He placed a soft kiss on her lips as the doctor asked him to move away from her so that he could check her out.  Nicholas moved away from the bed and stood in the corner, watching the doctor taking Jenna's vitals and looking into her eyes.  Dr. Miner checked the readouts of the machines connected to Jenna's body, and nodded as if he was pleased with the results.  After he was done examining her, the doctor called Nicholas over to her to explain the results.

"Well, it appears as though there is no major damage as a result of the accident, and it looks as though mother and baby will both survive.  We'll need to keep you here for a few days to monitor both you and the pregnancy, but it appears as if you're out of the woods.  You still need to take it easy though."  Dr. Miner told Jenna.  "You are one lucky young lady to have made it through that crash as well as you did."

Jenna raised her hand to the neck brace, and winced her eyes.  She felt so uncomfortable with it on, she wanted to know when it could come off.  The doctor took it off for her, but said that if her neck was sore at all, she would have to put it back on.  He wished her well and told her that he would be back the next day to check on her, but if there were any problems before that, the nurses could page him.

As soon as the doctor and nurse were gone, Nicholas went back to sit next to Jenna.  "You really had me scared there."  He told Jenna solemnly.

"I was pretty scared too."  She whispered.  "I heard what you said to me.  I heard you talking."  She smiled.  "It was the only reason I woke up."

Nicholas smiled at her.  He was relieved to know that what he had done had helped in a way.  "You know, Nathan and Vanessa have been here the whole time, I'm sure they both want to see you.  Do you want me to get them for you?"

Jenna nodded softly.  When Nicholas got up from his chair to go to the waiting room to grab their friends, Jenna reached out and grabbed his hand.  Nicholas froze and turned back to Jenna.  "Thank you."  She told him.

Nicholas leaned down and kissed her softly, careful not to hurt her.  "Thank you for coming back to us."  He told her, then left the room.

Nicholas practically ran down the hallway to the waiting room where Nathan and Vanessa were.  His face couldn't hide a single emotion that he was feeling at that point, so as soon as Nathan and Vanessa saw him, they knew it was good.

"She's awake!"  Nicholas exclaimed.  "The doctor just examined her and said that it appears that she and the baby are both out of the woods."

"Oh my god!"  Vanessa said with a sigh of relief.  "Can we see her?"

"Yeah, she's waiting to see you guys right now."  Nicholas said and led them down the hall to Jenna's room.

Vanessa walked in slowly, afraid of what she would see.  Though the scene before her wasn't pretty, she thought it would definitely be worse than it was.  "Hey girl!  You ever scare us like that again and I will personally kill you!"  She said sweetly, leaning over the bed to give Jenna a soft hug.

Jenna smiled at her best friend.  "I guess I really shook you guys up, huh?"

"You can say that again.  I thought poor old Nicholas was going to have to be admitted too.  I wasn't sure if it would be for a heart attack or the looney bin."  Nathan joked as he bent down to kiss Jenna's head.

"We were talking to the doctor earlier, and he said that the only thing that saved you and the baby was the airbags.  You got really lucky."  Vanessa told her.  "Do you remember what happened?"

"All I remember was being upset with Nicholas over something that I realize now was really stupid and blown completely out of proportion, so I took off.  I was waiting to turn left in the intersection near the toy store, and I think someone ran their red light and hit me straight on the passenger side.  I didn't even see them, I just felt the impact.  Then I looked over before I blacked out and saw a car all smashed up, with its hood all crumpled in."  Jenna told them.

Remembering that Jenna took off out of the house because of something that he did, he put his head down in shame.  If only he hadn't been on the phone for so long with Zoey, none of this would have ever happened.  He felt like the lowest person in the world at that point, knowing that his baby and the love of his life were in so much pain, essentially because of something he did.

"Well, we have at least some good news for you.  How would you like to see your best friend a little more often?"  Vanessa asked Jenna.  Jenna looked at her inquisitively, wondering where this conversation was leading.  "Nathan and I are going to move into Nicholas's house.  Isn't that great?"

Jenna smiled.  "If that's what you want, of course it's great."

"Now, how about your good news?"  Vanessa asked.

Nicholas began coughing, or choking rather.  Vanessa looked over to him as she shook his head quickly, trying not to be obvious.  Vanessa looked down to Jenna's hand and noticed there was no ring on her finger yet.

"What good news?"  Jenna asked.

"Well, I heard you had an ultrasound this morning and everything looked good."  Vanessa thought fast on her feet, trying to cover her big blunder.  "And now the doctors think that everything will work out fine for your pregnancy."

"Oh, yeah.  I couldn't even imagine losing the baby now.  I know at the beginning we weren't very excited about this pregnancy, but now, I wouldn't have it any other way."  Jenna said.

"Me either."  Nicholas told her as he rubbed her stomach.

"So, how do you like your baby's first teddy bear?  Nicholas made us drive him to the store just so that he could get it for you after your surgery."  Nathan pointed out.

Jenna looked down the bed and saw the bear for the first time.  "I hadn't even noticed it.  Thank you."  She said looking at Nicholas.  She felt really weird around him right now, but was wondering if it was the drugs they had given her for the pain.  She almost felt like they were strangers.

"Well, I think we're going to head out now.  We just wanted to make sure that you were alright, and wanted to say hi."  Vanessa told her friend.  "We'll catch a cab back to your house so that you have a vehicle here if you need it."  She said to Nicholas as Nathan handed over the keys.

"Thank you guys for everything."  Nicholas said, hugging them both.

Nathan and Vanessa both gave Jenna a kiss on the cheek before leaving for the night.  They promised to come back and visit the next day after work.  Once Jenna and Nicholas were alone again, he sat in the chair next to her bed.

"So, do you want to talk about why you were so mad at me earlier?  I know I was on the phone for a while, and I ruined our lunch, but it just seems like there was more to it than that."  Nicholas said, taking her hand in his again.

Jenna looked at him and debated if she wanted to tell him or not.  She was so tired, and she didn't want to fight with him, but maybe if she told him then they could get rid of the awkwardness between them.  "I heard you whispering into the phone and laughing, and I had flashbacks of Kyle, and thought you were cheating on me."  Jenna admitted.

Nicholas was shocked.  His mouth gaped open at her admission, and for a minute, he was speechless.  "I don't even know where to start with that one.  First of all, I am not Kyle, I am not like Kyle, and I never will be.  I love you so much, I could never imagine being with anyone other than you.  Second, I was on the phone with Zoey, planning your surprise baby shower, and I had to whisper so that you wouldn't hear me.  She's going to kill me when she finds out you know about the it.  We have been working so hard to keep it a secret.  You know, I would have thought you'd have more trust in me than that."

"I know, and I really do trust you more than that.  It's just these damn pregnancy hormones and the fact that I'm getting so fat now.  Why would you even want to be with me when I look like this?"  She questioned, her eyes filled with tears.

"Jenna, you are the most beautiful woman in the world to me.  You were before, and you still are.  If anything, it makes me even more attracted to you seeing your belly.  You have our little baby in there, and that's the best feeling in the world.  Baby, you need to understand that you are the only woman for me, which is why I have something to ask you.  I know this isn't the most romantic way, and I had so many other ideas about how I was going to do this, but none of that matters quite so much anymore."  Nicholas told her as he fished around in his pocket, pulling out the small box.  He stood up from the chair and pulled it closer to the bed, then kneeled on it.  "You once told me that you didn't want to get married just because of the baby, but only when I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you because I love you and can't get enough of you, and when I was finally ready to make that commitment.  Well, Jenna, that time is now.  Will you marry me?"  Nicholas asked as he slowly creaked the small box open to show the exquisite diamond ring.

Jenna stared in shock, her mouth now gaped open.  "You want to marry me?"  She asked.

Nicholas nodded.

"And not just because of the baby?"

Nicholas shook his head.

"Are you sure that you're ready for this?"

Nicholas nodded.

"And you're not cheating on me?"

Nicholas shook his head.

He knelt painfully on the chair, waiting for her answer that seemed to be taking forever.  "I love you Jenna.  I just want to share the rest of my life with you.  Please say that you want the same."  He said when the silence became too much.

"Nicholas, you know I love you.  I just didn't expect this.  I want to say yes, but I also want to make sure that it's not the pain meds that are talking when I do."  She told him, smiling.

"So, will you say yes for now and wear the ring, then when you get off the pain meds, I'll ask you again?"  Nicholas asked.

"I think that's a good idea.  Now give me that ring, and I'll take a kiss too."  Jenna said with a smirk, finally feeling a little more herself.  She watched as Nicholas slid the ring on her finger, feeling the warmth encompass her as he did so.  Then she felt the wave of pure heat spread through her body as their lips met sealing their promise to each other.  She was looking forward to tomorrow when he would ask her again.  She knew her answer would be the same.

Sunlight poured through the slits of the blinds, aiming a beam straight into Jenna's closed eyes.  As she willed her muscles to roll her body away from the light, they screamed out in agony.  It was then that a realization hit Jenna…the realization that she was in pain.  Groaning, memories of the accident plagued her mind.

Sure enough, when Jenna opened her eyes, she was in the sterile environment of a hospital room.  Her eyes scanned the room, from the stark white walls, to the grainy television hanging in the corner.  Her eyes then roamed to the monitors that were attached to various parts of her body, telling a tale to any medical professional that would listen.  Finally, her eyes settle on the meaning of devotion, the definition of comfort, the one that she loved.

Nicholas was sitting in the chair next to her bed, looking extremely uncomfortable as he slept.  A hard hospital pillow bridged the gap between his head and the wall, with his neck craned to the side slightly.  His long legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles.  A small, thin blanket was covering his body, from his chest almost to his ankles.  As much as Nicholas needed the sleep, Jenna wondered if it would be worth the pain that he would feel upon waking.