The Long Ride Home (Cowboys & Cowgirls) (13 page)

“Oh God!”

“Yeah,” Ho
lton breathed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Cheryl. I’ve just… we’ve just…”

“I kn
ow! She’s told me about you, Holton. She is in love with you. You know that.”

“I know.”

“Do you want to come with me to the chapel?”

Ho
lton looked at her with his heart in his eyes. “Yes.”

***

It was C
hristmas Eve and the Dade’s, Holton’s parents, had been dead for over a year. Elena had turned 18 and only a few months later, they were in a bad car accident. Holton sat by himself in church in the third pew from the front. Elena walked in and sat right next to Holton.

“Hey there,” she said softly as she sat down. He looked over quickly and smiled a small smile that she knew was reserved just for her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He looked back from where she came and nodded, “Where’s your parents?”

“They’re not coming tonight,” she said quietly.

“Oh,” he replied, looking forward.

Elena reached for his hand and he looked at her immediately. “What are you doing?”

“No one is here, Holton. Just…I don’t know, God already knows how I feel about you. We don’t have to hide here.”

Ho
lton briefly held her gaze and nodded. His hand held hers while the preacher talked about forgiveness. After giving communion, Elena and Holton stood and sung ‘Silent night’ with the others.

After the service, Elena continued holding his hand until they reached the parking lot. Nobody else seemed to notice that they were together; at least they didn’t say anything.

“Do you want to go get a cup of coffee or something?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be home with your parents?” Holton asked.

“I am not leaving you alone, Holton.”

“I’ll be fine. Just go home.”

“Don’t do this, Holton. Talk to me.”

“W
hat do you want me to say? I’ve told you that you are too young for me, and yet you keep coming around.”

“You told me that when I turned 18
it would be okay. I waited, Holton! I waited two years! Do you know who my first kiss was?”

Ho
lton nodded his head irritably. “Yes, I do. That moron you took to homecoming when you were 14!”

“No,” Elena shook her head. “No!
He wasn’t. It was you! It was you on my 18
th
birthday. It was you, Holton. I couldn’t kiss that guy. I couldn’t. It’s always been you!”

“Why are you doing this, Elena?”

“I am doing this because I love you. I don’t want you to spend Christmas alone, Holton. You shouldn’t have to be alone!”

Ho
lton’s shoulders shook. “They’re dead, Elena. I don’t have anyone anymore.”

“That’s what I’ve been t
rying to tell you for years, Holton. You have me! I have you. You don’t have to be alone!”

“You’re 18!”

“I am 19 and I am in college, Holton. When will I be old enough for you?”

Ho
lton looked haunted. “I don’t know.”

“I want kids,
Holton. I want them with you. I won’t wait forever!”

“Then go, Elena! G
o!”

“
I’ll be home if you need me, Holton. Merry Christmas,” she said softly, then got into her jeep and drove away.

***

Ho
lton looked up and saw the cross that was lit up at the pulpit of the hospital chapel. Cheryl was lighting a candle and saying a prayer for Elena. All Holton could do was think about the way things were over the years. Memory upon memory kept surfacing in his mind. Elena was lying in a bed, dead to the world, while he was thinking endlessly of her. He wanted to die. He would take her place in a heartbeat. He started to cry and Cheryl came up to him and put her arms around him.

“Come on, pray with me,” she said. She brought him up to the front and handed him a match so he could light a candle. He wasn’t catholic, but if there was a God, he wanted Him to know that Elena was special and he wanted her to live. He wanted her forever. He wanted her as his wife.

He prayed, and prayed…and remembered.

***

“Holton, Elena’s here!” his mother called out to him. He was in middle school and the cute little girl next door came over. Her pony tails were like little springs, swinging back and forth. She had a missing tooth in the front and she was always singing something. She had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her hand.

“Hi, Hoten,” she said as she came up into the house. His mother smiled and tickled underneath her chin.

“Oh, you are such a cutie!”

“Hi, Missus Dade,” Elena chattered. “Hi, Hoten. Mommy said that you were going to show me how to ride a horse.”

Holton smiled at the little girl and then held out his hand. “Okay, brat,” he said as he led her out to the barn. “You get to ride pickles.”

Elena laughed. “Pickles! I love that name!” she squealed. She
laughed as Holton showed her the pony that she was going to learn on.

Holton showed her the correct way to pet a horse and how to feed them carrots. “Hold your hand out straight like this, Elena. Okay, don’t ever curl your fingers, they will think that they are carrots and they may try to bite you.”

“Oh!”

“Now, don’t be afraid; here, hold your hand out like this,” he said and uncurled her hand and pressed a carrot in them. “That’s good, Elena.”

“Thanks, Hoten!”

“You’re a good kid, Elena, just go up there nice and slow and pickles will let you ride him.”

“Okay,” she said shyly. She did as Holton said and he helped her up on the pony.

She smiled her toothy smile and he returned her grin. “Everything is going to be fine, Elena.”

***

“Everything is going to be fine, Elena,” Holton whispered to Elena as he grabbed her left hand. He held it as if it was glass and he kissed her lips. “I love you so much, baby. Please, if you can hear me, can you please wake up?”

The machines that she was hooked up to didn’t budge. Cheryl sat by the window and continued her prayers and he sat by her side, keeping vigil, hoping that she would respond to something—anything.

The doctor walked in minutes later. “We’re going to have to decide something soon if she doesn’t wake up.”

Holton and Cheryl looked at one another and Holton leaned down to Elena’s ear. “Honey, you have to wake up. Please, baby, you have to,” he cried. “Do you remember when I taught you how to ride pickles? I was just thinking about that, or when I taught you how to drive the jeep? You pushed on the gas pedal so hard I thought we were going to run right into the house. And then after…you told me that you loved me. You wanted me to go out with you. I told you that you should call me on your eighteenth birthday. You did! You called me at eleven that night, Elena.

We met by the east pond and I kissed you. You said…you said it was the best birthday that you had ever had. I gave you the locket that you have around your neck right now. I gave you that. You said it was a secret. I have never
seen it leave your neck!

Elena, I love you. God, please…wake up, Elena! Remember when I got you the ring? I didn’t tell you, but it was one of the best days of my life! I looked everywhere for a ring that would be perfect for you. I couldn’t find anything. I took part of my mother’
s ring and I found the most beautiful center stone for you at Arnie’s… remember Arnie?

Remember when you were 19 and you told me the stone that you wanted for your wedding ring? I bought it! I bought it right after you told me what you wanted. I worked for nothing and for everything, Elena. I had money saved up. I am a lot older than you, honey. I saved up the money so I could buy my own place someday, and then my parents died. All I had was money. I bought that ring the day that you said you loved it. I added the diamonds around the center stone the day after your father died. I used him as an excuse because I was scared. Baby, please.
Please!” he pleaded, crying now.

“Ho
lton, are you…” Cheryl leaned over and tried to comfort him.

“No! Elena, come on, damn
it! Wake up! Wake up!” he yelled.

Suddenly, one of the machines that she was hooked up to beeped. It was a long beep and the nurses ran in the room, as well as th
e doctor that had just left. Holton looked around and couldn’t understand what was happening.

“Is she waking up?” he asked, confused.  He wiped his ey
es just as the doctor yelled, ‘Code blue.’

Code blue. He knew that one. She was dying.

“No!” he yelled. “No!”

Chapter
13

Elena

“
W
here am I?” Elena asked as she stretched her arms. She looked around at a few familiar faces and smiled warmly. “Mom! Dad!”

Her parents were there, welcoming her to their place. “Hey, honey,” her mother said as she brought her arms around her.

“Hey!” Elena said, hugging her mother tightly. “Ouch!” she strained. “Oh! My leg!”

“You have been in a horrible accident, hone
y,” her father said, worriedly.

“I have?”

“Yeah,” her mother replied for her father. “You’re still in the hospital.”

Suddenly Elena looked around and noticed all the machines in the room. She winced. “What happened?”

“You got hit by a car,” her mom said. “Drunk driver.”

“Oh, I don’t feel so good,” Elena admitted. Her father came up to her with a cup full of ice chips. “You can have some of these if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Dad. Wait!” Elena panicked. “What are you doing here?”

“We are here visiting you,” her mother replied softly.

“No! You’re dead!” Elena shrieked. She went to move on the bed and she screamed. The pain that traveled through her body nearly left her breathless.

“Yes…we came here for you, Elena.”

“I’m dead?” Elena asked quietly.

“No, not yet,” her father replied. “You aren’t doing so well, Elena. You have been sleeping for a while now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been in a coma for hours. Your brain has swelled.”

“What…How?”

“You were hit by a drunk driver,” her father replied. She could hear someone else’s voice now. Someone was crying rather loudly.

“What’s that?” she asked. She looked at her mother and her mother looked at her father.

“That’s Ho
lton.”

“Ho
lton’s dead!”

“N
o, honey, Holton is here with you.”

“He came all the way to Sunnybrook?”

“Yes, of course,” her mother added. “He’s been here for hours now. He’s even been praying.”

“Praying? He hasn’t been to church since Christmas Eve years ago…”

“Cheryl took him to the chapel.”

“Poor Cheryl. She must have called him,” Elena said, looking around at her mother and father.

“Yes, she did. Holton is devastated.”

Elena started to cry as she looked at her parents. “I love him. He is going to be sick. I promised him that I wasn’t going to die. I promised him.”

Elena’s mother looked at her sadly. “Everyone dies, Elena. You can’t make someone that promise.”

“I made Holton that promise, Mom. I can’t die. I don’t want to, I’m not ready.”

“You need to wake up then,” her mother coaxed. “The longer you stay here with us, the longer you are away from him and the better chance you have in not making it back.”

“What do I do?” Elena asked.

“You fight, Elena,” her father replied hopefully.

“But what about you?”

“We will be here waiting for you when you’re ready.”

“When will that be?” Elena asked.

Elena’s mother smiled. “A very long time from now if you go back.”

“I miss you, Mom,” Elena cried. She reached out for her mother and her mom came into her embrace. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you so much, Elena. But, I am here with you all the time. Tell Holton I said hi.”

Elena smiled and nodded. “I will, Momma. Dad, I love you so much. I’m so sorry I wasn’t home.”

“You were at the hospital with me. Tell Holton to take care of you the way he promised.”

“You remember that?” she cried. She held out her other arm and motioned toward her father; he came over and they all three held each other.

“Yes, baby, I remember. I was hoping he would finally step up.”

“You knew?”

“I knew,” her father nodded. Two more people came in the room then and smiled at Elena. Elena gasped. It was Holton’s parents.

“Elena,
thank you for taking care of Holton all these years,” Holton’s mother said as she came forward to hug her. “He has loved you forever.”

Elena started crying and her lip trembled. “I have loved him my entire life.”

“Elena,” Holton’s father nodded. “Tell my son that we miss him, and that we very much approve of everything he has done.”

“I will, Mr. Dade
,” Elena replied. Elena’s mother and father along with Dades stood in front of her bed and held on to her hands.

“It’s time now, Elena,” her mom said softly. “Go with God.”

Elena closed her eyes.

***

Holton sat in the waiting room utterly devastated with Cheryl sitting right beside him.

“She’s going to be okay,” Cheryl kept saying to herself. “I just know it. She’s…”

“What am I going to do?” Holton cried. “I’ve… she’s everything to me.”

Cheryl looked at Ho
lton and felt like her entire world was tilted. If Elena thought for one minute that this man didn’t love her, she was completely insane. She had never seen anyone love someone so much.

Cheryl thought of the first day of school when Elena came to be her roommate.

“I remember when she first came to Sunnybrook. She was so scared, but so excited at the same time,” Cheryl mused. Holton didn’t move. “She brought a picture of you and her. She said it was from a project that she made up in school.”

Ho
lton looked at her now and wiped his eyes. “What was she wearing?”

Cheryl smiled. “She was wearing this ridiculous pink sweater…”

“It had cotton balls on it and a Ferris wheel,” Holton interrupted. He laughed. “Her parents had my parents and me over for dinner. She was just a kid. She told me that she had to interview five people that cared about her and we had to answer questions. She said that she also needed a picture of me for proof.”

“She’s so ridiculous…even now. She told me that she made the entire thing up because she wanted just one picture of you and her. She had several though.”

Holton’s lip trembled and he tried to hold back the onset of more tears to no avail. “She’s asked for several over the years.”

“What was with the one with you and her at the Dallas Cowboy’s game?”

Holton thought back to the picture she was talking about and shook his head. “She told me that she needed proof that I took her to the game because nobody in her class would ever believe that I would be seen with her. I told her she was nuts. Why would she want a picture of me with her? And then I told her that she wasn’t allowed to show anyone. She asked me if I was embarrassed. I told her that I wasn’t, but I was afraid of what her parents may think. She used to call me her little secret. It sounded so dirty back then, and maybe it still does, but for some reason it was something special to us. She was just young, but she was still my best friend.”

“She has that picture in her computer desk drawer. I saw it once when I went in to borrow a pencil. She was pretty pissed that I found a collection of things from you from over the years.”

“A collection?”

“Gifts, pictures…
notes.”

“She kept all of that stuff?”

“She told me that you once told her that she should surround herself by things that she loved, so when she was in college she wouldn’t be so sad. She had all of the things that you gave her hanging around like a Holton museum.”

“I didn’t see anything that I gave her when I was in her room that night.”

“She took them down after she heard Beth Ann’s voice.”

Ho
lton looked down at his hands and placed his head in them and tried to breathe. “What am I going to do, Cheryl?”

“She’s going to be okay.”

***

“She’s back!” one of the nurses yelled as the monitor
emitted a feint beep. The doctor that was performing CPR and using the paddles stood back and took a deep breath. “Thank God,” he said. The machine that read her heartbeats picked up in speed, and soon, her heart rate was back to normal.

A few minutes later, Elena’s eyelids fluttered.

“Dr!” one of the nurses cried. “Look!”

Dr. Elroy turned around and was looking right into the bluest eyes he had ever seen. “Welcome back, Elena.”

Elena’s eyelids fluttered and she tried to speak, but there was a tube in her mouth. The doctor motioned for her not to make a sound and she looked up, scared. Her heartbeat elevated and she went to pull out the tube.

“Elena, you have been in a horrible accident.  This is a breathing tube. I have to be very careful pulling it out. Please don’t move.”

A tear escaped from Elena’s lids as the doctor removed the tube slowly with the help of one of the nurses. “Don’t speak just yet,” he said. He turned around and removed a few supplies from the table and checked her vitals. A few minutes later he smiled. “You gave us quite the scare. I know a few people out there that will be very happy to see you.”

Elena smiled weakly. “Don’t speak just yet. You need to get used to the feeling of the tube being out. We need to make sure that no damage was done to your vocal chords.”

Elena nodded and the doctor patted her hand. “You’ve been badly bruised. There are a few broken ribs and bones. Your left ankle is broken and your right one is badly fractured. They are wrapped up for now. If you are in any pain at all, other than mild, let me know by pushing this button,” the Dr. said as he held up the call button for the nurse. “The nurse will be in right away and will get you what’s needed. Now, listen closely. I only have a few things on you, so we weren’t sure if you allergic to anything. Do you have any drug allergies?”

Elena shook her head slowly.

“Good. Are you in pain?”

Elena nodded.

“A lot?” her doctor asked.

Elena nodded.

“Nurse, I need you to give her a drip of the medication prescribed. Please make sure that you monitor her intake every thirty minutes. She is not to be without water or without this call button.” He then turned to Elena. “How would you like to see your fiancé?”

Elena’s eyes widened and the Dr. turned to go out the door. Elena waited for what seemed like forever.