A Time in Heaven (28 page)

They shook hands as Katie said, “It nice to finally be able to meet you.”  She wanted to say more but didn’t think it would be appropriate right now.

“I want to thank you for being there for Jesse through all this.  It’s so good that the kids still have their father around.  They went through some hard times when they thought he had been killed
.  I guess I missed him too.”  Darcy told Katie.

“You’re welcome, but he was there for me too.  Like I told your children, we worked together to survive this past year.  Neither one of us could have done it alone.” Katie liked thi
s woman who was once the wife
of the man she loves.  She thought she should be feeling something other than being so relaxed with the whole situation.  She looked as Jesse.  His attention was focused only on her.  How she loved him.

The nurse came in a
nd
told the group that Mr. Danvers should be getting some rest
, and they needed to leave him alone for
a while
.

Jesse said his goodbyes to his kids and Darcy.  She said that she would be going back home but the kids p
lanned on staying another day or so
.  She kissed Jesse on the cheek and told him she was glad he was going to be alright and that she would be talking to him soon.

Pete said to his dad, “
We’ll
be back later.
You get some rest.”  Pete and
Jenny left the room
with their mom
.  They turned to wave to
their dad before getting into the elevator.

Katie stood beside Jesse’s
bed.  When his family was gone
,
she kissed
him
with the passion he had grown to love. The nurse smiled as she saw his heart rate increase on the monitor.
With a grin on her face, she l
ooked at Katie and said, “I’m afraid you’ll have to leave too.  Why don’t you get some rest
as
well?
  I’ll
bring you a blanket and you can take a nap across the hall in the waiting room.”
  She suddenly remembered that she had a note for Katie in her pocket.  “The medic that brought you in left this for you at the desk,” she said as she handed the envelope to Katie.

“It’s about Sadie.  It says that he had her boarded at the veterinary hospital. It gives the person to call and the phone number.” Katie told Jesse.

The nurse nudged Katie out of the room and closed the door.  She told Katie that she could use the phone at the nurse’s station to call about her dog while she got a blanket and a pillow.

Katie made the phone call.  They told her that Sadie was fine and they would keep her as long as Katie needed them to. 
She missed her dog immensely.  The two of them hadn’t been parted from each other since Katie got Sadie as a puppy.

Katie suddenly realized that she had no money, but she would worry about that later
as she found herself totally exhausted
.  She
looked at the nurse and then at Jesse’s closed door.  The nurse shook her head and motioned to the waiting room.  She
reluctantly
went back to the waiting room and after lying down
,
slept
soundly
for several hours.

She woke up feeling renewed.  After a trip to the bathroom to freshen up, she went directly to Jesse.  He was still sleeping. She was met by the nurse that told her that he was fine and the rest was doing him good.  Katie went back to the waiting room and had a cup of coffee.  She didn’t remember the last time she ate.

The nurse finally came in and said that Jesse was awake and asking for her.  As she stepped into his room, her emotions took over and she started to cry.
He held out his arms and she fell into them.  She jumped back.  “I’m sorry.  Did I hurt you?”

“No, you didn’t hurt me. 
Having you
in my arms is
the
best
medicine
for me now
.” He drew her back to him.

The nurse came in
and apologized for interrupting. She was there
to tell Katie that her family was waiting for her downstairs. 
Katie asked if she would
invite
them to come to Jesse’s room. The nurse explained that s
ecurity wouldn’t let them on the surgical floor. 
Just then a
guard came in and informed Katie that he would escort her to the conference room where her family was waiting.

“Could you tell them that I will come down later?”  Katie just wanted to be with Jesse right now.

“You go meet with your family
.  They need to see you.  I’m sure they are anxious to
make sure that you’re
alright.”

“But Jesse,” Katie said.

“Go. I’ll be right here when you get back.
I’m not going anywhere.
”
He motioned to the tubes
and wires
to which he was still connected.

Katie kissed him and left with the security guard.  They rode down the elevator to the first floor.  She wished it would have taken longer.  This reunion wasn’t something she was looking forward to.
She had missed her family, but they could be difficult to deal with.

When the elevator door opened, the reporters
came at her
again.  One asked, as
the security guard
swept
Katie past him, if Jesse Danvers was going to live.  “He’ll be fine,” was all she could say before she found herself standing in front of her parents, brother and sister-in-law. The guard closed the door as he left.

Katie stood looking at her family.
Not being a very demonstrative group, they all told Katie how good it was to see her and to see that she was alright.  Only her mother
came to her and
gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re here,” Katie said.  “I’ve missed you.”
He mother had a tear in her eye but quickly wiped it away.

Her father
had on his
familiar
Steelers jacket and ball cap.  He
was standing looking at his watch.  “We had to park at a meter.
The damn parking garage was full on
TV
people.”  He finally looked at his daughter.  He had a look of impatience on his face.
“
Do you know what all this is costing me?
I told you flying off to some ungodly place was a bad idea.
”

Karl, her brother, asked
, as he was looking around
, “Where is your luggage?  We have tickets for the next flight out of here today.
We need to leave now if we are to catch it.
”

“You’ll have
to go get your things
.  There’s not much time,
sweetie
,” her mom told her. She looked
disapprovingly
at Katie, “You’ll want to change y
our clothes.  You can’t get on the
plane looking like that.”

Ka
tie was caught off guard.  “I don’t have any luggage.  It was all left behind on the island
.
These are all the clothes I have.
”

“Good, then
we can go,”
her father said as he started to leave.

“Wait a minute.  I’ve been gone for fourteen months and you thought I was dead.  Now
all you can say is that
we have to catch a plane?” Katie looked at her family with confusion and anger.  “
The damn plane can wait.
There is some
one upstairs I want you to meet.
”

“We know.  It’s that Jesse Danvers.  We heard about it.  They s
ay you two became an item on that
i
sland.  Well you’re back now.  You know that h
e’ll just go back to his old life so you should come with us and get on with yours.  They might even give you your old job back. Come on let
’s go,” Katie’s mother insisted as she gave her a little push toward the door.

“I’m not going with you.
” Katie stepped away from her mother’s touch.
 
“
I’m going back upstairs to Jesse, and I’d like you to come with me.
” She
wanted to cry but she wouldn’t let herself.

“You’re just fooling yourself, girl.  I know his kind and he’ll just find himself a new young thing as soon as he gets out of this hospital.  Now, let’s get going to the airport.”  Her father said all this without even looking at Katie.

“Good bye,” she calmly said and went to the door
of the conference room
.  She motioned to the guard.  He escorted her to the elevator.  Katie didn’t even look to see if her s
o called family was still ther
e as the door closed behind her
.
She desperately wanted them to call to her, but she didn’t expect it.

The elevator door opened and she could see Jesse sitting up on hi
s bed.  She quickly went to him holding back her tears.

“Where is your family?  Are they coming up?
I’d like to meet them.” Jesse said as he looked down the hall to the elevator.

Katie gave him a quick
kiss,
and said
, “
Th
ey’re gone.  They couldn’t stay.  T
here was plane to catch.”

“I’m sorry.” Jesse pulled her toward him and he kissed her between her breasts.  Katie gently pushed him away.  She was blushing, but she loved it.
The confrontation with her family didn’t seem so bad now.

There was the sound of someone clearing his throat.  Katie turned around.  Jesse
’s eye lit up as he
recognized his friend and manager,
Jim
Kohl
.
  Katie didn’t say so but she knew who he was too.

Jim Kohl was a short, middle aged man with thinning hair.  He was wearing jeans and a sports jacket. Katie had seen many pictures of him that made him seem always the professional and unapproachable.  The man she was meeting today was open and warm.

“I see
you’re
feeling better there, Jess.” He walked to Jesse and vigorously shook his hand.
The two men hugged.  It was obvious to Katie that Jim and Jesse were the best of friends.

“Katie this is my friend,
Jim
Kohl
. 
Jim
this is Katie.  She was on the island with me for the past year.”

Jim
shook Katie’s hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  “Good to know you.  And good to see you took care of our Jesse here.”

“We took care of each other,” Katie told him. 

Jesse and
Jim
talked about what had happened
on the island
over the past year. 
Jim
told him how lucky he and Katie were to have survived the whole ordeal. 
After several minutes,
Katie
excused herself, and left the two old friends to
catch up
on their lives
.  She
went to
ta
ke a nap in the waiting room.  Content for the time being, s
he slept for hours.

When she woke
,
she realized it was the next morning.
 
Katie immediately checked on Jesse, who was still sleeping.
She then went to the bathroom to freshen up. She took one look in the mirror and cringed.
She
realized she hadn’t change
d her clothes in three days, nor
had she washed her hair.  Then she came to the realization that she hadn’t brushed her teeth in the same amount of time.

“Yuck!” she told herself in the mirror.  She figured she better buy some toiletries before they made her leave for stinking up the place.  Katie remembered she had no money
with her
.  She had money back home.  It would pain her, but s
he would
have to
call her mother to wire
her money.

Katie went to
Jesse’s room, but he was
still
sound asleep, so she walked to
the nurse’s station and asked where she could make a collect call.  The nurse
kindly asked if she could use some things to freshen up before visiting her husband.  Katie was a little embarrassed but thankful for the nurse’s offer.
The nurse left for a few minutes and returned with the supplies Katie needed to make her look civilized again.
Katie gratefully took them to the bathroom. When she finished, she was pleased what she saw in the mirror.
What a difference having clean teeth and hair made for Katie’s spirits.

When she
felt that she
looked presentable, she returned to the nurse’s station to thank her again.  The nurse told Katie she was happy to help. 
She let Katie use the phone at the station
.  Katie thanked her
again
and made her call.