Forever (27 page)

She couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. When she reached the spread on Dayne, there was a large photo of a very angry Luke Baxter. Beneath it the caption read “Luke Baxter wants nothing to do with his famous brother.” Making up the rest of the layout were photos of each of the Baxters, complete with their names and a few sentences about them. Only Luke’s had a brief story beneath his.

Katy’s mouth hung open. Dear God. . no. She found the beginning of the story on Luke and began to read.

Celebrity Life has learned the identity of Dayne Matthews’ biological family.

Dr. John Baxter and his wife, Elizabeth, who died two years ago, had theirfirst child-Dayne-before they were married and gave him up for adoption. They went on to have five more children-Brooke, Karl, Ashley, Erin, and Luke. Most of the family lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and is known throughout the community for their strong Christian beliefs.

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Katy struggled to catch her breath. She could only imagil the details that filled the page. She read on.

At least one of the Baxters isn’t excited about his famous sibling. This week Luke Baxter, a legal assistant in New York City, told a reporter for Celebrity Life that “Dayne Matthews is not my brother. Blood does not make him a Baxter.”

In addition, Luke Baxter threatened legal action if his or his family’s privacy was breached in any way.

No, Luke. Katy groaned. Why would you say that? She lookcil out at the ocean.

Dayne would be devastated when he woke and had the chance to see the quote. All those years of ignoring his desire to seek out the Baxters, to approach them, and no’ this?

She held the magazine up and read the few lines beneath the other photos.

Brooke was born after Dayne. She and her husband are doctors. Three years ago their youngest child was involved in a near drowning, and Brooke’s husband was addicted to painkillers.

Anger surged through Katy. An injured child was something private, not a detail to toss around in a gossip magazine. How could they print that? She moved on.

Karl is married to a former NFL star. It is her second marriage. Her first husband was violently murdered by a stalker.

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Katy closed her eyes. She wanted to throw the magazines into the water and never look at them again. The Baxters were private people. This information should never have been made public. But that wouldn’t change the facts, and it wouldn’t stop millions of people from reading this same information. She found her place.

Ashley is an artist who was the single mother of one boy until she married a Bloomington firefighter. She is healthy after an AIDS scare two years ago.

Nausea welled up inside Katy. Ashley … lin so soriy. This was exactly what Dayne had feared. And now it had happened in the worst possible way. About Erin, the magazine only said:

Erin is married and living in Texas with her husband and four daughters.

Katy threw the magazine onto the blanket. No dirty facts on Erin, but the press would keep looking. The story was too sensational to resist. She stood and walked toward the water, the wet sand slipping between her toes. She kept walking through the foamy surf and in farther until the water was knee-deep. She wanted to shout at God. Where are You, Lord? Can’t You see me? She tilted her face to the sky. Can’t You hear? Everything’s getting worse, and I can barely remember how to breathe. Father, I’m desperate for Your help. Please… are You even listening at all?

She looked to the horizon, as far as she could see, but before she could utter another prayer, her cell phone on the blanket came to life. She was using the song “I Still Believe” by Jeremy Camp for her ringtone. By the time she ran through the water and up the sand, the song was at the part that talks about feeling God’s grace fall like rain.

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Please, God… let it be good news… .

She flipped open her phone. “Hello?”

“Katy Hart?” The voice sounded familiar.

“Yes?” She bent over her knees and exhaled so she’d have room in her anxious lungs for the slightest bit of air. “This is Katy.”

“This is Dr. Deming. We need you back at the hospital right away.

Katy dropped to her knees, but even in that instant she refused to believe that the news could be bad. Hope roared to a mighty flame. “Is he … ?”

“He’s moving, Katy.” She could almost see the doctor smile. “He’s coming out of the coma. I must warn you though; a full recovery is still a long shot. But we’ll do everything possible to make it happen.”

“Dear God, thank You.” She uttered the words loud enough for the doctor to hear.

“I’ll be right there.”

Katy grabbed her things, ran up the stairs to Dayne’s house, and rushed out to the waiting car.

All the way back to the medical center she felt as if she were floating, soaring even. God had heard her! She whispered a constant string of thanks to Him, her Lord and Savior. She’d asked for a miracle tonight, and God in all His merciful power had delivered. Dayne was waking up!

If that wasn’t proof that God was more than a fairy tale, nothing was.

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DAYNE COULDN -r see clear of the darkness, but something strange was happening.

One small pinpoint at a time, light was streaming through. Light and something else. A voice that he would’ve known anywhere-the only voice that mattered.

The voice of Katy Hart.

“Dayne, can you hear me? I’m waiting for you, right here beside you.” She sounded distant, as if she were talking underwater.

Yes, I can hear you! With every bit of his strength Dayne tried to speak, and then he tried to shout, but his mouth wouldn’t work so his words had no way out.

Another tiny spot of light burst through the darkness.

Where was he? And why was the darkness so thick? It hung like the densest fog, filling the air around him, consuming even his senses. Was he dreaming? Had someone drugged him? He was in Bloomington, wasn’t he? Celebratirig the Fourth of July and admiring the ring on Katy’s hand.

So why couldn’t he wake up?

Katy… I can hear you! Why can’t I talk?

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“There’s no question he’s coming out of the coma.” This time the muffled voice belonged to another woman, someone unfamiliar.

But who was coming out of a coma? Not him. He wasn’t hurt or sick; he’d done nothing that would cause him to be in a coma.

“When, Doctor? When will we know more?” Katy was still there beside him; he could sense her. Whom was she talking to? Whom did they know who was in a coma, and why was he in such a deep, dark sleep?

Maybe if he thought a little harder, forced himself to think about the past, he could wake himself up. He went back in time-way back. He had made a lot of mistakes-his confusion over Kabbalah, his relationship with Kelly Parker. The baby she aborted, the child Dayne would never know. Thinking of the baby made him sad. Beyond sad. He felt like weeping over the loss, but almost as quickly he had a certainty that the child was a boy and he was in heaven-safe in God’s nursery. The knowing was so strong that Dayne was immediately overwhelmed with relief. His baby boy was safe.

More pinpoints of light pierced the thick black fog. The first time he saw Katy at the Bloomington Community Theater and again that first day in Los Angeles at the audition. The crazy woman on the beach, his trek back to Indiana, and all the ups and downs ever since.

“Dayne, can you hear me? Please open your eyes.” Katy sounded a little clearer than before.

I’m here, Katy. Wake me up; shake me. I want to see you! He felt closer to the light, but still his words wouldn’t come. If remembering was helping, then maybe he needed to remember recent things. He was at the Fourth of July party and then …

Fragments of memories flashed in his mind-Dayne and an actress working on a hillside somewhere. He concentrated. The actress was. . Randi Wells. The flashbacks stopped there. Frus

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tration hit hard and he tried again. God, please … why can’t I remember?

“Dayne, I’m here.” This time Katy sounded clearer still.

But there was no use answering her. Not until he could open his eyes. If only he could get a clear picture of what had happened. There was Randi Wells. Only they weren’t filming a movie; they were at a restaurant. And there were paparazzi everywhere.

A stream of light joined the tiny dots. He could feel his eyelids moving, but he couldn’t see more than shadows. Moving shadows close beside him. He tried to reach out and see if the closest shadow belonged to Katy, but he couldn’t lift his hand. Katy, I’m here… Again no words came.

He thought back once more. The memory was coming into focus slowly, like looking through the lens of a cheap video camera. He and Randi having lunch … no, not lunch. They were having breakfast and a dozen photographers were capturing every move, every bite. Then they were finished and getting into their separate cars and heading down Pacific Coast Highway. The pictures were slow and hazy, but they were no longer broken into short bursts.

They were driving and he was following her. The paparazzi cars darted around Dayne to either side of Randi; then one of them lost control. He could feel himself moving, turning from side to side. The paparazzi car pulled back into his lane, but at the same instant a truck was headed right for…

His eyes flew open, but the truck was nowhere in sight. Instead there in front of him in lines that weren’t quite clear was the only sight he wanted to see, the one who had pulled him from the darkest night.

He didn’t blink, didn’t dare. He couldn’t risk losing her again, falling into the darkness once more and maybe never finding his way out. Had he been hit by a truck? Was that what happened ? He felt sick at the thought. He could’ve died, but he was alive.

216 Katy’s heart pounded out a strange rhythm against the wall of her chest.

Dayne talked! He said her name! His voice was scratchy and weak, but it didn’t rnatter. Her name was the first thing he’d He opened his mouth, but no words came.

was half laugh, half cry. ” can’t believe you’re awake.” She lowered the bed rail and leaned over him, careful not to put pressure on his chest. Then she did what she’d wanted to do since she first saw him here. She eased her hands beneath him and held him. He smelled like stale antiseptic, disinfectant, and something medicinal. But he was warm and alive and moving-even ever so When she had first arrived back at the hospital and raced to his room, she could barely see what Dr. Deming was talking about. But after a minute or so she saw Dayne’s fingers twitch, then his toes. With every half hour that passed, his movements had come more often, been more pronounced. In the past hour he’d started to move his lips and turn his head an inch in either Dr. Deming checked in often, amazed. “He’s coming out very quickly.” She would grin and make a notation on Dayne’s file. “When victims come out quickly, it can be a good sign. The more severely brain-injured victims are very slow to wake up.” And now. . now Dayne had opened his eyes, and he’d seen her. Katy had spent enough time talking to Dr. Deming to know

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that blindness was a possibility. But he wasn’t blind! And he was well enough to know her name, which meant two wonderful things.

First, he remembered her! All this time, every minute of every day for the past month, she’d lived with the fear that he might come out of the coma only to have lost his memory. Now that wasn’t a concern. And second, he could speak clearly.

He was groggy, but when he said her name, even through his slurred speech, she had no doubt what he was saying.

She pressed her face against his and whispered, “Everything’s going to be okay, Dayne. You’re back now. God gave you back to me.”

“Who …” The sound was thick, and it seemed to take all his effort.

“Shhh.” She straightened and sat on the edge of his bed. “Don’t make yourself tired. The words will come eventually.”

He relaxed, and for the next three hours he made only an occasional attempt at talking. But the entire time he didn’t take his eyes off Katy. He refused to sleep, as if by closing his eyes he might fall back into the coma. During that time she told him nothing about the accident, only that she loved him, she was praying for him, and he was going to be okay. For a while she read the Bible to him. More from Hebrews and part of James.

Later Dr. Deming came in to check on him.

Like the breaking of a dam, Dayne’s ability to talk returned. “Tell me …

what happened.” His words were painfully slow. But there was nothing slow about his thinking.

Dr. Deming leaned over him. “You were in a car accident. You’ve been in a coma for thirty days.” The doctor smiled at Katy. Only the two of them knew the significance of Dayne’s coming out of the coma the evening of his thirtieth day.

The day before he would’ve been considered a long-term case.

Dayne struggled to swallow. His eyes expressed his disbelief at the news. “A . .

. month?”

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“Yes.”

“A … truck hit me.”

“That’s right.” Dr. Deming shot a beaming look at Katy.

Katy understood, and silently she celebrated the unbelievable victory. If he could remember that detail, then his damage might be only minimal. He could still have motor-skills issues, but at least his brain was working. And that meant she had Dayne back, the Dayne she loved more than life.