Remember Forever (Book 9 in Nemi Forever Series)

Chapter 11

Mercy

It had been a week & Mommy still hadn't woke up. We were all worried, especially Daddy. He stayed at the hospital a lot, only coming home for a few hours around dinner time to see us kids & take a shower. Then he'd go right back to the hospital. Glammy & Grandma took turns staying at the house with us, as well as Aunt Dallas & Aunt Maddie. Aunt Maddie was about to pop any day now with that baby. I really hoped Mommy woke up before my new cousin got here.

Well, I hoped for that, but it didn't happen. About a week & three days after Mommy got hurt, Aunt Maddie went into labor. It was at the same hospital as Mommy was in, but Mommy still wasn't awake. My cousin, Sawyer Brooke, came into the world on December 11, 2029 at 11:35 p.m. & supposedly she was a pretty good size baby. Glammy said she weighed 8 pounds & was 20 inches long. I guess that was big. I'd take her word for it. I was just happy she was healthy.

We all went to the hospital the day after Sawyer was born & when Daddy came to see her, I begged him to see if we could see Mommy. Kids weren't allowed in the part of the hospital she was in, but I needed to see Mommy. Daddy said he would see what he could do.

Daddy must have been pretty convincing, because someone was letting me & Jerry go in & see Mommy. I was so happy because I needed to see her so I could tell her I loved her. I thought it would make me feel better. It did a little, but when I saw Mommy's beat up body, it brought back all the memories I had tried to put behind me over the last week.

I held Mommy's hand & told her I loved her, but I couldn't say much more since I was about to start crying. Mommy's nose was bandaged & her eyes were bruised. She had bruises all over, actually & her lips were a little swollen. Daddy said she looked better & that horrified me because she still looked really bad. I couldn't imagine her looking worse, but the man did hit her a lot.

Jerry did cry when he saw Mommy, but he hadn't seen her like this yet. They kept him from seeing her that night it happened, so now it hit him hard. He told her he loved her & told her to wake up, but then he didn't say much else. Daddy told Mommy about Sawyer while we were there & he sounded happy & positive. He didn't cry. Probably because he had cried so much already. He was all cried out, I bet.

I begged Daddy to come home that night. I missed him at home at night. "Mercy, I have to stay here. I want to be there when Mommy wakes up." He told me.

"What if she doesn't wake up? Does that mean you'll never come home?" I whined.

"If Mommy isn't awake in a week, I'll come home at night." Daddy closed his eyes, like he didn't want to think about that possibility.

A few days after I got to see Mommy at the hospital, Aunt Marissa went to the hospital & insisted on staying overnight in Mommy's room so Daddy could go home. We were all surprised when we saw him, but I knew how Aunt Marissa could be. She was Mommy's best friend & she'd throw that card out whenever she could. I heard Daddy talking to Glammy in the kitchen.

"Marissa said Demi would kill her if she didn't make sure I came home to get a good night's sleep." He sounded so sad & hopeless it made me feel that stupid something that was hard in my throat. I saw Glammy hug Daddy & saw his shoulders shake, so I knew he was crying. He was scared & that made me scared. I think we were all afraid Mommy wouldn't wake up.

I had been sleeping with Jerry in his room every night since I came home & he never complained. He never acted like he was annoyed by it. He had a big bed, so it's not like I was squishing him. It was comforting to feel him next to me as I slept. It made me feel safe knowing he was right there if I should have nightmares. I had dreams about what happened to Mommy & I had dreams of what the man was going to do to me, but when I was in Jerry's bed, they weren't as bad.