The Song

Part Four

“How long are you going to keep me here?” I asked the doctor as he finished jotting some notes down.

“We’ve got to run a few more tests, do another MRI and that. Maybe two days minimum? It really depends on what we find.”
“Oh.”
“I’m sure everything will be ok,” the doctor said, “Things like this happen differently with different people. I’m sure you’ll remember things soon enough.”

We ran through more questions and it became clear that I’d only lost the last four or five years of my memory, and even then not all my memories. Random little things still remained, but nothing that added up to much.

“I’m going to go speak to Aston and then I’ll let him in to speak to you,” the doctor said.
“What am I supposed to say to him?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Right,” I said, confused about what was expected of me. I had no idea how I’d met this guy, or why I was married to him. He was a stranger in my eyes.

It was a good fifteen minutes until the door opened and Aston came in. He gave me a forced smile before turning to sit in the chair next to my bed. To be honest he looked pretty freaked out by everything.

“So…” I started.
“How do you feel?” he asked politely, I could feel his eyes trying to search mine and I couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable. I purposefully trained my eyes on the wall across the room so he couldn’t do it anymore.

“Honestly, I’m terrified.”

“It’ll be ok,” Aston whispered.
“How do you know?” I asked, turning to look at him, “How do you know everything is going to be ok?”

“I believe in you,” he said, “You’ll get your memories back.”
“It’s not that easy is it?”
“No, but I’ll help where I can.”
“I don’t even know you,” I said, “I mean, I know of you. But I don’t know you.”
“I’m your husband,” Aston sighed, “You do know me.”
“Aston, in my head I’m 23 years old working at a piano store and you’re a popstar off of the X Factor. We don’t know each other.”

“A lot’s changed in four years,” Aston said with a faint smile, “We’ve certainly changed.”
“Well I don’t remember.”
“Listen Jess, I know this has got to be really scary, but I’m here for you. I want to help you through this. Will you let me?”
“Umm…”

“Why don’t I call your sister to come down and speak to you? She’ll help you understand a little bit,” Aston sighed, grabbing his phone out.

I could tell he was disappointed at how distant I was being, but I couldn’t help but question everything. Until someone I could remember came and clarified things for me, I couldn’t let myself even trust this guy.

“She’ll be here in like an hour.”
“Ok,” I replied.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and then Aston passed me the remote to the TV in my hospital room. “If you wanna watch something,” he mumbled.

“Thanks.”

I flicked the channels, dead confused about what was on TV. There were episodes of shows I liked on, but I had no idea what was happening. Hell, I’d missed four years!

“I don’t know,” I sighed, flicking it off.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what’s going on in those shows. I can’t remember.”

“Oh right,” Aston said.
I turned to look at him, sitting there awkwardly and watching my every move. “How long have we been married?” I asked him.

“Little less than two years,” he smiled, twisting his wedding ring. I looked down at my hand but there weren’t any rings there because of the cast on my left arm. “They’re on the bedside table,” Aston said, grabbing a small pouch and passing it to me.

I poured the rings out of it, staring at them in my hand. There was a large diamond engagement ring and two bands with smaller diamonds on them.

“Three rings?” I asked, confused.

“The big one is the engagement ring,” Aston said, “Obviously. The one with the bigger diamonds is your wedding band. And the third with the smaller diamonds is an eternity ring.”

“Oh, wow. They’re all beautiful. Very sparkly.”

“They’re pretty special,” Aston said, leaning back in his seat.

In that moment I caught a hint of how hurt he was by the situation. I was terrified because I had no idea what had happened to me over the last few years, and he was clearly terrified because he was at risk of losing his wife over something that was completely out of his hands.

“Have you been here the whole time?” I asked, putting the rings back in the pouch and setting them back on the bedside table.
“Pretty much. The boys let me take some time out of the studio to be with you.”
“And you don’t go home?”

“Only when the hospital kicks me out,” he smiled.

I don’t know what I’d done earlier in my life to be so lucky, but I was starting to see just how special my relationship with Aston was. He was clearly madly in love with me.

Too bad I didn’t remember him at all…