What Happens on the Cruise

75. Let's Stay Together

"Are you serious?" Chris asked.

"Why wouldn't we be serious?" Tim responded.

"I don't know. Wow. Okay, yeah. Let me call around some, see what I can find out. Is this a secret or can I tell people?"

"It's not a secret. We just want it done fast," Austin explained.

"Okay, I'm going to call Rob and Kelsey, and Matt for starters, and then talk to that Gilchrist guy about using the chapel, because you have enough friends and family going to be here that we can't just do it in a hospital room."

"Assuming they'll let me out of bed," Austin said.

"I expect he can help find that out."

***

"'The touch of his lips was electrifying, making all thoughts flee from Ju--' Oh, hey, Tim."

"Still reading trashy romance novels to your wife?" Tim asked.

"It's something to pass the time."

"How's Cerise been with all this?"

"She stayed with Tristin the first night, now Mom and Dad have her. I don't want to freak her out seeing her mom in this condition."

"Makes sense. Any change with Ericha?"

Adam squeezed Ericha's hand. "Still in an induced coma, but the swelling is going down. They're probably going to wake her tomorrow or the day after."

"You scared?" Tim asked.

Adam blew out a breath. "Terrified."

"I wish I could tell you I believe everything will be okay, but that's more Austin's schtick."

"But it's your song," Adam pointed out.

Tim chuckled. "I guess I'm marrying someone who embodies that ideal, then."

***

Tim froze as he walked into room 312. Not only was Austin absent, but the bed had been stripped. Panic slammed into his chest.

"Hi," a voice said behind him, causing him to jump.

He turned to take in the young woman with linens in her arms. "Where's Austin? What happened? Did he...?"

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that," she assured him. "They took him down to radiology to get x-rays of his ankle."

"Oh, thank God." He felt suddenly lightheaded as relief flooded through him.

"Oh, no! You need to sit down. I'm so sorry," the staffer led him to a chair. "There was an accident with his catheter as they were moving him, so I was changing his linens." She started making the bed. "You're his fiance, right?"

"Yeah," Tim answered.

"He's really sweet. He was so apologetic about the mess. Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah. I just thought something had happened to him."

"That would be a scare. It's called Lazarus syndrome, you know. It's rare, but it does happen."

"What happens?"

She turned to him and smiled. "People spontaneously recover after they've been declared dead. According to my mom, it happened to my great-grandmother when she was young. She woke up at her funeral. Lived another seventy-four years, had five kids, including my grandpa."

"That's quite a family story."

"I was never quite sure I believed it until today. There. All done. Ope! One more thing." She picked up the vase of flowers and a small teddy bear from a countertop and set them back on Austin's tray table. "These flowers are really pretty. So many people go with red and yellow. I like all the blues."