The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

57. Tyler

Tuesday the court was adjourned for the day. It was the day Samantha was supposed to testify. Greyson told me he and Tanner were going to make closing statements to the judge in her chambers and we'd await her decision.

I sat beside Samantha, holding her hand, talking to her, willing her to open her eyes. Willing her to be well.

Our pastor had come by in the early part of the morning and prayed with us. He had also told the church on Sunday. The congregation was praying for Samantha, too. A few of the ladies that Samantha had helped with at church came to visit. Seeing how many people she touched thrilled me and devastated me. If we lost her, it would affect so many people.

We brought Rosie to see Samantha. She sat on Samantha's bed, by her side and patted her arm.

"SaSa? Wakey," Rosie said. "WoWo play. SaSa, play WoWo."

Samantha didn't flinch. Rosie curled up beside Samantha, resting her head on Samantha's arm.

Brendon and Sarah and Zack and Kala stayed with us. They spent the days in the hospital with us.  They stayed well into the night with Samantha. 

Machines breathed for her. Tubes took care of her waste and fed her. Wires told us that her heart was still beating.  That her lungs we're working. Even if it was a machine doing it for her.

A week after the accident, or whatever we should call this, the doctor wanted to do an EEG to measure the amount of brain activity. The thought terrified me. Without the test, we could hang on to the hope Sam would wake up. With the test, we would know one way or the other if we had any hope left. 

They hooked wires to Samantha's head.

"Sam, you have to wake up. They put all sorts of goop in your hair. You're gonna want to wash this out," I said.

They decided to keep the test running for 24 hours.

That night, I lay beside her and sang to her. I'd written a song for her and I wanted her to hear it. I hadn't even recorded it yet. But I knew it was going on the next album.

"You are formidable to me
'Cause you seem to know it, where you wanna go
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll follow you
But you should know I might be cynical towards you
But I just can't believe that I'm for you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can die with you
Just let me know (yeah)"

I started crying with that second last line.

"And I know that we just met
But could you take me everywhere you've ever been?
I wanna see it all, no surprises, yeah"

"That's beautiful," Brendon said, coming into the room with some coffee. I wiped my eyes.

"It's going in the next album. I wrote it for her," I said.

"Keep singing," Brendon encouraged me.

"You are formidable to me
'Cause you seem to know it, where you wanna go
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll follow you
But you should know I might bе clinical, don't you tell
I won't break your heart if you can brеak my spell
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can die with you
Just let me know
Fast-forward 13 years now
Don't know what it was, but somehow we played it out in reverse
I'm afraid of you now, more than I was at first
And I know you just left, but can I take you everywhere we've ever been?
I wanna see it all, no surprises, yeah"

I couldn't finish the song. There was more to it, but I was crying too hard by now.

Suddenly, Samantha's body jerked. I sat up. Brendon ran for the door. It didn't look like a seizure. I couldn't tell what was happening. She started coughing and choking.

Doctors and nurses came in. I got pushed out of the room. I heard hurried voices. Nurses ran in and out of the room. Jenna and Sarah came upstairs from going for a walk to get some air.

"What's happening?" Jenna asked rushing up to me. "Tyler! What's happening?"

I wrapped my wife in a hug and cried.

"I don't know. I don't know," I repeated.

Finally, the nurses all left and the doctor came out to talk to us. He was smiling.

"Well, Samantha's brain function is just fine," he said. "And while technically she's still in a coma, she's now breathing on her own. She's not responding to much, but she's getting there. She's on her way to recovery."

I looked at the doctor, then Jenna and Brendon and Sarah. The four of us all broke down into tears.

"You can go back in," the doctor said. "She's one remarkable little lady."

We went back into Samantha's room. She had an oxygen mask on but the tube breathing for her was gone. I took her hand and squeezed. She didn't squeeze back, but I had a feeling she would in due time.