Dahlia Mountain

Accident

Summer was nearly on us again and Nathan was spending more days in the back country. I was doing my best to adjust to his long absences but something was off this time. For hours now I had this nervous feeling that I just couldn't shake. Nathan was supposed to be back last evening. While it had absolutely happened before that a trip took him further into the back country than expected and he came back a day late it always concerned me. When evening came I got Steven and Beth and we drove up to the ranger outpost. They confirmed he had been due back the night before but told us there was no need to worry. Nathan was an experienced woodsman and he may have just found the project took longer than expected. I assured them there was no way he would let me worry on purpose and something had to have gone wrong. They sent us home for the night and told us to check back in tomorrow.

It was two more long excruciating days of going back and forth between the ranger station and the police before a search and rescue was finally organized. He was overdue by three days at that point and I was beside myself. The entire town showed up to at the ranger station at some point or another. The station was filled with food, and our house was filled with food and well wishers, people were fielding phone calls and honestly getting in the way more than anything. Though I was truly grateful for the annoyance as it kept my mind off the fear. Nathan is beloved by everyone in this town and they all turned up for support. Mary had shown up on day two and we both spent a lot of time just 'being strong' for one another. The next six days became a blur of activity and fear and sleepless nights and tears.

It was three am on day ten when the phone call came in. He was alive and being airlifted to the hospital fifty miles away. Mary and I piled into Steve and Beth's car with them and we broke every sped limit getting there only to be denied entry to see him. It finally came out that a cliff had given way under him and he had spent the last week and a half at the bottom of a ravine with a broken femur and head trauma. They said his dehydration levels indicated that he had been conscious enough to drink something at some point. He wasn't conscious now though. He was critical and we wouldn't be allowed in to see him now. The problem we had over the next few days was that I wasn't his wife and Mary wasn't his mother and we just didn't have familial access. So we sat side by side in the waiting room fuming and making plans. "The second he wakes up I'm marrying him." I said. Mary agreed and added "and I'm adopting him! Can you adopt a middle aged man?" I shrugged and answered "I don't see why not." On day thirteen of the ordeal he was transferred out of critical care and we were able to sit with him during visiting hours. They said he was healing well and just needed to wake up. It was incredibly weird seeing the biggest strongest creature I had ever known in that tiny hospital bed. I was sitting with him holding his hand when I reached to tuck a stray curl behind his ear. "Where's his earring!?" I whisper shouted to an empty room. I ran over to dig through his clothing and personal items. I sighed with relief when I came across a tiny baggie containing the silver dahlia. I pocketed it and slid back into my chair next to my sleeping Mountain.

I wasn't there when he woke up. I had returned home for a shower and change of clothes. I got the news and rushed the fifty miles back to the hospital. When I got there Mary, Steve, Beth, and a doctor met me in the waiting room. Their faces were somber and I couldn't understand why I wasn't being allowed to see him immediately. Mary pulled me into a hug and said "he's healthy and he's healing and we'll go in to see him in a moment. But he's struggling to remember what happened and well to remember most things really." I was confused, "what does that mean? He doesn't remember anything!?" I asked. Steve stepped in then "No, he woke up very confused. And..." Steve glanced at Mary before continuing "he's been asking for Steph." "I don't understand" I asked "Who's Steph?" Mary piped up then "She was his college sweetheart, they split the year after graduation." I looked to the doctor and asked "what?" The doctor said "this isn't common but head injuries can heal all different kinds of ways. He seems to have a solid grasp on all his memories from that period of his life and before but nothing new. This will very likely change as his head clears." Beth jumped in here "he didn't know me at all. But he recognized Mary and Steve just fine. I'm just too new. We just well, we wanted you to be prepared for him not to know you."