You Promised

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next few days are buzzing with policemen, doctors and fretful mothers. Jayne is still in hospital, with her condition mostly unchanged. We haven't seen Dolly since the accident, and she spends almost every waking minute in the hospital tending to Jayne.
I am sitting in the park, where we sat the day of the soccer match while Jayne's mother was in hospital. I'm staring at the tree and thinking about Jayne when I feel a slight tap on my shoulder.
I look up and smile at Dimitri. 'Hello.' He says in his thick accent. 'May I join with you?'
'Of course yes.' I reply and shuffle to one side to make room.
He sits beside me and stays quiet for a moment. 'May I ask you something?'
I nod my permission. 'Did Dolly speak anything to you?'
'About what?' I ask confused.
'About me. She doesn't spend any time with me any more! I just is wondering if I did something.'
I sigh and am about to explain to him when he stands up and continues. 'I only said because I thought she liked me. I thought she would like to go and get a coffees and she says yes but now she won't say anything to me!' He hangs his head sadly.
'Oh Dimitri.' I say only half smiling. 'Jayne is in hospital. That's why Dolly is so busy. It's nothing to do with you.'
His mouth drops open and he hastily tries to apologise. I tell him the whole story and he sits beside me again.
He pauses when I finish. 'What does Ollie look like?'
'Why? Has he been visiting her?' I feel my anger rising like a flood in my veins. Without waiting for an answer I run to the hospital. I sprint into Jayne's room and then skid to a halt.
Jayne is lying on the bed. Her beautiful hair framing her sleeping face, she breathes slowly and with a faint sigh. Her hands are lying straight down by her sides and resting on her chest is a yellow chrysanthemum. Beside her bed, a man stands, stroking her hand.
'Do you know what a yellow chrysanthemum symbolises?' He asks me, clearly hearing my arrival. His voice is deep and he speaks without looking at me.
'Yes' I say slowly. 'It means 'secret admirer.' I take a step towards Jayne and pick up the flower.
He catches the movement and looks up at me. His brown hair falls around his boyish face. His face strikes me as though it was made to smile but today his eyes are tinged with sadness. His big brown eyes pierce my own. He smiles sadly at me. 'My name is Henry.'
'Amelia.'
'Nice to meet you Amelia.' He says. 'Are you called Ami by any chance?'
'Yes. Have you heard of me?'
'Jayne used to talk about you all the time.' He says, smiling at the memory.
'You know Jayne?'
He looks at me like I'm stupid before answering. 'Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't be here in her hospital room.'
I bristle at his sarcasm before straightening up her vase full of flowers. I look at her sleeping face and catch a glimpse of something in Henry's eyes. His chocolate eyes mirror my own grief at Jayne's condition. He sees me looking at smiles sadly.
'How do you know her?' I ask him.
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. 'I worked at her aunt's home. My parents used to be her among her favourite staff members so, naturally I became employed.' His voice becomes softer as he reaches a different part of the story. 'I met Jayne when I was twelve. She was visiting her aunt, with her parents.' His voice breaks with emotion and he stops talking.
'She never mentioned you.' I say gently. He looks up at me.
'She wouldn't. I asked her to marry me when we were fifteen. She told me that if she wasn't married in ten years then maybe.' He laughs at the memory. 'I knew she was just feeling sorry for me.'
I apologise for my nosiness before I leave him with her. I decide to go to visit Mrs. Green and Lily.
I go down the road as the sky fills with thunderous clouds. As I turn around the corner to Adam's house, the sky breaks open with a monstrous roar and rain falls heavily on the ground.
I push open the gate and sprint to the house. The door is ajar and I go inside. I pull off my coat and rest it on a chair. A door creaks open behind me and I turn. Lily peeps at me through a sheet.
'Hello Ami.' She chirps, bouncing into the room. 'How are you?'
'Well enough thank you.' I respond, glancing about in search of her mother. 'Where is your mother?'
Lily nods upwards and I thank her. I head upstairs and look about the landing. 'Mrs. Green?' I call out. I hear a hushed reply from Adam's room and I walk in. Mrs. Green is sitting beside Adam's bed. Her hands are shaking as they hold pictures of Adam as a boy.
'He's so young.' She sobs, reaching out to hold my hand. 'So young and handsome.'
I bend down to sit with her. 'He is all that and more.' I take a photograph from her hand. It's one of him and Lily, sitting together on a beach. Lily is pretending to be a princess and Adam is making faces at the camera. Adam cannot be more than eleven years old. I smile at his young face before checking Mrs. Green's reaction. Tears slide down her cheeks as she clutches the other photographs to her chest.
'I want him home Ami.' She tells me, as though I don't feel the same. 'I want the little boy who jumped headfirst into the poison ivy simply because I told him not to. I want the little boy who carried his little sister home when she broke her ankle by the river. I want the little boy who wrote appalling poetry for my birthday. I want my little boy.'
I move so that I can look her in the eye. 'He will come home.' I tell her firmly. 'He will come home, and he will write more awful poetry and jump into poison ivy and he will marry me. I know all this because he promised. He promised he will come home. You and I both know that Adam has never broken a promise.'
She nods her head slowly. 'I know. He will. I just worry about what kind of person he will be.' With that, she struggles to her feet and then leaves the room.
I sit there for a while, trying to imagine what kind of people we will all be when this is over.