You Always Have Me

Part 9

Stevie fell asleep in the early hours of the morning, completely exhausting herself with crying. She sat by Jeremy's side, clutching his hand in hers, thinking, trying to understand why would someone do this to him? He was such a good husband and a wonderful father. She loved him and she knew he loved her, so seeing him this way hurt her more than words could describe.

Hearing the door open and then close, Stevie woke up, not knowing for how long she had been asleep, only being aware of the pain in her back from sleeping so uncomfortably. Seeing a man entering with a white coat on, Stevie thought he had to be the doctor. 

"Good morning." He said, introducing himself. "I'm Dr. Phillips."

"Call me Stevie." She stood up, not letting go of Jeremy's hand.

"I apologize for not being here last night when you came in."

"Wouldn't have changed much, would it." Stevie sighed, facing the doctor. "How is he? Please, be honest."

"The nurse told me she has informed you about your husband's condition for the most part. Honestly, he's lucky to be alive. We weren't sure if he was going to make it at first. He lost a lot of blood and he suffered numerous injuries." Pausing for a moment before Dr. Phillips continued. "I know it might sound horrible, but it's actually better that he's in a coma, because he would be in a huge amount of pain otherwise."

A lone tear fell down her cheek, as Stevie tried to find her voice. "Is he going to wake up?"

"Sadly, we don't know. He might come out of it tomorrow or a month, a year later. He also might not at all." Looking down at the stack of papers in his hands, Dr. Phillips had more bad news... "I'm sorry, but there's something else." Not on purpose, but prolonging the pause, just because it was hard to say this. "Mr. Stanley is paralyzed from his waist down."

Stevie felt physical pain in her chest, as she couldn't stand up anymore, falling down into the chair and sobbing into her hands. It was hard to comfort someone in a situation like this, so the only thing Dr. Phillips could say, was that they weren't sure if it was permanent or not. 

"You can stay here if you wish, but... there's not much you can do, being here around the clock."

"No, I'll stay." Stevie said, wiping away her tears. "I'll stay..."

About an hour or so later, there was a knock on the door and in came Lindsey, having left Lily with Karen. He knew Stevie wanted her daughter close, but Lily didn't need to see Jeremy like this. Although, not that Lindsey realized what the state of him was, until he saw the man, silently questioning if he was still alive or not...

As soon as Stevie saw Lindsey, she leaped out of the chair, desperately wanting his arms around her. He was going to stand there for as long as needed, unable to imagine how she got through the night in the first place, without anyone to console her, since he now understood everything was way worse than he thought it was going to be.

Ten minutes or half an hour could have passed by, when Stevie pulled back a little, looking up at Lindsey, who saw her tired, yet still beautiful face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

"He's in a coma and he won't be able to walk." She said it all at once, shocking Lindsey further. 

"Oh my God, Stevie. I... I'm so sorry." What else could he say to that? "I wish there was something I could do to help you, in any way." He knelt in front of her as she took a seat. 

"Just look after Lily, okay? There's nothing else I can ask of you. I'll... I'll need to go home to shower and change my clothes. I'd appreciate if you brought my baby for a while then?"

"Of course, Steph. Anything." Lacing his fingers through hers, he hoped to somehow give her strength, as she now stared back at him, emotionless.

"I need to call Elizabeth and tell her about her father, and I don't know how to do that. She'll be crushed." Rubbing her tired eyes, Stevie leaned against the back of the chair, letting out a heavy breath. "Why me, Lindsey? I went through so much of my life being alone and lonely. Now, I finally had everything and it's being taken away from me."

"It's not, come on, don't say that." Lindsey shook his head, running his thumb over the back of her hand. "He'll wake up, he'll be okay. You still have your girl, too. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but sooner or later it will all be fine again."

"I wish I could believe your words." Sighing, Stevie squeezed his hand, with a sad smile on her face, grateful for him, only then it registering that something was different. "Lindsey?" She frowned, looking at his left hand. "What..."

"It doesn't matter now, it's not important."

"What do you mean? Where's your ring?" 

"Well, it was what I was going to talk to you about yesterday."

"Are you and..." Stevie only seemed to be able to start her sentences, without finishing them. 

"Yeah, we're divorcing." Lindsey finally confirmed, quickly adding. "We'll talk about this some other time, you have a lot going on now." Standing up, he brought Stevie with him, hugging her once more. "I promised Karen that I'll come pick Lily up soon, so... If you need me and when you do, just give me a call, okay?"

Giving a small nod, Stevie held onto him for a moment longer. "I'm sorry. I really am." Referring to his divorce again. 

"Stay strong, Steph. I'm here for you."

"As am I." Knowing he was going to ignore it, considering what happened to Jeremy, feeling as if his problems weren't as important, but she still had to let him know. "I'll see you."

"You too. I love you." It seemed to have slipped out and before Stevie could ask, Lindsey rushed out of the room.