Lisa 52

Prologue

"Mommy? When is daddy coming home?"

I looked down at my son to see his big brown eyes staring up at me.

"Well baby, I'm not sure. But you know that he loves you very much. And we just have to pray that he can come home very soon, ok?" Noah nodded his head and started to close his eyes.

I leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead and slowly got up off the edge of his bed. Before walking out of his large bedroom, I looked around and saw all of the Red Wings memorabilia and it broke my heart knowing his hero and father was still in the hospital even after two weeks of treatment and being in an induced coma. Just over two weeks ago, Jon and his team were playing against their well known rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and in the last 12 minutes of the third period Jonathan got hit from behind. The impact made him lose his balance, and fall on his back against the ice. As he was falling, another Leafs defenseman accidentally high sticked him (he was going full speed and didn't slow down in time) causing his helmet to come loose and eventually come off.

Jonathan hit hard.

I could feel my stomach drop as I saw the love of my life, the father of my child, fall unconscious.

I sipped on a glass of tangy red wine as I remembered being in the ambulance with him. I remember holding his hand and rubbing my fingers over his wedding ring. The memory brought tears to my eyes and a pain in my heart. I closed my eyes picturing my baby coming home and his soft lips kissing my neck as he snaked his arms around my waist. I would be complaining of his stench of sweat and he would laugh the sweetest laugh.

But that wasn't happening.

The doctors have kept him in a coma until they can confirm there is no more swelling of the brain that would be severe and life-threatening.

Those were two words I never imagined hearing when it came to my husband, my soulmate.

It's been four years since I first laid eyes on the love of my life. Detroit Red Wings Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and I met at Wings game after party and got married after only knowing one another for just over a year. The following year, our son Noah Henrik Ericsson was born.

Jon and I fell in love very quickly and although some people disagreed with our sudden decision to settle down so quickly, his team has always been supportive. We didn't care about what some people thought; we cared about our happiness.

After a long day at work I could only sit and wait for the hospital to call and say the three words that I so desperately needed to hear; "Jonathan is awake."

I decided to drift off and take a nap since I would only worry myself had I stayed awake any longer. I locked the doors before crawling under a blanket and cleared my thoughts.

Close to 5 a.m., I was awakened by the telephone ringing. It took me a minute to realize that it required me getting up to answer the phone.

"Yeah hello?" I sleepily answered.

"I'm sorry, is this Mrs. Ericsson?"

"It-it is. Is this, uh, is this the hospital?" My heart started to pound.

"Yes ma'am. At about quarter to five this morning your husband was taken out of the coma," I started to cry. I wasn't sure if this was going to be good or bad news. "Mrs. Ericsson,  your husband is awake. He's okay. He's expected to make a full recovery with only five or so stitches. We advise you come down to the hospital immediately."

I collapsed to the floor, phone in hand.

"How is he? Is he okay?" I muttered out in between sniffles.

"He's fine. Still trying to comprehend what happened. Oh and Mrs. Ericsson?" I heard a voice loudly disagreeing and yelling "over my dead ass body!"

"Is that Jonathan?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am. He refuses to eat any hospital food. He's been requesting his wife's "lovings" and," I heard him shuffle though papers as if he wrote a list of his preferences, "Sorry Mrs. Ericsson,  I'm trying to find it on the list." By God...he did write a list. "Oh! Here it is. He's requested his wife's good ass food."

That last part made me cry and laugh at the same time. That was my baby, stubborn and loving.

I said my goodbyes with the man on the phone and woke Noah. As soon as I said his daddy was coming home and that we had to go get him, he didn't even want to brush his teeth. He just wanted his father.

It took all I had to not speed down the road and through metro Detroit.

We arrived at the hospital and I carried Noah into the lobby. As I carried him into the elevator I could feel something in his pocket.

"Noah, what's in your pocket?" Noah looked at me dead in the eyes as he pulled out a whistle. "Why do you have a whistle baby?"

"I was sad when daddy was leaving to go play another game. I told him I didn't want him getting hurt anymore. He gave me this whistle and told me to blow it when I was feeling sad and he'd come home. He said no matter how far away he was he could hear me."

"Did you blow it today?" I asked.

"I've been blowing it every night since daddy went to the hos-bib-al."

I pulled Noah in for a hug as I closed my eyes and asked myself how I got so lucky.

The doors of the elevator opened.

The smell of linens and lysol overwhelmed me. The sound of heart monitors and pulses extended down the hall.

"Excuse me? Where--."

"Where's my daddy? He plays for the Wed Wings. Do you like hockey? I do." Noah was so damn cute.

The lady at the front desk laughed and motioned for me to go down the hall to my right.

"Noah?" I recognized Jonathan's voice. He must've heard Noah because he's so loud. Just like his daddy.

We ventured down the hall looking into every room until we found it.

Room 1204.

"DADDY!" Noah yelled as he wobbled/ran to his bedside. Jonathan leaned over to help him up and embraced him in his arms. I could see a tear fall from each of his eyes.

"I missed you buddy," He hugged him tightly. Jonathan soon let go of his grip on his "mini me" and had one of the nurses take Noah to the kids' room so he could talk to me.

As I sat next to him on his hospital bed, his hand rested over mine. His touch was something that I had longed for what seemed like forever.

"I missed the hell out of you baby." It was then that all of the fear from before, the nerves, everything was gone. And my life was perfect again.