Forgotten Promises

Chapter 4

   During the nurse's examination of him, Clark kept glancing at the door of his hospital room. He wondered when, or if, the beautiful woman would come back. The shock and horror written plainly on her face as she yelled at him haunted him. She was so upset and his heart ached that he was the reason, even though he didn't know why.

The nurse tested his hearing, eyesight, and range of motion in his limbs. Other than memory loss, Clark had a severely sprained wrist and an oblique fracture in the tibia of his left leg, which he'd had surgery on while he was comatose. The doctor came in to talk to him and after telling him about the memory loss, the doctor ordered him a CT scan for the morning to check on the swelling in his brain.

   Clark looked around his hospital room, noticing the several bouquets of flowers that had started to or completed wilted. Holding his ribs, he pushed himself up to sit up and pulled his hospital gown down, looking over the healing bruises that covered most of the left side of his body. His ribs hurt, but the doctor had said he only broke a few of his ribs. Clark had joked that broken bones seemed pretty serious and the doctor had clarified that his injuries could've been much worse.

   Gently probing the depth of the bruises on his left thigh, Clark didn't notice when someone moved into the doorway, watching him with tears in her eyes.

It had taken Bailey quite a while to stop crying and once she did, she splashed water on her face and prayed for the strength to face her greatest fear. She  had spoken with both the doctor and the nurse, asking them about his condition before even thinking about going back into the room. As she stood in the doorway, watching him take stock of himself, her heart was aching.

   She saw him look over his left side and wince, grabbing his head and her instincts propelled her forward, to his side. "Are you okay? What hurts?" She asked, her voice thick with worry as she hovered at his side, ready to help.

   He looked up, dropping his hands as his moment of pain faded away and smiled at her, "Hello. I was hoping you'd come back."

   She frowned slightly, "Are you hurting? Why did you grab your head?"

   He thought for a moment, "It's hard to explain, but I felt something. . .and heard something. It felt like I was moving only to hit a wall." He laid back, looking exhausted as he laid his right arm over his closed eyes.

   Bailey looked away, the position he took up was one she'd seen him in many times. Asleep on the couch, relaxing in bed after a long day, or simply laying in the backyard in the sunshine. She wiped away the tears that managed to escape and she cleared her throat before speaking, "You said you heard something? What was it?"

   He moved his hand behind his head and looked up at her, biting his lower lip as he thought, "It sounded like metal. . .metal on metal then glass shattering and hitting the ground."

   Her eyes widened, "You remembered the crash?"

   He shrugged then flinched at the pain it caused, groaning lowly and reaching for his side, "I don't know, just those noises." Clark watched as she slowly sank into the chair at his bedside, "You know I didn't catch your name. . ." He trailed off seeing her flinch as though she had been struck.

   Bailey nodded, "I guess you wouldn't remember it, but my name is Bailey. Bailey Mann."

   He smiled softly, "Mann? Like my last name. Are we related?"

   She couldn't help but laugh, "Oh, I hope not. It would be really weird considering we're married."

   Clark smiled, hearing her laugh. It was soft and musical yet held sad undertones. He grinned wide, "Really? You're my wife? I managed to get someone as hot as you?"