Kendall sighed as she relaxed against her husband, listening to his heart beat as her cheek rested against his chest. She was safe and secure in his arms… the one special place that she'd rather be than anywhere else. Zach was with her and never wavered in his care… she trusted him completely and knew that he would never leave her. Zach Slater… her husband… her love.
She reached her arms up and looped them around his neck, pulling his head down as she snuggled tighter against him. He made a low growl deep in his throat that rumbled through his chest and set the nerves along her spine tingling deliciously. As his lips met her throat, she sighed audibly while he placed whisper soft kisses against her skin. Working his way up from the juncture of her neck and shoulder his lips caressed their way to just below her ear where he paused for a moment and breathed, "I want you, Kendall."
She moaned and arched her neck so that he could continue what he was doing and his hands stroked her body, igniting tiny flames of passion wherever they roamed. He lifted one hand and tipped her chin towards his mouth before capturing it with his own and they dissolved into a sweltering kiss of lazy sensuality, where lips and teeth and tongues did the dance that their bodies would soon be performing. Kendall wrapped her arms tighter around Zach's neck as his fingers tangled in her hair and their kisses became more urgent. Pulling a few inches apart they worked clumsily at freeing each other of their clothes, anxious to feel skin against skin in the quickening of their need. Kendall found herself with another need, one that she had to indulge before their passion, one that she had never before given voice.
Issuing a ragged breath, she paused a moment and met Zach's confused gaze with one of resolve. "Zach," she whispered. "I… I love you." She smiled tremulously after saying the words, afraid that even in the height of their passion they might still be rejected… or unwelcome. Instead, Zach's eyes lit with love and happiness in a way that she had never before seen… as if the sun rose inside him for the very first time. Finding his joy contagious, she returned it with a light of her own before being pulled into his arms. "And I love you, Kendall," he whispered against her lips before crushing his mouth against hers…
Kendall sighed deeply and tried to pull Zach closer but instead found herself with empty arms that refused to cooperate. She opened her eyes to the now familiar surroundings of the hospital room… tastefully decorated but still antiseptic and impersonal in appearance. Her eyes fell first to the arrangement of pink roses from Zach that were delivered each morning and then fell to the photographs of her beautiful niece Miranda. As her eyes wandered around the room they fell on her mother and immediately noted her watchful, tender gaze. She gave her a lopsided smile before reaching back with her left hand and maneuvering herself into a more upright position.
Erica rose immediately and pressed the controls to raise the head of the bed and propped pillows behind Kendall's back for comfort. Once Kendall seemed satisfied with her position, Erica placed a finger over her lips and said, "Shh. You don't have to say a word. Your mother knows exactly what you want and need. I'll take care of you, darling. You just relax."
Kendall's eyes registered confusion for a moment before she relaxed and nodded her head. When her mother didn't continue speaking she glanced around the room but couldn't find her husband. He must have left while she was sleeping… but that dream… it had been so real. In her dream Zach said he loved her… just as she said she loved him. Could it have been real? Or was it just another symptom of her brain trauma?
Kendall reached out with her left hand, opened her mouth and spoke very deliberately, "Pu-unt... Date... Tar-get." She frowned and shook her head before trying again, "Win-ter... Pet... Long."
"Are you hungry, Kendall? The nurse told me that you didn't eat much of your lunch. I'll just go get you something," Erica answered. Without waiting for acknowledgement from her daughter, the woman quickly walked out of the hospital room calling for a nurse to get a food tray for her daughter.
Zach, Kendall thought in frustration. Why can't I say Zach? I don't want food, Mother, I want my husband.
While Kendall sat in what she considered the prison of her own body, Erica returned with a tray of food that she had asked to be prepared for when her daughter woke from her nap. Kendall looked at the tray and knew that it was useless to argue with Erica and resigned herself to getting the ordeal over with. Erica placed the food tray on the table and began to feed her as if she was a baby. Kendall merely opened her mouth and accepted the food, drinking when a beverage was offered and soon had completely finished everything on her tray.
"That's a good girl, Kendall," Erica said with a smile. "I knew you would eat for me."
If you only knew, Mother, Kendall thought to herself. I eat because then you'll leave me alone. Go away, Mother. I want Zach.
Kendall reached over to the table with her good arm and picked up the white board that her therapist had left with her. Although it was difficult to write legibly with her left hand, she was getting passable at writing the first letters of people's names. When she was alone with her therapists, she worked very hard to communicate but was frustrated with her perceived lack of progress. She needed to ask Zach if he had really told her he loved her… and to tell him that she loved him too. That was the only thing that she had been absolutely certain of since regaining consciousness… that she loved her husband and had done so for quite some time. But every time she tried to say the words or ask the question… garbage came out of her mouth.
Kendall hadn't planned to be uncooperative when Zach and Bianca were helping her with her therapy, but she had discovered an unexpected and enjoyable side affect to her contrariness. The first time she had gotten frustrated and thrown her spoon, Zach had laughed. Not a polite laugh but a boisterous, almost joyous laugh. His eyes sparkled and his smile was broad as his mouth opened and the beautiful sound of his laughter echoed through the room. As she had continued to be contrary, their time together was punctuated by chuckles and laughter yet he never lost patience with her. She discovered very quickly that she would do just about anything to hear him laugh, even if it meant being uncooperative and incommunicative when he was with her.
Bianca was a different story. She had noticed Zach and Bianca talking quietly together and that Zach always seemed to have new pictures of Miranda to share with her. If she was cooperative with Bianca, then Zach would know that she was faking it with him – or worse, he might believe that she didn't want him around. Rather than risk that complication, she gave Bianca the same difficulty that she gave her husband. The only reason that she cooperated with Erica was because she knew that her mother grew quickly bored and left sooner if she gave in and a short time with Erica was almost more than she could stand.
At that moment she didn't want her mother at all… she wanted her husband. She had almost pulled the whiteboard to her so that she could draw a letter Z when her mother pulled it out of her hands and placed it out of reach. "You don't need that, Kendall. They are pushing you too hard. You just let me do the talking for you," Erica said before kissing her on the cheek.
Kendall's eyes flashed with anger as she emphatically shook her head. She didn't bother to try speaking because it was no use, but she was trembling all over from frustration. One thing was certain; her mother still knew how to make her angrier than anyone else on the face of the earth.
"My goodness, that man certainly has you worked up today. I don't know what he's thinking… always pushing you to feed yourself and to talk. I'm sorry, but I've had just about all of that man that I can take. Thank goodness he's leaving today and won't be back," Erica said to Kendall.
Kendall frowned and shook her head as she waited for her mother to continue. Leaving? Not coming back? Did I push him too far? Has he decided that he doesn't want to help me anymore? Why is he leaving, mother?
"Such an annoying man, Kendall. I'll never understand in a million years why you married him. At least that's one mistake that will be corrected soon enough. Don't you worry – you'll get every penny that's owed you from that prenuptial agreement. If we're lucky, he'll close that casino of hisand move back to Las Vegas," Erica continued brightly.
No! Mother, I love him…I don't want him to leave me. Kendall began to cry, tears slipping down her cheeks as her hands moved on her lap in agitation.
Completely misunderstanding the reason for Kendall's distress, Erica reached over and gave her daughter a hug, "There, there, Kendall. I understand. I married for business myself, you know. But don't you worry… Zach Slater will not get away with what he's done to you."
Done to me? What has he done except love me? Mother! What is going on? Does Bianca know what you're doing? Kendall closed her eyes and continued to cry quietly as she rested against the pillows. Confused, angry and scared… she wasn't sure what to do or how to stop her mother from whatever she was planning… but there had to be something.
"Kendall, I'm going to have the nurse give you something to help you relax. When you wake up Zach Slater will just be a bad memory," Erica said. Kendall opened her eyes and tried to communicate her feelings with them, but her mother was either unwilling or unable to see the truth as she continued speaking, "I'll just get rid of these flowers on my way out."
Kendall tried once more to speak as her mother took the flowers she looked forward to each day, "W-will." She reached out her left hand but her mother was already leaving the room.When the door next opened, anurseentered the roomwith a syringe and gave her an injection to her hip area despite Kendall's struggle against it. A few minutes later her eyes fell closed as she succumbed to the sedative and she was once again dreaming of being held in her husband's strong and comforting embrace.