Sorry it took me so long to update. Writer's block totally sucks.

I want to thank all of you who have waited so patiently for this chapter. And I want to thank those of you who reviewed the chapter five. You guys rock! Now, enough babbling, here's the new chapter.

Chapter Six

"Do you wanna get a bite to eat or something?"

Edwina looked up from her backpack, which she was loading with the books she would need that night, to see Bradin standing in front of her. She smiled.

Two weeks they'd been talking to each other and still Edwina had yet to grow accustomed to his friendship.

"Um…" she looked down at the books in her bag, "I've got a lot of homework." She said.

"Oh c'mon," Bradin shook his head, grinning in that way that made Edwina's knees go weak, "you'll be able to finish that work in no time. C'mon and have some fun for a change."

She felt her cheeks flush with hot embarrassment.

"Well…"

"You know you want to." Bradin tilted his head, a lock of golden hair falling over his left eye. His grin widened.

"Okay." Edwina replied, a slow smile spreading over her face.

> > > > >

Edie's eyes fluttered open and bright light invaded her senses. She groaned.

"Edie? Edie, are you awake?" A gentle hand rested on her arm.

"Mr. Hooper?" She squinted her eyes and turned her head just slightly to the source of the noise. Sure enough, there sat Mr. Hooper, his eyes red-rimmed and blood shot, and his hair and clothes a mess.

"What…what happened?" Edie asked, opening her eyes more fully to the florescent lighting. "How did I get here?" She glanced around the hospital room, taking in all the machines and the stark white walls.

"There…there was an accident." Mr. Hooper's voice broke and his eyes filled with tears. "You and Alex were hit by another car on the freeway and…" a wave of emotion passed over Mr. Hooper's face and he buried his head in his hands and gave way to the powerful sobs that racked his body.

A feeling of dread filled Edie as she stared at him. And what? What else happened? Edie's heart pounded within her chest, causing the monitor beside her bed to squeal out in protest.

"Where's Alex?" She asked slowly, hoping against hope that the answer would not be what she knew she would hear. "Mr. Hooper, what happened to Alex?"

Mr. Hooper raised his head, his eyes clouded with tears of grief.

"He didn't make it." He whispered, as if not wanting to believe his own words. "I'm so sorry, Edie, but he didn't make it." And he was once again lost in his crying.

The squeal of the monitor increased rapidly as Edie took in the news. Alex, dead? No, it couldn't be. He couldn't be dead. He had just proposed to her, they were supposed to get married. He couldn't be dead.

Edie's vision blurred as her own eyes filled with tears.

A nurse rushed in, alerted by the loud monitor.

"Oh dear," the nurse muttered, "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

She could vaguely make out the nurse moving through the room, but Edie was oblivious to anything but her own pain and grief. Her heart felt as if it had been ripped from her body and left on the ground to be stomped upon.

Unconsciously, she touched the diamond that weighed down her left hand. Her mind flooded with all the things that she had experienced with Alex. He had been her soul mate, her love. How could he be dead? What possible life could Edie have now that her one true love was gone?

Her eyes flew to Mr. Hooper, who was lost in his own world of pain and sadness. A wave of guilt swept over her. Here she was, being selfish over the loss of her fiancé when Mr. Hooper had lost his one and only child.

Slowly, she reached out a hand and placed it on Mr. Hooper's shoulder. And, together, they cried.

> > > > >

"I want to see him." Edie said, looking from Mr. Hooper to the nurse that stood checking her vitals. "Can I please see him?"

The nurse looked skeptical.

"Let me ask the doctor." She said, her tone giving no clue as to whether or not she thought the doctor would allow Edie to see Alex. She left the room, her white shoes making squeaking sounds as she walked across the linoleum floor.

Edie sat back against the flat hospital pillows and sighed.

She didn't care what the doctor said, she was going to see Alex one last time. She needed to. She needed to say good-bye. She needed to know that this was actually real and not some horrible nightmare.

The doctor walked in, the florescent lighting shining a halo around his golden blonde head. He looked at Edie, his green eyes sad, pitying. There was something familiar about those eyes, but Edie couldn't place what it was.

"Hello, Miss Branwell," the doctor greeted her with a nod of his head, "I'm glad to see you've finally woken up. How are you feeling?"

"I want to see Alex," she said, not bothering to answer his question. "I want to see him now."

The doctor cleared his throat nervously, his hands fidgeting with the chart he held.

"Yes," he nodded, "I'll arrange for you to visit the morgue as soon as possible. But first, I need to ask you a few questions."

> > > > >

Bradin ran through his list of questions, his mind not really focusing on the task at hand. His eyes kept flitting to Edie's face. How could she not remember him? After what he had done to her, how could she be acting as if she didn't know who he was?

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, that's what his father had always said when something good happened and Bradin began to question it. Perhaps this was how God intended to give Bradin his second chance, by making it so that Edie didn't recognize him.

I have a chance to do this over again, he thought as he looked at Edie, and this time I'm not going to screw it up.

> > > > >

Alright, so it was a really short chapter, sorry 'bout that. Next one should be longer. Anyways, please review and tell me what you thought.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll update next. Currently I'm busy looking for a publisher to publish the book that I recently finished and that takes up a lot of my time. Um…but I will try and update soon. So, send me lots of encouragement and the next chapter might be up sooner than expected. Lol.