***Chapter 6***
***The next morning***
Jennifer had rested well. Being in your own home will help with that.
She and Jonathan had gently made love the night before, and it had been wonderful. She was healing and getting stronger every day.
He had woken her up after he got out of the shower this morning.
"Darling, I have to go to the office this morning, but I'll be home by lunch time. Do you want to take a shower now, or later?"
"Now".
He stayed in the bathroom with her while she did, just in case she needed him, and then helped her get dressed.
He applied the cream to her wound and the bandage like the nurse had shown him, and then he helped her go downstairs and get settled on the couch.
He brought her some tea, her laptop, and the television remote, and got her favorite blanket and a few pillows to go behind her back.
He sat down on the couch next to her.
"I promise you, as soon as this meeting wraps, I will be home. I love you, Red".
"I promise you, I will be just fine, Jonathan Charles".
He leaned forward and kissed her a few times.
"Max will be here with you all day. So, don't be afraid to put him to work, ok? You need to rest".
"Ok, darling."
"I'm just a phone call away if you need me, no matter what it is".
"Darling…you won't be a phone call away if you don't go. I promise you, I'm fine. I love you, have a great day at work and I will see you when you get home".
He stared at her, and slowly nodded. He kissed her again, and then got up.
She could see he still felt responsible.
She pointed at him.
"Not your fault, darling."
"I know.."
She blew him a kiss and he left.
She worked on her article for a bit, and then around 11, she went upstairs and got his gifts out from the guest room. She was having a hard time finding one, so she opened the closet to see if she put it in there.
She found it, on top of a box of pictures.
She grabbed all of those things and brought them downstairs.
She arranged the gifts she had bought him at the auction, on top of the piano, and took the box of photos to the couch and started looking through them.
Jonathan didn't have a lot of pictures of his family, so his few pictures had ended up in the box where hers were years ago.
She spent a few hours looking through the pictures and found a few pictures of her mother and her dad together, and some of her mom with her sisters. There were lots of pictures of Jennifer on horses when she was younger.
Jonathan got home around 1, as his meeting had ran late.
"Darling, how are you feeling?"
"In here….oh, just fine darling".
He came and sat by her.
"I got this box out, I've been looking all through it."
He sat with her while she looked at each picture.
Finally, about ½ way through, there was a picture of two people who looked very familiar.
The doorbell rang, and Max answered it.
It was a delivery for Jennifer.
"Darling, you shouldn't have".
"Yes I should". He leaned over and kissed her.
Max signed for it and brought it to her. It was a beautiful vase of flowers. He set it on the table in front of her.
"Darling.. this is so you won't miss me too much while I'm at the office."
She squeezed his chin, and then looked at the flowers. The bouquet had white gerber daisies, blue tulips in the center and one, perfect, budding yellow rose.
She instantly teared up.
"How did you know?"
"Know what? That you like flowers? I've always known that".
She didn't explain, because she thought he would think she was silly.
She kept looking at the pictures and there were several more of the people who looked familiar to her. On the back of one of them, she finally found their names. It was her parents, when they were in high school. She had barely recognized them.
She let the tears fall freely then, and kept looking through the photos. There was one in the very bottom that belonged to Jonathan.
"Who is that?"
He turned it over. "Evelyn Hart. My mother. This must have been in the file from the orphanage".
She looked at the photo and it all came together.
She started crying harder…
"Darling…what is it? What's wrong?"
"Don't think I'm silly. I swear this happened."
"What?"
"In the hospital, I was dreaming, and I was in a field and picking flowers. These people were there. I was trying to get to them". She handed him the picture of her parents.
"I told this lady I wanted to go with her, but she said no. She told me I could later. Then she joined the man, and they crossed the street and left me. And then, this woman-she grabbed his photo- came to me and told me to give you a bouquet of flowers and it looked exactly like this. She said these were your favorites. And then I got to the edge of the field and she disappeared and I had no choice but to go back the way I came".
"Darling…that was you waking up. You going back the way you came is you coming back to me".
She nodded.
"Why would you think I would think you were silly?"
"I don't know…"
He had nothing to say to explain it because it couldn't be explained.
He held her and comforted her and she put the pictures back in the box.
"Well, it seems to me, that maybe, you met my mom".
He kissed her.
"And then, she sent you back to me, right where you belong".
She nodded.
"But how did you know about the flowers?"
"I didn't. I just called the floral shop and asked for their spring bouquet".
"I just don't know what this means".
"I think I might".
He sank down a little lower on the couch and she nestled up against him.
"What do you think it means?"
"I think it means what we already know. That we were destined to be together. You didn't get to go with them because I still need you here and you still need to be here. And that's why you came back".
She nodded.
"Darling…were you talking to me while I was asleep?"
"Absolutely".
She smiled big. "What did you say?"
"That I loved you, and that I was right there with you, and to come back to me. It wasn't till I started singing to you that you opened your eyes though".
She sat up and kissed him.
"Stay right here".
She got up and went to the piano.
"Darling, let me".
"No, no, it's alright".
She brought the presents back over to him.
"I tried to make it perfect, honey. I really did. I am sorry I messed it up".
He opened the gifts. The sculpture was of a man and wife dancing. They had no faces, and they were made out of black stone.
"I love it".
He opened the smaller package next and found the cufflinks with an H.
"Very nice…I love them". He leaned over and kissed her.
"I'm sorry…there was supposed to be more".
"What are you talking about?"
"Jonathan…don't you know?"
"Know what?"
"Your birthday was two days ago".
He had the deer in the headlights look.
"I was so focused on you… I completely forgot".
She chuckled. "Really?"
"Yes, really".
"I had it planned out perfectly how it was going to go…I am sorry that I didn't get to do everything with you that I had planned".
"Why don't you tell me the plan?"
"Well first, there was breakfast in bed. And then there was our date night with the Chinese food and the backrub, and then the next day, we were going to have lunch at your favorite place, and then I was going to give you the painting and the cufflinks and the sculpture, and then we were going to be spontaneous and spend a night at the beach house, without any interruptions".
"It's the thought that counts. And I am happy to do any of those things every day of the year, not just on my birthday".
"You are so forgiving".
She moved up and sat in his lap.
She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Darling…I promise you, the best birthday present you could have given me was pulling through this and coming home. I don't need anything else but you".
"You are so sweet".
"I mean it, Red. I don't know how to function without you. I think I would miss you even if I had never met you".
"I don't deserve you darling… you are simply the most amazing man I have ever known".
She sat up and looked at him.
"Max went to a poker game….we have the whole house to ourselves…"
He stood up, and she stood up. He gently picked her up and carried her upstairs.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"Happy Birthday, darling. You sure get better with age".