Tawny sat calm and motionless outside the hospital room. It was now past midnight. They had been in there for hours, the doctor and the nurses. And Tawny had remained there waiting the whole time, not thinking of being anywhere else. She closed her eyes one more time and prayed for Louis, as she had done countless times before. She somehow knew, deep down, that he would be all right. She could feel it as she held him in her arms, her hand placed gently on his pulse. His pulse had kept beating the whole time and, the moment he opened his eyes, she thought she could feel it infuse something into her hand, something that came straight out of his heart and into hers, giving back to her what she had been trying, with all her might, to give him.
Just then, the door finally opened and the doctor stepped out. He gave Tawny a reassuring look and a slight nod. Tawny rose and walked up to him, the look on her face full of assurance. "Thank you, doctor," she whispered.
"You can go inside now, Ms. Dean," he said. "You're free to stay in there as long as you'd like. But please do take care to get some rest yourself."
Tawny stepped inside as the last of the nurses filed out. Louis was sleeping peacefully. She took a seat next to his bed and took hold of his hand with both of hers.
"You saved my life, Louis," Tawny said softly, looking at him with adoration. "And you did it without leaving me behind. You're a marvel, you know that?"
She fell silent. She closed her eyes once more and prayed, expressing her thanks. She kept her eyes shut as a series of images began to flow inside her head. Images of Louis reassuring her as he had always done, showing her his usual irrepressible self, letting her know that the pain meant nothing to him as long as she was there. The first day of junior high, Louis lying on the ground after falling off the flagpole, her eyes meeting his for the first time, his boyish smile shining up at her like a ray of sunshine. Louis lying on the bed inside that mattress store, then quickly getting up after seeing her, starting to make her laugh in his irresistible way. Louis lying on the gym floor and then on her lap, still in his mascot suit, pronouncing the words that warmed her heart so much, the smile on his lips mirroring hers. And both of their hearts promising each other again and again over the years, in a language that needed no words, that they will never leave each other, no matter what happens.