Trust the Timing - Chapter 9
Shane remained in a coma for 3 long months. Her condition struck fear into the hearts of her loved ones. The doctors continued to have significant concerns about her condition and whether or not she would fully recover. However, they were acutely aware she was still fighting hard for her life. Her brain still showed regular activity, so there was never any talk of terminating her life. She was by no means a vegetable and they did have high hopes she'd eventually pull through and make a full and complete recovery.
Oliver spent a lot of his time in Seattle. He rented a small apartment near the hospital and travelled weekly between Denver and Seattle. He spent every weekend in Seattle, sometimes staying an extra day or two into the following week. Sharon, Becky and Alex also used his apartment when they were in town, covering for times when Oliver was back in Denver, so Shane would always have somebody with her.
Oliver bought a cell phone so friends and family could easily reach him while he was on the go.
One Friday afternoon he had just landed in Seattle when Alex called to tell him Shane had awakened. His heart jumped for joy and he rushed to the hospital. When he got there, Alex was the only one there.
"Alex, have you seen her?"
"Yes. She's very sleepy, but she was able to ask about mom."
Oliver smiled. "Oh, thank you Lord." He said, releasing a breath. "Did she ask about me?" Oliver asked.
"No." Alex bit her lower lip and looked uncomfortable. "We didn't talk much. I'm sure she will be very happy when she sees you." They sat and waited. Alex seemed nervous. Oliver was trying to understand why when the nurse came and told them Shane was awake again. Alex pointed to Oliver and said, "It's your turn now."
Oliver smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Alex."
The room was darkened. Oliver entered quietly and looked at Shane adoringly. "Hi, sweetheart." He said, approaching her and taking her hand. She looked at him blankly.
"I beg your pardon… do I know you?" Oliver felt the force of that question as if he had been punched in the stomach by Mike Tyson. He looked at the nurse who gave him a quick shake of her head.
"I'm Oliver, your boyfriend." He said, trying to smile.
Shane quickly took her hand away and looked at the nurse, afraid. "I don't know this man. My boyfriend is Steve Marek."
Oliver gasped! He didn't know what to do. He looked at the nurse for help with an expression of pain plastered on his face.
The nurse took Shane's other hand. "Shane, Oliver has been here with you since your accident. I think he's definitely your boyfriend." She smiled at Shane trying to calm her. Shane looked at him again and back at the nurse. "I've never seen this man before in my life. Please." She then grabbed the nurse's arm, recoiling away from Oliver.
Oliver left her room, utterly heartbroken. Alex immediately got up and gave him a bear hug. "Oliver, I'm so sorry. But you know what? People recover from amnesia all the time. Don't give up on her and what you two have together. I know how much Shane adores you. Oh man, she was a mess when she left Denver." Alex looked at Oliver, trying to instil confidence in Shane's love for him, but it was obvious he was struggling to hold back tears.
Shane went back to sleep and Oliver went to his apartment. He spent the rest of the day praying. He went back to the hospital in the early evening. Alex wasn't there. Oliver saw her doctor coming out of her room and he rushed over to him.
"Dr. Wilton, please tell me her condition will improve. Please." He begged.
Dr. Wilton, a man in his late forties, took Oliver by the arm and they sat down where Oliver was sitting before.
"Oliver, amnesia can come and go. I can't promise you she will recover from this, but she might. Sometimes, all it takes is one trigger and the memory part of the brain is restored."
"Is there anything I can do?" Oliver asked, hopeful.
"Talk to her about familiar things. Things you did together. Show her photos of you two together. Play songs, read books, bring in familiar foods. Anything that might have played a part in your lives before the accident. You can do any or all of that."
Oliver nodded. "Is she awake? May I see her?"
"Yes, but not for too long, please. Half an hour, at the most. What she needs more than anything now is rest in order to give her body time to heal. Excessive stimulation will only hurt her." The doctor cautioned.
"Ok, I will be careful. Thank you Dr."
Oliver went in and Shane turned her head towards him. "Where's Alex?" She asked, looking afraid all of a sudden.
Oliver grabbed a chair and placed it next to her bed. "I think she went back to the apartment for a break."
"What apartment?"
"An apartment we rented to make it easier to be near you."
She nodded. "What's your name again?"
"Oliver." Oliver smiled at her.
"Well Oliver, how close were we? I certainly don't remember you, but I remember Steve."
Oliver winced. "You broke up with Steve 4 years ago. As far as I know, you never saw him again."
"Where do you live?"
"Denver."
"Why am I in Seattle then?"
"You were returning to Denver."
"How long was I in Seattle for?"
"7 months, not counting the 3 months you've been in the hospital."
"Why was I in Seattle while my boyfriend lived in Denver?"
Oliver sighed. How could he explain their situation in a way that wouldn't sound weird? He decided straight honesty was the best policy.
"I was married to a woman who came back into my life and you left Denver then... when she returned."
"You chose to go back to her and I left? Hummm… That doesn't sound very good, does it? What have you got to say for yourself?"
He looked down embarrassed. "We, you and I, have been in love with each other from the moment we met. Yes, I was married, but my divorce has been finalised now for the last 8 months. You and I were moving forward with our relationship."
"How long have I known you?"
Oliver sighed again. "4 and a half years."
She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're telling me I've been waiting for you for 4 and a half years?"
"Yes." Oliver winced again and looked down to the floor.
"How intimate are we?"
Oliver was starting to feel trapped with her questions. Their relationship sounded very superficial when explained simply with mere words.
"We are not… ehhhh… intimate."
"Why not? Do we love each other?"
"Yes, we do, desperately!" He instinctively reached for her hand. She moved her hand away out of his reach.
"Why aren't we intimate?" She insisted.
"We decided not to."
"Why not? Somehow that doesn't sound like me."
Oliver shook his head and tears rolled down his face. "I thought I was doing the right thing then. Now I'm not so sure."
Shane touched her head with her hand and looked in pain. "I think I need to rest now, Oliver. Do you mind if we pick up this conversation later?"
"Of course. Absolutely!" Oliver got up and looked at her lovingly. "Good night, sweetheart." She just nodded back blankly.
###
Oliver felt defeated. He went back to the apartment. Alex was there. He sat down on the couch looking incredibly unhappy. Alex brought him a cup of his favourite herbal tea, the one stocked in the apartment just for him.
"Mom won't be back until Monday, so we have the apartment all to ourselves."
He just nodded, depressed. "I don't know what to do, Alex. When I thought we were moving forward with our relationship… this happens! She doesn't even know who I am."
"Oh, Oliver..." Alex touched his arm, trying to comfort him.
"She remembers Steve, but not me. That's a cruel joke." He said, bitterly.
"Did you talk to the doctor?" Alex asked.
"Yes. He said I should show her photos of us together, bring her familiar foods, read books, play music etc."
"Well, let's do that then. What food could we bring her?"
"We enjoyed lots of different cuisines. I don't think there's one specifically she will be able to link to me." He said, defeated.
"Don't give up, Oliver. We will find something." Alex slumped back on the couch putting her feet up on the coffee table. "What about photos?"
"I don't have any here with me. Usually Shane is the one who takes photos with her phone. I think Rita might have some. I'll ask her to forward whatever she has to me."
"Wait a minute." Alex said, sitting up. "Where's Shane's phone?"
"I don't know. I think your mom has it."
"I don't think so." She got up and grabbed her handbag. "I'll be back shortly, Oliver."
She left, leaving Oliver wondering what hair-brained ideas she'd come up with now.
The next morning, Alex and Oliver had breakfast together and then headed to the hospital. Shane was awake and being moved to a ward where she'd have a room of her own.
Both Alex and Oliver went in together. "Hey sis, how are you this morning?" Alex smiled at her.
"Feeling much better." Shane smiled back at Alex, ignoring Oliver.
"Shane, I found your phone with your personal things and I charged it overnight. What's your password?"
Shane looked at her blankly. "I have no idea."
"Ok, not to worry. Let's try a few options. Let's start with your birthday." Alex entered Shane's birthday first and that didn't work. She tried her own birthday next, laughing at how ridiculous that would be if it worked. It did not! She then tried their mother's, followed by their dad's. None of them worked.
"Ok, our process of elimination is going well." Alex said, frustrated. "Let's try yours, Oliver."
He told it to her, but no success with that either. "What other dates are significant in your life, Shane?"
"I don't know." Shane said, deflated.
"Try May 19, 2013." Oliver suggested.
"What date is that?" Shane asked.
"That's the day you started at the DLO in Denver and the day we met."
Alex shrugged her shoulders and punched in the numbers.
"Bingo!" She shouted, enthusiastically. "Well done, Oliver!" Alex got up and kissed him on the cheek with a big "mwah" noise.
Shane gave him a small smile. His heart soared with that little gesture.
Alex went directly to Shane's photo app. She laid her head next to Shane's and started scrolling through the hundreds of photos Shane had saved in her photo gallery, looking at them together.
"Wow! Look at how many photos there are of you and Oliver together. You two look so happy." She smiled at Shane. "Annoyingly, you two make such a beautiful couple." She laughed. Then she asked Oliver, genuinely curious, "How long have you been dating?"
"Officially and together in the same city? One week." Oliver said, looking up at Shane and holding her gaze.
"Wow! I'd have though more like a decade with these many photos." She said looking impressed still scrolling through them.
At that moment, the nurse came in. "Ok guys, time for Shane to take a little nap. She's starting to wilt a little. Come back after lunch."
Alex and Oliver got up to leave. Shane looked at both of them. "Thank you." She said and then she smiled directly at Oliver.
###
"Things are looking up, Oliver." Alex said and bumped his shoulder with hers.
"Thank you, Alex. You are as brilliant as your sister."
"No! I'm not! Not even close! But I do remember how miserable she was when you went back to your wife and she came here. I was actually worried about her. She lost all her bounce… and laid flat out by despair! Shane's absolutely crazy about you, Oliver and I'm not going to allow her to walk away from her beautiful future with you because of an unfortunate accident. I'm going to fight for you two, tooth and nail."
Oliver turned and lifted Alex in a bear hug. "Thank you." He said, putting her down again.
"Ok, let's keep the pressure on. Let's have a look at her Spotify playlists."
"Her what?"
"Her favourite songs on a music app." Alex said, sitting down and taking Shane's phone out of her handbag. "What's her password again?"
"051913." Oliver said absentmindedly.
"You know Oliver, you're brilliant yourself. How on earth do you remember the date she started in the DLO?"
"It's the day the heavens shifted in our favour...for both of us." He said, looking lost in thought.
Alex just nodded, sticking out her lower lip, not actually knowing what he meant by that. She opened Spotify and immediately she saw "Oliver" playlist.
"Wow, she has a playlist named after you."
He smiled, "Does she?" He said dreamily.
"Humm umm!" Alex said smiling to herself, and then she clicked on it. One beautiful song after another started to play.
"After lunch, I'm going to leave you two alone. Which of these songs is likely to jolt her memory?" She gave the phone to Oliver.
He scrolled up. "This one!" He pointed to the one.
"Ok. I'm going to leave it ready to go. All you need is to touch it and it will start playing. Maybe this will help her, who knows?"
"Thank you, Alex. We can only try." Oliver answered hopeful.
###
They had lunch in a diner near the hospital. Afterwards, Alex decided to return to the apartment while Oliver returned to the hospital. He reclined in the chair in her room while she slept.
It was late afternoon when Oliver opened his eyes and saw Shane looking at him with an enigmatic expression on her face. She looked so much better already.
He smiled at her. "I'm sorry." He said, sitting up. "I guess I was more tired than I realised."
"I suppose this has been quite difficult for you. I was told I was in a coma for 3 months and you've been travelling here from Denver every weekend to spend time with the sleeping beauty." She smiled.
"You're worth it, Shane."
"I wish I could remember you." She said, wistfully.
"Well, maybe this will help." He pulled his chair right next to her, then took her phone from his messenger bag and opened it, using the password. He then went straight to Spotify and chose the song Alex had left ready to go at the top of "Oliver" playlist.
The beautiful piano cords of "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel started to play.
Shane's eyes immediately filled with tears. "Why do I feel like crying?"
"This is our song." He said and ran his knuckles gently down her face.
She didn't move away. He leaned in and softly touched her lips with his.
The soft touch of his lips reached the deepest parts of Shane's brain and memory banks.
Shane gasped and held his face with both her hands. "Oliver?"
He pulled back and focused on her eyes. There she was! His Shane was back!
"Oh Oliver!" She threw her arms around his neck.
"Oh my Shane, where have you been?"
He found her lips and they kissed passionately. Both of them crying, while Billy Joel sang their song.