Chapter 5

Nick's View

I breathed in deep and pulled away from Brian. Tears wet my face but the tears were beginning to stop. Brian was just sniffing a whole lot and rubbing his eyes.

"I'm so sorry man," I said. He didn't say anything.

"Want to go visit Tiffany?" I asked softly. He looked at me, his eyes red and puffy, and asked, "What time is it?"

I looked at my watch and said, "2:47."

He nodded slowly and wiped some more tears away.

I patted is back and said, "All right, lets go. I'll drive."

He got up from his seat in the sand and brushed some of the sand off of his shorts. We walked up to his jeep and he got in the passengers side. I hopped into the drivers seat and started up the car. I looked over at Brian and saw his eyes start to water again, he wiped his cheeks, lowered his hat, and slightly slumped down in his seat.
I frowned and pulled out of the beach parking lot. We drove the rest of the way in complete silence.

15 Minutes Later

We got to the hospital and we were getting out of the car now. Brian has calmed down a bit. He has stopped crying and he wasn't sniffling anymore.

We walked up to the front desk and a lady typing on her computer looked up at us smiling.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, can you please give us the room number to Tiffany Littrell?" I asked. She typed on her computer and then looked up at us, "She is just now allowed to have visitors. She can only have one at a time but maybe 2, you'll have to check with the doctor. You are the first ones, a lot of people have come in today to visit her, she must be one special woman."

"She is," Brian said softly.

"I believe you, her room number is 209, go up the elevator to the second floor and turn to your right. Her room should be on the right side near the end of the hall," she said.

"Thank you," I said and then both Brian and I walked down the hall to the elevators. We walked slowly on and I pushed the second floor button. The doors opened a minute later and we stepped out.

Doctors and Nurses were walking up and down the hall, some were looking at charts, others were talking to patients or visitors. It was quite quiet and calm.

We walked all the way down the hall and came upon room 209. The door was closed and there was no sound coming from inside. Brian just stood there, as did I.

"You can go in first," he told me. I shook my head firmly, "No, she's your wife. You should see her first."
He stood there for a second pondering whether to go in or not, he finally shook his head and said, "No, I can't. I'm too scared."

"What are you scared of?"

"Seeing her, I don't want to see her hooked up to all those machines."

"Brian you have to go see her, she would want you to go visit her," I said softly. Brian stood there looking at the floor, his jaw clenched. He then looked up at me and raised his hand to his head, he slid his hat off and gave it to me.

"Hold that for me while I'm in there," he said. I slightly smiled at him and stood back near the wall, leaning on it and watched as Brian opened the door and disappeared out of my sight.

Brian's View

I opened the door slowly and cautiously, I was afraid as to what I was going to see. I looked down at the floor until I was completely in the room. Once the door was closed behind me I looked up.

Tiffany was laying on her back, her head tilted to the left, her hair shining in the sunlight. Blankets covered her up to her waist and then stopped. She looked paler then when I was used to seeing her. Machines beeped and made odd noises all around her, they weren't loud, they were quiet like they were trying not to wake her up. IVs were hooked up to her arms and that's all that I could really see was hooked up to her. She looked so small and lifeless.
I walked over to the left side of her bed and took a seat. I scooted nearer to her bed and sat there just looking at her pale face. Her chest was rising and falling slowly, I could hear the faint sound of her steady breathing.
I took her hand in mine and squeezed it lightly, "Hi honey, it's me Brian, your baby duck."

She didn't move or make any sign of her hearing me but I knew that she could probably hear me. I just knew she could.

"I know you can hear me sweetie and I just want you to know that you'll be fine and that I'm sorry I didn't get you to a doctor sooner. I know I could have prevented this. You could be in my arms right now," I said softly, starting to get choked up again.

"I want you to know that everyone misses seeing you and we are all praying for you," I said and then paused. I took a deep breath and tried to blink the tears away...it didn't work. They began to fall freely from my eyes.

"I love you so much Tiffany, so much. I don't want to lose you, please hang in there. I can't bare living without you, I love you to death and I always will but I want you to be here with me so I can show you my love," I softly said, I was sobbing by this point and it was hard for me to talk.

"Tiffany, if you can hear me right now, please just squeeze my hand. A little squeeze would be fine, I just want to know that you are hearing me," I cried. She didn't move.

"Baby please, do it for me," I said quietly. Nothing happened, only the soft sounds of the machines beeping, her steady breathing, and my sobs. I knew she was in a coma and I knew that she couldn't really move but I just wished so much that she could.

I sat there for the rest of the afternoon by her side, holding her hand and just watching her beautiful face remembering the good times that we had and prayed that she would soon open those beautiful eyes of hers and smile that smile that I immediately fell in love with. When that happens I'll know for sure that my precious gift given to me by God will stay with me and know that it wouldn't be taken away after all.