Page 107 of My Fiancé's Brother

“Sometimes memory comes back after a traumatic brain injury, and sometimes it doesn’t. Time will tell. But at this point, Matt has no recollection of the past five months of his life.”

Irene and I both gasped.

Jackson spoke. “Does he know what happened to him?”

“We told him he was in a single vehicle accident and he knows he has lost a significant chunk of time in his memory. The most important thing right now is that we don’t upset him. Keeping him as calm and relaxed as possible is how we can best take care of him.”

“When can we see him?” Irene vibrated beside me.

The doctor glanced over at me. I hadn’t yet spoken a word. I hadn’t even moved a muscle. “He’s asking for Emily.”

I swallowed hard. I had no idea how to deal with this situation. So much had happened in the last five months.

The doctor stood up. “We don’t want to tire him out, so we're going to keep the visits to five minutes per person for now. Just speak calmly and softly to him. Reassure him if you can.”

Without looking at either Jackson or Irene, I followed the doctor to Matt’s bedside. Matt’s blue eyes looked up at me. He looked pale and weak lying on the bed surrounded by tubes.

“Matt,” I stood at the foot of the bed. My entire body shook.

His smile was real. “Emily.”

“You gave us quite the scare,” my voice was soft.

“Come here,” his voice rasped. Like he had a terrible cold.

I walked over to the side of the bed, and he grabbed my hand. “Your hair is so long.”

I gave him a sad smile. “I was growing it out for the wedding.”

“They told me it's May. My last memory is of going back to work after Christmas.”

“Do you remember anything after that?” I asked cautiously.

He frowned and stared up at me. “Nothing.”

I nodded and sat gingerly on the chair beside his bed. “Your mom is here. She’s practically beside herself.”

He studied my face. “You look thinner. Are you okay?”

I blinked rapidly. “It’s been pretty scary.”

He grabbed my hand, and with that, I started to cry again. I sat there smiling at him while giant tears rolled down my face. This was the old Matt. The man I had agreed to marry. The raging lunatic was gone.

“Emily,” he said softly. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

I dashed the tears from my face. My throat felt so tight I couldn’t speak. I nodded.

He shut his eyes and smiled. “I can’t wait to marry you, Emily. Inmy head, we’ve only been engaged a couple of weeks, and here our wedding is coming up in a couple of months.”

A sob escaped my throat. Matt had managed to go back in time. The rest of us remained stuck in the present. I had no idea how to deal with this. I only knew I wasn't supposed to upset him. “Yeah.”

He opened his eyes. “Did we plan something good? I know how anxious you were about planning the wedding. I hope I took enough time to help you get everything ready.”

A memory of Jackson helping me pick invitations. Doing the cake tasting. Teasing me about my giant wedding binder. More tears squeezed out of my eyes. “It’s pretty much ready, but Matt, we can delay the wedding while you recover.”

He squeezed my hand. “No way. I can’t wait to marry you. No way are we delaying anything.”

I swallowed my tears and gave him a watery smile. My poor confused heart was squeezed so tight, that I wasn’t sure it was still beating. “We can talk about that later. I think Jackson and your mom want to see you and the doctor said we aren’t allowed to tire you out.”

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