Page 12 of Tell Me You Love Me Again

“That’s the thing. I don’t know how long I’ll be out. The doctor told me that as a result of the accident, Chi developed amnesia,” I revealed.

“What? Amnesia? You serious?”

“I wouldn’t play about no shit like that. I walked in this bitch, and she didn’t even know who the fuck I was, bro. My own wife looked at me like I was a complete fuckin’ stranger.” I shook my head because the shit was still unbelievable.

“Damn, bro. I hate to hear that shit. I know it’s a lot on you. Me and Shan will be here to help you anyway that we can.”

“That’s right. I’ll head that way once I get Gabby off to school. Do you need me to bring you anything?” Shannon asked.

“If you can bring me a bag, that’ll be great. I didn’t know what to expect and I when they said accident I just got my keys and left.”

“No worries, Gabe. I got you.”

“We’ll be there, bro. I’ll make some calls at the job and see what I can move around.” I was grateful for my brother and his wife right now. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, and I needed the support.

“I appreciate y’all for real.”

“It’s nothing. We’ll see y’all later.” After saying our goodbyes, I hung up and waited for them to bring my wife back into the room. While I waited for them to run whatever tests that they needed to run, I took my phone out of my pocket and replied to a few business emails. I let them know I had a family emergency, and my brother would be the point of contact. I knew it wouldn’t be a problem since we worked together, but I still wanted to let them know myself. I needed to talk to the contractors and see how the progress on the house was going, but I would do that once I knew they were up and running.

I was still sitting in the same spot, looking at some show that was playing on the TV. I wasn’t paying it any attention because all I could think about was my wife and the road ahead that we had to conquer. In the middle of stretching, the door came open and there was a nurse coming in, rolling the wheelchair that Chiara sat in. We stared at each other as they made their way to the bed. I’m pretty sure for different reasons. I allowed the nurse to help her back into the bed and she told her that someone would be in to check her a little later, but she could call beforehand if she needed anything. When she left, I turned my attention to her.

“How you feeling?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. This is a lot. I feel the effects of the accident, but that doesn’t bother me as much as being told I’m married, and I don’t even remember my husband.” She glanced over at me, then down at my hand that was resting on top of hers.

“It’s fuckin’ with me too, Snook, but I promise that we’re very much married.

“Did you call my family?” she asked, and that threw me off a little bit.

“Your family? You remember them?” I asked.

“Yes. I guess. I remember that I have a sister…Chiquita. When the doctor told me they called my family, I assumed that’s who they were referring to. He said ‘he’, so I figured it was my father.”

“So, you remember all that, but you don’t remember being married?” I asked again. She shook her head ‘no’. That blow was worse than the initial one. How could she remember her family but not me?

“Uh, I called your sister, and she should be here shortly. She said she would call your parents, but I’m not sure if they’ll be coming with her or not.”

“Okay. Thank you, Gabriel.” Hearing her refer to me by name and not ‘bae’ or ‘babe’ was really fuckin’ with me, and I needed some fresh air.

“Listen, I’ll be right back. I’m going to step out and find the doctor. I’ll be right back.” I leaned down and kissed her forehead before turning to leave out of the room. I went to the nurse’s station on this floor and asked them could they call Dr. Kwon out for me. I had questions, and he needed to give me the damn answers. After the nurse informed me it would take a few minutes, I took a seat in the waiting area until he came out. About fifteen minutes later, he emerged into the waiting room.

“Mr. Hastings. You requested to speak to me?” he asked, walking further inside.

“Uh, yeah. I was talking to my wife, and she remembers her family, but has no memory of us. Is that normal?” I had my arms folded across my broad chest because I was real life baffled as to how that was possible if she was supposed to have had amnesia.

“Well, Mr. Hastings. Sometimes amnesia doesn’t affect all a person’s memory. Sometimes they block out the bad ones and that could lead them to only remember certain things,” he informed.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that my wife considers me a bad memory, and that’s why she doesn’t remember me?”

“I’m not implying that, sir, but it could be a possibility. I do not know the extent of your marriage, but I will suggest a few things, if you don’t mind.” He took my silence as a clue to continue. “Give your wife a reason to remember you. Maybe recreate the good times. That may trigger something. Almost like courting her all over again,” he suggested, and I had to admit that didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“Thanks, Doc. I’ll give that a try. Did those tests give any indication on how long she would be without her memory?”

“No, the tests don’t determine that. We took the tests to ensure that she didn’t have any swelling on the brain. She had a slight concussion, and we wanted to make sure that there wasn’t any more severe damage done,” he responded. I thanked the doctor and went outside like I originally planned. I had to get my mind to deal with this and figure out how I could get my wife to remember me, and more importantly, have her fall in love with me again.

Chiara

I lay in the bed, trying to rack my brain to see if I could remember anything even remotely close to a marriage and I was coming up empty. The last man I remember being with was Troy, and we broke up years ago, so having a whole husband was off-putting. Even though I had this beautiful ring on my finger, I was still drawing a blank. Deciding to give my brain a rest because I felt a headache coming on. I closed my eyes to relieve some of the pressure. I didn’t want to have them come and give me anything unless I necessarily needed it. A few minutes after closing my eyes, I heard the door come open. When I opened my eyes, Gabriel was walking back into the room with a bouquet of yellow roses.

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