If Only...

THE END OF BEANS

The dim morning light louvres through my eyelids, not allowing me another minute of sleep.

I should really learn to close the blinds . . .

Or I could ask Danny to remind me.

I smile, and my dry lips crack as they move, and I reach my hand on my right for him. But all I touch are the sheets and something roughly fuzzy.

Frowning, I turn my head to that side, and then the changes start to become more and more prominent.

To start off, the bed isn't warm and soft. And it is at a completely different height and inclination. I can't smell his scent in the sheets. Moreover, they smell like disinfectant.

What the--

I freeze when something cold moves under my nose, and my hands hurriedly reach up to pry it off.

"No, no, no! Don't remove that!" Yet another unfamiliar voice. Weren't we over this?

My eyes open to their fullest when colder hands grip mine and hold them down, away from that plastic thing blocking my nose. I look up to the owner of the hands with a scowl, and that is when I see it.

This isn't home.

I stare with widened eyes at the great, big room, which has plain and plastered white walls on three sides, but the wall on my left only a few steps ahead has a ceiling to floor window, through which the light of a new day glistens.

Then reality hits me in the center of my chest, taking me back to last night; which I now realize had been very much real.

The low beeps I had heard quicken, and so does my breathing.

But it doesn't make any sense! I'm not hurting any more!

"Are you okay?"

I drag my eyes back to the front, where a baby-faced lady stands, wearing blue scrubs.

Scrubs?

The smell of the pungent disinfectant comes next, and my doubts are driven away. I am in a hospital. And it looks like I've spent the night here too. Why? And where's Danny?

"Mrs. Moore?" My head jerks up, and the plastic tubes inside my nose that have drafts in them move too.

What did she just say?

"Who--"

Mrs. Moore? What is happening?

"Calm down, Mrs. Moore. You're safe. You came in last night with your husband but he's just gone out for a bit, alright?"

Husband?

My frown deepens.

I'm married?

I thought Ian and Richard were and--Wait, is it possible that I'm still dreaming?

"I know it all seems confusing, but Dr. Hart said she'll meet you when you wake up. And if you let go of me now, I'll go page her."

Valerie!

My heart leaps at the sound of something familiar. I look back into the blue eyes of this mysterious lady who tells me things I don't know. I glance down for some reason, and find that I'm clutching on to her hands, my nails boring into her skin.

I release them immediately.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize." I gasp.

"It's okay, Mrs. Moore." Blue eyes throws me a genuine smile, rubbing her wrists. "Like I said, it must be confusing to wake up here."