Haunting Past

Chapter TwentyFive

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Jacob wasn’t sure what was happening, but he could not open his eyes.  He could feel the warmth from the sun on his face, and he could hear a beeping sound.  He concentrated more on what was going on around him, to try and wok out where he was.  He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and that jolted his memory, the attic, Grace being kidnapped, James holding a knife to her, the fight, and then nothing, he thought that he was going to die in that attic and never see Grace again.  Jacob felt himself starting to panic, Grace, he needed to know that she was alright, that Luke had kept her safe.  The beeping that he could hear started to get faster, and then he felt a pressure on his left hand and heard a voice that he thought that he would never hear again.  “Please Jake, what’s wrong, open your eyes, let me see you, it’s time to wake up.”  After hearing her voice the beeping started to slow again and that was when he realised that he must be in hospital, the beeping had slowed as he started to relax at her voice.  “I’m here for you Jake, please come back to me.”  He could hear the anguish in her voice and wanted to open his eyes, but he still didn’t have the strength, then he drifted back to sleep.

Grace had called the nurse when she heard the beeping of the machine monitoring Jacob’s heart rate get faster.  She pleaded with him to come back to her and after a few minutes his heart rate returned to normal, but he still hadn’t opened his eyes.  The nurse, who was now called Katie after the change of shift kept reassuring Grace that he would wake when he was ready, but all she could do was watch him and with every hour that he didn’t wake, the more anxious she became.

The clock read two o’clock in the afternoon as Luke entered Jacob’s room, Grace was glad of the distraction.  She had been sat holding Jacob’s hand since she had woken that morning, and when Luke arrived, she reluctantly let go to greet her friend with a hug.  “Hey Grace, how is he?”  Grace’s voice broke as she told him there was no change, and then she couldn’t hold it in, she let the tears flow as Luke lifted her from the floor and sat them both down on the chair where she had been sat all morning.  He let her cry as he held her as tight as he could, as she muttered that it was her fault, after 10 minutes the tears had stopped and he noticed that he breathing had evened out, she had fallen asleep.  He didn’t want to move her so he sat there with her on his knee, praying that Jacob would wake soon, so she didn’t have to keep crying and blaming herself.

“Hey man, what you doing with my girl?”  Luke heard a raspy voice, and looked over to Jacob.  His eyes were open and he was looking over at Luke and Grace.  Luke smiled at him and started to move Grace on his lap.  Jacob shook his head, “Leave her Luke, she needs to sleep.”  He watched Luke as he continued to move with Grace in his arms.

“If I don’t wake her she’ll have my ass when she wakes up and finds I left her sleeping, trust me.”  Luke sat Grace on the chair and gently said her name to wake her up, once she had opened her eyes, Luke left her as he turned to Jacob, “I’ll go get you some water.”  Grace looked at Luke confused, and then she looked to Jacob and started to cry again.

“You’re awake, please tell me you’re awake, and I’m not dreaming again, please.”  Grace frantically wiped her tears with the back of her hands as she stood up from the chair and went over to the bed.  She leant forward and gently placed her lips on his for a short kiss that was tainted with the salt from her tears.  She placed her forehead to his and brought her hand up to caress his face.  “Hi,” she whispered to him, still not believing that he was awake.

“Hi baby,” Jacob was able to bring his hand up to take hold of the hand that was caressing his face.  “I’m sorry I scared you,” Grace shook her head and sat back down on the chair bringing it as close to the bed as she could, and not letting go of his hand.  Just as she was about to speak, Luke came back followed by Katie the staff nurse, and Dr Kidson.  Luke gave Jacob a small glass of water, before Katie requested that both Grace and Luke wait in the corridor while they checked him over.  Luke had to physically take hold of Grace’s hand to get her to leave the room, and he had to remind her that they could go straight back in once the doctor had made sure that everything with Jacob was fine. 

Grace paced the corridor until the doctor and nurse came out of Jacob’s room and reassured them that everything was fine, and he could leave in a few days.  Grace went back into the room to find Jacob sat more upright in the bed, she smiled at him and returned to the chair, but Jacob grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the bed.  “Sit with me Grace,” he watched the indecision in her eyes, he knew that she was worried about hurting him but right then, he needed her as close as he could get her.  He needed to apologise for the time that they had been apart before she was taken, he needed her to know that she was safe.  He watched as she hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed, and he heard Luke laughing behind her.

“He’s not made of glass Grace, just don’t be jumping on him,” Grace turned and glared at Luke and then looked back to Jacob as he let out a small giggle.  “Added bonus, he’s just had his pain meds.”  Jacob encouraged her further onto the bed, but she was still not as close as he would have liked.  Luke said his goodbyes and said that he would be back to see him later with the girls, and he reminded him that Harry would need to speak with him now he was awake.  Jacob nodded in reply, but didn’t look away from Grace.

Jacob took hold of her hand and before Grace could say anything he needed to tell her what he needed to before his medication made him sleepy again.  “Grace, I am so sorry for the last week, I should have known that something was going on, but I guess I was so caught up in work I couldn’t see it.”  He let his eyes drift from hers as he was disappointed in himself, before he continued.  “I just want you to know that you’re safe, and I’ll always be there to make sure of that.  I love you Grace, I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it.”  He looked up to see a trail of tears from her eyes; he wiped them away with his thumb before he gave her a small smile.

“Jake, I love you, so much.  Thank you for saving me,” then she forgot about his injuries and put her arms around his neck before kissing him with everything she had.  He returned the kiss, until she pulled away when she felt his body start to tense.  She giggled as he pouted when she put a little more distance between them.  “I’m not going to hurt you Jake, when you are healed properly then we can make up for lost time, but I can’t hurt you, not anymore.”  Jacob nodded as he brought her hand to his lips, and then held it tight as they both sat in a comfortable silence.