You're Holding My Heart

Paty woke up with widen eyes and as she tried to sit up she failed, her body felt specially heavy and she had a mask in her face. She started breathing deeper and faster, looking around and panicking. She tried to yell but she had no voice, she was all alone and she couldn’t hear a sound.

"Calm down! Calm down!” A nurse said as she ran towards Paty, who’s eyes were filled with tears that were streaming down her face. “You are alright, you are alive.” She smiled tenderly.

Paty kept sobbing, she had no idea why. She felt a slight burn on her chest and then the nurse carefully took her oxygen mask.

“Take a deep breath.”

“Where’s Robert?” Paty said her voice coming out very week and the nurse’s smile vanished.

“He’s not here, at the moment.”

“And my family? My friends?” Paty asked.

“Your mother and your brother will be arriving soon, you have been in a comma for 3 months.” She explained calmly as Paty started crying even harder.

“What?” She said barely able to breathe.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The nurse was unable to explain everything to Paty so she left and Paty wasn’t under any drugs anymore so she was able to walk on her own. She went weakly towards the bathroom and smiled when she realized that her hair had grown more beautiful than ever. It was still very short but it made her feel so happy. She washed her face with cold water and raised her hospital gown above her breast. In between them was a scar, a big sized scar. It had her skin colour and Paty couldn’t help but to ran her fingertip over it, the texture was strange but it didn’t hurt.

Suddenly the door was almost sent flying and Rob entered the room like a mad man. Dressing messily, with a beard and with really, really short hair.

“Oh my God…” He was smiling widely as he walked towards Paty and she walked over to him and hugged him tightly. “Please, tell me this isn’t a dream.” Rob whispered.

“This is real. I’m awake.” Paty said smiling as she stood on her tiptoes while Robert grasped the back of her clothing tightly. He was sobbing as she held unto him tightly kissing his shoulder now and then. She knew it had been 3 tough months for him.

They remained hugging for what seemed like an eternity but Robert was just so happy and relieved that he didn’t want to let her go.

“I’m alright honey. It’s over.” Paty smiled as she ran her hand over his head playfully and he pushed her against him tighter.

“I-I… I thought I was… I was…” Robert was crying hard, sobbing and Paty was also crying. They had a suffered a lot in the past few years and she knew Robert had been keeping a strong composure for way too long.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Paty said as she softly pushed him away and placed her hands on his face. He looked red from crying but she smiled, used her fingertips to wipe his tears gently. He closed his eyes and she kissed him sweetly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss.

Then they stood there with their foreheads leaning against each other, Robert had his eyes closed while Paty was looking at him softly.

“You know, we never got a chance to dance properly.” Robert smiled still with his eyes closed. He heard Paty chuckle, he knew she wouldn’t refuse to dance even without music.

So they started slow-dancing, like they were supposed to have done on their wedding day. Then, came the hardest part: Paty’s questions.

“Rob?” Paty asked.

“Yes?”

“What happened during all this time?” Paty asked and his eyes focused on hers as he took a deep breath.

Paty was sitting in her hospital bed with Rob sitting close to her.

“Well, you had to been rushed into surgery right away.” As he spoke he stared at their wedding rings as he laced his hand with hers. “The heart they had for you at the start, infected after the transplant. That’s why you didn’t wake up. So we needed to get you a heart ourselves because nobody would send you another heart.”

Robert made himself stop and he saw Paty’s determined look, her attention was completely on him.

“That was when your mother took a very hard but rational decision. Apparently after your dad died, he left in his will that he wanted his organs to be preserved. So… she authorized for his heart to be transplanted into your chest.”

“I have my dad’s heart?!” Paty yelled abruptly as she seemed to be in horror.

She placed her hands in her head, in despair. Robert tried to calm her down.

“Robert, this heart…” Paty said patting her chest aggressively “This heart is my father’s and it’s keeping me alive.” Paty had angry tears running down her eyes.

“Love, your mom did the right thing. Your father donated his organs for a situation like this.” Robert said trying to calm her down because Paty couldn’t be exposed to stress.

“I’m not mad… I’m just so terribly sad.” Paty said covering her face with her hands, crying her eyes out. She had never cried after her father’s death, so now everything had just piled up and she needed to let it out.

After drying off her tears, Paty placed her hand over her chest and closed her eyes, like if she was talking to her father in her head. Then, after a few moments she turned to Robert and he felt encourage to continue to tell her the news.

“Kellan and Charlie are finally official.” After hearing that Paty gasped but then started laughing with joy.

“Really? Finally!” She smiled widely as Rob watched her as she danced a bit, she was really happy for them. “Wait… what about Eclipse?” Paty asked as she froze in her spot and turned to Robert, fear growing inside of her.

“Well there was a big drama because the news about your health were everywhere and of course that I was summoned for a meeting. At that time, the doctors couldn’t give us any hope about whether you…” Robert stopped for a minute and took a deep breath “They didn’t know when you would wake up… They didn’t even know if you would make it… So, they wanted to cast another actress for the role of Bella.”

Paty’s face fell with disappointment because she could predict what he was going to tell her. “Who did they choose?”

“I don’t know, I quitted.”

Paty’s eyes widened as she locked her eyes with Robert’s “What do you mean?”

“Well, they weren’t going to wait for you and I didn’t want to stay on a project with people that gave up on you that easily. I just couldn’t… I knew you were coming back but I also knew it was going to take some time, so I did what I had to do.” Robert smiled.

“Rob… I-I… you…” Paty was perplexed.

Robert had just given up on an excellent opportunity for his career because of her without knowing if she was even going to get out alive.

“There’s nothing to say Paty. Better projects will be on our way, you’ll see.” Rob said smiling as he pulled her head against his chest and hugged her, kissing her head deeply.

He didn’t regret a single change he had made in those past three months. He didn’t regret leaving that project, he was actually relieved.

“But… it was a major chance for you?” Paty had worry and guilt all over her face.

“Paty, listen closely to what I’m about to say.” Rob said grabbing her face in his hands, staring into her beauty which was slowly returning to her as she became healthier. “I did it because I wanted it and also because I didn’t want to co-star with anyone else on that movie. It wouldn’t be right for me to be shooting while you laid here. I’m your husband.” At this point, Paty was already biting her lower lip as tears ran down her cheeks. “You are my wife anand I’m so proud of saying that, you can’t even imagine!” Rob smiled widely and happily. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, my bearded husband.” Paty giggled as she hugged him and then kissed him passionately.