Ashleigh bit her lip.
“No crying,” Kelso whispered.
Ashleigh took a deep breath. “All right, my turn, but I want to look into your eyes.” Ashleigh slipped off the chair and knelt in front of Kelso. “I’m not that great at putting together amazing words, but I am pretty good at finding the right song to express my thoughts. So, I thought I would find the perfect song to sing for our vows. But, then, I realized that what the songs are is just words-not my words-with a little accompaniment. So, I nixed that idea. Kelso, these past weeks have been amazing. When I’ve been afraid and lonely, you have been right there to comfort me. When I didn’t understand what you were going through, you found the humor in it. You make me laugh, you make me smile and most of all, you love me for who I am and the decisions I make in my life. I want to spend every waking and sleeping moment with you, Kelso. To sound like a cliché, I will always love you.”
Kelso smiled at Ashleigh and wiped away the tears that had been streaking down her face halfway through her vows. He looked at Greg. “We’re ready for the rings, now.”
Greg knelt down in front of the couple. At his cue, the rest of the wedding party got on their knees. Ashleigh and Kelso got their rings from Dashelle and J.T. and Greg went through the exchanging rings speech with them. Finally, the moment came where Greg told Kelso he could kiss the bride.
Kelso leaned in for a kiss. One hand grazed Ashleigh’s slender waist while his other hand cupped her cheek. Ashleigh felt weightless in his hands. Kelso slowly guided Ashleigh onto her feet with him. They turned to the theater audience and saw that everybody was kneeling. Ashleigh motioned for them to stand up.
“Ladies and gentlemen, by the state of New York and the power invested in me, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Kelso Stark.”
Kelso’s knees buckled and he fell to his knees. “Ashleigh, get somebody,” he whispered.
“Kelso, get up. No more joking around.”
Kelso looked at Ashleigh with fear in his eyes. “I’m not joking, Ash.”
His head rolled on his neck like it wasn’t attached to the rest of him. He slumped down and fell sideways. J.T. and Court ran over to him.
“He’s not breathing,” Court assessed.
“Kelso, you can’t do this today! Not today. Not on my wedding day!” Ashleigh yelled. She pushed Court out of the way. She put her head down to Kelso’s chest to see if his heart was pounding. She could hear a faint heartbeat. She tilted his head back and proceeded to do CPR on Kelso.
“Kelso Stark, you are making me very angry!” Ashleigh screamed when there was no sign that he had responded to the CPR.
“What do we do, J.T.? I don’t know what to do,” Court asked his best friend out of the side of his mouth.
“Did someone call the ambulance?” J.T. asked.
“Yes, it’s on its way,” Heidi said as she hung up her cell phone. She walked over to Ashleigh. “Ash, you have to stop.”
“No, I’m not stopping. He promised me he wouldn’t do this today.” Ashleigh wiped tears off her face with the back of her hand. Her makeup smeared. “Now, please, just let me do this.” Ashleigh continued CPR.
The EMTs rushed in with their equipment. They asked Ashleigh to move out of the way, but she insisted on staying right next to Kelso. The EMT got out his AED.
“He’s HIV positive,” Ashleigh warned the EMT.
“Good to know,” the EMT said. He was a bit more cautious as he went on to see if he could get Kelso to breathe again. Ashleigh waited by Kelso’s side. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. Her friends looked at her and knew what she was doing. So, they all stopped in all of the commotion and did the same.
Ashleigh grabbed Kelso’s hand and rubbed his new wedding ring. “C’mon, Kelso. I’m just asking for one more day. If I could have anything, that’s all I want. Kelso, please, one more day. I don’t ask for much, but I need you to be with me for one more day.”
A weak cough came from Kelso’s mouth. He looked up and saw the sad, scared eyes of Ashleigh. “I’m here, baby,” Kelso mouthed.
Ashleigh reached over the EMT and hugged Kelso.
“He’s going to have to go to the hospital for observations,” the EMT said.
“I know,” Ashleigh said. “Just give us a minute, please.”
“The quicker he gets there, the better,” the EMT sang.
“We’ve been married for 30 seconds. He’ll get there,” Ashleigh snapped.
“Okay.” The EMT threw his hands up in the air and backed away.
“Ashleigh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think that was going to happen. I tried to stop it. I just thought it was nerves, but I guess not. You need to know that my condition isn’t getting any better. “
“I know, Kelso. I’ve noticed.”
Kelso took a deep breath. “This may be the last time I go into the hospital.”
“Well, that’s good isn’t it-“
Kelso put his finger on Ashleigh’s lips. “And I’m probably not going to check out alive.”
CHAPTER 26
Heidi sat on the back of a chair staring at Kelso and Ashleigh. J.T. snuck behind her and brushed the hair off her neck. He nibbled on her neck.
“Jayson, stop it.”
J.T. scowled. “Ooh, the full name. Even more reason to continue.”
Heidi wiggled away from J.T.’s nibbling. “Why do you do this to me? Why do you start something you are not going to finish?”
“Who says I wasn’t going to finish?”
“You did. The other night.”
J.T. thought for a second. “Oh, yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” There was an uncomfortable silence between them and then Heidi spoke up.
“Jayson, do you really love me? I mean do you love me like Ashleigh and Kelso love each other. Would you do anything to keep me alive?”
“Yes, Heidi, I love you. Why are you having second thoughts about that?”
“Because, if you really loved me, you’d let me show you.”
“That’s not true, Heidi. You show me all the time that you love me.”
Heidi stepped down off the back of the chair and turned around to face J.T. “No, I mean show you, Jayson. Every time I see you, my temperature rises a few degrees and my stomach ties in knots when you walk towards me. There are some times when I just want to jump all over you, but I can’t. I don’t know how to control myself anymore. I want to be with you, Jayson, because I don’t know what else to do to make you see that I don’t want to be with anyone else but you.”
J.T. smiled. “I do all those things to you?”
Heidi shook her head. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“Heidi, we had this conversation once before. I’m not ready to make that commitment to you just, yet.”
“But, I need you, too,” Heidi whined.
“Can I just tell you that I’m getting closer to being ready?” He cupped Heidi’s face in both of his hands and kissed her on the forehead.
“When will that be?”
“Have patience, Heidi. It will be soon enough.” A sly smile came across his face. “Until then, you can continue being hot for me all you want.”
“This isn’t something to joke about, Jayson Tyler!”
“Relax, Heidi.”
“J.T., you don’t understand what’s going on in my brain right now, do you?!” Heidi sobbed. “I keep thinking that I’m not good enough for you. Or, that you want to see other people. We always go out with our big group of friends. It’s like since the other night, that you’re just avoiding being alone with me. I’m so afraid of losing you. You know what extremes I went to, Jayson. Please help me.”
J.T. grabbed Heidi in a bear hug. “Heidi, I want you. I have always wanted you. I may have made some stupid mistakes from time to time, but I keep coming back for you. I’m just asking for a little more time to sort some things out. I am NOT going to leave you again, I promise. Please stop crying. That’s
what hurts me. Every time I see you cry, I feel so small and helpless. My stomach turns in knots because I know there is nothing I can do to help until you stop crying.”
Heidi sniffed back tears. “I can’t help it, J.T.”
“Well, let’s just take our mind off of this elephant in the room and go to the hospital with Ashleigh and Kelso for a little while. Then, we’ll go back to my place and I’ll lock Court out and we can have some alone time. Is that a deal?”
“If Court’s not going to be there, then you got a deal.”
J.T. smiled. He took Heidi’s hand and escorted her out of the theater and out to hail a taxi.
***
“This probably isn’t the right time to bring it up, but I really want to know. What is waiting for me at the beach?” Ashleigh asked Kelso. He was lying in the hospital bed he had been in three times before since she had met him.
“Wait til I get out of here and I’ll show you,” Kelso answered.
“Kelso, you and I both know that you’re not going to get out of here.”
“Well, then, sneak me out tonight and we’ll have one last night together.”
“Stop it. Don’t say “last.” You have to be positive about this situation.”
“I am being positive. I am positive that I am going to spend my wedding night on the beach and not in this dingy, drab, rat hole where I’ll be poked and prodded out hourly starting at 2 am. You have got to let me go to the beach with you.”
“Things are different now, Kelso. I know it has only been a few hours, but I’m still your wife and I made a promise that I would take care of you in sickness and in health.”
“I’m fine, Ash. Just one more night on the beach.”
“I can’t, Kelso. I don’t want to be the one responsible for—“
“Whoa, sweetie, wait a minute. You are not responsible for what has happened or will happen to me because of my disease. I made some dumb choices and me lying in this hospital bed is my fault, not yours.”
“Why didn’t I marry you a few weeks ago, when you were healthy? We could’ve had so much fun together.”
“We can have fun now.” Kelso pulled Ashleigh over to the side of the bed. “We could have lots of fun, if you take me to the beach.” Kelso kissed Ashleigh so hard that she trembled.
“Umm . . .I’ll see what I can do. You wait right here.” Ashleigh walked out of the room and saw her friends waiting in the lobby.
Dashelle got up to ask Ashleigh how Kelso was. Before she could get any words out of her mouth, Ashleigh grabbed Dashelle’s hand and ran with her to the elevator doors.
“Ohmigosh, I’m in a big dilemma here. I’m not going to ask you what I should do, but I’m just going to lay it out on the table and you tell me what you think. Okay?”
Dashelle tried to answer, but Ashleigh was too quick with her words. “Kelso wants me to sneak him out of her for tonight and take him to the beach. I was talking about having fun and he turned my fun into an innuendo. So, I’m not exactly sure what should happen here, since you know, I am married, but he has HIV and he wants to, y’know, I think, but I’m not really sure where he got that idea from. Well, yeah, I can since that’s what married people do—but, not that often, according to my brother. Anyway, I really want to sneak him out of here for one night, because quite frankly, this is probably the last week that he is going to be alive.” Ashleigh swallowed back the sob that was forming in her throat. “I am NOT going to cry. I knew this was going to happen and I will not cry!”
“It’s okay to cry, Ash,” Dashelle reassured her.
“Not this time. I have cried too many times and I’m tired of looking like a blubbering idiot. I really want to take him to the beach, Shell.”
“Then, take him to the beach. You can do that.”
“Here’s the other part of that dilemma. I don’t know what to do if he gets sick or has a relapse while we are there tonight.”
“You did just fine today,” Dashelle said.
“I was scared out of my mind and there were other people there to help. Wait, I can get a nurse.” Ashleigh scrunched up her face. “But, where would she stay because I don’t want her to stay that close, just close enough to help if I need her to.”
“See, you figured it out all on your own,” Dashelle said. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Yeah, right. I have the plan in mind, but I’m not sure if I can put it into action.”
“Ashleigh, you have got a group of friends sitting in that lobby that would do anything to help you. All you have to do is ask.”
“Do I have to give them all the details I gave you?” Ashleigh walked toward the lobby with her best friend.
“I wouldn’t be too specific, if you know what I mean.” Dashelle nudged Ashleigh in the ribs with her elbow. Ashleigh rolled her eyes and walked back into the lobby with the rest of her friends.
“How are you doing, Ash?” Freedom asked.
“I’ll be fine if you guys help me out. I need to get Kelso out of here just for tonight.”
“Why?” Sam asked puzzled.
“Its our wedding night, Sam.”
“And that’s a big deal because?” Brady asked. Freedom hit him in the stomach.
“Okay, enough said. What do you want us to do?”
“Well, first, I need you to listen to my plan.” Ashleigh looked around at the doctors and nurses pacing back and forth from nurse’s station to different rooms. “But, I don’t think I can tell you here. So, let’s go down to the cafeteria.”
Sam, Freedom, Dashelle, Parker, Court, Heidi, J.T. and Ashleigh went over to the elevator. Dashelle pushed the up button and everyone waited in silence. The doors opened and the entire group got into the elevator.
“I’m going to hyperventilate with all of us in here,” Heidi warned.
“This won’t take long, Heidi. Just breathe,” Ashleigh remarked.
“That’s the problem, Ash. I am,” Heidi said.
J.T. went up behind Heidi and rubbed her shoulders. “Relax,” he whispered in her ear.
“Okay, we’re all good at acting, right? Well, its time to use the famous line, “No, I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV. Somehow, we need to snag a few white coats and clipboards, a wheelchair, and my husband. Any ideas?”
“J.T. and I could run back to the theater and get some white coats, but I don’t think we need any clipboards.”
“Yeah, we’ll just need Kelso’s which is sitting outside his door.”
“Can I be the naughty nurse with the wheelchair?” Brady asked.
“Get serious, Brady,” Freedom warned. “Everyone knows the naughty nurse has blond hair. Right, Heidi?”
Heidi’s face was pale. “Huh?”
“I’ll explain later,” J.T. mumbled. “Just say okay.”
Okay,” Heidi said.
“Court, I’m going to need your boyish charm to wow a nurse for me for the night. I need her to go to the beach and stay there in case Kelso has any problems. Can you do that?”
“Can I do that?” Court asked in a nonchalant sort of way. “The ladies love me. Of course, I can.”
“Well, this is going good so far. We just need to have some muscle to get Kelso into a wheelchair and a quick get-away car.”
“You want a quick get-away in New York City? What have you been smoking?”
“Apparently, not the same stuff you have,” Ashleigh quipped.
The elevator stopped and the doors open. Heidi pushed her way through her friends and rested her hands on the back of a couch. She breathed so hard that she was hyperventilating. She looked up and saw her friends staring at her. “What? I get a little nervous in cramped places with eight people.”
“We noticed, Heidi. So, are you with me on this little escapade?” Ashleigh asked.
“Yeah, let’s get this show on the road,” J.T. said. “Heidi will come with me and we’ll go get the clothes we need.”
“Um, B
rady and I will go see if we can hunt down a cab and keep it occupied for awhile.”
“I’ll go flirt with the nurses,” Court said.
“Court! This is serious!” Ashleigh exclaimed.
“I am serious. You need a nurse and I’ll get you one.”
“Okay, guys. Thank you. I’ll meet you back in Kelso’s room in an hour.”
The gang went their separate ways on their missions.
***
The entire group had fooled everyone in the hospital. J.T. had dressed up as a doctor and wheeled Kelso out of the hospital and loaded him in a taxi for “further testing.” Court had used his charm to ask one of the nurses to stay in a hotel room by the beach for a night to help Ashleigh and Kelso if there were any problems. Brady and Freedom had made the cab go in circles for thirty minutes until they saw Ashleigh and Kelso come out of the hospital. They gladly changed seats with the newlyweds. The cab driver drove them to the beach.
Ashleigh helped Kelso out of the cab. They took each other’s hand and walked over to a small little cottage that had a beach front view.
“I borrowed it from a friend for the night,” Kelso said. “It was his wedding present to us.”
“Well, that was nice of him.”
“There’s more.”
Kelso opened the door. The only lighting was about 100 candles. There were red rose petals scattered over the white furniture. Kelso took a bouquet of white roses off the coffee table. “These are for you.”
Ashleigh smelled the roses and smiled. “They’re nice.”
“Let’s go sit on the couch,” Kelso suggested. They walked over to the couch. Kelso flipped a switch and a fire kindled in the fireplace.
“Did your friend happen to leave any clothes here. I mean this dress is nice, but I don’t want to ruin it since it isn’t mine.”
“Don’t worry about that. The costume department said you could have it, but I think there are clothes in the bedroom.”
“I wonder what surprise is waiting in there for me,” Ashleigh sighed.
“You’ll see.” Kelso winked.
Ashleigh walked into the bedroom. Lying on the bed was a white silk gown. Ashleigh turned to Kelso. “What’s this?”
“You’re evening wear,” he quipped.
“Kelso, um, can we talk about this. I’m not really sure if this is a good idea,” Ashleigh whispered.