Letting Go, The End
By Rena Janssen
Copyright 2013 Rena Janssen
Cover art photo by Rena Janssen
This eBook is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, or events in this novel are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Other Books by Rena Janssen
Life Through Love
Things Change
Letting Go
Letting Go, The Surprise
Special Thank You
To my Celtic Cup friends, you know who you are, who put up with me forgetting what I was talking about and writing on napkins.
To my doctor friends, J. Dennie Crabtree, M.D. and Mark Blair, M.D. for helping me with all the medical aspects that I needed for my work.
And to my family for letting me pursue my dreams. I love each and every one of you!
Chapter 1
Granger awoke to the irritating sounds of beeping and the smell of antiseptic. He would know that smell from anywhere. He was in the hospital. The question was how did he get here?
The door opened slowly and he heard two female voices, one sounding very animated and the other was just barely out of his reach of understanding. He knew the animated one was Beth, his new wife, but the other voice he struggled to place because she spoke so low. He curiosity got the better of him so he didn’t speak up, just listened to the heated exchange.
“I don’t care what you say! You are not coming in here! It is apparently too hard for him to see you.” Beth said. She paused listening to the other lady but interrupted the lower voice getting louder and louder. “Go away! I am his wife now and what was in the past needs to stay there. Leave now before I call the police. It’s your fault he is in here anyway. Are you trying to kill him? Just stay away!” Beth slammed the door and turned to see his eyes open staring at her.
Granger noticed that she had the “deer in the headlights” look. “Beth; who was that at the door?”
She grasped not breathing for a minute then said, “No one of consequence. Don’t you worry Grangy; I will take great care of you.”
“What happened? Why am I in the hospital?”
The look that Beth gave him was at first shock and then she narrowed her eyes tilting her head. “What do you remember?”
Granger thought for a moment. He couldn’t recall anything but being at the beach and told her as much. His memory was all fuzzy as if a cloud was blocking his thoughts. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, Beth?”
Beth smiled her best smile and said, “You just got really dehydrated along with a little overworked and passed out. We brought you here to make sure you were ok. I feel so guilty. Maybe if I had not have insisted that we shop so long and we could have went back to the hotel. I am so selfish sometimes. I am so sorry this happened to you.”
“What do you mean by we brought you in? Who are we?”
Beth paused for a moment. “Why, the lifeguards and first responders, of course.”
“Oh.” Granger replied. “I figured you meant the woman you were speaking to so adamantly at the door. Who was that?”
“Oh, her…” Beth paused as the doctor came in the door. “Dr. Colton! He is awake and talking. He says he can’t remember any of the accident.”
“Beth. I can speak for myself.” Granger said as he shook his head as his wife’s pout and then turned to the doctor and held out his hand. “Dr. Colton, I presume.”
As they shook hands, Dr. Colton started asking questions. “How are you feeling, Mr. Smith?”
“As well as can be expected, I suppose. My wife tells me that I passed out due to dehydration. My memory is just so fuzzy. Is that normal for dehydration?”
“In some cases it is. Sometimes temporary amnesia is brought on by a severe shock to the psyche and in your case when you seen Ms. Car…”
“He should be resting right!” Beth interrupted while placing her hand on Granger’s shoulder.
Dr. Colton and Granger turned to her shocked at the interruption. Granger knew she was a little younger but never had he seen her to be as rude as she was being.
“Mrs. Smith, I know you are worried but he deserves to know the truth about what happened up front and…”
“Well,” she snarled. “You are a medical doctor not a psychologist. You can diagnose all the physical things you want but leave the psychoanalysis to the big boys.”
“Beth!” Granger looked at her in astounded at her attitude. “Why are you being so rude to the doctor? He has apparently helped to save my life and you are being obnoxious.” He just shook his head when she started lowering her head and protruded her bottom lip like some child who had wanted a puppy and didn’t get it. This was not the same woman that he married. The Beth he had married was smart, level headed, brave, and an adult for crying out loud. He couldn’t believe that he married someone who would resort to using these kinds of tactics to have someone do what she wanted.
He sighed, “Beth honey, I would really love some coffee. You are the only one in the world who knows how I like it.” He watched her smile return and knew it was going to be a long road ahead of them, but he had taken the vows and love was worth the work as is any marriage.
“Okay Grangy, I would do anything for you baby. I love you so much. You know that right?” The insecure Beth was back.
“Yes baby. I know you love me. I love you too. Please run down to the cafeteria and get me some good coffee.”
She leaned in and kissed him hard as if trying to convince him of her love and left him shaking his head.
“I sincerely apologize for that. She is just worried. Please tell me what is going on.”
Dr. Colton eyed him long enough to make him squirm a bit. “Let me start by saying that we have run the usual test, CT scan, blood work profile, and we have started rehydrating you. Now the only problem that I see is your amnesia. Let’s start with seeing what you remember working from you long term to short term memory and we will go from there.”
“Fair enough. The day started off like any other honeymoon.” Granger’s face reddened a bit even though he knew the good doctor had heard and seen worse things. “We looked at brochures figuring out what to do for the day when I seen that the annual Crafts on the Beach was going on so I figured that we could go ahead and get souvenirs. We had been weaving in and out of tents all morning and I had gotten hungry. We stopped at the little Tiki place to have a snack.” Granger looked at the doctor only to be rewarded with a nod to go on.
“I remember Beth going to the restroom to change and she came out in some tiny swimsuit which made me spit out my drink. She looked really hot. Would that make me pass out?”
“It is a possibility. Do you remember anything else?”
“We ate after that and we kind of argued about what to do next clubbing or parasailing but not that it was like some heated exchange or anything. I remember that we got up and headed to the nearest craft tent because something caught my eye. It gets a little fuzzy from there. That is so strange because I can remember my childhood and everything up to that craft tent. I guess the heat got me then.”
Dr. Colton gave him a minute to think on it. “Do you remember what was in the craft tent?”
Granger thought about it but all he could get was fuzzy images. He slowly shook his head. “Please doctor. I have never passed out like this and I need to understand what is going on.”
The doctor hesitated for a moment more. “Let’s take it a little slower and start with the past things you remember. I will say a few things and then you tell me what comes to mind. We will take this slowly that way I can make sure not to press you too hard. It is best to be completely honest with me.”
Granger agreed with a deep
breath. “I am ready.”
“Alright then, let’s start with easy things like where did you grow up?”
“I grew up in a small town in Tennessee, Deersville, Tennessee to be exact.”
“Alright, what is the highest grade you graduated?”
“I graduated with my bachelors’ degree in business management.”
“Sunset?”
“Beautiful with pinks, oranges, and blues.”
“Work?”
“Stress. Love and hate. Challenges.”
“Storms?”
“Wind, rain, and lightning thunder.” Granger got a bit of a flash back and a frown crossed his face. “Alice, Frankie, Justin, and …and Carly.”
The doctor raised his eyebrows and paused for a minute just looking at Granger, as if waiting for something to click. Still Granger just sat there looking confused as if his mind refused corporate.
“Good, we are making progress.” Dr. Colton said. “Tell me more about the people you just mentioned. Are they family, friends, or just acquaintances?”
“Well…” Granger hesitated. “Alice is my…was my wife. Frankie was one of my best friends, Justin was his son….
Dr. Colton sat there with a concerned look on his face as Granger hesitated. “And Carly?”
Granger leaned his head back on the hospital pillow with his eyes closed. “Carly is… I mean was my best friend. She was the wife of Frankie and the mother of Justin.”
“Go on.”
Granger opened his eyes and leveled his head to see the doctor better. “Is this relevant?”
“More than you think actually. Please go on?”
“Alright.” He sighed. “I have been in love with Carly for well over a decade. She fell in love with Frankie but I still loved her. Then I met my Alice, fell in love, and married her. We were all great friends, Alice and I even became Justin’s Godparents. Then one day a few years back, we had the worst tornado season in Tennessee history. Carly and I were in a business meeting in town while Frankie, Justin, and Alice were home around twenty minutes away. There were reports of severe thunderstorms but no tornadoes, so none of us were really worried but we should have been better prepared. The tornado appeared out of nowhere and tore a huge path through our neighborhood and took Frankie, Justin, and Alice with it. They were killed and left me and Carly behind. I was told by the paramedics that my Alice had heard the tornado sirens and took off to get Justin and Frankie to get them into our shelter for safety but it struck so fast it just….”
The doctor placed his hand on Granger’s shoulder signaling him to take a break. “Alright Mr. Smith, we will pause from there. I will let you rest and will be back in an hour to see if you can remember anything else. It looks to me that you are having some short term memory loss. Hopefully, this is temporary but in some cases, shocks such as you have had cause emotional upset and your brain is trying to protect you. All will be well but I will warn you. It may take some time to get those memories back. I am going to contact a colleague of mine to see what he thinks will help, if that is alright with you.”
The doctor excused himself and Granger noticed that Beth was in the room holding his coffee with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Come here honey.”
Beth came running and put her arms around him and sobbed. “I never knew it was like that for you. I am so sorry you had to go through that.” She leaned back wiping her face. “I will make it better. I promise. You will forget all about the hurtful past and we will make a future so bright that you will never want to think back on that awful time or anyone in it.”
Granger brushed the tears from her face and kissed her gently. “Honey that part of my life, although awful, was also a beautiful time too. You would have loved them if they were still alive. I want them to live on in my memory. I also want to have a beautiful future with you. My past is just that, the past. We will move on and God willing maybe have children of our own.”
Beth smiled but the weary look in her eye had him a bit worried.
“Don’t worry my Beth. We will be alright.” Granger said as he rubbed her back. “Now, I have to apparently sit here for a while and I am half starved.”
Beth perked up at that. “What can I get you? I am a bit hungry myself.”
“You can choose. I am sure it is going to be better than anything they serve in this hospital.”
They shared a laugh and talked a few minutes more before Beth went out to get something for them to eat. Granger just sat back and relaxed falling into a light doze.