I walked into the ER waiting room and instantly saw Jeff, and oh man, holy shit, he looked bad. He jumped up and started walking over to me. Fuck. He started crying. Oh God, no, please don’t take her from me.

He just slammed into me and hugged me and cried.

No . . . Ellie . . .

“Jeff, please tell me she’s okay. Please tell me she’s okay, please.”

He was just crying, and Ari came up and stood to the side of us.

“We haven’t heard anything in about an hour or so. The last thing they told us was they were taking her to surgery to repair her broken arm. Her ribs are bruised but not broken and they said she has a concussion. She’s been unconscious since they brought her in, but they did a CT scan and there were no signs of head trauma, thank God.”

Jeff pulled away and walked back over to the chair he was sitting in. I practically had to hold him up, he felt like he was going to collapse any minute.

“If her head injury isn’t that bad, why hasn’t she woken up?”

“I’m not sure. The doctor said something about her body trying to help her heal or something. I really wasn’t paying attention. I was in a fog when they were talking to us.”

I walked over and sat next to Jeff. Shit, he looked bad . . .

“I must have missed some fight. I hope Jon looks worse than you do.”

Jeff looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah, he looks worse. He’s lucky Brad pulled me off him. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be allowed back in Rebels, though.”

I tried to smile. I couldn’t stop thinking about my Ellie, all alone. Was she awake after the accident? Was she scared?

Just then, the doors opened and a tall guy dressed in scrubs came walking out, and Jeff jumped up.

He told us that Ellie had a pretty badly broken arm. It was broken in two different places, so they had to put pins in to help the bones stay stable. She didn’t have any internal bleeding, but she had a concussion. He said something about memory loss being a possibility, but he thought she would make a full recovery. They would be moving her up to a room in about an hour and half.

Thank you, God, thank you for not taking her away from me.

I was sitting on the sofa with my eyes closed when I heard the nurse come in again. Another four hours must have passed already if they were checking her vitals again. This time I just acted like I was asleep. I was shocked that the stupid bitch was flirting with me when my girlfriend was lying in a hospital bed unconscious. Once she left, I got up and pulled the chair Jeff had been sitting in closer to the side of the bed. The bruise on the side of Ellie’s face gutted me each time I saw it.

I had finally talked Jeff into going back home and taking a shower and getting some real food. We both had been sitting in Ellie’s room for the last twenty-four hours straight. When was she going to wake up? I was starting to get scared. Ari had been reading out loud to Ellie most of the day.

I just really needed her to wake up.

I had a terrible fear she was going to wake up and remember everyone but me. I took her hand in mine and tried to kiss it. Her left hand had all the tubes and shit coming out of it, since her right hand was in a cast.

I put my head down on the bed and just started talking to her again.

“Ellie, sweetheart, please wake up, baby. I need you to wake up, baby. I need to tell you how much I love you. You mean the world to me, and I cannot live this life without you in it. You have to wake up so we can start planning our life together, you and me out at the ranch, baby. I’ve been talking to Gramps and Grams a lot about us, Ellie. I want to marry you, sweetheart, and spend the rest of my life loving you.”

I thought I felt her hand move in mine. Then I heard her sweet voice.

“Okay.”

Okay?

I looked up and she was looking right at me. Her beautiful blue eyes looked directly into mine, and we just held each other’s gaze. She smiled that smile of hers that just about brought me to my knees every time.

“Ellie, oh, baby, you’re awake! Wait, what were you trying to say, sweetheart?”

I reached up and pushed the nurse’s call button.

“I said okay.”

Her voice was so soft, almost like she was having a hard time talking. She must have been confused. Why was she saying okay?

“Okay to what, Ellie?”

“To marrying you, and you spending the rest of your life loving me. That’s what I heard you say, right?”

Holy hell. I wanted to grab her and just kiss her. I loved her so goddamn much, and she must’ve remember me because she wouldn’t be saying yes to marrying a stranger, would she?

I smiled at her, got up, leaned over, and gently kissed her lips.

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s exactly what I said.”

The nurse walked in and saw that Ellie was awake. She started to ask her if she was hurting anywhere. Ellie said her head, her right arm, and her sides were hurting. Another nurse walked in and they started messing around with Ellie and taking some of the wires off her.

I sent a text message to Grams, Jeff, and Ari to let them know Ellie was awake.

“Are you hungry, Miss Johnson?” the nurse asked.

“Um, I think I’m thirsty more than anything right now.”

I jumped up and told them I would go get some ice water, but the nurse told me ice chips would be best for now. When I was walking out, I heard Ellie ask the nurse how long I’d been there because I looked like shit.

I had to laugh to myself. She was going to be okay. We were going to be okay.