Ben keeps rubbing my hands in his, ordering me to stay awake, and it must be morning before I actually feel more like myself.
I sit up on my elbows Ben sitting right beside the bed leaning over to kiss me straight away.
“Why aren’t you in a bed, wrapped like garlic bread?” I ask him, laughing a little at how silly I sound.
“Your dad’s fine, but he has a nasty break in his foot,” Ben tells me, but as much as I’m glad to hear it. Glad we’re all in one piece, I can’t help feel like all of this could have been avoided.
“I should never have let you go,” Ben says, reading my mind, sounding like he feels it’s all his fault, but I won’t hear that from him.
Not now, or ever.
“Ben. You saved me three times in two days,” I remind him.
“If it’s anyone’s fault it’s my dad for driving the car through a river at night…”
“It’s nobody’s fault,” Ben murmurs. “I’m just glad I got to you in time.”
We sit in silence for a long time, with Ben only shifting his position to make sure I’m wrapped up and warm, even though I still can’t figure out how he’s totally fine from his own ordeal.
“When can we go home?” I finally ask him, bored already with the beeping sounds of the hospital, only wanting my Ben in our own bed.
A female’s voice answers that question for me, a doctor in a white coat introducing himself.
“I’m Doctor Rand,” she says calmly. A pretty face that has the lines of laughter stretching across it though.
I’d imagine her to be in her late fifties, but she has a glow of youth about her I like, more than I like what she has to tell me.
“We’ll be keeping you here for a time yet,” she informs me.
“Your dad too, we can arrange to have you go see him, once I think you’re well enough,” she clips, eyeing Ben with some disapproval.
“Not everyone has the capacity to recover like you do, Ranger Ben,” she frowns.
Ben only grunts. Turning his focus back onto me.
“I can look after Stacey at home as well as you can here,” he reminds the doctor.
“Her vitals are good, her temperature is stable. I think Stacey can decide whether she needs to take up a hospital bed or not,” he adds defiantly, making it the doctor’s turn to grunt.
“Maybe so, but I’d like to keep her overnight. You did a great job, Ben, rescuing them both like you did. Please let us do ours,” she clips before smiling briefly and turning to leave as silently as she appeared.
“Do I really have to stay?” I hear myself whine, the room spinning a little as I try to sit up again, but I don’t say anything about that.
“I just wanna go home, with you, Ben,” I tell him. Watching him nod slowly.
“Rest for a bit, and I’ll see what we can do,” he tells me, adding, “Do you want to see your dad? He’s pretty out of it right now.” But I shake my head.
I’m glad he’s okay, but it’ll be a while before I think I’m gonna want to speak to him.
Ben nods, resuming his seat. His vigil. Watching over me.
“Get some rest,” he orders gently, and like a spell, I slip into another deep sleep, easy in my mind knowing he’s here.
Knowing he’ll always be there from today on.
It’s sometime the next day before I wake up again. Ben’s not there, making me wonder if I maybe even dreamed the whole thing.
Doctor Rand reappears, looking a little more cheerful, asking how I’m feeling before going over my chart, frowning with some approval.
“Ben is visiting your dad,” she says, easing my mind. “He sat in that chair for more than twenty-four hours, wouldn’t budge,” she adds, leaning a little closer as she takes my temperature and checks my eyes with a light.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say the man is more than just a little in love. I’d say you’d better get a ring off him as soon as you can, he’s a keeper,” she smiles, patting my hand.
“You’re fine. And you can go home whenever you feel up to it,” she adds with a wink.
“You sound like the only person not torn up by the fact Ben’s old enough to be my father,” I groan, happy to know I can leave though.
The doctor smiles dreamily.
“I’m almost sixty now. But the man of my dreams came along when I was about your age, maybe even a little younger. He was twice my age and everything was twice as nice,” she grins nostalgically.
I sit up a little, suddenly interested in her story. Glad to have an ally, someone who understands.
“Are you still together?” I ask, feeling terrible when I watch her eyes misting up.