Chapter 28: Time to Say Goodbye

The morning brought many tears and lots of hugs.  I couldn't hug back but did my damnedest to lift my arms to embrace them.  Mike gave me a hug first.

"Farewell, fare maiden!"  He's definitely been in England too long.

"Farewell, young lad."  I smiled to him.

Leo came up next, hugging me with one arm.  "We had an interesting time rescuing you, Jewel.  I wish for you to have a speedy recovery."

"Thanks, Leo."  I took a quick look to Don.  "I hope to recover fast, as well."

Raph looked to me with hands to hips.  "Hey."  He crouched down lower to give me a big hug.  "Take care of yourself, ya hear?"

"I hear.  You take care, too."

I looked to Don last.  He was talking to Gerald about something.  I stared up as he walked over.  He hugged me very tightly and kissed my cheek.

"You get well, and I'll see you later.  Okay?"

"Hope to see much of you later."

I took a glance to see if anyone was watching and kissed him on the lips.  Pulling away, I mouthed the words, 'love you'  He mouthed back 'love you too.'  Don stepped away to join his brothers.
Lucy approached me last after saying her farewells to her parents.

"See you later, Jewel."  She hugged me and kissed my cheek.  "Come visit me when you get better."

"I will.  Let me know if anything should happen with...."  I looked to Raph.  "....you know who."

I waved to them all as they got in the town car in a single file fashion.  It started to rain as soon as they pulled out of the drive way.  A gloomy day for a gloomy mood I was in.

A week had passed and I was still in the wheelchair.  My arms were almost fully strong but my legs barely had no feeling.  They took the longest to heal.  I talked to Lucy when she came
home and I asked her about Edward.  She was too upset to find out and would keep me posted.  That worried me a lot.  Either his condition was failing, or she just didn't have the heart
to tell me what happened.  I tried to hear it in her voice.  She hadn't seen him since she got home.

Over the remaining weeks of the month, I thought about Don, then started to think about Edward when the subject was brought up.  How was he?  his parents asked me.  The whole horror
story involving us at the apartment was too difficult to talk about.  But they kept asking every so often and I never told them he was in the hospital.  The news came to us instead.

It happened during breakfast.  Lucy called to inform us that Edward had passed away while we were gone.  The doctors said it was from the accident when his skull was hit.  He fell in
and out of consciousness until one night he went to sleep and didn't wake up.  Rebecca was in tears that her son died and I lost my appetite.  Full of distraught, I quickly rolled my chair
away to find the nearest restroom.  I fell out of the chair and dragged myself to the toilet, throwing up all the delicious food that I consumed.  I felt so horrible that I never told his own
parents the truth.  They could have gone to visit before he died.  I absolutely felt so terrible.  Sad for them and sad that I lost my husband.  I did love him.  Truly he was the love I had
found in high school.

I cried well into the night.  I cried in the shower, in my sleep, and most of all, during the memorial service.  The family flew his body over to England to be buried properly in his own country.
The remaining family came out for the funeral, where I met up with Lucy once more.

"Oh, God, Jewel.  I'm so sorry."  She hugged me tight, allowing the tears to fall down.

"What am I going to do?"  I said in a whisper.  "I'm all alone."

"You're never alone.  I want you to come live with me."

"What about....?"

"I haven't seen Raph since we came back home.  I guess he forgot about me."

"That means Don hasn't talked to you either."

Lucy shook her head.

"I drove them back to their home and I went to my apartment.  I gave them my phone number just incase but they haven't called.  They don't know about Edward yet."

I looked over to Emma talking with some elderly people.  Possibly grandparents of hers.  Her face was beet red and covered in tears.  She glanced to me and waved.  Rolling over, I
hugged her next tightly.

"Hey, Emma.  Doing okay?"

"Oh, Jewel.  I feel like apart of me went with him."

That probably meant the same for Don.  I was still grieving over the loss of Edward and had to wait before reconciling with him.  But I couldn't wait too long.   I thought about the card I
sent and was regretting that I did that.  I was only thinking about myself and not the mourning family members.  The priest went on with the ceremony.  It was held at the beautiful
West Minister Abbey.  I was in awe with it's monumental beauty of stained glass windows and gorgeous statues.

After the ceremony, I was hard to console.  I had to say a few words on Edward's behalf.  How I met him, when we fell in love, the good times, the bad times, the funny times, up until
his accident.  I couldn't get into it with my crazy father trying to kill me and bombing apartment or some special friends coming to my rescue.  I left all that out.   I just said he hit head really
hard and it caused a lot of the problems of being hospitalized.  Lucy knew what really happened and she too kept her lips sealed on the real truth.  It was just too complicated and too
painful to repeat.

About three days later, we both back to New York.  She crashed on the couch and I nodded off in my chair.  We were so tired from spending the day crying off and on.   I didn't have
that many belongings with me.  Come to think of it, the only real clothes I had were borrowed from Lucy's mother, Lucy herself, and Hannah's tank top and jeans.   Everything got
destroyed at the apartment and the rest was sent to Hannah's house on the night I went to visit Lucy.

Waking up to the sound of a ambulance passing by the windows, I realized it was still the same day only evening now.  We forgot to turn lights on and I woke up to a semi-dark living
room.  I clicked on the kitchen light so that I wouldn't disturb Lucy in the living room.  There were no messages on her answering machine.  Thank goodness she had wood floors.
I rolled into her room and carefully removed my coat.  Boy, that was tough.  I looked to her messy desk to find some notes.  One of the notes had the Turtle's number scribbled upon
it.  The time was only 7:30.  But the debate was driving me insane.   Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen.  What was happening?   It felt weird.  My body found the bed
as I slid from my wheelchair and crawled onto it fully.  Sleeping took no time to hit me.

I remember Lucy called a doctor to check me out the next day.  I felt so weak.   I kept repeating that I wanted to see Don but she would always say:

"Later, Jewel.  You have to get well."

But, I wasn't getting well.  I only got worse.  The doctors placed me in a hospital bed.  They felt my conditions were weakening because of my depressions, not eating properly, and other such things.
One night, I had trouble breathing after crying too much.  An oxygen tank was brought in.  I was scaring Lucy big time.

"Get Don."  I said groggily.  "I want to see him."

"Jewel, it's like opening an old flesh wound.  They're your past.  You have to move on."

"The flesh wound is what nearly killed me."  I swallowed.  "The wound was that my father told me I was a mistake."  I started to cry next.  "To hear that he never loved me is a wound on it's own."

"Oh, God, Jewel.  How awful."  She wrapped her arms around me.  "That rotten, bastard.  I'm glad I never met him."

"Lucy, you must inform Don that I'm here.  Please."

"Oh, Jewel.  It's just I feel as if the guys don't care anymore.  They never called to check on us."

"Maybe because they think nothing is wrong.  You never told them I returned, Edward died, or even that you're still interested in Raph.  Don't wait for them to call."

"All right, Jewel.  I'll work on it.  I'll call them eventually."

The minutes, the hours.  What took her so long?

Her notes were scattered on her desk top.  Lucy searched high and low for their phone number.

"This is wrong."  She whispered after finding the number and starting to dial.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me, Lucy.  Which one are you?"

"Ah, it's me, Don."  Perfect.  Just the one she wanted.   "Sorry, we haven't called.  Thought you'd forget about us."

"No, I couldn't.  You guys are a bit hard to forget."

"Riiight.  So, how's everything?  How's Jewel?"

"Umm, not good.  She had a major breakdown and she's back in the hospital."

"Jeez, is she alright?"

"I don't know....."  Lucy bit her lip.  "Um, we're all in mourning.  Edward died recently.  That's where Jewel totally lost it."

"Oh, God, Lucy."  The line went silent for awhile.  "I'm very sorry for you and your family and Jewel of course.  I mean, jeez, that was her husband."

"She loved him very much.  But, hey it happens."  Lucy tried to lightened the mood but wasn't succeeding.

"Yeah, it does."  She heard Don puff out a breath followed by a long sigh.  "Where is Jewel now?"

"Um, the funeral was in England and I flew in for it.  Jewel came home with me afterwards.  She was homesick and couldn't stay overseas much longer."

"She probably forgot about us, hasn't she?"

"As a matter of fact, she's the reason why I'm calling.  She can't stop thinking about you.  She wants to see you."

Another long pause.  Lucy could sense this was tough for him too.

"So, what do you want me to do, now?"

Lucy paused next.  "How do you feel about visiting hours?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks, Don.  And one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Bring Raph with you.  We need to catch up on lost time."

"You still like him, huh?"

"I think we've gone beyond that point."  He couldn't see it, but she was smiling widely.

I was sleeping when he walked in.  I could feel his presence close to my bed.

"Jewel?  Are you asleep?"  I opened my eyes and grinned up at him.  He reached down and I reached up.  His touch.  I could feel it even stronger than before.  He bent down and held me
tightly.  "You seem to scare a lot of people lately."

"I scared you?"  I seemed to have asked that question before.

"Yes.  I was scared this time."  Don broke the eye contact and turned his attention to his coat pocket.  "I have something for you."

"You didn't have to buy me anything."

"I didn't.  This gift was already paid for."  Don pulled out a black, velvet box and held it out to me.  "Merry Christmas."

Christmas?  Was I in a coma?  How long was I sleeping?  Wait, a minute.   Maybe he was kidding.  I was afraid to ask what month it was.

"Thanks, Don."  I opened it up with a crack sound from the hinges of the box.  It stared at me.  I stared back.  My necklace.  My beautiful sapphire necklace.  "Oh, my-"

"I know it was from Edward, but, I had nothing else to offer and.....it's a nice piece of jewelry I couldn't just get rid of.  It holds a sentimental value for you, I guess."

"I love it."  I reached over and kissed him.  "I thought I almost lost it again."

"I thought I almost lost you."  I looked up questioningly but he changed the subject.  "Here, let me put it on you."  I lifted my hair and he placed it around my neck.  It felt cold and heavy on my chest.

"Looks good."  He said plainly with satisfaction.

"I will always wear it."

"Even in the shower?"

"Well, to an extreme.  But no, not in the shower."

"Better let you rest now, Jewel."  His kissed my forehead.  "I'll be back in the morning to see how you're doing."

"Say, hi to your brothers for me."

"I will.  Catch you later."

I mouthed 'love you' again.  He mouthed 'love you too' straight back.  Then, came back to kiss me on the lips.  A goodnight kiss, I called it.

Later on in the evening, PBS was running a special performing arts program.  Lovely music.  I recognized Sarah Brightman walking out to sing in front of a live audience.  She guided tenor,
Andrea Bocelli, to sing a duet.  The music, the words.  So lovely.

"Quando sono sola   (When I'm alone)
sogno all'orizzonte   (I dream of the horizon)
e mancan le paole   (and words fail me)
si lo sa che non c'e luce   (There is no light)
in una stanza quando manca il sole   (in a room where there is no sun)
se non ci sei tu con me, con me   (and there is no sun if you're not here with me, with me)
Su le finestre   (From every window)
mostra a tutti il mio cuore   (unfurl my heart)
che hai acceso   (the heart that you have won)
chiudi dentro me   (Into me you've poured the light)
la luce che   (the light that you found by the side of the road)
hai incontrato per strada

Time To Say Goodbye   (Time To Say Goodbye)
paesi che non ho mai   (Places that I've never seen or)
venduto e vissuto con te   (experienced with you)
adesso si li virò   (now I'll shall)
con te pariò (I'll sail with you)
su navi per mari   (upon ships across the seas)
che io lo so   (seas that exist no more)
no no non esistono più   (I'll revive them with you)
It's Time To Say Goodbye"

I fell asleep during one of the scenes with the sponsors.  A well-deserved rest for a bright and sunny morning in store.

THE END