And just like that, words were no longer needed.
As soon as he pulled into the hospital parking lot, Cole cut the engine and sat for a minute, staring out into the darkness surrounding them. He was trying to absorb the calming presence of the woman beside him. He was discovering that, unlike any other person, she had the ability to truly soothe him. She was sitting, silent and unmoving, but because of her silence and her understanding that he needed it, he felt closer to her than ever before. Pivoting in his seat, he unbuckled his belt and reached across the space to run a finger down her cheek.
She turned to face him, and in the dim light peeking through the car window, he saw eyes full of compassion staring back at him.
“You’re so much more than I ever expected. How did I not see that coming?” he asked, mystified.
Her lips tipped into a shy smile. “Because I was hiding,” she confessed.
“And now?”
Taking his hand in hers, she brought it to her mouth. “And now I want you to see me.”
Cole held his breath as she kissed the pads of his fingers.
When she had reached the last one, she looked up at him and whispered, “Let’s go and see your mother.”
Rachel held Cole’s hand as they walked down the hospital corridor under the bright lights. She was aware of how odd they must have looked in their cocktail attire, but she didn’t care. She was far too focused on the rigid man beside her.
So much had happened tonight. She felt as though they had moved beyond some magical line, and they were now far, far beyond it, entering territory that was completely foreign. Instead of retreating or hiding, she embraced it.
They came to a stop in front of a nurses station, and Cole asked her to wait a moment. Rachel nodded and released his hand. She walked over to the waiting area to take a seat, and just as she was about to sit, he was beside her, gripping her elbow.
“She’s down here.”
As they made their way, she could feel his grip tightening on her arm. Reaching across her body, she patted his hand.
“It’ll be okay,” she assured him.
He looked at her, and with a tight smile, he agreed, “Perhaps it will be.”
When they came to a stop at Room 3003, Cole let go of her arm, pushed his hands into his pockets, and moved inside the single room. Rachel waited by the door, allowing him a moment of privacy. She watched the man she had only ever seen as strong and confident walk slowly toward the bed currently occupied by a small gray-haired woman.
When he reached the side, he took out his right hand and brushed it gently across the bangs resting on the sleeping woman’s forehead. As he shifted to the left, Rachel watched the lady open her eyes and peer up at her son.
“Hi there, Lydia,” Cole greeted.
“Hello,” the woman responded.
Rachel found herself frowning, trying to work out why her greeting didn’t seem familiar at all.
“How are you feeling? You had a nasty fall,” Cole said, his voice drifting through the quiet room.
That was when Lydia looked over to where Rachel was standing just inside the door in her cocktail dress.
“Did I pull you from a date, doctor?” Lydia asked as she looked back up at Cole.
Cole glanced over his shoulder and gestured for Rachel to come closer. As she moved into the room, she gave a warm smile to the woman who was looking at her.
“I’m not your doctor. I’m Cole, and this is Rachel.”
Lydia blinked familiar hazel eyes, Cole’s eyes, as she frowned. “I have a son named Cole.”
That was when it all fell into place. Cole’s mother obviously had a very aggressive form of Alzheimer’s. She didn’t even recognize her own son, this complex man who Rachel was currently standing beside.
Taking his hand in hers, Rachel smiled down at the woman with a cast around her right arm.
“We were on our way to a function tonight when I…” Rachel glanced around the room quickly, looking for something, and that was when she spotted it. “When I saw this beautiful music box through the glass window.”
“Oh yes, that lovely lady Becky brought it in for me. It’s full of caramels, but don’t tell anyone.”
Squeezing Cole’s fingers, Rachel couldn’t help the small grin she gave him before she moved toward the small box resting on a tray by his mother’s bed. On the top of it was a painted rainbow. Looking back to Lydia, Rachel picked it up, and a smile, so like her son’s, lit the woman’s face.
“May I?” Rachel asked his mother, pointing toward her bed.
“Please. Go ahead.” Lydia patted the space beside her.
It didn’t go unnoticed that Cole had remained silent this whole time. Rachel only hoped she wasn’t crossing any lines with him, but she figured if she were, he would tell her.
Tipping up the music box, Rachel twisted the mechanism and then opened it on her lap. Inside, she saw at least ten white wax paper squares. Caramels. Rachel listened closely as the melody began, and immediately, she recognized it and started to sing.
“Somewhere, over the rainbow…”
As Rachel continued, Cole’s mother beamed and began to hum along with her, occasionally slipping into the lyrics.
Amazing. Songs seem to live in the soul even when everything else leaves, Rachel mused with a heavy heart, thinking of all the wonderful memories this woman had lost of her son.
Lydia reached out to Rachel at that moment, taking her hand, as she sang, “Where troubles melt like lemon drops,” Before they both burst into the chorus.
As the song wound down, Rachel felt a tear escape as she placed the music box back on the side table. When she straightened, she felt a large warm hand on her shoulder. Glancing back, she met Cole’s look of astonished wonderment as he cupped her cheek.
With no hesitation at all, he told her, “I love you.”
Cole hadn’t planned to tell her here, and he certainly hadn’t planned to say it now, but watching her with his mother had solidified all the feelings that had been brewing inside him all day.
Rachel still hadn’t said a word, so instead of waiting, Cole moved away from her and walked around to the other side of his mother’s bed.
Taking her hand in his, he said, “That was beautiful. I remember my mother singing that to me when I was a little boy.”
“Really?”
Nodding, he squeezed her fingers. “Would you mind if we come and see you again tomorrow? Maybe around lunchtime? This has been nice.”
As he waited for the answer, he felt his heart beating irrationally, but he knew that had as much to do with his mother as with the woman staring at him from across the bed.
“I would like that.”
Half of the weight lifted as he released her hand. “Good. That’s settled. We’ll be here around lunch.”
When Cole locked eyes with Rachel, he saw she was staring at him as though she had never seen him before. Instead of letting it bother him though, he decided to go with it. “Are you ready?”
Silently, she nodded as he moved to the end of the bed. He watched her turn and reach out to squeeze his mother’s hand.
“Bye, Lydia. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Of course, dear. Enjoy yourself tonight. Your date, he’s very handsome.”
Cole couldn’t help the way his heart warmed at the statement, and the look Rachel gave him over her shoulder told him that she agreed with his mother.
“He is, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is.” His mother chuckled. “Have fun, you two.”