“Yes. Thank God you’re all right!”

He got out of his seat and kissed me deeply. I kissed him back, struggling to put my hands around his neck. I realized I was restrained from the wires and tubes running out of my arms and several wires attached across my chest. There was even plastic tubing attached to my nose and ears.

“I thought I was going to lose you. But you’re back. You’re here!”

“And you’re here waiting for me.”

We hugged each other, overjoyed to be in each other’s arms.

“I thought I was going to die,” I whispered, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“I wouldn’t let that happen to you. There was no way I was going to let you check out on me.”

We hugged again, both of us crying at the thought of losing one another.

“I’d better let the medical staff know you’re awake.”

He rushed out of the room and came back moments later with a doctor and nurse in tow. He insisted on staying in the room with me as the doctor checked me out.

“I’m not leaving her side. So, you’ll just have to put up with me,” he insisted.

“Why is my throat hurting so much?”

The doctor explained that until yesterday, I had a breathing tube down my throat hooked up to the ventilator. I don’t remember them removing it, thank goodness.

Once the doctor had decided everything was fine, they left the room with the promise that they would be back shortly to recheck my progress.

Mason sat beside me on the bed and stroked a stray hair off my face.

“You look like you’ve been through a war,” he said, smiling sadly.

“So do you,” I retorted, my voice still hoarse.

We both laughed.

“I’d better call your mom and dad. They’re staying at a nearby hotel with your brother. I promised I would call them if anything changed before they were due to come back in at nine.”

“They’re all here?”

“Yes. We’ve all been waiting for you to wake up.”

“Thank you for calling them.”

“It was Andrew who got them here.”

“The hero of the hour. He saved us.”

“Yeah. A regular Superman.”

“Where is he?”

“Doing paperwork. He said he would pop in later. He’ll be so happy to see you’re awake.”

Mason called my parents and let them know I was awake. They came straight over and it was amazing to be able to hug them and tell them how much I loved them.

Mom turned to Mason and hugged him. “Thank you so much for letting us know she’d come around.”

Mason smiled at Mom and rubbed her shoulder. Jackson shook his hand and slapped him on the back. “If you want to take off and get a shower we can stay here with Amber.”