River’s End

shifted quickly to block his path before he could shove through the doors into ICU. “Wait. Maggie, tell him. Tell Noah.”
    “He opened his eyes.” She rocked back and forth on her heels, back and forth, then held out both hands to Noah. “He opened his eyes. He said ‘Mom.’ He looked at me, and he said ‘Mom.’ “
    “Stay here,” Dory ordered. “Stay out here. Let me check.”
    “The nurse came in, she called for the doctor.” Celia wiped at her own tears while Noah held Maggie. “Frank and Jim are down in the cafeteria. Frank browbeat Jim into getting something to eat, then I was going to browbeat Maggie. He woke up, Noah.” She laid her head on the side of his shoulder. “He woke up.”
    Dory came back through the doors. Noah took one look at the brilliant smile on her face and buried his face in Maggie’s hair.

Twenty-one
    “So, when were you going to tell me about Doctor Delicious?”
    Mike grinned, with most of his old twinkle. “Is she a babe or what?”
    “A prime babe, a brainy babe. So what’s she doing hanging around with you?”
    “She digs me. What can I say?” He still tended to tire easily, and the headaches came with tedious regularity. But they’d jumped him up to good condition after his stint in ICU and into a regular room.
    His room was full of flowers, cards, balloons. He’d told Noah the nurses called it Party Central, a fact that pleased him enormously.
    The day before Noah had brought in a brand-new laptop, loaded with every computer game it would hold. He’d called it occupational therapy, but knew it was part guilt, part unspeakable gratitude.
    “I think I’m in, you know. With her,” Mike said, scrupulously staring at his fingers. Noah gaped. “You got a major bash on the head ten days ago. Ruined a damn fine bottle of wine, by the way. I think your brains are still scrambled.”
    “I don’t think this has a lot to do with brains.”
    At a loss, Noah blew out a breath. “ ‘You know’ is a very big thing. You were only seeing her for a little while before you had your head broken. You’ve been stuck in a hospital bed ever since.”
    “I have a really fond feeling for this hospital bed.” Mike gave the white sheets an affectionate pat. “After last night.”
    “Last night? Here? You had sex with her here?” It was fascinating.
    “Shh. Tell the floor nurse, why don’t you?” But Mike was still grinning. “She came in to see me after her shift, one thing led to another. The another was really amazing, by the way.”
    “Why the hell am I feeling sorry for you?” Noah wondered. “You’re getting all the action.”
    He grabbed the can of Coke he’d brought in with him, chugged deeply.
    “I asked her to marry me.”
    And choked. “Huh? What? Jesus, Mike.”
    “She said yes.” Mike’s grin turned into his puppy dog smile and turned his eyes soft. “Can you beat that?”
    “I think I’m having a stroke.” Noah pressed his fingers to his twitching eye. “Call the nurse. No, better, call a doctor. Maybe I can get some action.”
    “We’re going to get married next spring, because she wants the works. You know, the church, the flowers, the white dress.”
    “Wow.” It was the best he could do. Noah figured he’d better sit down, then realized he already was. “Wow.”
    “They’re letting me out of here tomorrow. I want to buy her a ring right away. I need you to go with me. I don’t know squat about buying an engagement ring.”
    “What do I know about it?” Noah dragged his free hand through his hair and took a good, hard look. Mike’s eyes were clear behind the thick lenses of his glasses. His smile was easy, almost lazily content. “You really mean it, don’t you?”
    “I want to be with her. And when I am I keep thinking, this is right. This feels exactly right.” Vaguely embarrassed, he moved his shoulders. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
    “I guess you just did. Nice going, Mike.”
    “So, you’ll give me a hand with the ring, right?”
    “Sure. We’ll get her a doozy.” With a sudden laugh, he surged to his feet. “
    Goddamn. Married. And to a doctor. Damn good thing. She’ll be able to stitch you up every time you walk into something or trip over your feet. Does she know you’re a complete klutz?”
    “Yeah, she loves that about me.”
    “Go figure.” To show his affection, he punched Mike on the shoulder. “I guess you won’t be coming over and raiding my fridge every other night after . .