After Victory: A Searching for Glory Novel (A Second Chance Love Story) by Hunter J. Keane

in,” she said when we stopped in front of a small room. “He’s still unconscious, but you should talk to him. It might help.”
    Mr. Carter led us into the room and marched straight over to the bed. Jake stood near the foot of the bed, uncertain what to do. I stayed near the door, unable to move forward. I had expected to find Johnny lying under a sterile white sheet, a few bandages here and there. Instead, I found something much more horrifying.
    Johnny lay on the bed, mostly exposed except for thin sheet that covered his lower-half. His torso was covered in bruises and bandages with wires seeming to run in every direction. His head had been covered in thick white gauze and his face was bruised. In fact, it seemed every inch of exposed skin was bruised. If the nurse hadn’t told us it was Johnny, I wouldn’t have recognized him.
    “Glor.” Jake turned to me, waving me forward. “He needs you.”
    That was the moment that it clicked. This accident wasn’t something that had happened to me. I had been sitting around feeling sorry for myself, but it was Johnny that was a whisper away from death. He was the one that was fighting to live and he needed me to be strong. I owed him that.
    Jake stepped aside as I moved forward, taking my place next to the bed. I looked down at Johnny- my best friend and the love of my life. His hand rested on the bed, the only part of his body that seemed to be uninjured. My fingers crept forward slowly until I was touching him. His hand was cold, so I covered it with mine, clutching it like a drowning person would clutch a life preserver.
    “I’m here, Johnny,” I whispered, gently squeezing his fingers. “It’s going to be okay.”
    It didn’t matter that I didn’t believe it. It only mattered that he believed it. If there was any chance that he could hear me, I wasn’t going to let him know that I was afraid.
    After a long time standing that way, Jake retrieved two chairs. I sank into one of them gratefully, surprised that just standing for that long had made me so tired. Mr. Carter sat in the chair next to me and patted my knee.
    “It really does look wonderful on you,” he said, eyeing my hand which was still holding onto Johnny.
    “I’m still getting used to it,” I admitted. “I will look down and see it and be surprised. We never even got a chance to tell people.”
    “There will be time for that,” he said with a soft smile. “This is just a bump in the road. Soon enough, you’ll be dancing together at your wedding.”
    Somehow when Mr. Carter said it, I believed him. It occurred to me then that my two biggest supporters happened to be men that had lost their wives too soon. If they could keep hope that things would work out, so could I.
    “Do you need to check on the kids?” I asked Jake, reminding myself that life was still happening out in the world.
    “Julia said she’s got it under control.” Jake moved over to the wall and leaned against the windowsill.
    “Kate offered to keep Jack for me. Is it weird that I accepted the offer?” I was surprised when Mr. Carter answered.
    “Kate is a sweet girl. If she’s offering to be part of your life, you should accept the gift.” He looked down at his son. “I know that John did the right thing ending his relationship with her. He was meant to be with you. But I always felt bad for Kate. She deserves to be happy.”
    Despite the circumstances, I felt myself wanting to smile. “You might be interested to know that our boy Jake here has a big crush on Kate.”
    My smile grew as Jake blushed all the way to the tips of his ears.
    “Is that so?” Mr. Carter said thoughtfully. He added, “She could do worse.”
    “Yeah, she could,” I agreed.
    The nurse came in to check Johnny’s vitals and mentioned that it would be at least a day or more before he woke up. We were welcome to stay, but we might want to consider taking breaks to get food and to sleep. I appreciated her concern, but there was no way I was