Daddy Woke Up Married

“Husband?” Nick muttered. “Whose husband? Cripes, my head hurts.”

“Take it easy, mister. Your wife is right here,” the leader of the rescue team assured.

Emily chafed impatiently when they insisted on taking her blood pressure and pulse before starting for the hospital. “I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s go.” As the sirens wailed again she dropped her head back and took several long, deep, calming breaths. So much for a quiet summer weekend.

Ouch.

His first truly coherent thought was that every molecule in his body hurt. And the rocking and jolting beneath him didn’t help a bit.

After a while most of the rocking stopped and a pencil-thin beam of light stabbed into his eyes. “Damn,” he said aloud.

“Good, he’s conscious. Nick? Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Nick? Who the hell was Nick, he wondered. Was it him? Somewhere in his pain-fogged head he remembered seeing a blue-eyed angel who was supposed to be his wife, but the details seemed too much to grasp. Angels didn’t get married, they sat on clouds playing harps. So maybe that meant he was dead.

“Nick,” the voice repeated, “do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, hoping they’d just be quiet.

“Good. We’re taking you in for some X rays,” the voice informed him. “I don’t think anything is broken, but I want to be sure.”

Hell.

They weren’t going to leave him alone. But apparently he wasn’t dead, though it might be a pleasant alternative to his present state. He endured another bit of jolting, then some idiot told him to hold still. Very funny. He wasn’t a masochist. He didn’t have any intention of moving…not for about a million years.

The lights flashing overhead hurt his eyes, so he closed them tightly. A warm fog slid around him, soothing the pain, blocking out the demanding voices and pushy hands. He wished the angel was back. Her voice had been soft and melodic. Much nicer than these sadists.

After a while he grew annoyed with the poking and prodding and quietly insistent demands from unfamiliar voices. But when he finally pried his eyes open he found the pain had settled to a dull throb.

A door opened in the background, then a white-coated woman leaned over him.

“Where am I?” he asked, his throat raspy.

“In the hospital. You should learn not to jump off the roof—it’s too hard on the body. You’re not exactly Superman, you know.”

“Very funny.” He glared at the doctor, who obviously had learned her bedside manner from the Marx brothers. “Who are you?”

“Hmm…I’m Dr. Wescott. You don’t recognize me?”

A vague alarm clamored through him. “Uh, well, not really. Should I?”

The attractive redhead tapped her fingers on her stethoscope. “Can you tell me your name?” she asked, instead of answering his question.

“Sure, I’m…” The room spun lazily while he fought a growing panic. “I’m…”

Nick.

Husband.

Wife.

They were just words out of the fog, with nothing solid to attach them to. “Uh…my wife, where’s my wife?” He stalled, fighting the mad rush of his heart. Surely he would remember in a minute. He’d remember his identity…his wife.

“You mean Emily?”

“Yeah…Emily.” He grasped at the name, though it didn’t seem any more familiar than Nick had sounded. “Where’s Emily?”

“Waiting outside. She’s been pretty worried about you.”

For some reason that comforted him. Things couldn’t be so bad if the angel was waiting, worried about him. Maybe when he saw her, he’d remember everything.

The doctor put down the side railing of the bed, then lifted his arm and touched the pulse point at his wrist. “We admitted you three hours ago, but you only completely lost consciousness for a couple of minutes right after the accident. That’s good. You’re going to be fine, aside from a few bruises and a mild concussion. I’ll order more tests, but nothing is broken,” she explained.

Nothing but my memory.

“Can you tell me your name?” she asked again.

He sighed. “I think it’s Nick.”

“Good. Now what else do you remember?”

“I don’t even remember that,” he said dismally. “But I heard someone call me Nick.”

“That’s a start. Your name is Nick…Nicholas Carleton. Now, you asked about your wife…?”

His head throbbed worse as he pieced together the brief memories scattered in his brain. “I woke up and a woman was there—some guy said she was my wife. That’s all I know. But hell, at least I’ve got a family. That’s something to be grateful for, right?” Damn. He hated the edge in his voice, the need for reassurance.

“Yes.” The physician nodded. “Okay, let’s try some easy stuff. Do you know who’s president?”

He looked at her in disbelief. “President? I may have amnesia, but even I know that’s a little corny,” he said before answering.

The woman laughed. “I see your personality is intact. We’ll try something else. Do you know what planet you’ on?”

He snorted. “Unless I’ve been abducted by extremely clever aliens, I’m on earth.” Before she could ask anything else, he volunteered a series of impersonal facts. It was strange to realize he could remember who was president of the United States, and the number of innings in a standard baseball game, but couldn’t recall the most basic details of his life.

Dr. Wescott fiddled for another couple of minutes, checking his eyesight and reflexes and asking questions before giving him a reassuring smile. “You have amnesia, Nick. But don’t worry, I’m sure it’s only temporary. It’s not unusual to have some memory loss after a blow to the head.”

Temporary amnesia? He swallowed. Yeah, that sounded possible. He hoped. “Is Emily…can I see her now?”

She patted his shoulder. “Of course, it’ll just be a minute. I need to explain what’s happened.” She walked to the door, and he caught a brief glimpse of the angel on the other side before the door closed again. Not much of a glimpse—just enough to see a pair of slim legs, topped by a trim rear end.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

There were some muffled exclamations from the hall and he stared up at the ceiling, envisioning the conversation going on between the doctor and “Emily.” What a shock to learn your husband doesn’t remember you— it would probably be as hard for her as it was for him. The animated discussion went on for some time, but he only caught a few stray words before it ended abruptly.

When the door opened again he swallowed. A second later his eyes opened wide and he grinned with delight.

Wow!