––––––––
A strong smell woke me, I turned my head. I slowly opened my eyes and found a stranger looking at me. I got scared and tried to get up to scare the stranger away.
“Alison, calm down. I´m not going to hurt you, I´m a doctor.”
He called me by my name, that meant that he knows me. I looked at him carefully. His eyes were determined and dark blue, tall, blonde, around forty years old. He seemed familiar somehow, he smiled and I smiled back.
“I´m Cedric, your father-in-law.” He introduced himself.
My what? He chuckled by my reaction.
“I got your medical history this morning, I see you hit your head pretty hard.”
I nodded, I saw him pick up a tiny flashlight and got closer. He blinded me with it but I endured it, he put it aside to take my pulse taking a clock with a chain attached to it and counted in a low voice. I was surprised. Who uses that type of clock nowadays? It looked from another time period.
“You´re perfectly fine, you fainted. The brain reacts like that sometimes, to protect itself from collapsing when it faces a strong emotion.”
“When will I get my memory back?” I asked.
“Nobody knows, Alison, it can take days or weeks.”
I was upset and I felt tears building up in my eyes.
“Tell me the last thing you remember before you fainted.”
I thought for a moment, I remembered arriving at the island on a jet ski with Noah. The trip in the jeep, the lake view and the house, and suddenly the image of the portrait of the little girl came back, I gasped.
“I saw Ayleen, my...my daughter.”
I covered my mouth with my hands and gave a sob, I started breathing fast and I couldn’t hold the tears any longer. Fragments of her laugh echoed in my head, I closed my eyes and images came to my mind. Ayleen running around the garden, laughing, my heart swelled with love with that wonderful memory. And just like those memories came, they left.
“My beautiful girl...” I sighed.
I opened my eyes and realized I had company looking closely. Noah was at his father´s side and a woman with a maternal look was looking at me gently, I could only smile. Noah got closer to me and took my hand lightly. He looked me in the eyes.
“You´ve remembered our little girl, that´s wonderful, Alison.”
I could tell he was happy, but I didn’t feel the same way, I wanted to see her.
“Where is my daughter? I want to see her now.” I demanded, his eyes widened by my tone of voice.
“Your mother will bring her tomorrow, be patient.”
I looked at him furiously, how was I supposed to be patient...I was dying to see her.
“That look seems upset.” I heard the woman say.
I looked at her curiously, what did she know about the way I look at people?
“Alison, this is Margaret, my mother.”
My eyes opened wide with surprise. I looked at his parents, they seemed young.
“I am happy to see you´re alright, I know it´s tough to be away from you kid, I understand.”
In her eyes I could see she understood perfectly, she was a mother after all. I sighed in relieve and gave Margaret a thankful smile. I took my hand to my head which was starting to hurt badly.
“Does it hurt, my love?” Noah asked worried.
“A little.”
I couldn’t lie to him; the pain was getting worse.
“We should let her rest.”
I watched as Cedric and his wife left the room in silence. Noah closed the blinds leaving me in the dark room, my eyes thanked him in silence. I didn’t notice until now that sunlight bothered me so much. He came back with a cloth in his hand, I didn’t understand what it was for, but I didn’t say anything. He sat beside me and he put the wet cloth on my forehead, his gesture was so sweet and full of love that got to my soul, I looked at his beautiful eyes.
“Thank you.”
He smiled at me in a wat that turned my stomach a nervous twist.
“You´re welcome, my love.”
I was starting to like the way he called me love, even though there were many things to discover and my head screamed to get away from him, I decided to ignore it and listen to my heart instead.
With a slight movement and came closer to his face and without thinking about it, I pressed my lips against his. He immediately responded and ran his fingers through my messy hair and pressed my head against him making the kiss more passionate. I felt the electricity running through my body, he kissed amazing and I could only respond the same way. My hands seemed to have life of their own and they ended up on his shirt.
I unbuttoned his shirt eagerly until his chest was uncovered before me and I ran my hand through it. I felt his heartbeat in my hand and I liked the feeling of it, I couldn’t wait and I rested my head on his chest and breathed the addictive smell of his scent. My head was spinning but it didn’t matter, I started kissing him lightly going up his to his neck. I felt his hands running through my back and suddenly his body tensed, he took me by the wrists and with a smooth but determined movement, he backed off. I looked at him surprised.
“I swear you´re my downfall.” He said with a hoarse voice.
I noticed he was breathing fast just like me.
“Why do you say that?” I asked puzzled.
This time he looked at me so bitterly and my stomach gave a twist.
“Because I want you more than you think. I love you, Alison and you have no idea how much it hurts to want to touch and love you passionately. I want you to come to me because you love me and not because of something else...”
But what did he think I felt? My body wanted his eagerly. I was frustrated at his assumptions and turned my back at him. I felt humiliated and full of anger and clenched my hands. I didn’t want him to see me cry especially if it was his fault. But right there I realized what he said first, that he loved me. My heart leaped and I turned around to realize I was alone. I didn’t even notice when he left, I heard something at the door. I got up sneakily and looked curiously outside the door.
“Oh my God!”
The steaming view of his naked body was just two steps away from me, showering, he hadn’t notice my presence and the only thing I could do was to admire his perfect body. I fine crystal was the only thing between us. I saw him wash his hair, then his hands ran through his chest and arms to cover them with soap, I watched fascinated, my head was telling me not to keep watching him, but I was incapable of moving.
His hands were sliding down his abdomen, I followed how the water streamed down his body with my eye, held my breath and turned away. The excitement I was feeling was unbearable, I was dying to help him with the soap when his voice startled me.
“Sweetie, can you pass me a towel, please?”
Oh God, caught off guard! I thought embarrassed. I looked at him with a mischievous look and felt my body warm in embarrassment.
“Of course”
I went into the bathroom, got a towel and handed it to him. He didn’t stop looking at me the whole time, his eyes sparkled and I almost melted right there. He put the towel around his hips and my body kept getting warmer, this was too much for me. He came closer to me slowly and told me with a foxy tone:
“Thanks, sweetheart. Now I think you need a cold shower.”
I looked at him trying to absorb his words, I couldn’t move. He did something I didn’t see coming. He carried me in his arms and took in into the shower with clothes on. Before I could do something, he turned on the cold water and I yelled in surprise.
“Ahh! It´s freezing...Noah let me go!”
I was soaking wet and began to shiver. The water stopped and I looked at him shocked and furious.
“I´m going to get you back for this, I can assure you.”
He laughed and I crossed my arms, I didn’t think it was funny at all. When he stopped laughing he looked at me playfully.
“When and where you want it, I´ll be waiting.”
He turned around and left, leaving me standing there. This time I was really angry and screamed:
“Oh I will! I hate you Noah Aaron Jefferson...”
Suddenly the door opened and he looked shocked at me, he quickly got to me taking me by the arms harshly and asked nervously:
“What did you call me?”
“Noah Aaron Jefferson, I think.”
His face lightened and he gave a huge smile.
“Oh Alison, that´s the first thing you remember something about me since the accident.”
That was true and I was happy about it, finally something I remembered on my own, his full name. I smiled back feeling happy.
“You have no idea how much I love you, my Alison.”
His Alison? I have heard that before, I was sure of it. But where?
Blurry images came across my mind. Suits from last century, people laughing and drinking, it looked like a party...other images appeared over them, now I was standing before a portrait of myself, I was wearing a beautiful red dress. Fear invaded me, that wasn’t me, it couldn’t be me! It didn’t make sense. I held my head shaking it at the same time and started screaming.
“That’s not me!”
A pair of arms held me protecting me and I heard his calming voice in my ear murmuring:
“Everything is going to be OK, I promise. Calm down, Alison...breathe.”
God, but who am I? Where do I come from and what happened to me?... Thousands of questions were overwhelming my mind; it was to make anyone go mad. I started crying my eyes out in my supposedly husband.