"Where's my dad? You called him, right?"
Jordan turned to face me and shook her head before she turned back. "Nina, what do you mean? Your father..."
I moved around her and touched Nina's hand. "Baby, I'm so happy you're back."
Nina stared up at me with a vacant look and then looked at Jordan. "Where's my father?"
Nurses swarmed around her to check her vital signs and I walked out to wait for the doctor. Jordan joined me a few minutes later and neither of us said a word. We didn't have to. We both knew something was very wrong.
By the time the doctor pulled me aside an hour later to explain what Nina was experiencing, I knew. All he did was confirm it.
"I've examined her and it's good news. She doesn't remember some things, but she's going to be fine. All her injuries are healing well, and I think she just needs some time, Mr. Stone."
I looked past him and saw her smiling and laughing with Jordan. "She seems to remember her friend, but she thinks her father is still alive. He's been dead for four years," I explained to the doctor, hoping he could help me understand what was happening with Nina.
"As far as I can tell, she doesn't remember anything after right before his death. She remembers her friend because she knew her before that."
The doctor saved me from having to hear the painful words telling me she didn't remember me. After everything we'd been through, she didn't even know who I was.
"I think if you give her time, she'll remember everything. Just give her some time."
He walked away leaving me standing in the doorway staring at the woman I loved who saw me only as a complete stranger. I pulled the engagement ring I'd given her out of my pocket and slid it over the tip of my pinky. Would she ever remember what we were so it would mean as much to her as it did to me?
Jordan tapped me on the arm, bringing me out of a daydream about the night at Tony's when I'd asked Nina to marry me. "Tristan, you should talk to her. Tell her about yourself. I know it's hard, but she needs to know who you are."
"I don't know, Jordan. It might be too much for her. I don't know what to say about her father and I won't lie to her now."
"She knows already. When Kim called, she told her. She doesn't remember what happened to him, but she knows he died. Go talk to her. Don't give up on her."
With a gentle squeeze, Jordan prodded me toward the bed. Nina looked up at me and smiled, like she had so many times before, but I saw in her eyes she was just trying to make me feel welcome.
She didn't know me.
"How are feeling?" The question was lame, but it's what a stranger would ask.
"Jordan says that you and I are engaged."
Nodding, I smiled and pulled the ring out of my pocket. "I just proposed a few nights ago."
"Can I see it?" she asked as she held out her hand. "It looks like a beautiful ring."
I placed it in the center of her palm and smiled as she took it from me. "You liked it when I gave it to you."
She studied it for a minute and then looked me up and down. "I bet you proposed at some fancy restaurant or the opera. Not that I know if I like opera, but you look like the type of man who does."
I looked down at my clothes and couldn't help but smile. Dressed in my suit pants and dress shirt, I'd thought I looked casual without my tie and coat. Leave it to Nina to let me know just how wrong I was.
Lifting my head, I said, "Actually, it was a pizza place called Tony's that we like. I got down on one knee, though."
A sweet smile lit up her face. "I like pizza. That's good to know."
"And roast beef, turkey with stuffing, shrimp scampi, and sausage and peppers."
She was silent for a long time and then finally said, "I'm sorry I don't remember you, Tristan. You seem like a great guy."
I wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go. To do everything we'd done together all over again just on the chance that she'd remember how much we loved each other.
But I couldn't. I wasn't the man she loved. I was just some guy who remembered.
"Can I ask you something, Tristan?"
"Anything and I promise to give a straight answer."
A confused expression crossed her face for a brief moment and then she smiled. "Why don't I remember you?"
I sadly shook my head, her question ripping my heart in two. "I don't know."
Was it because of what I'd told her just before the accident? Had she forgotten everything about us because somewhere deep inside her mind she couldn't forgive me for her father's death?
After two and a half weeks, her doctor pulled me aside as Jordan and Kim visited with an almost healed Nina. Guiding me to a secluded room near Nina's room, he closed the door behind us and I took a seat across from him.
"I want you to know that the good news is that her physical injuries are healing well. She'll be able to go home tomorrow. Her memory loss is disconcerting, however. I had expected her to remember something of her life from the past four years, but I see no signs of that, as of yet."
Listening to him speak, I knew what he was about to say and instantly, my chest tightened.
"Mr. Stone, I just can't say she'll ever remember everything. The human mind is a difficult thing to predict. All I can say is that if you continue to show her what her life was like, she very well may come around."
Extending my hand to shake his, I pressed a smile onto my face. "I understand. Thank you for everything."
I returned to find Jordan and Kim standing outside Nina's room as the nurses did their jobs inside. The time had come to let them know my plans for Nina after she left here.
"Ladies, I'd like to speak to you privately for a moment."
Escorting them to the room where I'd just met with Nina's doctor, I stood as they both took their seats. Jordan looked up at me with wide eyes, as if what I had to say interested her, but Kim wore the same suspicious look she always gave me.
"The doctor just told me Nina will be able to go home tomorrow. I've made arrangements for her to come home with me to our home. You, of course, are welcome to come too and stay for as long as you'd like. I have more than enough room."
"With you? Why would she go home with you?" Kim asked sharply. "She should go home with Jordan."
"She's coming home with me because that's where she belongs. As I said, you're welcome to come stay as long as you like."
"She doesn't even remember you."
Jordan looked over at Kim and then back at me. "I think Kim might be worried that Nina would feel like a stranger in your house." Turning back toward Kim, she continued, "But I've been there and Nina was very happy there, Kim. She and Tristan were...are in love, and he can help her remember their time together."