Reunited After 25 Years 36: The Accident

The day had been a perfectly ordinary one. Andrea had worked at the library all day and come home and started on dinner as she normally did. She noticed that Anton seemed to be running late but thought little of it, assuming that he'd merely had to stop for gas or even to change a flat tire.

She was, of course, completely unprepared for the telephone call she received while in the midst of chopping the vegetables.

"Your husband has been injured in an accident," said the voice on the other end of the line.

Andrea felt herself go weak all over. "Is he conscious? Can I speak to him?"

"He's being examined in the emergency room and can't come to the telephone right now," she was told.

With hands shaking so badly that she could barely pick the receiver up, Andrea called Denny and Darya to give them the news, then drove to the hospital as quickly as she could. Arriving in the waiting room, she was met by an emergency room physician.

"He has several broken ribs, and one has punctured a lung," the physician told her. "He's been taken to surgery to have a tube inserted into the collapsed lung."

"How long will that take?" asked Andrea.

"About thirty minutes," the physician told her.

Denny and Darya arrived a few minutes later. Fawn was with them. Andrea had had no choice but to accept that Dennis' daughter was now a permanent fixture in Denny's life, whether she herself liked it or not.

Darya, who was sobbing heavily, rushed to embrace her stepmother. "Oh, Andrea!" she cried. "First I lost my Mama, now maybe my Papa as well!"

As the two women clung to one another crying, Andrea felt an emotional bond with her stepdaughter, one which she'd never felt before but which was very strong.

A little more than an hour later, the physician finally summoned Andrea again.

"The chest tube has been successfully inserted, and he's resting comfortably," the distraught woman was told. "He's been heavily medicated so will probably sleep for awhile."

Andrea and Darya, who was still sobbing hysterically, were allowed into Anton's room shortly afterwards. Andrea looked at her husband resting peacefully, a lank of dark blond hair strewn across his forehead. She swept it back with her fingers and kissed the spot where it had lain.

She thought about the argument they'd had that morning, about the many arguments they'd had over the past few weeks. Their relationship had become increasingly strained over Andrea's desire to have a child. It was something she couldn't really discuss with anyone, not even her mother. The one time she'd brought the subject up, Jewel had ridiculed the idea, telling Andrea that she was silly to want a baby at her age.

"A lot of women your age have grandchildren already," Jewel had pointed out. "If you had a baby right now, just imagine how old you'd be when he or she graduated high school!"

Andrea hadn't brought the subject up to her mother again. It wasn't the kind of subject she felt comfortable discussing with Denny and Darya either.

Now as she watched her sleeping husband's chest move gently up and down, it unnerved Andrea to realize that Anton could easily have been much more seriously injured, that his injuries could even have been fatal, that the final words between the two of them could have been harsh ones.

Darya eventually went home with Denny and Fawn, while Andrea spent the night in Anton's hospital room, sleeping on the floor.

Anton finally awakened late in the afternoon of the following day. His blue eyes, full of fear and confusion, gazed into Andrea's.

"What happened?" he asked, wincing in pain.

"You were in an accident," Andrea told him. "You have three broken ribs, and one of them punctured a lung."

Anton's eyes filled with despair.

"It's going to be all right, darling. You just have to stay in the hospital for a few more days until your lung's better."

"It hurts," Anton said softly as tears welled up in his eyes.

"I'll call the nurse," Andrea offered. She pressed the buzzer, and a moment later, a nurse appeared and added something to Anton's IV.

"Andrea," Anton murmured softly.

"What is it, sweetheart?" Andrea gently stroked her husband's hair.

"A car crashed into me on the side. I did not even see it coming. I heard the crash and felt terrible pain. The worst pain in my life, Andrea."

"I know, darling." Andrea continued to try to comfort her husband.

"All I can think...all I know...I want my Andrea..."

"I came as soon as they called me, Anton. I've been here ever since then."

"I know." Anton was crying again. "My Andrea...I do not know what I do if not for you..."

"It's all right, darling." Andrea began to place soft kisses all over Anton's face. "Just try to get some rest. Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Anton."