Howie swallowed hard as he approached the Nurse’s Station in the center of Savannah’s hospital floor, wondering yet again what he was doing at the hospital. As much as his brain told him to stop interfering in these women’s lives, his heart wouldn’t let him rest that easy. It never failed that he awoke during the night, drenched in sweat as he dreamed of the girls’ screams when the boats collided. Even when he closed his eyes now, he could see the splintering wood as the girls were literally thrown into the concrete-like water as if they were rag-dolls. He could still feel the warmth of Savannah’s blood coating his hands as he struggled to fix her mangled leg on the gritty beach land. He even remembered glancing up to find Kevin pulling Rhiannon from the wreckage, starting CPR to remove the water from her lungs. But, the sound of an ambulance pulling into the hospital shattered his memories. So, he quickly shook those thoughts away, knowing he had to focus.
“Excuse me?” Howie called softly, shifting the small basket of gifts in his arms. He leaned against the desk to draw the attention of the chattering nurses, who seemed to jump at the interruption into their personal lives. Each pair of eyes held a melancholy sadness for the woman that Howie was known to always visit. They knew he was one of the five at fault for putting their favorite patient in such serious condition. It hadn’t taken long for papers to get hold of the story, sharing both the bad images with the better images. Almost everyone in the hospital staffing had come into contact with Rhiannon and Savannah at some point during their stay and fully enjoyed each woman’s bright personality – until the boys started coming for visits. “I just went down to Savannah Clark’s room and she wasn’t there…”
“She’s still in surgery,” a young nurse piped. “It takes more than a few hours to fix the damage you did to her leg. We’re talking massive rods, screws, and bolts just to hold all those tiny bits of bones together—”
“You really don’t have to go into detail for someone that was involved in the accident,” another voice announced from behind Howie, causing him to stiffen dramatically. He turned to face the voice, instantly recognizing the woman as belonging to Savannah’s family. It didn’t take a genius to recognize Savannah reflecting from this older woman’s features.
“I… I’m—”
“I know who you are,” she replied coolly, moving to walk down the hallway.
“Wait!” Howie instantly cried in surprise, never expecting the woman to leave as abruptly as she had entered. For some reason, he desperately wanted to speak with her about Savannah. So, he stumbled slightly on the slick linoleum tiling as he increased his pace. And, despite his mishaps sliding about the waxed floor, he managed to reach the woman before she disappeared into the nearest elevator. He held the basket higher against his broad chest as he collapsed backward into the side of the elevator, panting heavily. “You… You’re—”
“Savannah’s mother.”
“I’m—”
“Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys,” she answered. Her voice was void of any emotion as she depressed the button for the surgical floor. She even made an attempt not to glance at the man that had trashed her daughter’s vibrant life. “You were in the other boat that hit Rhiannon and Savannah. Trust me; I know everything I need to know about you, Sir.”
“I—”
“Do you have any idea what kind of impact you made on my daughter’s life before this accident?” the woman instantly exploded, stepping into the somewhat vacant waiting area. She immediately turned on her heel, obviously waiting for Howie to step off the elevator. He seemed to oblige her quiet anger as he stepped off, noticing a dark haired man step behind her with a large bag clutched in his hands. She looked determined to continue, so Howie remained quiet. “Savannah was absolutely one of the best dancers ever to have existed in your line of work. And it’s not just a mother’s pride that tells me that. You just ask any one of the top choreographers around Orlando and they’ll recommend Savannah over every single other dancer along these parts. She has this presence on the stage that just draws everyone into her dancing and makes them connect with the lyrics in a way they could never imagine.”
“I read that she was a good dancer—”
“And I’m telling you that she was a fantastic dancer. She was so fantastic that your choreographer signed her for your recent tour after seeing only five minutes of her dancing in a private studio. And she couldn’t have been more excited to dance behind your band. She adored your music and always danced around home with it plugged into her ears. She would have made your tour fantastic,” Savannah’s mother interrupted, reaching into the bag her husband was holding to withdraw several videos. She then pushed them into Howie’s hands. “I was going to give these to Savannah when she got out of surgery. They’re filled with her various video shoots and performances. I thought they’d cheer her up, but I think it’s more important for you to see what you really tampered with instead of just assuming she was a good dancer.”
“Okay,” Howie obliged, actually curious to see what she was like before the disaster. He took the videos into his arms, slightly toppling with the basket in his hands. Frowning, Howie reached to give the Get Well Basket to Savannah’s mother. He had decided to try once more to reach Savannah’s bitter heart. After reading various articles, Howie discovered that Savannah’s favorite animal was a dolphin and actually worked at the local aquarium between dancing gigs. So, he went out to purchase a variety of beautiful trinkets that had anything to do with dolphins or involved her favorite color purple. He hoped it might cheer her up after the surgery, but it was obvious her mother didn’t want him waiting around. “Can you at least give this to Savannah when she gets out of surgery?”
“We will,” the man answered from behind his wife, taking the basket. “And, thank you.”
“No, thank you,” Howie whispered.
“Mr. Dorough!”
“Yeah?” Howie called hopefully, turning back to the woman.
“This doesn’t erase what you did to her. There’s a good chance that she’ll never be able to dance again because of the trauma to her leg. And as much as it might kill a mother to say this, I wish you would have killed her instead, because the life you left her with won’t be much of a life at all.”
“What are you doing here?” Rhiannon was quick to comment as a tall figure shadowed her ICU doorway. It took her only a moment to realize that someone was staring at her. So, slowly, she opened her eyes to reorient herself. A wave of pain flushed over her body as the throbbing resumed in the back of her skull, reminding her of just why she was still stuck in the hospital. She could only be thankful that the fever was dissipating and the mucous from her lungs was surfacing as antibiotics continued to flood through her system at a rapid pace. Briefly, she raised a hand to gingerly touch the gauzed portion of her head, wincing at the tenderness of the wounds. Finally her periods of consciousness were growing longer than before with the increase of steroids to drop the swelling in her brain. Though, like always, she still managed to tire easily and always drifted into a light slumber. That’s why she had been dozing with a pen gripped tightly in her hand. She had been working diligently to finish a letter to Savannah, hoping that a nurse on night shift would deliver it.
“Glad to see that you’re feeling better,” Kevin murmured, obviously not swayed by Rhiannon’s soft voice of criticism. Instead, he just shut the door behind him and took the respective seat next to Rhiannon’s bed. He didn’t even attempt to glance at the broken girl, promising himself that he would not feel guilt for Nick’s stupidity. He was only there to visit to soothe management’s hysteria over Nick’s mistakes and provide the right type of coverage for the media to find.
“I’m sure you’re ecstatic,” Rhiannon answered meekly, slowly flexing her fingers to work the cramp from the center of her palm. She wanted to hurry and finish her note to Savannah, hoping that maybe her best friend would be able to reply by tomorrow. She was aching for further news on Savannah’s condition, because her friend’s golden heart always made it difficult to judge whether or not she was hurting. Savannah always took care in hiding her pain from others, not wanting them to worry about her. Only, Rhiannon knew something was terribly wrong with Savannah, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
“I am ecstatic,” Kevin promised, though his voice was dry and callous. He made no attempt to gaze into her dark eyes, simply snapping open a recent magazine to see what the media was saying about his band’s predicament. Sure enough, dozens of pictures littered each page with various images from the scene of the accident, but slowly more pictures of the boys visiting the hospital were starting to creep into various magazines. They were starting to regain their title as the Golden Hearted Boys of Pop, which just caused relief to course through Kevin’s body. He figured a couple more visits while “pretending” to be furious with the paparazzi hording outside the hospital would cause the entire mess to crumble. Then he could get on with his life.
“You obviously don’t want to be here,” Rhiannon yawned, bracing her arm against the tray to finish crafting her note to Savannah. She glanced sideways at Kevin’s profile, noticing the anger and frustration rising from his tough aura.
“You’re right, I don’t.”
“Then why come around?”
“Because—”
“Did you visit Savvy yet?” Rhiannon interrupted, scrawling her name across the bottom of the note. She really didn’t want to hear his excuses as to why he deserved to be visiting the hospital instead of residing in one.
“Savvy?”
“Savannah Lorden?”
“You’re obnoxious little friend?”
“She’s not like that with people she actually enjoys.”
“Pardon me if I find that hard to believe.”
“So, you have seen her?”
“In so many words.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s in the hospital. What do you think?”
“Mr. Richardson—”
“She’s just a pissed off chick jacked at the world because she has a few broken bones and a couple of scratches on her pretty face—”
Rhiannon’s breath caught with distress at Kevin’s bold statement. She stiffened dramatically, resting a hand against her chest to aid her breathing. “What bones did she break?”
“She crushed her leg or something...”
Rhiannon released a painful sob of disbelief. “Oh, God, Savvy…”
“What’s that about?”
Rhiannon shook her head, knowing that Kevin couldn’t even begin to comprehend the devastation circling around Savannah. Everything that the younger woman had worked so hard for rested in her ability to dance like a graceful angel. It seemed so hard to believe that Savannah hadn’t revealed that startling piece of information, but Rhiannon’s throbbing headache shifted to a stabbing pain. With that revelation, it seemed that Savannah needed Rhiannon’s note more than she had anticipated. Savannah had to know how much Rhiannon loved her and was thinking about her. Shivering from the fever, she swallowed hard to compose herself as to not make her head injury more severe. “Can you give her this note? Please?”
“Does it say Postal Service across my—”
“You owe me this, okay?”
“I don’t owe you—”
“Just act like you have the tiniest piece of a heart and deliver the note for me. I promise I won’t bother you again and might even be persuaded to let you get a couple photographs of us together for your pathetic publicity stunts.”
