Over the next few hours, the opposite group in the waiting room thinned. Kathryn remained at the hospital throughout and was joined for the most part by Jenna. A.J. was outside for the entirety. He only rejoined the vigil outside Derrick’s room once the surgery was complete. Roland stuck around outside Derrick's room for the most part. He did stop down to sit with Jenna and Kathryn outside Davis’ room for a bit. He shared a little of his meeting with Davis and, like most people, Kathryn came away impressed.
Everyone else wanted to make sure Derrick knew they thinking of them when he went into surgery. It was clear there was no real purpose to hanging around, so they left. Trent would return before the end. The crowd was limited to the closest family post-surgery.
The surgery went routine and appeared to be a success. Both men returned to their rooms to rest, and all signs were pointing to a pair of fast recoveries.
The nurse in Derrick’s room cleared him for visitors first in the late afternoon. Jenna excused herself from Kathryn’s company and went to check on her brother. She joined her husband, brother, and brother-in-law queuing up to see Derrick.
Alone again at her end of the hall, Kathryn rose and started pacing the space again. She tried to recognize every nurse that came into her view as the one attending to Davis. After a little while, an unfamiliar nurse approached. She gave Kathryn a polite smile and disappeared into his room. A few minutes later she emerged and, noticing Kathryn's expectant look, she offered to let her in to see him.
Kathryn accepted and quickly moved to the door before hesitating at the threshold. She peeked into the room headfirst and made short, half-steps to enter. Davis was laying in his bed and smiled at the sight of his friend.
“I did what you asked,” he started. He felt light and confident by the remaining anesthetics working through his system. “You totally owe me one.”
“I appreciate it,” Kathryn responded, tears once again forming in her eyes. She continued to move delicately as if he would feel every step on the floor on his incision site. “You’re a good friend to do that for me,” she finished with a smile overtaking the tears.
She took a seat beside the bed and Davis moved his hand towards her.
“Were you here the whole time?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Jesus, that must’ve been so boring,” he said with a faint smile.
“Well,” she responded. “I was able to make it through three pages of one of your books and hang out with Jenna for a while.”
She scanned his face for any recognition at the mention of his sister. She was nervous there would be some irrational sense of betrayal on his part. The fogginess was escaping his eyes, but he did not seem to care.
“How are you feeling?” she asked him.
“Tired, but fine,” he offered. After a pause, he took a deep breath and continued, “Thank you for being here. At some point, I actually thought it didn’t matter if anyone was here."
He paused and continued. “I was so wrong. I’m glad you’re here.”
Their eyes met and Kathryn gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
“I did this project in middle school,” she started. He looked at her confused but did not interrupt. His look gave her pause, but, sensing the opening, she continued, “Trust me, this is going somewhere. This project, I took a branch from an apple tree in the yard. I cut it off and put it in a pot with some dirt and watered it. Over time, the branch grew roots and started blossoming. I kept watering the branch after the project was due and, eventually, an apple grew on the branch.”
Confused at first, Davis was hanging on her words as she spoke. At the end, he leaned forward and asked, “It did?”
"Yeah," she said. "When I took a bite of the apple, it was the sweetest apple I’d ever tasted.”
"Really?"
“No,” she said with a goofy smile. “That’d be awesome if it did, though, right?”
They both laughed and Davis lowered himself as his laughter tapered to a chuckle.
“I was 12 and didn’t realize it was a crab apple tree,” she said. “My point is the branch cut from its tree wasn’t dead. Once it found new dirt and was cared for, it grew new roots of its own. You remind me of that branch. You were cut from your family tree or whatever, but you didn’t die on the ground. You found us in Portland. We care for you and feed you.”
“Literally,” Davis interjected with a chuckle.
Kathryn smiled warmly and continued, “Now you’re growing your own roots.”
Davis was at a loss for words, an equal measure of surprise and appreciation.
“Wow, that was nice and, surprisingly, it did make sense,” he responded, fighting off tears with a smile. “I appreciate that. It’s been a long time since I felt like I belonged somewhere.”
They sat together in silence. A bit later, there was a soft knock at the door. No one entered, so Kathryn went and answered the door. She was taken aback when she saw who was there. She shot a contemplative look at Davis and opened the door.
A.J. stood in the doorway expressionless and she looked at Davis again.
Davis stiffened in his bed when he saw his older brother. After a moment, he nodded to Kathryn. She stepped into the hallway and A.J. entered and allowed the door to close, watching it the whole way. The older brother then moved to the foot of the bed nervously and started to speak.
"Thank you," he said first. It was clear that there was more, so Davis did not speak.
“I,” he continued but stopped. After a moment to collect himself, he continued in a defeated tone, “I’m sorry about everything. I didn’t do anything for you and every day that passed made things more difficult. You deserved better from everyone.”
Davis was stoic as he watched his brother continue talking. He saw that there was a lot in the air A.J. wanted to clear up, so he wanted to afford him that opportunity.
“I can’t imagine you offering forgiveness and I’m not here hoping for it. I know that none of this changes things. I just want you to know I’m sorry.”
He finished with a look that said indicated was done and he did not need a response. It wasn't as though he didn't care what Davis would say. It was a signal that Davis didn't have to say anything. A.J. did not expect forgiveness and would not wait for the realization one would not be forthcoming.
A.J. turned to leave and Davis still said nothing. He didn’t know how to respond. If he knew anything about A.J., he knew this was hard and genuine. There was no desire for an easy absolution, rather a need to clear the air.
“I know how hard this is,” Davis finally offered. “I’m glad you stopped in.”
A.J. paused at the door.
“I should’ve spoken up or written or something,” he said. He looked at his hand on the door handle before slowly turning back to face Davis. “I know now what I could have done then, and I regret that I didn’t try anything. I gave up on you because it was, not necessarily the ‘easy’ thing to do, but it was the less difficult path. No one deserves that and I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
He took another steadying breath and continued.
“Thank you for being here. You didn’t need to come, and I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t. You owe us nothing.”
He started through the door and turned back one more time.
“I want you to know, Jenna really did want you at the wedding. I hope you know that you weren’t invited for this,” he said motioning to the room. “Don’t give up on her. She never gave up on you."
Davis watched at his brother with a look of awe and appreciation for what he was saying. At the same time, he was at a loss for words on how to respond.
“Good luck with everything,” A.J. finished, closing the door.
Davis remained silent after hearing his brother’s words. He didn’t feel like he had anything else to say but felt like the encounter went the way it needed to for both men. He’d imagined what it would be like to talk to A.J. after all these years, but this is not what he’d expected.
He was still processing the encounter when there was another knock on the door and Jenna’s head popped in. She had a fresh set of tears and looked for an invitation eagerly. Davis smiled and she entered.
She sat down on the bedside chair and looked expectantly at Davis.
“How was the wedding?” he asked.
Jenna could barely talk, smiling and mumbling in her cracked voice, “It was nice.”
She’d made the mistake of trying to hug Derrick, causing a decent amount of pain. Learning from that, she leaned forward to grab his hand, pressing it to her head.
“I appreciate the invitation,” Davis said, breaking the silence. His voice cracked a bit. “I would’ve come anyway, but I’m glad I could be a part of your day.”
She raised her head and smiled at her brother. He decided to address the elephant in the room.
“This whole thing doesn’t change too much,” he started, taking measured breaths to make it through. “I don’t think I will ever be a part of your life up here.”
Jenna looked at Davis with a stunned and hurt expression.
“That’s not what I mean,” he quickly asserted. “My life, whatever I have, is in Portland. I’m not a part of this world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a part of each other’s lives. What I’m saying is, you have my number and I’d like you to use it.”
She smiled and did her best to hug Davis gingerly. It still hurt like hell, but Davis was overtaken with joy that he didn’t mind and didn’t want it to end.
Kathryn had quietly entered the room. When the siblings noticed her, Jenna pulled up a second chair for her to join them. The group then sat around talking until a nurse came through and let the visitors know they had to leave.
And, with that, the women left.