Page 33 of Rescuing Mary

Mary’s legs nearly collapsed under her. Her eyes got wide and she heard a ringing in her ears. “Truck?” she asked.

Hollywood nodded.

The room spun and Mary wavered on her feet.

Not Truck. No. Not when she was finally ready to open up to him and tell him that she cared about him and wanted to be his wife for real.

Seeing her sway, Hollywood swore under his breath and put a hand on her elbow, and led her to the couch. As soon as she was sitting, he pulled the coffee table closer and sat on it. He reached forward and took her cold hands in his large warm ones and squeezed. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Truck is alive. He’s okay.”

When Mary didn’t respond, but simply stared at him with wide eyes, he said, “Did you hear me, Mary? Truck is okay. He was injured, but he’s alive.”

Mary’s breath left her in a rush. She’d been so scared that Truck had been killed she hadn’t been able to think about anything else. At Hollywood’s words, she relaxed a fraction. “Where is he? Can we go and see him?”

The man in front of her shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

Mary’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? He’s at a hospital, right? Is he in Germany? I know that’s where a lot of soldiers go when they’re injured overseas.”

“Yeah, he’s in Germany at the moment.”

Mary tried to stand. “Then let’s go. I’ll pack a bag real quick.”

Hollywood’s fingers squeezed hers once more, preventing her from standing. “You can’t go and see him, Mary. I’m sorry.”

“Why not? I’m his wife. The Army can’t keep me from him!” She knew she sounded hysterical, but she was feeling extremely shaky and off-kilter. The possibility of Truck or one of the other guys being hurt or killed was always there when they went on a mission, but experiencing it firsthand was a hundred times more horrible than she’d ever thought. “Was he hurt worse than what you’re saying? Is he dying? Dammit, Hollywood, tell me!”

“He has amnesia,” Hollywood said sadly without beating around the bush. “He doesn’t remember who you are…much less that he’s married.”

Mary stared at the handsome soldier in shock. “Amnesia?”

“Yeah. He hit his head really hard on the mission and it rattled his brain something awful.”

Tears formed in Mary’s eyes, but she blinked them away. “What does he remember?”

“Basically, he’s lost the last three years of his life. He knows me and the guys. Knows he’s in the Army. He knows everything up until one of our missions in Iraq about three years ago. When he woke up, he thought that’s where he was.”

“But he’s okay otherwise?”

“Yeah, Mare. A doctor in Germany has checked him out and said other than the concussion, a few cracked ribs,—and the amnesia, of course—he’s fine.”

“Maybe seeing me will jog his memory,” she said somewhat lamely.

The compassion in Hollywood’s eyes nearly did her in.

“I talked to Ghost today, he and the others are staying with Truck in Germany until he’s released…and he said that Truck got extremely agitated when Fletch told him he was married. He refused to believe him, thought the guys were playing a joke. The doctor’s recommending, for now, to bring him home but to limit his interactions with others for a while. They want to see if coming back to his apartment will trigger his memories naturally. It can be extremely jarring for someone in his situation to be confronted with people who know him, but who he doesn’t remember.”

“But he will remember, won’t he?” Mary whispered.

Hollywood’s lips pressed together before he said, “They just don’t know, Mary. Sometimes patients like him get their memories back all at once. Other times they remember bits and pieces, but not everything. And there are also cases when the person never remembers what they lost. They just forge a new life from the time the injury happened.”

Mary ripped her hands out of Hollywood’s grip to cover her mouth in horror. “He might not ever remember me? Everything we’ve been through?”

“I’m sorry…but it’s possible that he’ll never remember.”

“Oh, God.”

Mary felt Hollywood’s hand on her shoulder, but she couldn’t process what was happening. She’d assumed Truck would get home, she’d tell him that she wanted to make their marriage work, and they’d live happily ever after. But if he didn’t know her, didn’t know anything about her fight with cancer, their marriage, or that he’d sworn to love her forever…how in the hell would they live happily ever after?

She had no idea what she’d done to make him love her in the first place. No clue how to get him to do it a second time.