1. The Plain Girl - Chapter 6: Crash Recovery


    Date: 10/24/2017, Categories: Love Stories, Author: xreynolds, Rating: 4, Source: LushStories

    Christmas on any day. A peculiar aspect of expectant waiting is that its reward, the gift that flows towards us, is always there within reach; actually waiting for us. Waiting is incredibly active. It requires strength. It draws its strength from the future to which it is committed. It demands choosing – renouncing the now, and plunging into an emptiness that cannot endure to live without what has been promised. This exerts a force that cannot be resisted and the promised flows into us. “Hello? Earth to Claire.” Now Karla lightened up a little. “Speaking of angels appearing in our life, did Kristelle email yet about when she would be here? That’s something I can get excited about.” “Nothing yet,” Claire was happy to change the subject. They hadn’t seen Kristelle since the summer and both missed her very much. “She is waiting to hear about the start of her internship. And, yes, it will be great for the three of us to be together again for a little bit!” Claire’s phone, lying on the counter began to play. Karla looked in disbelief. Claire was never the type to use a music ring tone for an incoming call. But Claire sprang from her seat to reach for it as if it was the only thing on earth that mattered now. “It’s Matthew!” she called out. As she took the phone in her hand she took a deep breath. Jubilant she spirited out, “Hey!” But her face immediately turned to a confused disappointment. “Yes, this is Claire,” she said. After a pause, she said, “Hi Tom. Yes, Matthew did mention ...
    you.” Her face grew pale. “Yes, I’m sitting down.” She eased back into her seat. As she listened, what little blood seemed to be left in her face drained away completely. “What can you tell me?” she calmly inquired. He initial shock turned to concentrated bearing. The perpetual and confident hope that was the underpinning of Claire’s acquired character was now the rock on which she rested. It was the stability that ran along through every day and on which she grounded her presence of mind. The greater the need, the greater was her discrimination and circumspection. When most people fall part, Claire was the most together. “Thank you for calling, I have to think now. Will you be carrying his phone?” She listened patiently to the voice on the other end. “Yes, please let me know, if you do,” she replied and hung up. Tears flowed down both of Karla’s cheeks. She had no idea what Claire had just heard, but her capacity to feel was not encumbered in the least by details. Claire’s disposition and responses told enough. Claire would have time to cry later, now she needed to think. Karla folded her hands on her lap and waited patiently. “Matthew is in the ICU,” she started at last. “He was walking home just outside the hospital when a car hopped a snow bank onto the sidewalk and hit him. That was a doctor friend of his who was on duty when they brought him in. Nothing is broken, but his head took a shot and he has not regained consciousness. So we have to wait now.” As she said these ...
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