When Raif arrived at Memorial Hospital it was around seven in the morning. Feeling exhausted from driving all night, he decided to wait for visiting hours so he reclined his chair and closed his eyes. Soon his mind was off in a dream where he was running through a wooded area with branches whipping at his face. He slowed down as he came to a clearing in the woods which exposed the river that was churning like a blender. At the far end of the river, he saw a woman sitting on a bridge made of stone. Wanting to get a better look, he cupped his hands over his eyes and squinted. That's when he realized it was Lucinda!

She was so close that he could just run a few more steps and be near her. Instead, he shouted and began waving his hands to get her attention but then he froze as she jumped into the churning water. Without hesitation, he ran into the river and dove into it but the water was so wild that he couldn't see anything. Needing to breathe, he came to the surface desperately gasping for air but the river was suddenly a puddle. All around him were dead fish as they flopped around in the shallow water and Lucinda was nowhere to be found. She was simply gone.

🌲🌲🌲

When Raif jerked awake, he looked at the time on his wristwatch, which read ten-thirty. His heart was beating fast from the rush of the dream, so he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and reached into his bag for some mouth wash. Freshening up would help him become more alert, so Raif gurgled the mouth wash and spit it into an empty coffee cup. He breathed in deeply and exhaled a few times, trying to ease his racing heart. The dream seemed so real and he thought about Chucks' wife Isabel. What would she have to say about the dream? Raif shook his head, realizing he didn't want to know Isabel's interpretation. It was just a dream. Nothing more.

He took a look at his reflection in the rearview mirror and saw a scruffy face staring back at him. His last shave was before Lucinda left and he wondered if Merrill would even recognize him? He took another deep inhale, exited the car and made his way into the hospital.

After asking a few nurses for directions, Raif found Merrill's room and when he entered, the man was sitting upright and reading a book. Except he looked older. The heart attack clearly having taken its toll on him. Before the attack, Merrill could easily be confused for a man in his sixties but now his hair had gone from salt-and-pepper to snow white. It was as if at the snap of a finger, the heart attack aged him and he was just like every other seventy-something old man.

For a moment Raif just studied Merrill from the door as he put his book down and set his hands on his chest with a deep sigh. Sylvia had requested a room with a view for him, but Merrill could care less about the view when his family and Lucinda were completely torn apart. Raif finally knocked to give Merrill a chance to compose himself and then he entered as if he was just barely arriving.

"You made it." Merrill smiled and adjusted his bed so he could sit up more.

"Yeah. I got here early so I took a nap in the car."

"Well, I suppose you want to hurry over to Lucinda's?" Merrill smiled. "I'll write down her address for you."

"No need. I got the address already... it's a long story." Raif waved his hand. "But I wanted to see you first since I didn't get the chance when you first had the attack." Raif paced from the bed over to the large window. "Truthfully I'm really nervous about seeing her."

"Why?"

"We had a misunderstanding and I tried to explain but..." He turned to look at Merrill and leaned against the window sill. "I swear I would never hurt her, Merrill. You have to know that."

"I do." He nodded.

"And then the next day she was gone without a goodbye or a note or anything. Just gone. It was just a confusing moment and I know it must have looked awful... and I wish Lucinda would have just let me explain."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Raif. I know you're a good guy," Merrill insisted. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I think that with you driving all the way over here it says a lot and Lucinda will understand. She was being stubborn before but I'm sure she'll listen now."

"I hope so. I know she's been hurt in the past and I want to make sure that for the rest of her life, no one will hurt her again." Raif looked down at his feet and jiggled the change in his pocket. He let out a deep sigh and looked up at Merrill again. "I don't want her to be apart from me ever again."

Merrill nodded again. He knew exactly what Raif meant because it was the same moment of clarity he also had when he knew his late wife, Louise, was the one he wanted to be with forever. A flash of her laughing face and tears gathering in her eyes, came to Merrill as he thought of her. Asking her to marry him was the best and smartest choice he ever made. Undoubtedly it would be the best choice Raif would ever make too.

"I know I'm not her father but I've come to really care about Lucinda. The bright side to all of this is that I know you want what's best for her. You wouldn't have come all this way if you didn't, therefore you have my blessing when you decide to ask her to marry you." Merrill smiled even brighter.

A smile spread on Raif's face as well and he nodded. "Thank you."

"So why don't you go on over there right now and pour your heart out to her. Then the two of you can come back and see me."

"I will. I'll bring her back here this evening and we can celebrate!"

"Sounds like a plan! Now go get our girl." Merrill pointed toward the door.

Raif left the room feeling confident again. The entire drive over he had been nervous. He thought about the what-ifs, like, what if Lucinda shut him out again and he didn't get to explain what really happened with Rachel? Or even worse, what if Lucinda wasn't pregnant and she decided to cut her losses and end their relationship? What if she wasn't in Redwood Village at all? If she wasn't, then where else was she?

Raif took the elevator down to the main floor and took a left and then a right. He looked about confused since the hallways all looked the same to him. He kept walking but dead-ended into a small lobby. He knew he was tired when he first arrived at the hospital but he definitely remembered the lobby being bigger.

"Can I help you, Sir?"

Raif turned to find a nurse with a scrub top that had daisies with smiling faces on them. "I'm a bit lost. Just looking for the exit."

"Ah. Well, it's straight ahead." She pointed to the illuminated sign. "Are you with someone? I'll need to give you a pass if you're coming back to the Emergency Room."

"No. At least not through the emergency room."

"Well, have a good day Sir."

As Raif exited the building he could feel the heat from the sun on his skin. It wasn't like being in seaside where there was a cool breeze to soothingly graze his skin on warmer days. Instead, he could even feel the hot pavement under his flip-flops, yet he couldn't deny how beautiful the day was. It was bright, surprisingly hot for a spring day and he was going to get his girl back.

As he stopped to admire the hummingbirds buzzing around a bush of jasmine, an emergency vehicle pulled up. He turned his attention to the EMTs as they jumped out and then slid a gurney from the back. At first, Raif didn't pay any mind to who the passenger was, but then he heard a familiar name.

"Alright Lucinda, we made it. We're taking you in and the nurses will take over. Ok?"

Raif turned his body completely in their direction. What were the odds of there being another local woman with that name? His mind began going wild as he picked up his feet and ran to her.

It was her. It had to be her

When he finally reached the gurney he began running alongside it to catch a glimpse of the woman's face.

"Lucinda..." he gasped and her eyes flashed him with confusion.

"Sir we need you to clear the way!" barked one of the EMTs.

"Wait! That's my girlfriend!" he shouted as they rushed past him while forcing him aside in the process.

He followed right behind them and into the ER where nurses rushed to Lucinda. What was going on? He needed answers but no one would give them to him as they wheeled Lucinda through the double doors and told him to wait in the waiting area. Not knowing what else to do, he sunk down into one of the chairs and could feel his eyes filling with tears. For several minutes he sat there crying shamelessly as others in the waiting area flashed their eyes to him every now and again.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

Raif looked up to see one of the EMTs standing in front of him. "Is she going to be ok?" he asked.

"They'll need to run a few tests to make sure she's ok. She was banged up pretty good..." The EMT eyed him suspiciously. "I have a lot of friends in the police department so if this is a domestic abuse case, we'll find out."

"What?"

"I've seen things like this time and time again. Men beating their significant others and the women forgiving them over and over again until it's too late."

"I would never lay a fing-"

"That's what they all say!" the EMT barked, cutting him off. "She told the nurses that you're her boyfriend so they'll let you see her once they're done with the tests. If it were up to me, I'd make sure you couldn't go near her, but as of now she denies that you had anything to do with her being attacked."

Raif's heart dropped down to his feet along with his jaw. "She was attacked? By who?!"

The EMT studied him for a long while and then she said, "She won't say who it was, but I'll leave you with this reminder: I know a lot of people in law enforcement so we WILL find out if it was you who did it."

Raif had to grip the sides of the seat he was sitting in. The nerve of the EMT to accuse him of all people! He loved Lucinda and would never lay a hand on her. It simply wasn't in his nature nor a thought to EVER cross his mind. Yet there the EMT stood with folded arms and a scowl on her face while painting him as guilty. He could feel his blood boiling but for the sake of proving he wasn't the bad guy, he kept his cool.

"I can assure it wasn't me. I just barely drove into town this morning. I live in Breeze Bay so it was physically impossible for me to have been the one who attacked her. Thank you for helping her."

The EMT smirked. "Have a good day."

He watched as she turned on her heels and left the ER. As soon as her body disappeared through the exit, he exhaled a ragged breath. Although he felt relieved to have finally found Lucinda, the truth remained... She had been attacked, he had no idea by who and he also had no clue if she would even want to go back home to Breeze Bay with him.

One thing was for certain. He needed to see her and do some explaining.

🌲🌲🌲

After more than an hour of waiting, a nurse brought Raif back to the room where Lucinda was. His eyes filled with tears again upon seeing her in a hospital gown with monitors connected to her body. She was sitting upright and while she didn't have any visible signs of being attacked, he knew it didn't rule out possible internal damage. Especially if she was pregnant and suddenly the possibility of her losing the baby flooded him with a fear so real that his hands began to tremble. He approached the hospital bed and rested his hands on the railing to calm them.

"A-Are y-you..." his voice trembled, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Are you ok?" Lucinda nodded but didn't look at him so he blew out a breath, rubbed his eyes and asked, "is the baby ok?"

That got her attention as he her head snapped in his direction. Her eyes widened for the briefest second and then she looked away.

"Who told you I was pregnant?"

"Was?"

Lucinda inhaled a deep breath and then released it slowly while toying with the ID bracelet on her wrist. "I'm still waiting for the ultrasound tech to come in and do a scan."

"Lucinda..." Raif said softly. "Why didn't you tell me that you're pregnant?"

"Because I just barely found out!" She snapped and then glared at him. "In fact, I would've told you had I not walked in on Rachel wearing nothing but your t-shirt while you were in the shower washing her off of you!"

"Let me explain what happened."

"There's nothing to explain. The only reason I allowed the nurse to bring you back here is so you can see your baby when they do the ultrasound."

"Our baby," Raif said.

"No." Lucinda shook her head. "This baby is mine and we will co-parent but this baby will never be ours because there is no longer an us."

"What?" Raif stumbled back slightly as he felt his knees go weak.

"We can't be together."

"You can't say that! We had a misunderstanding and we need to talk about it. I didn't come all of this way for you to shut me out."

"That's not up to you to decide," Lucinda replied as she folded her arms and raised her chin.

"Excuse me?" Raif drew his head back. "Well, it's not up to you to decide either!"

Lucinda was about to respond when the ultrasound tech walked into the room with her rolling cart. The woman was all smiles as she greeted them and seemed oblivious to the tension in the air as she began explaining the procedure. Once she was done she clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Now, are you two ready to see your little love muffin for the first time?"

"Yes," Raif and Lucinda replied at the same time causing their eyes to flash to one another.

"Well then let's get you set up!" the tech clapped again.

As the woman began applying gel to Lucinda's abdomen, Raif wanted nothing more than to hold her hand but instead, he clutched his fingers around the bed railing.

Every muscle suddenly tensed as he waited to see if their baby was ok.