Through Dreams: Book 2

By Carrie Remick

Paul and Sara are the very definition of soul mates, destined for true love. Their path was written in the stars before they were born. Sara's off to college to become a schoolteacher. Paul got a spot at the fire station in the same town Sara is attending college in. The world is bright and inviting for them. Their dreams are coming true.

Knowing they want to spend the rest of their lives together had them standing at the altar before venturing off to fulfill their dreams. Sadly, on the night of their wedding, fate decided to test their love to its very limits, throwing them for a loop with no relief in sight. Stuck in different realms, they must find the path back to each other.

The happy ending they both envisioned for themselves is spinning out of control. Sara's world has all color. Now she has to fight to be strong for the love of her life. Sara's determination to be the pillar of strength for Paul becomes the light that guides him through the dream realm, showing him the way home. Paul is lost in a realm different from anything he has ever known. He must battle creatures of myth that are the stuff nightmares are made of to get back to his love.

Sara's soft cries are heard from the sky, pleading for him to fight his way back to her. She is his lifeline home, his driving force, the lighthouse in the storm, his beacon of hope. She is what he fights for.

Sara's unwavering love for Paul shines forgiveness in unexpected ways. She must find the strength to wake up every day and the determination to not give up on their future.

Don't miss how the story began with Written in the Stars' Book 1 of Paul and Sara's story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781646542086

Book preview

Chapter 1

Sara

Phil managed to get me in the police car and to the hospital. I don’t remember the ride at all—just the lights from the car, casting the only colors I could see outside the window as he drove us to hospital. Phil pulled up to the emergency door of the hospital, and even that seemed deprived of color. As soon as he opened the back door of the police car for me, I flew out and rushed for the emergency doors. Mom and Dad where waiting inside by the doors for me with their arms wide open. I rushed into them for comfort, begging my parents to tell me this was just a nightmare. And just like a little kid who had a bad dream, I was looking at them and wanted them to reassure me it was just that. That it was a terrible, horrible dream. But they never said those words to me.

Sara, listen to me, Dad was saying instead. His words and movements seemed in slow motion. Even everyone rushing around the hospital seemed to move in slow motion, and the sounds everyone was making—people talking, rushing around, doors opening, sirens from the ambulance pulling in by the doors—all sounded far off in the distance.

My world had lost all color, sound, and meaning. I was looking at my dad, and I could see is mouth moving, but his voice wasn’t penetrating through the thick cloud of fog that engulfed me. Dad’s mouth kept moving. He was grabbing my shoulders, trying to get me to focus on him. I was so lost, I was shaking my head no. Forcing myself to concentrate on my dad to hear what he was saying was so hard.

Sara, Dad was saying, I forced myself to focus solely on him. Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Everything started rushing by me in fast forward, and then bam, I was back in my body, the third-person view gone. The sounds that were muffled just a few seconds before were loud and overpowering. I had to cover my ears with my hands and try to get a grip on what was going on. Dad just held my shoulders tight and let me adjust. After a few seconds, I got my bearings and let go of my ears and looked at my dad with what I’m sure was the most pitiful look I had ever given him before in my life.

Dad, I said. Dad, Paul is hurt. I felt like a child and not a married woman, wanting my daddy to fix what was wrong. I was holding myself together by a thin thread. My eyes were full of tears that I refused to allow to fall. If the tears fell, then it would make it more real.

Yes, honey. I know. Dad was talking slow to me, trying to keep me grounded and not run and hide back inside my head. You need to pull it together so we can go see what the doctors have to say. Mary and Frank are up there now.

I tried to talk, but no sound came out, so I nodded and allowed him to lead me in the direction that would bring me closer to Paul.

Somewhere between the front doors and the elevator ride, I pulled myself together and found the courage to face what was coming. Paul needed me, and I would be strong for him and our baby. Yes, I was pregnant. The only ones who knew were my mom and me. I never got a chance to tell Paul. I was going to tell him tonight when he came back…but he didn’t come back.

If I wanted Paul back, he had to fight, and I had to help him. By the time the elevator doors opened, I emerged like the queen Paul said I was.

Mary came running to me when she saw us. She was a complete mess. Her black hair was in disarray. Her tears left black mascara lines down her checks. I have never seen her without being a picture of perfection. I hugged her small frame tight and looked in her eyes. She was so lost. Mary, Paul needs us. We have to be strong at least till we know what is going on. She snuffled, wiped her eyes, and nodded. I looked over to Frank. He was a little better than Mary, but not much. Has the doctor talked to you yet? I asked him over Mary’s head.

A little, Sara. They took him back to surgery. He hit his head hard, and he can’t breathe on his own. We won’t know anything till he’s out of surgery, Frank said.

Okay. I looked at my parents and my in-laws. Well…then we wait, and we pray, and we send Paul nothing but good thoughts, I said and walked over to the private waiting room, where Frank and Mary just walked out of when they saw us walk out of the elevator, to do just that…pray.

Chapter 2

Sara

Nine Hours into the Nightmare

We sat in the waiting room for eight hours before the doctor came to talk to us. Nurses came in to give updates every hour. The updates weren’t very helpful. A nurse would come and say the same thing over every time. Paul is still in surgery and, honey, don’t cry. It’s a good thing he’s fighting. Then they would go back to do whatever they were doing.

The waiting room was a nice size with ample room to pace back and forth. The walls were painted a light tan color and trimmed bright white. They had a couple of pictures on the wall of different scenery in the mountains. One that I was particularly fond of was of a log cabin with a creek running in front of it. Smoke was coming out of the chimney, and two rocking chairs sat empty on the porch. A mama deer with her baby stood by the creek. The fawn was drinking while the mama was keeping an eye out for potential danger. Tall bright green trees covered almost every inch of the yard. It was very easy to imagine that being Paul’s and my home. We could be lost in the wilderness together and be perfectly happy. I spent a lot of time staring at that picture, dreaming of Paul and I having coffee and sitting in the empty rocking chairs, deciding what path we would hike on today so we could explore the magic of the mountains and the animals that lived there. It was that daydream that kept me from falling apart. All I wanted to do was crumble to the ground and cry till there was nothing left of me, and I could dissolve into the carpet and disappear from the all-consuming pain I was feeling. It kept me sane.

The room had two light brown leather reclining chairs side by side on the back wall. On each side of the chairs was dark wood end tables. On the right wall were two more of the same light brown chairs. On the other side of the room was a matching light brown couch. In the center of the room was a dark-colored wood coffee table that matched the two end tables. The coffee table had magazines placed on it. I couldn’t tell you what magazines were on it. I just stared at the painting and the doors to the surgery wing. Our waiting room door looked out to the hallway that led to the surgery wing.

It took a while, but Mary finally fell into a fitful sleep on the couch with her head on Frank’s lap. Poor Frank. He had one hand rubbing Mary’s head, and his other hand was covering his eyes, trying to hide his tears. He looked like he aged twenty years in one night. His handsome face had a heavy five-o’clock shadow. His eyes had lost all the joy that was usually present in them. Now pain showed through them.

My mom and dad sat near the Weatherborns on the chairs on the back wall, not saying anything and just holding each other’s hand.

I had been pacing the floor for the last three hours. I couldn’t sit anymore. The uncertainty of the situation with Paul had me on the edge. I paced back and forth, glancing toward the hall that the nurse kept coming from, waiting to see a doctor walk out. For three hours, my pacing held no such luck. I was about to go to the nurse’s station and ask for an update when I saw a doctor walking out the doors, down the hall, and toward our waiting room. I knew without a shadow of a doubt this was the man working to save my beloved’s life. He held the knowledge that I spent the last eight hours looking for. I steeled myself and waited for him to walk up to me.

Ms. Weatherborn? he asked me. I exhaled a huge breath I didn’t even know I was holding till it was time to talk to him.

Yes, I am Paul’s wife. How is he? I was surprised at how strong and calm I sounded when in reality I was barely holding it together. My knees where trembling and on the verge of giving out on me. I needed to get straight to the point. My heart couldn’t take it anymore. Small talk was not an option.

My parents were standing around me like my own little army waiting for news.

He made it through surgery. He is a fighter. I thought we had lost him a few times, but he was having none of that. The doctors smiled at me. He had a lot of internal bleeding, but we found it and was able to fix it. He took a second to let it sink in. I just kept staring at him. The trembling spread to my hands now. Paul hit his head hard on the cement. Right now, he is in a medically induced coma. Again, the doctor took a second to see if we were comprehending what he was saying. The impact of being struck by the car collapsed his left lung. We were able to repair it, and it is functioning. Paul was without oxygen for a few minutes before the cops got there. I was told a good Samaritan jumped in and performed CPR till the cops showed up, but it is unclear how long Paul was without oxygen till they helped him. We won’t know the extent of damage done to his brain tell he wakes up.

When should that be? I asked point blank.

Right now, his body is healing from all it has gone through. The best thing for him now is to sleep. For right now, I will leave him in the medically induced coma. We will reduce his medication later today. It couldn’t be past 10:00 a.m. The doctor took my hands and said to me, I’m on call all day today, Sara. I will check on him every chance I get. If he makes it through today and tonight, he has a really good chance of pulling through this. Like I said before, he is a fighter. Looking at the others, he said, For now you guys are welcome to go sit with him. The doctor finished. Amy is our head nurse on this floor, and she will take you to him.

Thank you, I said. Doctor?

Yes, Sara, he said.

I am very sorry, but I didn’t get your name.

Dr. Liam Williams, he said.

Dr. Williams, thank you so much for working so hard to save my husband. He is my everything, I said through the tears that were threatening to fall again from my eyes. I had to bite my bottom lip to keep it from quivering like the rest of my body.

Sara, it is a pleasure to have helped Paul. I can tell you that young man loves you very much. I know Dr. Williams was saying that to try to make me feel better. In a weird way, it did make me feel a little better. Never have I seen such a strong drive to live in a head trauma patient before. You two are very blessed to have found each other, and I will do everything in my power to see the two of you get to spend a long life together. He hugged me tight. I held on to him like he was my lifeline. In a way he was my lifeline because he was the one who saved Paul.

After he released me, he smiled to the others before he turned and walked back down the hall to disappear behind the double doors that read Emergency Personnel Only in big black letters that stood out on the white double swinging doors. I was left to follow Amy and the parents to where Paul was sleeping. That was how I was going to think of it from now on. Paul was just sleeping. Amy took us right to his room. At the door, before we walked in, Amy stopped us.

Before we go in, I want you to know he is hooked up to a lot of machines. It will be hard to see him like that. I want to warn you so it’s not such a shock walking in. Amy gave us a second to prepare ourselves. Are you ready? she asked. After we all nodded, she turned and pulled the curtain back to walk in his room.

It stole my breath away seeing my strong husband lying lifeless in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him everywhere. I covered my mouth before I could let a cry out. Can he hear us? I asked Amy in a hushed whisper before she could leave.

I believe they can, dear. I think we know when our loved ones are near even in a dream world. Just hold his hand and talk to him, dear. He needs to have a reason to leave his dream, Amy said to me.

I walked slowly over to the bed. My hand hovered over Paul’s head for a minute. I was scared I would hurt him if I touched him. Paul had more tubes and wires coming out of him than I have ever seen in one person before. Two bags of liquid hung high from the front side of Paul’s bed. One was for his breakfast, and the other for his medications. It was so scary to watch the man I loved more than life lay still and lifeless like this. Even a machine was breathing for him. It made a loud noise followed by Paul’s chest raising up in the air then falling back down, only to have the noise repeat again along with his chest raising and falling. Taking a deep breath, I let it out, telling myself this was my Paul. I touched his forehead gently and moved his hair out of the way.

Paul, my love. I’m here was all I managed to say.

Mary and Frank walked over to the other side of the bed. Paul, honey, it’s your mom. We really need you to wake up, Mary cried at him. She was holding his lifeless hand. Frank was holding Mary in his arms, afraid she would fall. Mary’s eyes were so full of pain. Frank’s eyes held a hint of fear—fear for Paul and fear for Mary.

I looked at my mother-in-law who I loved so much and smiled the best reassuring smile I could muster. She lost it and started crying so hard, Frank took her from the room. I watched him carry her as her legs gave out and she started breaking down. I looked at Mom and smiled softly to show her I was okay if she wanted to help Mary. With the three of them gone, the room seemed so much bigger.

Paul’s bed was on the back wall next to a big window. The blinds were open, allowing sunlight to fill the room. Paul’s bed was surrounded by different machines that had different jobs, all with the same intent to keep Paul alive. This room was all white—white walls, a white tile floor. The wall Paul’s headboard rested on was lit up with different plugs and buttons and blood pressure machine. It reminded me of a dashboard for an airplane with all the bells and whistles to help keep the patient alive. On the other side wall across form Paul’s bed was the door in and out of the room. A TV was hung up in the corner. There was a little sink in the room to wash hands with. There was another door in the back corner on the other side of the window. It led to the bathroom. There was a shower big enough to hold a chair. It had a toilet and another sink. Other than that, the room was bare. It contained a few chairs, one by the door and one by the wall close to the bathroom.

Dad had settled into the chair by the door across the room from Paul’s bed, giving me the space I needed but giving me his strength by staying close so I wasn’t alone.

I gently grabbed Paul’s hand and put it to my face so I could rub the back of it over my check. Paul, my love. I am here. My tears flowed from my eyes like a dam that exploded. I couldn’t stop them even if I tried, so I did the next best thing and ignored them. I won’t leave here until you leave with me. Fight, Paul. Fight your way back to me. Don’t you leave me here alone. I kissed his hand gently then said to him, You once said you couldn’t live in a world I wasn’t in. Well, I’m in this one, Paul. I’m right here, so come back to me. Don’t make me live in a world without you. This world has no color, Paul. It has no meaning. Please, Paul. I pleaded with him to hear me. I was going to tell you last night after the wedding, but things got all messed up. I placed his lifeless hand on my belly. Paul, this is our baby. You knew our baby was growing even before I did. Every night you kissed my stomach and said, ‘If you’re in there, I want you to know your wanted and loved.’ Our child needs you as much as I do. Don’t leave us here. Fight with all you have, Paul. Fight your way back to us, my love. I will not give up on you. Don’t you give up on me. My tears slowed to a small trickle now.

I put his hand back down and kissed his cheek. I looked over at Dad. He didn’t ever pretend not to hear what I said. Standing up, Dad opened his arms, and I charged into them.

There, there, peanut. If there is a way to come back, Paul will find it. Congratulations, my little peanut. You need to take care of yourself, too, for the baby, Sara, Dad said to me.

I will, Dad. But Paul needs me, too, and I can’t leave him, I said, very determined to stay.

Okay, Dad said, not wanting to fight with me. I walked back over to Paul, pulling the chair next to the bathroom wall with me as I went. I sat down next to his bed and took his hand in mine. I placed my forehead on our enclosed hands, resting on the bed by Paul’s side, and prayed. I stayed that way for a couple of hours until the doctor came back in.

I stood up and walked back over to stand by Dad’s side while the doctor looked Paul over. He read the charts and checked Paul’s vitals. The doctor used his little flashlight on Paul’s pupils. After Dr. Williams was done, I walked back and took my place by Paul’s side, taking his hand back in mine. Paul’s hand gave me strength. At least I could touch him. That was real.

How is he? I asked with forced bravado. I was scared to death Paul’s condition had changed for the worse somehow in the last couple of hours.

He is doing very well, Sara. In fact, I’m going to try and reduce the medication we have Paul on to try and wake him up now. Once all the sedatives are out of Paul’s system, we will be able to monitor his brain activity to see if there is brain damage, Dr. Williams said with a pleased look on his face.

Oh, that is good news, I said to him. They wouldn’t take Paul off his meds if he wasn’t doing better.

It will take a while for all the medication to leave his body. I have instructed nurse Amy to slow the medication drip down, so by the morning I’m hoping he will be off of it. If it proves too much for Paul’s body to handle, we will turn his medication back on and give him longer to heal before we try again. Dr. Williams looked so hopeful.

What if there is damage to his brain? What do we do then? I asked, looking down at the love of my life.

Well, if there is damage, we will see how bad it is. We will see if he can walk, talk, respond to you. If he does, then we might be able to reteach him so someday he might be able to function on his own. If he can’t do any of those, then we talk about if you want to keep him alive by machine or if you want to let him go. I sucked in my breath, trying as hard as I could not to cry. But then, Sara, there might be no damage at all. Those are the worst-case scenarios. All we can do is wait and see. He touched my arm reassuringly.

Paul is strong, I said. He will come home, and he will be fine. He will be changing diapers right beside me, holding little baby hands and teaching them to walk. First day of school, Paul will be there right beside me through all the milestones have we waiting for us, I said with all the confidence in the world. Won’t you, my love? I looked back at Paul and rubbed his forehead. You will come home, and I will wait right here for you. Looking over at the doctor, I said to him, This man is my world. Save him. I don’t care what it takes. Just save him.

Dr. Williams nodded. I told you I will do everything in my power to save him, and that is what I will do. But in the end, Sara, it is God’s call, not mine. He was getting ready to leave.

Doctor, do you know how Mary is? I asked.

She is having a very hard time dealing with everything, so I gave her a sedative and she is sleeping in the next room. The hospital isn’t very busy today, so I gave her a room. That way, she is here. It will help her to rest knowing she is close to her son, Dr. Williams said to me.

Thank you, I said, not releasing Paul’s hand.

Your welcome, Sara. I’ll be back in to check on him in a few hours, he walked out the door, motioning for Dad to follow him.

I knew they were talking about me and what they needed to do if things went south for Paul. But I didn’t care. Let them talk. I wasn’t leaving Paul’s side, and I knew Paul would be fine. He had to be. We just started our lives together. Things were going to be fine. Paul was strong and healthy. He would get through this.

The nurse came in and turned down some of the buttons on Paul’s machines. Is that for his medication? I asked her.

Yes, it is, dear, she said. She had kindness in her eyes and a gentle soothing voice.

Now what? I asked her, looking her in the eyes, feeling her calmness ease some of my pain.

We wait, dear. She grabbed my hand and smiled at me. I was told by your father that you are expecting. I nodded yes but didn’t say anything else. That’s exciting, honey, she said with genuine excitement in her voice. A baby is a blessing. I know you want to be here for Paul, but don’t forget your baby needs you, too, okay? More so then Paul does. Don’t get me wrong. I think you being here talking to Paul is very important for his recovery. It’s just Paul has all of us nurses and doctors here caring for him. Your baby only has you. You need to get rest and food in you. It will take hours if not days for him to wake up once the medication wears off, dear, and we are taking him off slowly. Now is your time to sleep. When he does wake up, I have a feeling you won’t have much time for rest, she said to me with a kind smile.

I don’t want to leave him, Amy, I said. The weight of all of it was crushing down on me.

She smiled. Okay, dear. You just sit and I will see what I can do for you. She left me sitting in the chair, resting my forehead on Paul’s hand. It had to be 5:00 p.m. by then. It was well over twenty-four hours of no sleep.

Five minutes later, Amy came back in the room wheeling a bed in for me. She put it right next to Paul’s bed so it became one huge bed. I didn’t even wait to be asked. I climbed up on the bed. Exhaustion had sat in the moment I was on the bed. I was so close I could touch him, and that was what I did. I grabbed Paul’s hand and pulled it over to my bed and placed it on top of my stomach, the way he had every night since the first time we made love. Do you feel that, my love? It’s our baby, Paul. Fight to come back, my love. We need you.

Sara, try and get some sleep. Paul will need you at your strongest to take care of him and that baby, Amy said to me. I needed no more encouragement to rest. Closing my eyes, I drifted off to a restless sleep.

Chapter 3

Paul

Oh, Lord, am I sore. Every part of my body ached. What in the world happened? I just dropped Sara off at the hotel after our wedding. I wanted to give her a few minutes to get ready for the night that I had planned for her. I’m the luckiest man in the world. Sara was now my wife. I remember grabbing whip cream and strawberries. That was the last thing I remember. I wanted to eat them off Sara’s perfectly shaped body. So where was I, and why was it so dark? I’m pretty sure my eyes are opened, but I can’t see anything.

Trying to sit up was painful, so I just laid there, trying to focus on what was going on. Why in the world was there so much pain? It felt like my body was being held down by a very heavy elephant that I couldn’t see, but then I couldn’t see anything anyways. There might very well have been an elephant on me. I laid there for a few more minutes, trying to remember the last thing that happened to me. Maybe it might help in finding out where I was and how I got here. Trying to remember felt like reaching into a black hole. Nothing was coming to my mind on why I would be here. Okay, what do I remember?

Today I married Sara Write, giving her my last name and making her Mrs. Sara Weatherborn. That was a fact I knew for sure. No way could I forget being the luckiest man in the world to be blessed enough to marry my best friend. Sara is the most important person in my life. She made the prettiest bride I have ever seen. Watching her walk down the aisle toward me, I couldn’t control the rush of emotions I felt seeing this beautiful woman dressed up as a bride. And knowing she was my bride made it all the more wonderful. Talk about dreams coming true. She really was my dream coming true. Sara’s gorgeous long blond hair was curled in soft ringlets that caressed her beautiful face. Her green eyes were alive with a fire that I started in her. Somehow, for only having one week to get ready, she managed to find a dress that was made with her body in mind. It fit perfectly. It was tight in all the right spots and flowed in the rest. The ivy satin matched perfectly to her movements. The dress had a slit up her right leg, almost to her very sexy thigh. The back of the dress was cut so low you almost got a peek of her delightfully heart-shaped ass. The woman could drive me wild with just one look. I’m so happy we took a chance and turned our friendship into what we were always meant to be. We were soul mates. The fact we hid our feelings for so long was stupid on our parts, but at least we figured it out. Chuckling to myself, it sure didn’t take long for us to start the fire. It was one kiss, and there was no turning back after that.

Okay, fact two. I checked in to the hotel after the wedding and took Sara to the room. I wanted to run and get some things to help us further enjoy our night. I also wanted to give Sara time to freshen up and change into the nightie I found hidden in the closet a couple of nights ago, along with the oils she bought to enhance our pleasure or so the bottles said.

Fact three. I went to the store. I bought some things and was heading back to Sara. This was where my memory started getting fuzzy. There was a woman in the way of a speeding car. She panicked and froze, watching the car charge at her. I was the closest one to her, so I ran and shoved her with all my might to get her out of the way. I hope I didn’t hurt her too much.

Oh yeah, it was right after I shoved her out of the way. The car hit me. Last thing I can remember is flying through the air over the top of the car. I don’t even remember hitting the ground, which was more than likely a good thing. Okay, so where would the car have thrown me that it was this dark? I don’t think I could be under the car, because I flew up over the top of the car. So where was I that it was so dark then?

At least I could tell now my eyes were opened. Looking up in the sea of blackness stood one lone star shining bright in the night’s velvety sky. I watched it for a while as it crossed the sky. The farther the star moved across the sky, the lighter my surroundings became. It went from a dark black of nothingness to lighter shades