Twelve
Second Chances
Cooper continued to hold me in his arms for a long time. I could tell there was something on his mind. He had said that there were things he wanted to tell me, and I figured I was about to learn them whether I was ready to hear it or not. He finally took my hand and led me to the couch. “We need to talk.” He blew out a breath, trying to get his thoughts together. “I need you to sit down.”
“Okay,” I said softly.
His voice sounded serious. It unnerved me. Then his features softened and he took both of my hands in his before speaking again.
“Five years ago I was here visiting my grandparents. I had been working a lot and was desperate for a break. I decided to go for a run to clear my head. It was getting late in the day and the sun was going down. I don’t know how long I had been running when I heard screams coming from somewhere. I stopped dead in my tracks, listening so I could determine where they were coming from. There was an open field between neighborhoods and I ran toward it. When I got there I saw something that to this day completely enrages me. A man was beating a girl. She was so small and fighting back as hard as she could. Before I could get to her he hit her one final time and I saw her body fall to the ground. I thought he’d killed her. She didn’t move after that. The screams… they stopped. I was running toward them and the man took off. I never saw his face. I wanted to chase after him and beat the shit out of him. No, I wanted to murder him, but I couldn’t leave that girl there. I took her pulse and she was still alive. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her, yelling for someone to help. I don’t know how far I had to run before a man stepped off his porch and ran toward me. I knew he must be the girl’s father. He had been waiting for her to come home, I guess. I told him we needed to get her to the hospital and I remember being in the back seat of his car with this girl in my lap, her body all broken. Her face was forever etched in my memory. I’ll never forget what she looked like.”
Cooper kept his head down, not once looking up at me, and I saw a tear fall down his cheek.
“I waited around in the emergency room. I had to know if that girl was going to live or if I had gotten to her too late. Her father was pacing and crying and he would stop every now and then to pray. He talked to me about his daughter, how she was the light in his world and how she was all he had. She was a beautiful twenty year old girl with her whole life ahead of her. All I could do was listen and offer him a shoulder to cry on because he needed somebody. I felt completely helpless. I couldn’t help his daughter, and I couldn’t take away his pain. All we could do was wait. The waiting was unbearable. After several hours of waiting, praying, and hoping, we finally got the news that she was going to be okay. I watched her dad fall to his knees thanking God for saving her.
“I told the police everything I saw. I wasn’t much help, though. I couldn’t give a good description of the man since I never saw his face or got close enough to him to identify him in any way other than he was wearing a blue shirt and jeans. I stayed as long as I could and talked to the police several times, but then I had to get back to South Carolina.
“Every so often, I would think about that girl. I thought about her a lot, actually. She was on my mind constantly. I called her dad a couple of times to see how she was doing. He told me that she had no memory of what happened, and that they never found the animal that beat her. I felt partly responsible. I should have gotten a better look at him.”
Cooper let out a breath and clenched his fists in his lap.
“Her dad told me that she was trying to cope, knowing something bad had happened to her but having no memory of it, that she needed time. I wanted to come back to see her. I felt this unexplainable connection to her and…” Cooper blew out a breath. “I finally showed up at her house one day. After months of thinking about her I just had to. When I walked up on the porch her dad came out. He told me she wasn’t home, and that she had moved away. I knew I missed my chance to get to know her. I remember her dad’s words. He said, ‘I’m sorry, son. Maybe your paths will cross again someday.’ I left there that day thinking I would never see her again. And for five years that girl has been on my mind and forgetting her doesn’t work. I’ve tried.”
Cooper’s expression changed. He turned toward me and held my face in the palms of his hands. “And then I saw her again… at the airport, standing beside my grandmother. It was you. Your face was etched into my memory. I knew who you were before my grandmother even told me. And when she said you were back because your father died my heart broke for you. I wanted to take away your pain all over again. I knew you were going to need time to grieve. So I stayed away. Again. Until my grandmother intervened.”
“Cooper…I—”
“Shhh,” he said, placing one finger over my lips. “Don’t say anything yet. Let me finish.”
He reached for both of my hands again and he placed them in his lap. “I never knew if this was something I needed to bring up. You never mentioned any of this to me, so I figured this was something you wanted to bury. And your heart was so broken. But the reason I’m finally telling you is because I need you to know that I understand where you’re coming from. I know what happened to you. It’s why I’ve insisted on taking things slow. For you. If you don’t think I see how overwhelmed you are when you’re around me, you would be wrong. I do see it. I see so much of you. I see how beautiful your long brown hair is…how it reminds me of caramel and how you use it as a curtain sometimes when you want to hide your face. And did you know that your brown eyes have flecks of gold in them? It’s true. I see that sometimes you chew your bottom lip and how your cheeks flush whenever I get close to you. How you sometimes bite your nails when you get nervous. I see how big your heart is…your amazing sense of humor. And I see a girl who gets scared sometimes, and I want that girl to know that I understand why. I want that girl to know that I’m willing to give her whatever she needs. I want that girl to trust me.”
Cooper reached in his front pocket and pulled out something shiny and then wrapped it around my wrist. “I got this bracelet for you, to remind you who you are.”
Engraved on the bracelet was: Delicate, Bold, & Beautiful
I traced the words with my finger as my brain rushed to catch up with everything.
“Like the flower, Lily,” he said. “That’s how I see you.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered. “Thank you. You’ve been like my guardian angel and…” A tear fell onto the bracelet. “All this time, and I never knew it was you who saved me.”
My mind tracked back to that day on the plane when Ms. Sophie was convinced we were meant to meet that day and asked me if I believed in fate. I had no idea how fate was working in my life until now.