Apple Season (September) Part 4

 He was in a canoe with twelve-year-old Craig and four-year-old Lisa. It was the last day of his stay with them, and they were going to have a picnic at the gazebo. Mr. and Mrs. Kreider and 14-year-old Carol were in the second canoe not far behind. He remembered being frustrated at not being allowed to swim, but the Kreiders thought the lake would be too cold for him even at this point in the summer. Lisa had been fidgety, complaining constantly that it was boring. She hated wearing the life vest -- it was itchy and it was choking her. Fabian tried to amuse her, as much to get his mind off of his own frustration as to ease hers, but she got more restless and grouchy as they moved along. They reached the pavilion and Craig got out to tie up the canoe. Lisa stood to follow him. Somehow, she had managed to squirm out of her life vest.

 "Lisa! No! Not yet! Sit down!" Craig barked. There was a chorus of screams and warnings from the other canoe and Fabian tried to grab Lisa. He managed to touch her shirt, but she'd already lost her balance in the canoe she'd set to wildly rocking. He wasn't grasping hard enough and the shirt pulled away from his hand as she went over the side, leaving the feeling of cloth on his hands. Fabian saw her strike her head hard on the wharf. A large splash. Bubbles; a cloud of red blood and brown hair beneath the surface of the lake. Without even thinking, he stood and shed his life vest. The depth marker was on green -- it was really deep here. He had to catch her before she sank too far.

 "Fabian! No! Stop!" Fabian wasn't sure where the shout came from and had no intention of obeying. He knew what could happen and didn't care. As long as he reached Lisa in time. He took a deep breath and dove in. The water was green, cool and clear. The unconscious little girl was small enough that he didn't need to push very hard to get her to the surface. Craig and Mr. Kreider were waiting and pulled Lisa out of the water. Fabian swam to the rope ladder and climbed up. Mrs. Kreider wrapped him in a towel. He thought she looked like she wanted to yell at him.

 "She hit her head," he said. "I had to!" Mrs. Kreider hugged him.

 "I know," she said. "Thank you."

 They took Fabian and Lisa to the hospital. Fabian remembered a doctor and nurses fussing over his pulse and listening to his heart, but could only think about one thing. He begged to be allowed to see Lisa before he left. The doctor, a young Asian man, wanted to observe him and monitor his heart. Fabian realized, remembering this, that the doctor was Dr. Wong -- Keith's father. 

 Mrs. Kreider brought Fabian's things to the hospital so he could go home from there. Mr. Kreider eventually talked the doctor into letting Fabian visit Lisa. The doctor told Mr. Kreider and Fabian that Lisa had a concussion and that she was a very sick little girl. She could end up having chronic headaches or dizziness for many years.

 Fabian entered the room. Lisa looked very, very small in the hospital bed. She had a large bandage on her head. She opened her blue, blue eyes when she heard him come into the room.

 "You saved me," she said. "Mommy said you saved me. Thank you."

 Fabian smiled and pulled a stuffed lion from the brown paper bag of some of his things he carried.

 "This is for you," he said. "His name is Leo. You've been really brave, Lisa. When I was really, really, sick, my mom made this for me and it helped me get better. I want you to have it."

 "Fabian?" Lisa's voice broke through his concentration. "What's wrong? You're really scaring me."

 He shook himself, took a sip of iced tea, and brought his thoughts back to the present. When he'd met Lisa's sister, Carol said that he'd been brave. That was what she'd meant. He'd risked his heart stopping in the cold lake water to save Lisa from drowning.

 "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't remember a lot of my childhood because when I was ten, I had rheumatic fever. My parents had the carnival and couldn't take me along, so Dad made arrangements with his old college roommate for me to spend the summer with his family. All this summer, I've had dreams -- memories, really -- of the pavilion on the wharf, lots of yelling, and someone in the water. I didn't know what it meant. Until I saw this." He picked up the lion. Lisa gaped at him.

 "That was you? You saved my life?"

 "Did Franco tell you some kind of story?"

 "No -- he never mentioned it to me. Why would he do such a thing?"

 "Because he knew I didn't remember things and took advantage of it. I guess he thought it was enough to tell me that a little girl drowned here during my stay that summer. I've been wondering for months if I had something to do with it."

 "What?! But that's not true!"

 "I know that now, but it's been nagging at me. He said he overheard it at the diner. For a while, I thought that was why you broke up with me. Because you thought I pushed a little girl out of a canoe when I was ten."

 Lisa stood, ducked around the picnic table, and hugged him. He held her as tightly as he dared -- if he'd squeeze as tightly as he wanted to, he'd crush her.

 "Oh, Fabian, that's awful!" she said. "Why didn't you ask someone?"

 "Lisa, if you had no idea what really happened and someone told you something like that, would you be inclined to ask a lot of questions?"

 "Good point." She sat net to him on the bench. Then she touched his face. "Promise me something." She looked at him, her expression almost fierce. "You gave me this ring not even an hour ago." She showed him the diamond on her left hand. "This means that we are partners. You may defend me, protect me, and even save my life. All I ask is that you give me the chance to do the same for you. Please tell me when things bother you from now on."

 "Lisa ...."

 "Fabian. Either you trust me with your life or this means nothing." She gestured with her left hand again. "I could have helped you. I could at least have told you that no little girls have drowned at the pavilion since I can remember. And maybe we could have figured out that because of you, I didn't."

 He gaped at her. He had arranged the proposal, picked out a special ring, gotten her father's and brother's blessing, all without really understanding what it was about. It suddenly dawned on him that she would have done the same for him. That she felt exactly the same way he did just as intensely as he did. He knew she loved him, but didn't realize until this moment exactly what that meant.