When the doctors explained to me my injuries, I couldn't have cared less. There were only two thoughts on my mind. How grateful I was to be alive and how grateful that my beautiful wife and children were by my side.
It was a shame that I never got to meet the kid who saved my life. I would've probably given him the largest hug I could ever give (with my non-broken arm of course). As I began giving each of my kids a kiss, the words: "They all could have lost me" began to swarm my mind.
Abigail told me she gave the kid a ride home and got to know him a little. Alex Cooper. That's definitely a name I'll remember forever.
"Who would have thought a teenager would know such spectacular fighting moves?" I said at one point to Abigail in my hospital room.
"He's actually not a teenager. He told me he was in his late twenties."
"Late twenties? Are you sure? That kid didn't look or sound older than fourteen."
"Nope, he's a twenty-eight-year-old man. And he's a father."
"What? That's bizarre."
I looked at all my children for a moment. They all stood next to my bed with giant smiles on their faces, obviously happy that Daddy was going to be okay. Well, almost all of them were happy. Seth was in a grumpy mood because he wanted to climb in the hospital bed with me, but Abigail told him not to and he sat on the floor with a scowl on his face. That's my little boy.
"Alex seems to be a really great father," Abigail said. "He comforted the kids in the waiting room when they were crying. He gave them hugs and sang Seth the alphabet. I've never seen a man comfort someone's else's children like that."
"Probably because they're too scared too," I replied.
"Maybe."
"I never actually got to meet him. I need to. I never got to thank him. I need...I need to pay him back somehow."
"He did give me his number."
"I'm going to pay him back. As soon as I get out of the hospital. I'm going to pay him back."
Rosie leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled and put my fingers through her hair with my free arm. It felt so great to be alive.
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