"107, excellent. Last month you were only 96 pounds." I step off the scale and slip my boots back on.
"So does that mean I can stop coming?" Dr Cullen frowns.
"I'm afraid not. We'd like you to be at least 115 to stop coming, and you're not quite there yet." I sink down in the chair and huff. It's been over 7 months since I've been out of the hospital. I was discharged at 100 pounds and at first I lost weight, but I've been steadily gaining for about 3 months now. Unfortunately it's not enough to get me out of here, but at least I almost feel healthy again. Nobody looks at me like I'm going to die at any second anymore.
"So same time next month?"
"Actually Jillian, could I talk to you for a minute? It's about Emmett." I stop in the middle of pulling on my coat.
"What about Emmett? I haven't heard from him in months." Dr Cullen sits on his chair.
"I know. I was the one that stopped the letters."
"What do you mean?" I sink back into my chair.
"He wrote you for about a month after his last letter but I never gave them to you. I didn't think it was right that he give you false hope that you might see eachother again someday, so I did what I thought was right. I told Emmett that you had asked me to tell him that you'd moved on and he should do the same. I had hoped, in time, that he would move on. Such is not the case. He gets more depressed as the days go on. He's not getting better."
"And what do you want from me?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I still don't think any of this is right or safe, but I can't stand to see him in so much pain. I don't know what to do." This is the first time I'd seen Dr Cullen look anything but his professional, happy, composed self, and I have to say I don't like it at all. It doesn't seem right for him to look like this. Wrong, somehow.
"Well, I'm not sure what I can do, but could you at least give me Emmett's letters?" Dr Cullen opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a stack of letters all tied together with a string. I take it from him and count them. There's 8 of them.
"I'm sorry, Jillian. I was only doing what I thought was right. I can see now that it wasn't, and I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'd thought he grew tired of me and was happy enough with his new life that he didn't want me in it."
"Oh no. He's miserable."
"Tell me about your family. Emmett didn't tell me very much."
"Well what did Emmett tell you?"
"He told me that you and your wife took in Edward and Rosalie because their mother died."
"Anything else?" I try to remember back to his brief letters.
"I don't think so. Why, what else is there?"
"Did he tell you how he came to live with us?"
"No."
"Well, I was also hiking that weekend and found him after the bear had attacked him. I own a home in the forest and thought it better to take him there than risk taking him to a hospital. He was in a coma for a while. I asked him if he wanted to stay with me so I could continue treating him, or if he wanted to go to a hospital. He decided to stay with my family and I."
"But why didn't he ever call or come see his family? They all still think he's dead!"
"It's all very complicated. It took him a long time to convince me to let him contact you. That first time he did so without telling me." I look down at my boots.
"Am I ever going to see him again?"
"Maybe one day. I can't promise you anything though. It's touch and go for a while."
"But why? What's so complicated about it?" Dr Cullen sighs.
"It's rather difficult to explain. Explaining would effect my entire family's safety, and I can't risk that."
"Can I please see him? If only from a distance?" Dr Cullen looks at me sadly.
"I can talk it over with my family tonight, if you wish. Come back tomorrow and I'll let you know what they've decided."
"Thank you! I promise I won't do anything to risk any of your family's safety." Dr Cullen chuckles and stands up. I do the same and follow him into the main lobby of the hospital where my father is waiting.
"See you tomorrow, Jillian." Father stands as I approach him and puts his arm around my shoulder, steering me out of the hospital and toward the car.
"You need to go back tomorrow?"
"Yeah, Dr Cullen took some blood and I get the results tomorrow." I hop in the passenger seat while my father starts the car.
"I see. What time do you need to be there?"
"He never said. Same time as always, I guess." Nothing else is said as we make our way home.
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