This short story in multiple parts is dedicated to my sister who originally introduced me to a sassy and spirited youth named Trixie Belden whose personality and group of special friends aided both of us in surviving some very tough times. And since the stories came to an end, without a satisfactory ending for any of us, I had to create my own story to get Jim and Trixie to finally admit their feelings to one another. Even if in this story, Jim encounters a sad tragedy that almost takes his love away, before she can learn that she’s always been his girl in his heart.

 

Almost Too Late

 

Part One

"No, Honey, they say she is going to be fine in time." Jim tried to calm his sister’s worries, as his stomach fought against the nauseating hospital smells. "She hasn’t regained consciousness yet," he continued, "but they say that we were very lucky to make it out alive."

"How did this happen?" Honey asked in a bewildered tone, tears clogging her throat. "What were you two doing together anyway?"

Jim had known that that question would be asked of him and had debated how to answer his sweet-hearted sister without making her feel somewhat responsible for what had taken place. "Honey," he began, "it’s…it’s a long story. We were going to surprise you." He sighed heavily. "God, Honey, how could this have happened? Why with all her fire and all her spirit, why does it have to be Trixie to get into a bind again?" His voice fairly cracked with these last heavy words.

"Jim, we both know Trixie…this won’t hold her up one iota. She’ll be out of that hospital bed before any of us can come visit her!" Honey spoke with quiet determination, as if to convince both herself and her adopted brother that her words were true. "She just has to!"

Jim sighed heavily once more. "I’m sorry that I had to call and tell you this, Honey. We were planning a much different reunion with you. Look, I’ve got to call the rest of her family, as well as the other Bob-Whites. I promise to contact you as soon as I’m told anything else."

"I understand, Jim. I’ll tell Brian what’s going on as soon as he gets back to the ship today. Until we talk again, you’re both in our hearts…and everyone will be praying for you."

"Thanks, Sis," Jim said gratefully, but wearily. "It means so much to me that I was able to get a hold of you before I had to call everyone else. We love you, too!"

After that, they said their good-byes; Jim hung up the phone and slumped back against the stark wall, closing his eyes to summon some more strength. How can she be unconscious in that hospital bed, when all I got was a broken wrist? Where's the justice in this? Trixie, honey, you’ve got to wake up!

Jim realized that he didn’t have the emotional stamina to call everyone else yet with the bad news. He found himself walking down the pristine hallway again towards Trixie’s IC room. He stopped in his tracks just after entering the door. A shaft of light was strewn against her bed, spotlighting the left side of her body.

The site of Trixie’s bruised and swollen face covered by her trademark corn-silk curls, fairly physically struck Jim in the stomach with one hard wallop. One half of her face was swollen more than twice it’s normal size, with a myriad of purple hues contrasting against the pale creamy skin of the rest of her face.

Jim moved slowly to her bedside, picking her lifeless left hand with his uninjured right without thinking. Oh, Trixie girl, come back to me! You have to be okay! There is so much that I need to tell you. I had it all planned. This trip was going to be our chance and I was finally going to get over myself, and my fears of losing the most important person in my life, and tell you how I so deeply feel. Honey, come back to me!

Trixie stirred in her bed as if she heard his beckoning thoughts, but she did not awaken. Jim sat back in the chair he had formally vacated in order to call Honey, not letting loose the cold hand within his grasp. He started thinking back to the early hours of the day before any of this had happened. He remembered how his heart warmed immediately upon seeing Trixie’s grin and dancing eyes when she opened her dorm room door at nine o’clock that morning. She had laughed with glee at seeing her best guy friend for the first time since the winter holiday back in Sleepyside, as well as at the prospect of the adventure that they were both secretly about to start.

Though Jim was finishing up his fourth year and soon his degree at New York State, Trixie had just finished her last exams of her first year at George Washington University in Washington DC. After months of e-mailing, the original bizarre idea that Trixie had, had developed into a full-fledged plan to celebrate the end of their grueling college years and promised to be an amazing adventure to start out another Bob-White summer. Trixie had jokingly named their upcoming trip "Project Welcome Home" and Jim had fallen under her contagious energy to happily allow the theme to stay.

Finally, after more than a year apart from their siblings, they were both going to be reunited with their siblings and those siblings were sure to be quite surprised. Honey and Brian had surprised everyone last May themselves when they had announced that they were newly engaged, and that they were leaving the country to travel on a mercy ship for a whole year. Brian had been accepted to partake in an internship with the mercy ship before moving on for his residency a year later. Honey had been only too glad to volunteer her services wherever needed on the ship, not only to be with her new fiancée but to also have a chance to help so many hurting children in some of the world’s most poverty-stricken countries. And after all this time, they were going to see them again.

If only things hadn’t gone so wrong! I swear, I didn’t see that car coming. His light was RED! I had gazed over at Trix’s beaming face as we laughed over former trips of the Bob-Whites’. I know that I was almost hypnotized by her gorgeous smile, but I couldn’t have had my eyes off the road for more than a second! But, even though I jerked the wheel so roughly that my wrist snapped, it was too late. That man’s dead, Trixie’s unconscious in a strange city hospital bed, and all I can do is sit here and wait! God, help me!

Jim bent over in his chair, wrung out by the strong emotions running through him. He didn’t know what to do without his love, Trixie, though she didn’t have a clue as to how he felt. He was near tears when he felt a movement from the hand within his grasp. A soft moan of pain brought his head quickly up in time to see Trixie stirring much in her bed. He stood as he noticed her lashes starting to flutter. With bated breath, he watched her eyelids finally lift and her usually bright blue eyes bleakly begin to take in a focus.

"Trixie, honey, you’re okay. Don’t be frightened. It’s not as bad as it seems right now," Jim hastened to stop Trixie from becoming distressed before it could happen. Her hand turned over within his as her eyes slowly moved to take him in. "Hey, Trixie," he said with an expectant grin. "Baby, you’ve come back to me."

"What did you call me?" came a wispy from the bed sheets.

"Trixie," Jim replied with a bit of concern now laced in his tone.

"Honey, you’re in the hospital. We had a car accident but you’re going to be just fine. I’m just so happy to see those baby blues again!" Jim became worried when a confused look came over those blue eyes and the hand within his was pulled from his grasp.

"I-I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand," Trixie said. "Are you my doctor? Where am I? And what happened to me?" Pain clouded her eyes some more. Jim sucked in a sharp breath at that.

"Trixie, don’t you remember? Don’t you know me?"

Very confused eyes took him in. "I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are. I really can’t recall anything…" Her voice drifted off as she lost consciousness once again.

Jim stared down at her in utter fear and dismay. Quickly, he turned toward the door and bellowed with his heart in his throat, "DOCTOR!"

 

Part Two

"Her reflexes appear to be fine," Dr. Anderson stated after checking the dilation of her eyes under heavily shut lids. "As I said before, Mr. Frayne, you’re friend had a severe impact to her head. There are no broken bones and there is no swelling in her brain that we should be concerned with. If your friend is disoriented now, I figure she may have a slight case of amnesia, but all factors being that as they are, any amnesia should only be temporary. Of course, we’ll have to do some further tests once she awakens again. For now, sleep is the best medicine. We need to allow her body to recover from the strain of the accident."

"Of course, Doctor," replied Jim. "Are you sure that there is nothing permanently wrong with Trixie?"

"There is no reason why there would be any permanent problem, Mr. Frayne," the doctor assured. "If you don’t mind an educated man saying, you don’t look very well yourself. Have you slept any since the accident yesterday?"

Jim grimaced at that. "No, sir, I haven’t. But I couldn’t rest while Trixie was unconscious!"

"I understand that. But your friend is no longer unconscious, she is just asleep. I suggest you get some. Why don’t you pull that recliner over to her bedside and try to get some sleep. You’re friend is going to need your strength when she awakens."

Jim looked the doctor in the eye. "I think I’ll do that sir. Thank you for coming right away."

"I understand how hard it is to see our loved ones suffer, Mr. Frayne. Call me if you need anything else."

"I will, sir. Thank you." Jim waited for the doctor to depart from the room before moving to pull the recliner over to the bed. Once there, he took hold of Trixie’s right hand in his right, his thumb automatically moving to rub the metal of the bracelet on her wrist.

So much has happened since I gave you that bracelet, Trix. We’ve grown up, but not apart. We were able to explore our own desires, but somehow, it’s only made us stronger. God, Trix, I can’t imagine my life without you! From the time you saved me so many years ago, you were always my girl. I was afraid to totally express how I felt all these years. I knew you were infatuated with me, but you were younger, I couldn’t take advantage of that innocence! But now we’re adults, and I want to claim you as mine as you have always been in my heart. We’ll get through this as we made it through many hard scrapes in our lives together. Baby, I love you!

Jim dozed off with his head resting on Trixie’s bed, her hand cupped between his hand and his head on the crisp linens.

                                                        *  *          *

Jim raised his head slowly off the bed, grimacing at the crimp in his neck. Automatically, he looked over for Trixie in the bed and clear blue eyes met his green orbs. The hand within his clasp wriggled and was gently pulled away. Trixie moved the fingers of that hand around as if to get blood flow running once again.

"Sorry, I didn’t want to awake you," she said shyly.

"Trixie, you look much better now. Are you okay?" Jim asked anxiously.

Trixie looked confused and so much smaller than her large personality. "My head hurts badly and my face is sore."

"That’s understandable, Trixie," Jim said quietly. "Trix, do you remember me, now?"

Trixie looked over at him with sadness in her eyes. "I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything. You seem like such a nice guy and I’m sure that you’re telling me the truth…" Her eyes started to fill with tears.

"Baby, don’t cry!" The site of unusual tears in Trixie’s eyes nearly broke Jim’s heart.

Trixie took a deep quivering breath and held the tears at bay. She nervously started rubbing the bracelet on her wrist out of habit. Realizing what she was doing, she lifted her wrist and read what was engraved on the bracelet. "James Winthrop Frayne," she said slowly, "Are you James Winthrop Frayne?" Her eyes keenly peered into his.

"Yes, Trixie, I’m Jim," he said quietly, heart beating, but afraid to do anything that might upset her.

Her eyes clouded with confusion. "This bracelet looks old, like I’ve had it for a long time. And if I’m wearing a bracelet with your name on it, you must be really special to me…"

"I gave you that bracelet many years ago, Trixie. After a pretty dangerous situation that I wasn’t sure we would survive."

"But I’m still wearing this bracelet after so many years." She looked at him as if daring him to fill in the holes of her memory.

"Jim, are we truly special to each other? I mean, are we significant to each other?

Jim couldn’t help grinning at that, "God, yes, Trixie! We’re very significant to each other."

"I have to admit. I don’t remember you, but I’m not afraid of you. Actually, I feel very safe with you, cared for; cherished."

"You should feel that way, Trixie, and I’m glad I make you feel that way…even now when you can’t remember anything."

"So, Jim," she started tentatively, "am I your girlfriend? Is that why we were traveling alone together?"

Without thinking, Jim said, "Trixie, you’ve always been my girl. Hopefully soon, you’ll be my wife!"

"So, I am your girlfriend," Trixie murmured to herself with a soft smile on her lips, as her eyes began to droop and she scrunched down into a more comfortable sleeping position. "That’s nice." She then fell asleep.

Girlfriend? Frayne, what have you done now? How will you ever explain this to her when she remembers the truth? She has to remember the truth! But, if she does, she’ll know that I lied to her…and she will wonder why I said she would be my wife someday. Good God, what have I done? I could lose her forever when all I want is for her to finally be mine!

Jim sighed heavily and realized that he couldn’t do anything more about the situation currently. With a heavy heart, he left the room to allow Trixie some peaceful sleep while he went to call the rest of the families and the Bob-Whites to report her condition.

 

Part Three

"She’s right in here," said Jim as he led the way into Trixie’s room. Five minutes earlier, the last of the group had arrived in the waiting room and Jim had filled everyone in. Looking into the eyes of Trixie’s parents, little brother, and slightly older brother Mart, alongside his faithful girlfriend Di Lynch, Jim hadn’t known how to feasibly explain the mix-up of how Trixie now was under the belief that they were promised to each other. He decided that it was best to not even mention it and was living under the hope that Trixie would forget his proclamations in her confusion. "Remember, she’s very confused and doesn’t recall anything, not even her name. The doctor has warned me about not distressing her in any way. We shouldn’t push her to recall who we are, etc. He said that pushing her to remember could actually inhibit her memory returning."

Jim looked around at all the faces as they solemnly nodded their understanding and quietly filed into the room to look upon Trixie for the first time.

"Oh, my baby!" Trixie’s mom moaned at the sight of her daughter’s swollen and bruised appearance.

"She’s okay. Remember that, Moms," comforted brother Mart as he gently squeezed his mother’s hand. "All the swelling and bruising will go away and she’ll be our Trixie again." His words were spoken in determined comfort for all of them.

Trixie started to stir in the bed at the sound of their voices. Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she looked around the room frantically. Her face showed concern at the lack of recognition of her surroundings and for the people in her room. It was only when her eyes lit upon Jim that her concern went away and she seemed to calm down.

"Jim?" she asked quietly. Jim quickly moved to her side and took her hand in his.

"It’s okay, Trixie. This is your family and that girl over there is your dear friend, Diana Lynch."

"My…family?" Trixie looked at their faces again curiously and then her chin began to quiver. "This is my family? I don’t remember ANY of you!"

As gentle tears started to form in her eyes and cascade down her cheeks, her father rushed to her side and took her other hand. "Trixie, honey, it’s okay," he rushed to assure her, "we know that you have temporary amnesia. The doctor says that you are going to remember everything soon enough. Don’t be distressed about it! They say that as soon as your body is ready, you’ll remember. Just you rest and get better…and you’ll remember. I promise you, you’ll remember."

Trixie looked wearily sideways at her father and calmed at his words. Wiping the tears from her eyes with the hand that had been in his she said, "Thank you…Daddy?"

"Yes, honey, I’m your father. You’ll remember me soon enough." He bent down cautiously and in an awkward manner at not knowing how she would react to his actions, he kissed her cheek softly, then squeezed her shoulder in further comfort. "This is your mom, and those two guys over there are your older brother, Mart, and your younger brother, Rob." He indicated each person with a nod of his head in their direction.

Trixie eyed them all curiously. "So you’re all my family?" She smiled slightly at them, inside liking the thought of these kind people being related to her.

"Well, we aren’t your whole family, Trixie," spoke her mother as she came to stand beside her bed. "There is one more big brother: Brian. He looks like your dad. And Brian has a fiancée who is your best friend named Honey. They will both be arriving later tonight to see you."

"Oh…that’s nice," murmured Trixie, not really sure on the appropriate response for this situation. "Honey is sure a strange name for a girl, though." She said this thinking out loud, as was her personality.

Jim laughed at that. "My sister would be laughing at you, too, Trixie."

"Your—sister?" Trixie was getting really interested in how everyone seemed to be inter-involved with each other.

"Yeah, well…she’s my adopted sister. I’m the adopted one, though," spoke Jim with humor in his voice. "Her real name is Madeleine. The name never really fit her as she was much more down to earth and sweet than her old-fashioned name implied. So we have always called her Honey for her golden brown eyes and honey colored hair."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense," spoke Trixie. With a heavy sigh she said, "I wish I remembered you guys! Are you related to me somehow, too?" She asked this of Di.

Di laughed at that. "Well, not yet, anyways." Di smiled at Trixie in the shared joke. "Your brother and I have been talking about settling down someday together, but we don’t plan on doing that for a while."

"Oh, OK. How did everyone meet in the first place?"

"Well, that’s a long story, Trix," started brother Mart. "Many years ago, you and Honey found Jim in old-man Frayne’s mansion where he was hiding out from his mean stepfather, Jonesy. Honey’s parents adopted Jim and their family and our family started a semi-secret club called the Bobwhites of Glen. Later, Di joined the club and then Dan joined after that."

"Dan? Who’s Dan?" asked Trixie, her head starting to spin with all the new information.

"He’s another member of our crew. He’s one of New York’s finest now and he couldn’t come to see you as he is on duty currently. He said he will come to see you tomorrow, though," informed Mart.

"Wow, what an awesome story," spoke Trixie in a tired voice, "but what a strange group name!"

Jim laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is…but it makes sense when you know the story to why we called it that." He looked upon Trixie’s now drooping eyes. "That story can wait to be told later, though. You look like you need more rest now."

Trixie smiled warmly up at Jim for his care of her. "I am really tired. Thank you. You seem to be the best fiancée a girl could have, Jim," she murmured and fell immediately asleep.

"Fiancée?!" Mart sputtered as the rest of the group looked around to the other in astonishment and curiosity. Jim avoided meeting their eyes.

*          *          * 

The day passed slowly. Trixie would awaken for short periods of time and then succumb to the much needed rest that her body required. Throughout the day, Trixie’s family showed her different photo albums and Mart shared some of Trixie’s favorite music, all trying to trigger memories. Trixie would always listen intently but never showed any recognition in the things that were presented to her.

Late one night, the doors to her room opened and in walked Jim, followed by both Brian and Honey. They wore happy but concerned faces.

"Hi, Honey! Hi, Brian!" called out Trixie from where she sat up in her bed, her eyes sharp and focused.

"She remembers you from the pictures," said Jim quietly to Brian and Honey.

"No, Jim," stated Trixie, "I remember them!"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Jim, rushing to her bedside with excitement, but concern also that she really DID remember everything. "You remember, Trixie? Everything?"

"Yes, Jim," she looked at him with eyes twinkling with merriment and laughter, "I remember…everything."

"Oh, well that’s great!" Jim’s voice belayed his concern at her remembering…everything.

"That’s wonderful, Trixie!" exclaimed Honey as she hugged her best friend and soon to be sister-in-law for the first time in a year.

"Absolutely wonderful, sis!" joined Brian, taking his turn in hugging his little sister. "When did you start to remember?"

"Oh, about an hour ago," Trixie hedged a guess. "Everyone left me to sleep and go get something to eat for dinner in the cafeteria. I couldn’t sleep, though, and was just lying here for the longest time, trying to remember anything! Suddenly, I realized that I was rubbing my bracelet. I looked at it…and remembered! Then, slowly, everything started to come back."

"It was the bracelet that brought you back to me again, Trixie?" Jim spoke slowly with awe in his voice. "I mean, brought you back to us?"

Trixie gave him a dazzling smile and spoke softly, "Yes, Jim, it was the bracelet that brought me back to you."

Brian and Honey looked at each other with quiet understanding and agreement. The room was full of promise and unspoken thoughts.

Honey spoke first. "We should go tell everyone that you have your memory back, Trixie. They will all want to know right away, I’m sure."

"Yeah, Trix," said Brian, "we’ll leave you and Jim alone here and go fill everyone in on your progress."

Trixie was looking intently into Jim’s eyes and didn’t bother to look at them. "Ok. Thanks, guys."

"Yeah…thanks, guys," spoke Jim distractedly, gazing with fear and hope down into Trixie’s eyes.

With that, Brian and Honey left the room and left the two alone in the pristine hospital room. At the sound of the door clicking shut, Jim seemed to come out of his trance and visibly shook his head to clear his thoughts. He looked nervously at Trixie and took a step further away from her.

"So, you remember everything, huh?" His voice was flat in the question.

"Yes, Jim, I do. But for the life of me…I can’t recall when we became engaged…or even started dating for that fact!" Trixie teased lightly.

"Jeez, Trixie, I’m sorry!" Jim rushed to her side, taking her hand again and grasping it almost desperately. He looked at her beseechingly. "Please forgive me! You started to put things together on your own and I didn’t know how to tell you any differently. I didn’t want to distress you in any way."

"I understand, Jim," she spoke quietly, but with some fear of her own, "but you said things to me that you didn’t have to say under the circumstances."

"I know, Trix." He looked away from her.

"Thing is, Jim," she started haltingly, "you seemed to mean what you said….did you? Did you mean what you said?"

"God, yes, Trixie!" He said the words before he could stop himself. "You have always been my girl, you know that!"

"Yes…I do. But, this wasn’t talk about some adolescent crush, Jim." Her voice spoke of many unanswered questions.

"Trixie," Jim wasn’t sure what to say, but decided that it was finally time to speak the truth, "it’s not about some adolescent crush. I have been in love with you for a long time!"

"Really, Jim?" her voice was filled with wonder. "I’ve loved you for what seems a lifetime."

"But, that was when you were a young lady, Trixie…I couldn’t take advantage of those feelings. Lord knows how much I wanted to!"

"The first thing you need to learn, Jim, is that you can’t tell a woman what is in her heart…and whether or not those feelings are true, or mature!" Trixie’s spoke with some of her regular fire. "I have loved you with the same mature love since I was fifteen-years-old. That love has only grown with the years, but it hasn’t changed."

"You’re serious, Trixie? You really do love me?" Jim’s heart pounded with all the joy and wonder that was racing through his body.

"With all that I am, Jim!" She smiled grandly at him. The smile caused much pain in her swollen face and she grimaced harshly at the pain.

"What is it, Trixie?!" His green eyes filled with immediate concern for his love’s care.

"It’s my face…it hurts when I smile."

"Oh, I can go get the doctor for you. He can give you some more pain medication," Jim rushed to care for her and started to move away from her.

Trixie stopped him with words and by keeping a firm grip of his hand. "No, Jim. I don’t want any more medication." She looked up at him flirtatiously, "Kiss it and make it better?"

This brought Jim up short and he looked at her first with shock, then with glee. "It would be my pleasure," he whispered and started to move his head down to hers. "Does it hurt here? Or here? How about here?" Each question was followed by a soft, loving kiss on her bruised cheek.

Finally, Jim pulled back his head slightly and looked Trixie in the eye. She slightly moved her head in agreement and he moved in for her lips. Then they were sharing their first real mature kiss. Their lips moved together softly, then with increased feeling. Shortly, Trixie murmured a little in pain at her partly swollen lip. Jim gave her one more soft kiss directly on the center of her lips and moved back from her.

"Thank you, Trixie." He spoke this with gratitude and love.

"Thank you, Jim. I’ve been waiting forever for that kiss!"

Jim smiled greatly at this. "Does this mean that you truly are my girl now, Trixie?"

"Well, kind of, Jim."

"Kind of?!" This wasn’t the response he was expecting. "What do you mean, ‘kind of’?"

"Well, I most certainly am yours, Jim, as I always have been," she spoke this softly but with quiet determination in her voice, "but I’m not your girl, I’m your woman."

Jim laughed quietly at that. "Ah…I get what you mean, Trixie. You most certainly are a woman now. And I’m very glad you’re mine."

"I’ve grown up, Jim…"

"Believe me, I know that, Trixie. I know that you can take care of yourself, but everyone needs someone to care for them, to love them. I will be that person for you as long as you want me…and I hope you’ll always want me."

Trixie squeezed his hand in hers again. "I know I will, Jim."

Jim got a teasing, flirtatious glint in his eyes. "And might I say, I very much appreciate the woman you have grown up to be!"

"Oh, Jim!" Trixie swatted at him, laughing at his comment, but appreciating his mature view of her.

They were both laughing lightly together when a knock sounded on the door.

"Come in!" they called out together.

Brian poked his head around the door to check things out before entering the room, followed by the whole crowd. "Everything OK in here?" he looked back and forth between Trixie and Jim, trying to hazard what happened while they were absent.

"Yes, Brian, everything is perfectly perfect!" Trixie spoke joyously.

"Has your fiancé been treating you OK, Trixie?" Mart asked jokingly.

Trixie looked right at him, "He’s not my fiancé, Mart, you know that!"

"That’s right, Mart, we’re not engaged," stated Jim.

"But we are together!" said Trixie, raising their joined hands in victory of their finally coming together.

"You are, Trixie?! " exclaimed Honey. The rest of the group shared equal exclamations of shock and joy.

"Yep, we are," she spoke proudly, "Finally."

"We’ll work on that fiancée thing, though…don’t you all worry about that," assured Jim.

"Really, Jim?" Trixie was surprised but happy at this newest development.

"Yes, Trixie…with all my heart."

The room was silent for a second as everyone watched the two new lovebirds look so fondly at one another. Suddenly, Mart realized something and started to laugh to himself.

"What are you laughing about, Mart?" asked Brian.

Mart wiped a hand across his mouth in his mirth. "I just realized that we might have a fight to the marriage line amongst us all."

The group laughed when they realized that what he said was true.

"No matter what happens, you all take your own time in deciding when you are ready to take that big step in your lives," Mr. Belden advised.

"Yes," agreed Moms, "but whenever it happens we will be glad to welcome you all into the family. It will be as it was always meant to be."

"One big family," said Honey with awe. And everyone agreed with her and began to fantasize of what the future would bring.

The End