Chapter 43
This was indeed more intense than I thought it had been flying on the helicopter this week. I was glad that I had it prepared and had it on standby for emergencies such as this. For one, I was happy that she seemed a bit more relaxed and had her eyes shut, but I knew she was in pain and knew her well enough to know that as usual, she was trying to bear it all and hide it for our sake. It hurt me. I really wished she wouldn’t do that. Right from the very beginning, she had been nothing but calm, gracious, and it always annoyed me. I wished she would have a furious reaction because what was happening to her was the absolute worst. However, I had to be even stronger as well, and so I kept my expression as calm as possible and headed toward the helicopter with her.
“I want to come along,” my dad said for the umpteenth time, and I stopped momentarily to speak to him.
“Aurora needs you today. I know this is important, but we made a decision to keep her mind worry-free until the wedding. There’s just a day left. Please stay with her today; we will return. She”ll be reassured as well seeing you.”
He considered this, and then he nodded.
“Keep me updated every half hour. If not, I”ll call, and you better pick up.”
“I will,” I replied and patted his shoulder. Then I went on my way.
I remained quiet all through the ride. I watched her and couldn”t believe how frail she had gotten, how weak and vulnerable she looked even in this very moment, and it broke my heart all over again. Just as it had, from the very first moment we found out that she had less than six months left to live. We were in the tenth month now, and every day that passed, I could feel my heart deflate a little bit more. I had tried to distract myself from everything, but now I was faced with it, and it was difficult to say the least.
Looking away, I stared out at the city below as we flew and tried my best to shut off my brain until we arrived. The view, however, did absolutely nothing for me, so I shut my eyes. What came to mind was the woman I had spent the entire night and early this morning with.
She had been so calm on the phone when I called her. I imagined, especially after Victoria”s impolite intrusion earlier this morning, that she received both a mouthful and earful, yet she had sounded as though she had simply brushed it over her shoulder. Given how nervous she had been about how this would affect Aurora, I was quite happy. I could see now that she wouldn’t crumble easily, and I especially loved how she had suggested the explanation for Aurora. I had been unwilling and unable to think in that moment, and she had come through, and I was immensely grateful for it.
There were more than enough memories in my mind of her from the previous time for me to sift through, and the longer I spent on them, the warmer my heart became. Ever since I had received the call from my father, it had been chilled, but now I could feel the warmth coming to it, and I welcomed it with all my heart. The warmth of her body, her scent, the soft way she breathed when she slept, how she kept shifting until every inch of her body was glued to mine, and yet it wasn”t enough.
I loved especially how her legs intertwined with mine when we fucked. I could feel the extent of her pleasure from the way she rubbed and stretched against me. She had gone mindless with pleasure several times the previous night and I was immensely happy about this.
Sighing, I opened my eyes, and to my surprise, I found my mother looking at me.
“Everything alright,” I asked, my heart instantly warmer as I watched her. A little bit of color seemed to be coming to her cheeks. So, I straightened then and went closer to her. She lifted her arm, frail and a bit shaky, and then she placed it against the side of my cheek.
“Caught you smiling to yourself,” she said. “You aren’t happy that I”m in this bed, are you?” she asked.
I didn’t want to laugh, truly, but as soon as she said this, my entire body began to rumble. I leaned forward then and kissed her because she was such a wonderful woman and mother that it hurt to even breathe.
It was meant to be a brief kiss, but as I was so close to her, I didn”t want to leave, and so we remained like that for a few more minutes before I eventually had to pull away. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. I pretended not to notice the slight wince as well as the pain once again hit her abdomen.
“You’ve been so stoic these past few years,” she said. “Almost unapproachable. These last few days, though, you’ve been a bit lighter. I”m really happy that you didn’t lose that softer side of you even with how busy you”ve been so far.”
I nodded as I listened to her, knowing she was doing her best to make conversation to distract us both.
“Rest, Mom,” I told her. “We can talk more after you”ve been treated.”
“It”s fine,” she said. “This helps.”
I nodded then and held her hand. She continued to watch me, and it was so endearing how overbearing she could be. When I was younger, this definitely was a point of annoyance, but now, I never wanted it to end.
“Have you spoken to Aurora?” she asked, and I nodded.
“How did she take it?”
I thought back to my sister’s response earlier and sighed.
“Silently,” I replied, and she nodded.
”She”ll be fine by tomorrow. She has no choice but to be anyway, she”ll be married.”
I nodded and continued to watch her.
“The person I think we have to be worried about is the photographer,” she said. “Will she be able to handle Aurora and your dad?”
“She doesn”t need to handle them,” I said, “She just needs to observe calmly and let me know if there”s anything going wrong.”
My response was simple enough, and my only hope was that we would move on to another topic, but my mom refused to budge.
“You like her?” she asked.
Normally, I would have ignored the question altogether, but these moments with her were more precious than I could explain, and so I gave it serious consideration.
“Yeah,” I replied. I was a bit surprised by my response because I was expecting that it would take a little while for me to admit this, but time, I realized now more than ever, was so brief that there was no point in denying what I knew and felt all because of the fear that it could change.
“Right now, at this moment... I really like her,” I told my mom. “I know that it might be too soon, but I think for once, I”d like to explore where this could lead between us even after this week”s festivities are over.”
She nodded quietly; however, she didn”t seem very excited.
“You sure?” she asked, and this made me amused.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I mean, she”s only known you a few days, and you know I”ve heard rumors.”
I smiled again.
“That was our agreement. She”s not acting out of the ordinary. Our intention was never to date.”
“Ah,” she said, “Is that how you kids do it these days?”
“Somewhat,” I replied, and she nodded. We remained silent afterward, and finally, we arrived at the hospital in Manhattan. The helicopter landed on the roof, and soon enough, she was being brought down and transported into the hospital. She was here now, so no matter what happened, there would be people to immediately attend to her, so I calmed down a little bit.
She grew completely silent as she was admitted, and then her tests were conducted. It was just as Doctor Harold had mentioned in the Hamptons, and it scared the hell out of me.
“Variceal bleeding,” he said. “She was at risk for it, but luckily she came in time so there is no rupturing.”
Shutting my eyes, I released a deep breath, and he came over to squeeze my shoulder. Over the past several months, we have had one too many of these meetings.
“We’re going to go with Sclerotherapy now and beta-blockers. Hopefully, and afterward, she won”t have to spend too much time here and can leave in a couple of hours. “
“A couple of hours?” I asked and breathed easy.
“My sister”s wedding is tomorrow. I truly won”t be able to explain things if my mom can’t make it.”
“Don”t worry, Mr. Moran. I’ll try my best,” he said, and I nodded in gratitude. I leaned back then and watched as they started work on her and couldn’t help but check in with Evelyn.
“How’s Aurora?” I texted. “How are things with the guests?”
I knew that rather than asking Evelyn, who was just the photographer, I was supposed to be instead asking Victoria, who was fully in charge as the wedding planner, but not hearing correct details or just generally being barraged for whatever reason stopped me. Whatever Evelyn had to say would be good enough, so I waited with anticipation until she responded.