Cameron
I never thought I’d be leaving this hospital for the last time like this. Not with a countdown hanging over my head.
It’s been a couple of days since the doctors told me there was nothing else they could do, a couple of days since I sat in stunned silence while Gabrielle and my mother fell apart in front of me. A couple of days since I was given a very real expiration date.
Six months to a year.
Best case scenario.
I’ve had a little time to process it, but it still doesn’t feel real.
It’s cruel, you know, the way life works.
That after everything I’ve been through, after fighting my entire life to beat this disease, it still came back to take me.
After finally getting Gabrielle back, I don’t get to stay here with her.
Maybe it’s also a blessing that she came back to me at all, though.
I don’t have to spend what time I have left still wondering where she is, what she’s doing, if she’s happy, and still missing her from a distance.
At least this way, I got to love her again up close.
I get to make the most of whatever time I have left. And I plan to.
“Alright, man,” Wes sighs, standing by the door with his arms crossed. “That’s the last bag. Unless you wanna steal some hospital supplies on your way out.”
I smirk weakly, sitting on the edge of the bed while Gabrielle double-checks my discharge paperwork. “Nah, pretty sure I’ve had my fill of IV bags and sterile sheets.”
“Speak for yourself,” Wes mutters. “I could use some extra scrubs. Kinsley keeps ‘borrowing’ mine, and I never see them again.”
Kinsley flips him off from where she’s standing, organizing my meds. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I cock my head a little, staring at him in disbelief. “Excuse me…we’re not about to brush past the fact that you just told everyone y’all are out here swapping clothes…which means there had to be a reason clothes were off in the first place?”
Wes snorts, looking over at me and winking before completely changing the subject. “So…what now?”
The room goes quiet, and everyone turns to me. Gabrielle freezes with the papers in her hand, blue eyes locked onto mine, waiting for my answer.
I let out a breath, then turn to her fully. “How much of that wedding planning have you done?”
She blinks caught off guard. “What?”
I reach out, brushing my fingers along hers, taking the papers from her hands, and setting them aside. Then, I tug her closer between my legs, staring up at her.
“What’s next—” I murmur, my voice steady despite the emotions clawing at my throat, “is I go home. I marry the love of my life. Make every beautiful memory I can with her and with the people I love. And I leave you with the best parts of me and with only happy memories.”
Gabrielle lets out a strangled breath. And then completely breaks. She throws herself into my arms, her entire body softly shaking as she clutches onto me.
I feel it all.
The grief. The devastation. The desperate way she’s holding onto me because even she doesn’t know what else to do.
I hate this. I hate knowing I’m the one causing her this pain.
Kinsley is there in seconds, wrapping her arms around Gabrielle, trying to support her weight as she starts to crumble, but I don’t let her go. I don’t let either of them take her from me. Even as weak as I am, I hold her as tightly as I can.
I press my lips against her temple, my voice breaking. “I’m still here, Gab. I’m still here.”
She sobs harder.
I look up to see my mom wiping at her eyes from the other side of the room, my dad pulling her into a hug. Even Wes, who tries to act like none of this is breaking him, is looking anywhere but at me, his jaw clenched so tightly I can see the outline.
But I don’t want this moment to be filled with sorrow.
I refuse for that to be all this is.
I lift Gabrielle’s chin, tilting her face toward mine, my thumb wiping away her tears. “I mean it, Gab. I want to marry you. There is no more waiting.”
Her lips part, tears still spilling freely.
“Marry me,” I whisper. “Be my wife while I still have time to call you that.”
She doesn’t say anything, her body still shaking with the tears, and then she nods.
She keeps nodding, trying to catch her breath before whispering, “Okay.”
I bring the back of her hand up to my lips and kiss it while looking into her tear filled beautiful eyes. “Let’s go home.”