Jackson takes the outpouring of suggestions quite well. Thank goodness, he’s understanding. The small smile on his face and the nod he gives as he continues reviewing the report, says it all. “You know, Amelia,” Jackson says as he places the report down, “most of my patients who have gone through what you have in the past week aren’t as talkative as you are. You are just full of energy, aren’t you?” Jackson has his doctor smile on—the one that probably calms his patients and makes them feel comfortable under hiscare.
“Grams, Jackson and I just met a week ago,” I remind her again. Not like she didn’t hear me the first time, but maybe it’ll sink in this time. Doubtful,though.
“Yes, but you only live once, although you may die twice…if you’re me,” shesays.
I close my eyes and drop my head into my hand. I believe I hear a snicker from the peanut gallery on the other side of the room while Grams is just raring up to keepgoing.
“You know, it’s possible to fall in love in a night,” shesays.
“That’s not what everyone else says,” Iargue.
“Everyone else is wrong, or they’ve never fallen in love at first sight.” I don’t think she understands exactly how I’m feeling right now. If she did, she’d know how uncomfortable I am with the fact that I just stepped out of one relationship and right into another. I’m not complaining per se, but it doesn’t sound good outloud.
“Grams, we’re not getting married in the next few months,” I tell her, assuming Jackson is silently agreeing withme.
“Fine,” she says, folding her hands over her chest. “If you want to question my life-long research and experiences, that’s fine, but I bet you onething—”
“What’s that?” I ask, looking over at Jackson who’s suddenly intrigued by whatever Grams is about tosay.
“By the time you are finished reading my diary, you will have realized two things,” shebegins.
“Okay…?” Iquestion.
“First: Love has a way of sneaking into your heart and taking you hostage for an entire lifetime. Second: If you’re lucky enough to hold onto love, you won’t have to experience the pain of having your body captivated by a soul that may or may not still bealive.”
I pull in a shuddering breath as I wrap my hand around the front of my neck, still unable to shake away the tightness. “I understand,” is all I can say. I won’t question the meaning of her life. Ican’t.
“Jackson,” Grams says. “I need you to marry mygranddaughter.”
I’m mortified. You can’t put a man in a position like this just days after meeting a woman, especially a man who just went through a divorce less than a year ago. “Grams, pleasestop.”
“Amelia,” Jackson says her name without so much as a hitch in his deep, soothing voice. “If by the end of your diary, Emma tells me she can’t spend a day without me, in fear of suffering from the unknown for the rest of her life, I will do what I can to arrange the fastest marriage known to man. However, she has to tell me thisherself.”
Are theybothcrazy? Who does this? People don’t get married after meeting someone a handful of times. They don’t talk about marriage. In fact, some people would become physically ill thinking about the idea after a horrible six-year relationship. “People do it all the time on TV,” Grams argues with my silentthoughts.
“Jackson, may I speak to you for a moment,” I articulate, standing from the chair and taking his arm so I can pull him into thehall.
“Do you know what you just agreed to with a dying woman?” Jackson looks down for a minute as if I were scolding him and he’s ashamed, but when his face lifts, he’s chuckling—this hoarse little laugh he does when he’s teasing me. “You can’t play games like that with her, Jackson. She’sserious.”
“Emma,” he says with a stone-walled expression. “If you truly feel that way when you’re done reading her diary, then I would agree to marry you. If you were certain after only knowing me for a short time that I’m undoubtedly the one person in this world you can’t live without, I would be a fool to walkaway.”
The first time he agreed with Grams, it just made me uncomfortable, but this time, he’s taken my breath away. “You just went through a divorce,” I remindhim.
“What’s yourpoint?”
I don’t have an answer. “I suppose I don’t haveone.”
“The two of us are both single for a reason, and it wasn’t because we found this kind of love she’s talking about with someoneelse.”
“A week. We’ve known each other a week,” I tellhim.
“And I can’t stop thinking about you. I want to spend every minute with you. Your laugh makes me smile. Your smile makes my heart do these strange flip-flops in my chest, and I could probably sit and talk to you for a week straight without needing abreather.”
His words are wooing everything inside of me, but there are other parts of this he isn’t considering. “Did you know that I like sardines?Hmm?”
“That’s gross, but it doesn’t changeanything.”
I narrow my eyes at him, determined to throw him off his sureness. “I eat them out of a can sometimes,” I tellhim.
