She shook her head so violently, he feared she'd give herself whiplash. "I need some air." She bolted off the loveseat. Her hamstring must have spasmed, because she whimpered as she limped to the sliding glass door.
Gabe let out a heavy sigh. He needed to come clean with his mom, but a small part of him wished Paige had held out her hand and let him slip the ring onto her finger.
He'd never felt so conflicted in his life. He wanted desperately to make his mom happy for the short time she had left. Telling her the truth now would turn the joy she'd found in her final days into bitter disappointment.
And despite fearing he'd end up neglecting Paige when he became too caught up in caring for his mom, he wanted nothing more than to make her his fiancée. Knowing she would be a part of his future made the thought of losing his mom bearable.
"Oh dear. I was too pushy, wasn't I?" Remorse filled Mom's face. "I'd better apologize."
"No. I should talk to her." Gabe curled his fist around the ring he still held and pushed to his feet.
This mess was all his fault. It was only right that he be the one to fix it.
Gabe slippedthe ring into his pocket and stepped onto the back deck. Deciding against turning on the back porch light, he stepped to the stairs. It wasn't fully dark yet, but it would be soon. No need to put a spotlight on what was about to go down between him and Paige.
Paige paced a line just beyond the deck, her agitation manifested in her hunched shoulders and the way her hands fidgeted.
"What are we going to do, Gabe?" A hint of hysteria crept into her voice as she turned wide eyes on him. "We can't just pretend to be engaged. The next thing you know your mom will be pushing us to set a wedding date and asking me if I've bought a wedding dress yet." She rubbed her forehead with a shaky hand. "She's going to want to meet my parents."
Gabe's gut clenched at the thought of facing Dr. Young and having to tell him he'd crossed the line with a patient who happened to be his daughter.
I've made such a mess of everything.
"Relax." He held his hands out in a consoling gesture, feigning a calmness he didn't feel. "I didn't come out here to convince you to pretend to be my fiancée."
"You didn't?" She looked at him in surprise. "You're going to tell your mom the truth?"
His stomach tightened again, making him nauseous. He sank onto the new wicker bench he'd purchased when he replaced the trellis.
Mom loved the bench, just like he'd hoped she would. She'd spent time out here every day this week.
Sighing, Paige sat beside him. Her posture remained rigid, but the hysteria had vanished from her expression. Now she just looked sad.
The light that shown through the sliding glass door played across her blond hair and face, creating tiny golden stars in her eyes. Gabecaught his breath at her beauty. He felt like the luckiest man on earth, but he feared that was about to change.
Sitting on the bench put them in full view of the house, but taking Paige out of sight would look suspicious.
"I see you replaced the trellis." She looked up at the roses behind them. "That's how you got all the cuts and scrapes on your hands, isn't it?"
He looked down at his hands, mostly healed now, and nodded. "I needed to let off some steam on Sunday." He propped his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his hands over his face. "The medicine my mom was taking to slow the growth of the cancer was making her sicker, so I asked her to stop taking it."
"I'm so sorry." She rubbed his back in a comforting gesture that soothed the ache in his heart. "I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for you and Grace."
"She started new meds on Thursday, but we have to wait to see how she responds to them." He recalled his mom's unsteadiness as she got out of the car this evening. He hoped it was just exhaustion, despite riding in the wheelchair most of the day. "If they work, they'll buy us a little more time with her. If they don't…"
He couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to for Paige to understand the gravity of the situation. Her hand on his back continued to provide the comfort he so badly needed.
Silence stretched between them as Gabe searched for the words to make right all the things he'd said and done wrong, not just with his mom, but with Paige too.
"You're a good son, Gabe. A good man."
"I sense a 'but' coming." He straightened and shifted to face her.
"But you are not responsible for your mom's—or even your sister's—happiness."
Deep down, he knew that. But it didn't change the fact that he cared about them and wanted them to be happy. If he could make that happen, then he felt compelled to do so.
"What about your happiness?" he asked softly as he took her hand in his.
