“That’s not true.”
“It is true.”He kissed the back of her hand.“I want you to be happy.I want the kids to be happy.Do that for me, will you?”
“Gabriel.”A sob erupted from her chest as she leaned over to hug him, trying to accept that this could be the last time she ever saw him.
“I love you, Isla.I always have, and I always will.”
She didn’t love him anymore and hadn’t for a long time, but she considered the words her final gift to him.“I love you, too.The kids love you so much.”
“I hope they remember the good things.”
“I’ll make sure they do.”
“That’s more than I deserve from you.”
“No.”
He ran his fingers through her hair the way he used to after they’d made love.The memories of that sweetness resurfaced from the deepest part of her consciousness.It’d been so long since she’d thought of him as sweet or kind.“You can go, Isla, and don’t ever feel guilty about anything, okay?None of this was your fault.”
“Thank you for my babies.I’ll take good care of them.”
“I know you will.They’re lucky to have you.I was lucky, too.”
She had no idea how long she stayed like that, leaning over him, his arm around her as he told her again and again how much he’d always loved her while his parents sobbed.How sad for them to get him back right when he’d be leaving forever.
How sad for all of them.
“Go on and live your life, Isla.It’s okay.Everything is okay.”
No, it wasn’t, but his final gift to her was setting her free, and she’d always be thankful to him for that.
She raised her head off his chest and looked at him, studying the face she’d fallen in love with so many years ago, committing every detail to memory, including the scar that ran through his right eyebrow and the bump in his nose from it being broken while playing high school football.Someday, she’d tell her kids the story of how he’d gotten the eyebrow scar from a snowball with a rock in it that his cousin had thrown at him, thinking it’d be funny.
“Godspeed, Gabriel.I’ll pray for you.”
“Thank you for that.For everything.”
She kissed him one last time, for all the good times, and stood upright, feeling like she’d been knocked off her feet.
“We’ll be in touch,” Maggie said as she wiped at tears.
Isla nodded, and with one last glance at Gabriel, she left the room.On the way to the elevator, it began to set in that she’d probably never see him again, and she began to cry again.Yesterday, that would’ve been the best news she could’ve gotten.Today, knowing what she did now, it was devastating.
In her car, she sat for a long time, staring straight ahead, blinded by tears that wouldn’t stop.
Gabriel had a brain tumor and was going to die.
Probably soon.
She’d left the divorce papers on the tray table, because what did it matter now?
She wiped her face with her sleeve.
Her phone rang, and she took the call from Denny.
“What’s going on?Are you okay?”
“Not at all okay.”She filled him in on what she’d learned at the hospital.“He’s going home with his parents on hospice.”
