Page 95 of Unraveled

“I love you so much. I wouldn’t have been strong without you.”

“I love you, too. And now, hopefully, we’ll never know.”

“I need to call your family. They left to take showers and quick naps.”

“’Kay,” I whispered. My eyes fluttered closed, I was so tired, but I didn’t miss the panic reflected in his expression. “Just sleepy.” The words hurt to form.

“Rest, gorgeous. But make sure you wake back up.”

I typed out my next words with a smile. “You got it. We have kinky things to do, after all.”

Laughter bubbled up from his throat. “Now who has jokes?”

My brother and parents arrived some time later. The darkened windows indicated we’d bled into the night. I floated in and out of sleepiness. But I could feel the tightness in my chest easing with each passing hour.

After the latest draw, my doctor confirmed my white blood cell count was increasing, and the antibiotics were working against the pneumonia. Still Kellan remained.

He stayed even after everyone else had gone to get some sleep.

I woke to see him curled up in the visitor’s chair. Glancing at my phone, I saw it was nearing midnight. “You look like hell,” I commented with my hoarse voice as he woke up, too.

“You look beautiful.”

“Liar.” I had no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, and no breasts. And I had just battled pneumonia.

He came over to sit next to the bed and rub my hand. His gaze locked on mine. “What’s my favorite color?”

“Mm. Green.”

“That’s right. The color of your eyes. Years from now, perhaps after your five-year cancer-free anniversary while we’re in Iceland soaking in the hot springs, I will still maintain the most beautiful sight in the entire world was you opening your eyes for me on this day.”

Goose bumps. Only this man could make me feel them at a time like this. Because I couldn’t say any more words, I used my phone to type out my next message. “You know maybe today is lucky. What’s the date?”

“Wednesday, November twenty-sixth.”

“We’ll have to remember it.”

He grinned, reading my words. “Maybe it should be our wedding date.

I raised a brow. “You asking or telling me.”

His lips twitched. “You’ll know once I ask.” Then he suddenly turned serious. “It hurt to breathe when I thought—”

His voice cracked, and he was clearly unable to finish his sentence. It occurred to me how much my cancer had taken a toll on him. Hell, on my entire family. In some ways, I was sure it was harder on my loved ones than it was on me.

He let out a breath. “What I meant to say is that I don’t want to waste a moment. Not one.”

My heart was completely full. I didn’t want to waste another moment, either. My fingers typed out, “I have a condition before you officially propose.”

“I know, I know. You prefer to wait for the breast surgery, your hair to grow back, and to feel good in a dress again. I get it.”

I shook my head before typing, “Nope. Not that. Suddenly I don’t care about any of those things. Time is precious, and I won’t wait for perfection when I have it directly in front of me. I love you, Kellan. But my condition is you go home and shower. Eat, then sleep. Because for us to get to that day one year from now, we both need to be healthy.”

He kissed my hand. “Deal.”

“Oh, and buy me a ring. A really sparkly one.”

He chuckled at my words. “God, I love you.”