“I don’t care how long it takes.”
“I know you don’t, but I want to be your wife, not your job. I want you to go back to school. I want you to pursue your dreams. I want you to be a speech therapist who does open mic nights on weekends. I want you to have friends you can talk to about me. I want you to have a place you can go on Thanksgiving. I want you to have a life.”
Jimmy’s voice was low and steady, his gaze strong.
“I will. I’m going to take care of you, and I’m going to go out and build a life so you have a place to come back to when they find a new drug. When. You’re coming back, and I will be here the whole time, waiting and building. I’ll never give up on you. I’ll never leave you alone in the desert or sealed up in a tomb.”
He kissed me urgently, then slid off the bed, to get down on one knee.
“Oh my God,” I said. “You’re really doing it, aren’t you?”
He took my hands, a heartbreaking smile on his face.
“With no shirt on.” I was sniffing and laughing now. “That’s bribery.”
His expression became intense, his dark eyes holding mine.
“Althea Hughes,” he said, “will you m-m-marry me?”
His head bowed at hearing the stutter, and he murmured a curse. I lifted his chin in my palm.
“You stutter when it’s important,” I whispered, my eyes and heart full. “Yes, Jimmy. I’ll marry you. Nothing will make me happier than to marry you.” A watery laugh burst out of me. “I even have the white dress already.”
Now Jimmy laughed, and we kissed again. Happiness defeated fear, and we lingered in the victory as long as we could, kissing and holding each other until it seemed the ticking clock in the room grew louder and louder.
I showered while Jimmy looked up the requirements for getting married in New York State on his phone. I was lacing up the front of my white sundress when I heard him mutter a curse.
“We can get the marriage license today, but there’s a twenty-four-hour waiting period for the ceremony.”
“Do we need a ceremony?”
“The officiant has to sign the license for it to be legal.”
“Okay, so we wait one more day. It’s not like I’m in a huge hurry to leave New York and I feel fine.”
“You said you lost time at the coffee shop.”
“But I haven’t since.” I moved to him. “Let’s get the license and have one more night in the city. We’ll drive back to Virginia as newlyweds.”
Jimmy put his arms around me. “Delia is going to lose her shit.”
“Yes, she is,” I said with a laugh. “But after tomorrow, it won’t matter what she thinks.” I kissed his nose. “You make sure City Hall can take us tomorrow and I’ll tell her the change in plans.”
“Whatever you say,” Jimmy said, kissing me back.
“Spoken like a true husband already.”
I called Delia and, incredibly, my call went to voicemail.
Her wedding gift to us.
“Hi, Deel, it’s me again. Change of plans. We’re staying for one more day. I’m not taking the meds, I promise. I threw them away. But we want to do one more thing before we leave the city. We’ll drive out of here tomorrow morning and be back late tomorrow night. Or maybe the morning after that, if it gets late and we need a motel.”
Our road trip honeymoon.
“Please don’t call me or Jimmy a million times. I’m fine. We’ll keep you posted so you don’t worry, just like we have been this entire trip. Okay?”
I started to end the call, but happiness coursed through my veins now.
“I love you. Bye.”
“You didn’t tell her the plan,” Jimmy said, looking up from his own phone.
“She’ll know soon enough. Ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
I wanted to save the dress for the ceremony, so I changed back into shorts and a tank. Jimmy held my hand, our fingers entwined, as we got in the elevator.
“I love you, baby,” he said.
“I love you, too,” I said and leaned my cheek on his arm. The elevator doors closed and then opened again immediately to reveal the hotel lobby. Like a magic trick.
I froze.
“You okay?” Jimmy asked.
My head nodded faintly. “Fine.”
We crossed the lobby and into sunshine that seemed too bright. The heat wrapped around me too, and I broke out in a sweat. Jimmy let go of my hand to hail a taxi. I glanced around at the bustling corner; the cars driving past and the pedestrians striding toward their destinations. So much noise and color and searing sunlight. I put on my sunglasses, then reached for Jimmy’s hand when he came back.
“It’s so busy today—oh, God!”
My heart crashed in my chest; Jimmy’s face had rearranged itself into blue eyes, a bigger nose, smaller chin… I dropped the stranger’s hand and stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
“No problem, lady.”
My heart pounded as I turned a slow circle. I wasn’t on the corner anymore but down the sidewalk, in the middle of the block.
“Thea!” I spun and Jimmy was hurrying toward me. “What the hell happened?”
“N-Nothing,” I said. “I got confused. I’m okay now.”
Jimmy rubbed his hand over his mouth, thinking. “I think we should go back.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m okay, I promise.”
“You’re not fine.”
“I am. It’s really hot out today, that’s all. And if we go back to Virginia without being married, Delia will keep you from me.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “We can talk to her. But I don’t think—”
“That I’m of sound mind?” My hands made fists in frustration; my fingernails bit into my palms. “I can do this, Jimmy. Let’s not waste any more time.”
He hesitated and I could see the conflict warring behind his eyes. He finally nodded and we returned to the corner to grab the cab he’d flagged down. He kept his hand clasped tight to mine and didn’t let go. I concentrated on keeping myself present, focusing on the city outside the windows, until the cab pulled over to the corner of Worth and Centre.
“Twenty-two fifty,” the cabbie said.
I dug in my backpack. “Here, I’ve got cash.”
“I got it,” Jimmy said.
Suddenly I was standing on the sidewalk and he was reaching for my hand again.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“What is it? Fuck, another one?”
I sucked in a shaking breath. “Jimmy, I—”
My phone rang, and I hurried to fish it out of my bag so I wouldn’t have to look at his anguished face.
It was Delia.
“What do you mean, you’re staying one more day?” she demanded. “You can’t stay in New York if you stopped taking the Hazarin. Dr. Chen said Milton’s patients who stopped taking it started to regress almost immediately.”
I stared out at the city, my hand trembling.
“God, Thea, I’m sorry,” Delia said. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to scare you. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you…”