“What instructions? What more could she have done?”
"Well, everything you have been asking about is to further improve her condition, but she left detailed instructions that, if she was ever to be admitted to the hospital, we are to only treat her and do nothing to help her improve. She also signed a DNR, which as a lawyer, you’ll understand I’m bound by law to follow.”
“Wait! Let me get this straight. Nichole actually signed paperwork stating we have to let her die?” At the tone of my voice, he rightfully takes a step back, probably remembering the last time he informed me about my wife’s condition.
“She did. As a doctor, it goes against my every being, but since she is the patient, it’s in her rights how she wants her care to follow. Nichole has been a very interesting case. I have talked to everyone in my field, looking for ways to help her, but at this point, there really isn’t much we can do. The longer she stays in a coma, the more her organs will slow down and eventually stop working all together. Soon, she will no longer be able to function without the help of machines and that is only a temporary solution.”
“In your professional opinion, how long does she have left?”
“A month, two at most.” His answer breaks whatever is left in me. I’ve been foolishly holding on to hope that Nichole will beat the odds, but she’s taken the steps to ensure that’s impossible. If her body fails, with the DNR she signed, the hospital staff can do nothing to resuscitate her. I know it’s fruitless to try to fight it. The only way I can get around it is to have a court find her incompetent when she signed it and she doesn’t have time for that. She’s literally tied all of our hands and is controlling her death. Two months from now, maybe sooner, she’ll be dead and where will I be if this happens? Can I live my life without her? No, I can’t. Nichole is my world.
“Then we will make her as comfortable as possible until she goes,” I tell him, turning back to my wife. I hear him leave, but I don’t acknowledge it, nor do I acknowledge the nurse checking on Nichole, changing out her IV and morphine pump.
“Is this what you want? To die? If so, then you’ll have to deal with the consequences that as soon as you do, you’ll kill me too. Don’t worry, love, you won’t be in the afterlife alone for long.”
Rob
I’m surprised to see Jade walk in. I haven’t seen her since that incident with her boyfriend, but here she is, beautiful as ever in her workout clothes, looking like she’s about to pop at any second. You would think that would turn me off, but on her, it’s fucking perfect. Jade is my goddess. Maybe I always knew she’d be back. The reason why I never filled in her spot.
“Hey,” she says hesitantly as I walk over.
“Hey, yourself. Are you ready to work out?” She gives me a relieved smile, and I lead her over to the bike. There isn’t much she can do in this condition, but I get this feeling that she isn’t here just to workout. Maybe she needs air or needs to hash out what happened. I don’t know how many times I pulled out my cell to call her just to change my mind at the last second. I’ve never been hung up on a woman before, but I am with her. Is it because she’s unattainable? Or maybe it’s because I’ve never met anyone like her before. Jade is like a snowflake, original and unable to be duplicated.
After thirty minutes of her warming up on the bike, I can’t take it anymore. “I know you’re not here to just work out, what’s going on?” I ask.
I’m taken back when tears fall from her eyes. As long as I have known her, I have never seen Jade cry. Not even when that bitch Cathy assaulted her. Gathering her in my arms, she loops her arms around my neck and I carry her to my office, bridal style. Laying her gently on the couch, I sit on the edge, palming her cheek. “Sweetheart, what’s going on?” I’ve never seen her fall apart like this before.
“Everything. Everything is fucking wrong,” she gets out between her sobs.
“I’m going to need more than that, sweetheart,” I tell her gently.
“Nichole's cancer is back, and she’s in a coma in the hospital. Grayson is a mess and doesn’t want me to visit her or even talk to him, and soon this baby will be born and I have no clue about its future.” I’m shocked by her revelation. I heard through the grapevine Nichole was sick, but I didn’t know it was so bad.
“I take it Grayson doesn’t want anything to do with the baby, either?” She nods her head and proceeds to tell me everything. The restaurant, her and Tyson, and Grayson. A love triangle that’s expanding because I haven’t given up on her either. I still intend for her to be mine and I don’t care if I have to share her.
“What do you want?” I ask her once she’s done. “Do you want this baby?”
“You know, no one has asked me what I wanted in all this. I’m not ready for a kid. I only went through with this because I knew in the end, someone else would be raising the baby, but now Nichole has taken that option from me. I feel like I’ve been trapped in her web of lies since the beginning, like she was planning something else and it was not being a mother.”
“Maybe, maybe not, but moving forward everything will be your choice. You need to decide what’s best for you. If you want to marry Tyson, then marry him. If you want to raise the baby, then keep it. If not, give it up for adoption. Stop thinking about everyone else's feelings and start thinking about what Jade wants, because at the end of the day, you’ll be the one most affected, so it might as well be your decisions. Not Nichole’s, not Grayson’s, or Tyson’s, not even mine. Yours.”
“What about you? Should I stop thinking about you?”
“Is that what you want?”
“No,” she answers and I bend forward and kiss her. I kiss her like a dying man, putting all my feelings in that one action. Immediately, my dick gets hard and I want nothing more than to fuck her right here, right now on my couch for all to hear, but I refrain. Now is not the time.
When I pull back, I almost growl from seeing her swollen lips, knowing I’m the one who made them that way. Her stomach moves and I place my palm flat against her belly, feeling her son move around.
“He’s quite active, just like his mom.”
“He is. I swear he’s sneaking in coffee when I’m unaware,” she chuckles and it’s like music to my ears.
“You’ll get through this, and once you do, I’ll be here waiting.” I kiss her again, letting my lips convey how true my words are and we lose ourselves as we kiss. When she leaves, she’s a whole lot lighter, having thought over my words. I’m glad I was able to help her. I meant it when I said I’ll always be there for her, no matter what.
32
Grayson
Dodging traffic, I rush back to the hospital. It’s been two weeks since Nichole’s doctor gave me the news about the extent of her intentions, and I just received a phone call that Nichole woke up from her coma. I thought she was prepared to stay in her coma until she breathed her last breath, but as always, she surprised me. This, at least, gives me some hope that maybe she’ll fight. That before she had a lapse in judgement, but now she’s ready to give it her all to stay with me.