Veronica-Waking up in Lyrek’s arms was the best thing in the world at this moment. After the last twenty-four hours, I have been more grateful to have him by my side. I wish he would have let me know what he was doing, but I understood why he kept me in the dark.Rolling over in bed to face him, I saw he was still sleeping. Taking a moment to admire his features, I smiled at how relaxed he looked. Moving my gaze to the other side of his body, I noticed Andrew was lying in bed next to him.I must have slept like a rock if I hadn’t noticed Andrew joining us in bed. Reaching over, I gently caressed the side of his face. His features weren’t as relaxed as Lyrek’s, yet he didn’t seem to be nearly as influenced by past events as I expected him to be.“Good morning.” Lyrek’s sleepy voice pulled me from getting too far into my thoughts.Tilting my head back, I looked up to see him smiling at me. “Good morning.” I repeated his words.“Are you hungry?” He asked, his tone soft and low.Instead
Veronica-It wasn’t easy, but with the help of Lily, a team of wedding planners, and a lot of money, we managed to get the wedding I have been planning for the last few months up and going. It took us only forty-eight hours. The best part of it all, Lyrek’s grandfather was able to hold on.I had a feeling that the wedding was giving him the desire to live because I could tell by looking at him that he was fighting to stay alive. When I told him my plan it was a light flipped on in him and he now had the will to live. Lyrek tried to argue with me about rushing the wedding.He wanted me to have the wedding of my dreams, but I managed to win him over to my way of thinking after I told him that it wouldn’t be the wedding of my dreams without his grandfather here to celebrate it with us. After all, it had been because of his grandfather that we were together.I thought it over and concluded that even if he would have pursued me, I wouldn’t have been as willing to be with him at the time. I
Veronica- Ten years later “Hurry up mom and dad! We are going to be late!” My nine-year-old daughter Lexi yelled as she ran ahead to the bar, where we were meeting everyone. It was now Christmas, and we had a tradition to meet at the bar every year. Rick still managed the bar, but he now did so with his husband, whom he met while he was in Europe. This year it was a little different from our usual get-together because this year Lily couldn’t join us. She was in Africa working with Doctors Without Borders. I was really proud of everything she has accomplished these last few years since graduating from medical school. The main person that I was looking forward to seeing was Andrew. He was in college now, studying to be a medical researcher. His life was relatively normal now, having been cancer free for ten years. I never thought he would have made it this far, but I was thankful every day that his illness was a thing of the past. I haven’t seen him since the school year started, b
Veronica- “You know, you don’t have to come here every day, Vicki. I know you are busy.” My brother Andrew said when I tucked him back into bed. We just returned to his hospital room, after undergoing another round of chemotherapy. He was only ten years old and had benign brain stem glioma. He had his last scan a couple of weeks ago, which showed that his tumor wasn’t spreading. Still, he had to stay in the hospital to keep getting treatments. He hasn’t been able to get around as well as he used to, and the hospital knew of my situation. I worked four jobs to pay for his treatments and his stay in the hospital. One of my jobs was as a certified nurse assistant here, so it made it easier to stay nearby. I also worked as a bartender down the road from the hospital. My waitress job was a little further away. Then there was the fact I was an Uber driver in my spare time. Since I didn’t own a vehicle, my boss at the bar allowed me to use his. I was barely twenty-three years old and tak
Lyrek-“You’re good.” I chuckled, before sliding onto the bar stool next to me.Before walking into this bar, I had no intention of flirting with a woman, but then I saw her. She had a beautiful smile, her complexion was slightly tanned and reminded me of warm honey. Her messy bun just made her look that much more attractive.As she walked away, I couldn’t help but admire her slender figure with curves in all the right places. After the day I had, the last thing I wanted was to be hitting on a female that I knew wasn’t right for me. Then again, there was nothing wrong with flirting and looking.When she returned to place my drink on the table, I decided to stay where I was at. Even though, originally, I had planned to hide in a back corner to drink away the stress of the day. I just flew in from California and the trip had been long and grueling.First, they misplaced my luggage. Then, my grandfather gave me an ultimatum that I didn’t like. He had the audacity to tell me that if I did
Veronica-After finishing my shift at the bar, I went to the hospital to check on Andrew. He had been fast asleep, so I didn’t bother him. Giving him a kiss goodnight, I snuck out to take a quick shower in the locker room that was for staff.I had a shift at the hospital in a few hours, so I wanted to grab my scrubs and get cleaned up. A customer had spilled some alcohol on me, so I stunk like a distillery. After showering, I dropped my bar uniform off with housekeeping.They offered to help me with my laundry, so I didn’t have to spend money on a laundry mat. I was extremely grateful for everything the hospital staff and the bar did for me. It took away some of the stress I had to deal with.They said they would take it up to Andrew’s room after it was cleaned, since I was going to be working. Having a few hours until the start of my shift, I decided to sleep in the chair that was in Andrew’s room. They had offered me a bed a few times, but I had declined it because there were other
Lyrek-I didn’t have the faintest clue what was going on, other than Veronica was in distress and I had an overwhelming urge to be there for her. When I rushed after her, I didn’t even think about what I was doing or about to do. When I saw her fall to the ground outside, I felt a tight pain in my chest.“Hey, what is wrong?” I asked gently, lowering myself to the ground to sit next to her.“He is dying and there is nothing I can do about it.” She sobbed as she leaned toward me.Turning my upper body, I adjusted my body so I could wrap my arms around her. She cried into my chest, my shirt fisted into one of her hands. Not entirely sure what she was talking about, I just held her while she cried.The guy that told me to leave last night, came outside but paused when he saw us on the ground. It looked as if he was unsure of what to do. I mouthed the words, I got this, to him. He looked unsure at first, before nodding his head and heading back inside.With my arms wrapped around her shou
Veronica-Sitting next to Lyrek in the car, as we drove to the hospital, I couldn’t take my eyes off our marriage certificate. I was now married to a man I barely knew and now carried his last name. Which, up to an hour ago, I hadn’t known.“Are you okay?” Lyrek asked from the driver's seat.“I’m fine.” I lied.There was no way I was fine about any of this. Since I was a little girl, I wanted to be married, but not like this. I thought I would find a good man that I could fall in love with, spend some time getting to know him, eventually move in with him, and later down the road possibly marry.Not meet a guy one night, move in with him the next night, get married the next morning, and completely miss out on the love aspect. When he offered to marry me, to save my brother, of course, I jumped at it. Did I do the right thing though?For all I knew, he was a bad guy and would treat me and my brother like crap. He doesn’t even know that legally my brother is technically my son. That woul