Her Ride

by Rachael Orman

  I could do this. I would do this. I grabbed his face with both of my hands and kissed him hard on the lips as I smiled then said, “Let’s go find out what time surgery is.”

  It’s been one year, two months and eight days since I started my treatments. Today was day one. Day one of being in remission. Ellis had been true to his word; he was there every single day. If I needed a drink, a blanket, a tissue, he was there. He waited on me hand and foot and pampered the ever living hell out of me. I even came to love it when I was sick and hated it when I was having a good day. I didn’t want the pampering until it was too painful for me to do something on my own.

  I had under-gone the surgery to my brain; it had been a hellacious recovery. I had to relearn how to talk, which later Ellis joked had been the quietest he’d ever seen me, saying that he missed it sometimes. In reality, he was constantly helping me practice and helping me recover faster than doctors thought I would.

  After I was released from the hospital, we rented a small apartment as close to the hospital as we could so I wouldn’t have far to travel for my treatments. They were just as horrible as I remembered, but having someone there to rub my feet or even simply heat up chicken broth for me to sip when it was all I could keep down made such a big difference. Ellis was always finding ways to surprise me and make me laugh. I’d swear it was Ellis’ goal to keep my spirits high no matter what he had to do.

  One of the worst times had been when I’d had to finally tell Patrick everything I’d been hiding. He was so upset with me; it was devastating to me the amount of betrayal he felt. Not long after our big fight over the secrets I’d hidden, he flew out to see me and we were able to patch up our relationship. Though, I think that had a lot to do with Ellis helping behind the scenes. I didn’t want to lose my brother over secrets that were in the past.

  My treatments ended up going much longer than doctors had initially expected because there were many times that my body reacted badly or didn’t recover as quickly as they wanted it to or I was too sick to get the treatments on time and they’d get delayed. I wanted to cry every time they said I had to wait longer. It just delayed the time till I would be done with it, but Ellis was there to remind me that it was what I had to do and if they had gone ahead with the treatment, it would’ve only been that much harder for me to endure.

  “You ready babe?” Ellis walked into the bedroom to help me get out of bed. I had lost quite a bit of weight since I had started this journey. I was beyond tired all the time, but never once had I heard Ellis complain about how much he had to help. I slipped on my flip flops; it was all I wore these days because it was easy to get them on and off. Hell, I rarely got out of sweatpants and tank tops.

  “Last time. I don’t think I could be more ready.” I smiled up at Ellis as he tucked me under his arm, like he always did; it had become my favorite place in the whole world. He walked me out to a new black Dodge Challenger that had become our ride since I started my treatments. The doctor had told Ellis the back of a motorcycle was no longer acceptable, so that day he had gone out to get a new ride.

  We drove the familiar route to the hospital. All I had to do was sign some final paperwork that would release me from the military, and I was done. I could go home, which we planned to do as soon as our lease on the apartment was up. Neither of us were too excited to rush back to living with all the men; we had gotten spoiled living with just us two. We talked about getting our own place when we got back, but nothing too serious. That was a decision that would have to be made when we moved back and I got more on my feet.

  At the hospital, I handled the paperwork while Ellis handled scaring off anyone that got too close to me with his mean glare, which made me smile. Once I was done, I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the hospital I hoped to never see again. Standing next to the car, I turned to look up at the hospital much like I had done the very first day we had arrived. So much had changed since then while some things hadn’t. I pulled Ellis out to the far edge of the parking lot where I’d shared just how much I cared this man out loud for the first time.

  I turned toward Ellis and smiled. “Babe, I got a question for you.”

  “What’s that?” Ellis smiled back at me. I slowly lowered myself to one knee as I held onto his hand.

  “Will you marry me?” I asked, the smile never leaving my face. He pulled me up and into a tight hug.

  “Yes, but you aren’t allowed to ask me. It’s my job to ask and I’ll do it with a ring.” Ellis laughed, kissing me on the lips. “There has never been a doubt in my mind that one day you’d be my wife, not since you came home. I've just been trying to convince you I’d make a worthy husband.”

  Coming Soon…. Patrick’s Story.