by F. T. Zele
“Thank you, babe. Happy Grand Opening. You did it, and it’s going to be the best restaurant in town, handsome.”
“So, I know you’ve been waiting for the name, and I’ve been avoiding telling you. Look up,” I say, pointing to the sign.
Tyler pulls the rope right on cue, and Elisabetta is lit up, shining in the night sky. I look over to Liz and watch the look on her face. She covers her mouth with her hands.
“Are you serious?” she asks quietly.
“Of course, I am. This is for you. You’ve spent many hours helping me and keeping me sane through the construction, and I wanted to show you how much a part of this you are. Do you like it?”
“I love it. Thank you. I’m gonna cry,” she says as she squeezes my hand tightly.
“This is just the beginning, you and me. Ready to head in and see everyone who is here for you?” I ask, giving her time if she needs it.
“I’m ready.” She looks behind her to make sure Sophie is there.
We finally make our way inside so she can see everything that was done for her. The number 30 is splashed everywhere, everything is glittering, and the brightest pink roses sit on the tables as the centerpieces. Sophie nailed it.
“It looks amazing in here. You did all this?” she asks.
“I helped, but this was all Sophie’s idea. She told the planner what it needed to look like, and she made it happen,” I say, giving credit where it is due.
“Sophie,” Liz calls over her shoulder to where Sophie is standing with Tyler. “Thank you. It’s perfect in here.”
“Only the best for my bestest. Happy Birthday, again.”
“I’m starving. Can we eat?” Liz asks.
“Yeah, we can eat in a minute. I’ll let them know while you say hi to your friends,” I say and head toward the kitchen.
Once I let the kitchen staff know, I walk out to the dining area and see Liz talking to Jen and Sophie. As I turn to the door, I see my mom and Barbara have arrived. The smile on Mom’s face lets me know she’s pleased with the party. I interrupt the giggles and say hi to my mom.
“Mom, you look great. Thanks for coming. Doesn’t Liz look amazing?” I whisper into her ear, “We haven’t told anybody yet, so please, don’t say anything. We’re going to tell everyone later.”
“Where else would I be? Liz is glowing. This whole place is fantastic.”
“We’re going to eat now. You’re sitting by Liz and me. Barbara, can you help my mom to her seat?” I ask.
We sit down to eat a moment later, and the nerves start hitting. I know once we’re done, I have to get up and make a toast and give Liz the present I have been waiting to give her. I watch everyone chatting and eating, but can’t eat much myself. I just want to get this over with.
I stand up and clink my glass with my spoon, and everybody’s eyes fall on me. In all my life, I have never had a problem being the center of attention, but tonight all eyes are about to be on Liz. I start speaking, saying what I’ve rehearsed countless times in my head.
“Thank you, guys, for coming tonight to celebrate the opening of Elisabetta, and most importantly, Liz’s thirtieth birthday. The love and support from our friends mean so much to us and have helped push us harder than we ever could have imagined. Tonight, though, is all about Liz, the one who opened my eyes to a whole world I never knew existed. With her by my side, I know I can do anything. We may have had a rocky start, but we’re here and stronger than ever.” I take a deep breath, look at Liz, and continue, “I searched high and low for the perfect gift, and the moment I saw it, I knew you had to have it. Liz, you’re my every breath. I don’t ever want to go to sleep without you by my side, because that means I get to wake up next to you, and that’s always a perfect start to my day. You’ve shown me how to love and how to receive love. Not a day goes by that I don’t count my blessings that you’re mine.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring I bought months ago, knowing it would one day be on her finger. I drop to one knee and hear everybody say, “Oh my God” and “I can’t believe it,” as I look up to her, carefully gauging her reaction. “I want to grow old with you, never go a day without you. I would be honored if you would say yes to be my wife.” The room goes silent as she bends down to me before she says anything, and I’m scared she isn’t going to say yes.
“You don’t have to do this because of the baby, Braxton. We don’t have to rush anything else,” she quietly says to me.
“I picked this out months ago, before I even knew about the baby. I want to do this. You are it for me, Liz. Please, say yes.” I watch her stand up and look around the room, her eyes filling with tears, looking ready to overflow.
“Yes. Yes, Braxton, I’ll marry you.” Everyone bursts out in cheers and applauds.
With shaky hands, I slide the princess cut diamond ring onto her finger and quickly stand up, planting the biggest kiss on her soft lips before telling her, “I love you, Liz. I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me. I will never let you down, never.” I kiss her again. Her tears have finally spilled over, and I taste them on her lips.
“I love you, too,” she says.
“Can we tell them now? I’m dying to tell someone,” I beg.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“I would like to say one more thing. It’s been hard keeping this secret. Liz and I will be welcoming a baby girl on March second. It was a huge surprise to us, and we are happy to share the news with all of you, our closest friends, first.”
“What?!” I hear Sophie shriek.
“You heard that right, Sophie. We’re having a baby!” I excitedly yell back.
“Liz, I’m going to be an aunt?” she cries out, running to Liz’s side, hugging her tightly. The room gets loud with everyone congratulating us.
“Why didn’t you guys tell me? Wait, you’ve been hiding this from me for six months?” I watch Sophie figure out the date in her head.
“I wanted to tell you, Sophie, but I needed to figure it all out first. We didn’t know until last month, and we were in quite a bit of shock ourselves.”
Sophie reaches out and touches Liz’s stomach. “This is why you refused to get a tight little cocktail dress.”
“Bingo,” Liz says.
I see Sophie getting emotional, and it’s only a matter of time before Liz starts. Giving them a minute alone, I leave them and head over to where Tyler is seated.
“How did all this happen, Brax? What are you thinking? Are you happy?” Tyler asks.
“Happy is an understatement. I have my mom, Liz, and a little girl on the way. I never saw my life like this, but I can’t imagine it any other way.” I lean back in my chair, enjoying the view of my future wife and the mother of my baby laughing and talking to her friends.
This is perfection.
I see my mom yawning. This is a lot for her for one night, but I want to talk to her before she leaves. “I’ll be right back. Got to talk to my mom real fast,” I tell Tyler and get up and walk toward her. “Big night, huh?” I ask.
“Braxton, I’m so proud of you. I can’t think of a better person for you to spend your life with. I’m lucky you have someone who will take care of you once I’m gone. I couldn’t be any happier.” Her eyes become watery.
“We agreed not to talk about this stuff, Mom. Enjoy each day and not think about the negatives. You’ve been here longer than the doctors expected. We’re just waiting on them to find a cure.” I refuse to think about it.
“Okay, I don’t want to upset you. I’m going to head home. This was a lot for me. I love you. See you tomorrow. Congrats, dear,” she says, and I stand and give her a hug and kiss. Then Barbara helps her up, and they walk out. I head over to Liz, needing to steal a minute with her alone.
“Excuse me, ladies. I need to borrow Liz for just a minute. You can all have her back soon,” I say, leading her away with her hand in mine. We walk over to the middle of the room and soft music starts to play. “May I have this dance?”
&
nbsp; “Of course.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, and I hold her hips. We sway to the music, and it seems like nobody is around. She lays her head on my chest, and we are in this moment together.
“How are you doing?” I ask, hoping she isn’t getting too tired.
“Better than I could have ever thought possible. I want to stay like this forever. This has been the best birthday.”
“This is just the beginning. I promise to always make you happier than the day before. I’ll never let you go a day without feeling loved.”
“I already feel more than loved. I feel like this is a dream, and when I wake up, it won’t be real.”
“This is all real, every bit of it.”
We dance a few more songs until she can’t take being on her feet anymore. We hang out for a little while longer, and everyone finally calls it a night.
Liz falls asleep during the drive home, and I have to wake her up when we’re pulling into the driveway. We settle in bed, and she slides in with her back against me, and I rest my hand on her belly, dreaming about the day I make her my wife.
Life has been speeding by ever since the night Braxton purposed to me, and I feel we are closer than ever before. Some people might think we’re rushing things, making such a huge commitment to one another, but I knew from the day I laid eyes on him, there was something different about him.
I was waiting for my second chance, and with Braxton, he is my only chance. He has shown me how to love again, twice, now that I have this instant love with the baby we created.
What I used to think was love with Jacob is different with Braxton. The difference is I am utterly in love with Braxton, and every part of my soul knows we were meant to be. While with Jacob, I loved him, but it’s a different love than what I’m experiencing now. I was complacent with Jacob, and he was what I was used to for a long time. The hardest part was letting go of something so familiar.
I have been spending all my time at Braxton’s house and rarely coming home, unless I forgot something. I sit here, packing up the rest of my things, waiting for Braxton to come help me finish so I can officially be out of this house. He was going to pick up something to eat because there is never enough food around me, and I’m starting to resemble a house.
His mom hasn’t been doing so well. She has been more forgetful and slower. She stays in bed most of the day, and Barbara has been doing everything possible to get her back to a better place. Her medicine was altered recently, and some new ones were added to see if this is just a flare-up, but it’s not looking that way. With her condition, she can go into temporary remission and have a while where she starts to feel a little better. I just don’t know if there is going to be any more of those.
Jade has exceeded what doctors have told her, and that alone is a huge victory for her and Braxton. It has given him time to spend with her and care for her since she’s the reason he has pushed himself so hard in life.
“Babe,” he calls from the door.
“I’m in the back room. I’ll be out in a second,” I answer. It takes me a second to get up, and I greet him in the kitchen. “Hi, how was your day? Ooh, that smells good.” I walk past him, stopping briefly to kiss him on the cheek.
“Long, just ready to get this all done and not have it looming over our heads. We have so much to finish at home,” he says as he grabs some food and eats standing up.
“I know. It’s almost done. I think we can get everything done tonight. The donation truck is coming tomorrow morning to pick up what I’m not taking,” I say through mouthfuls of food.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Just the boxes that are sitting in the living room. Can you move them to the garage? Those are what I’m taking.”
“You got it. Don’t do too much. Let me do all the heavy stuff.”
“I know, I know,” I reply, getting tired of being told what I can’t do.
Finishing late, we decide to stay the night here, making it the official last time I will sleep in this house, and I get a little sentimental. Out of all the bad memories I associate with this house, I would be lying if I said there aren’t good ones. This was the first house I owned. There were good times with Jacob here also, and as much as I hate what he did to me, I have started treating it like a lesson. One I’m especially grateful for.
I’m awakened by Braxton’s phone ringing, and I nudge him to wake him up. He answers it, and I reach over to my phone and check the time. It’s past one in the morning. Suddenly, Braxton jumps out of bed, looking for his clothes with the phone still to his ear.
“I’ll meet you there.” Is the only thing he says.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I start to worry.
“That was Barbara. I have to get to the hospital. They rushed my mom there.” Before he can get all the words out, I’m jumping out of bed.
“What happened?” I ask, getting dressed faster than I ever have before.
“She stopped breathing, respiratory failure. We have to go now!” he yells, and before I know it, we are in the car speeding down the freeway.
Braxton barely gets the car in park before he is flying out the door, and I’m lagging behind, trying to walk as fast as I can. I finally catch up to him as he reaches the information desk in the front of the ER.
“I’m here for Jade Wright. Where is she? I need to get to her,” he says to the receptionist as she types some stuff on her computer.
“And you are?”
“I’m her son. Just tell me where she is!”
“No need to raise your voice, sir. I have to check, and it’s only immediate family allowed. She has been moved to Room 402. Go past these doors here and take the elevator to the fourth floor.”
“Thank you,” Braxton says as he runs down the hall with me in tow.
We get up to the floor and make our way down the hall until we find her room. Walking in, we find Barbara sitting beside Jade’s bed, holding her hand.
Fucking panic is taking over at this moment. I don’t have a clue what is going on, and all I see when I walk into the room is my mom hooked up to different machines that are continually beeping. Her eyes are closed, and her chest is pumping up and down by the machines.
“Barbara, what happened?” I ask as I make my way over to the bed.
“Around 12:15, I went into her room to check her vitals and give her one of her injections, and I noticed she wasn’t breathing. I tried to do CPR and get her back up, but it wasn’t working. While I was doing that, I called 911. They got there fast, and I know they were working on her in the ambulance and got her on a ventilator. She hasn’t woken up since then. I tried everything, Braxton. I promise you I did,” she says in between sobs.
“Where is the doctor? What are they saying?”
“He was in here for a bit, but he didn’t say much. He was waiting on you to get here. I’ll let the nurse know you’re here.”
As Barbara gets out of her seat to find the doctor, I sit in the seat where she was next to my mom. I grab Mom’s hand and hold it, hoping she can sense I’m here with her. I’m trying to hold everything I’m feeling inside and not lose it, but I want to break something.
“Liz, hold her other hand. Let her know we’re both here. She has to wake up,” I say as I watch Liz walk slowly over to the other side and take Mom’s hand. We sit in silence, holding on to her until the doctor comes into the room.
“Mr. Wright, I’m Dr. Williams. Can we talk privately, or is it okay to discuss this in front of the others?”
“It’s fine in here. This is my fiancée, Liz,” I answer.
“Sure, so, as you can see, we have your mom on a ventilator that is breathing for her. At this point, she hasn’t woken up at all since the paramedics got to her. She is in a coma. We have made sure she is comfortable, but we don’t know how long she went without oxygen, and if she has experienced significant brain damage. I’ve already read her chart, and I know her condition. I want you to think about this, Mr. Wright. We haven’
t seen any brain activity since we placed her on the monitor. If this continues and she doesn’t wake up, you are going to have to make a decision. Do we keep her on the ventilator, or do we make the choice to turn it off? I’ll give you a while to think about this while we continue to monitor her, but it isn’t looking good right now.”
“How long do I have until I need to tell you?”
“You have as much time as you need, but you need to think, would she want this? It’s a hard decision, but you have to ask yourself. I’ll leave you alone with her right now and come back in a little while.”
“Thank you,” I say as calmly and politely as I can.
I continue to sit, staring blankly as the words replay in my head. “You’re going to have to make a decision.” How do I make such a selfish decision about somebody else’s life? I don’t have the answers, and I don’t know how to do this.
“Liz, I’ll be right back. I need to find Barbara. Please, talk to her.” I walk out and find Barbara sitting in the waiting room, not understanding why she isn’t in the room with us. “What are you doing out here?” I take a seat next to her.
“I wanted to give you some time with her. She’s your mom, your family.”
“She’s your family, too. You’ve been with us for years, day in and day out. You deserve to be in there.”
“I know, but it’s hard for me. I love your mother. As a nurse, I’ve been taught not to get attached, but I was more than Jade’s nurse. I was a friend, like a sister. She trusted me, and I let her down.” She lays her head in her hands.
“I need to make a decision. Do I keep these machines breathing for her selfishly, or do I say it’s time?”
“I can’t make that choice for you, but I know she wouldn’t want this. We have talked about how when it’s time, it’s time. She wouldn’t want us standing over her bed day after day hoping she wakes up. She fought hard through this whole thing, and I don’t think she wants to fight anymore.”