120 days...

by Stratton, M.

  Looking down, she had to take a moment before she could continue. “I don’t want things to change. I can’t have them change,” she whispered. “I need to be me and not a guest. I can’t lose myself.”

  “You won’t have to worry about that.” Ethan’s voice commanded the room. “We all know what we are going to have to do, all you need to worry about is resting and growing a baby.”

  “Oh, is that all?” Her lips quivered as she smiled up at him.

  “Yep, that should be easy for you. Do you see everything you’ve already tackled and won? This is a cakewalk.”

  “I’ll remind you of that.”

  “You do that.” He squeezed her shoulder and left her alone with her staff for a moment.

  “No tears. No special treatment,” she told them. “I need to know you’re going to do everything you’ve always done for this resort, no matter if it is myself or Ethan giving the orders.”

  Bethany was the first one over to her, enveloping her in a huge warm hug. “Girl, whatever you need, any time of day, or night, I’m here for you.” She pulled back and looked Sam in the eye. “You hear me, I’m here for you. Everyone needs help, ask for me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Sam smiled at her through the tears. This was just as hard as she thought it was going to be. “You’re the one who should be scared. Ethan is going to be your boss for a while.”

  “Ha, that pussycat? He’s met his match in me. I’ll keep him in line and keep things running smoothly. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

  “Thank you.”

  When Bethany moved aside, Phil stepped up and looked at her. She felt like he was studying her, trying to figure her out. “You should have told someone sooner. You needed someone here on staff who knew your history, could help you if you needed it.”

  “No one needed to know before now. I had everything under control. Now that I need help, I’m asking for it.”

  “You’re going to have to share your records with me.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

  “I know, and I’ll make sure you have everything you need. I promise.”

  “We’ll take good care of you and your little one. You know Ethan will be there for you too.”

  She tried hard to keep the tears from falling. “I know you will. Now go on before you make me cry.”

  Tracy came up to her and shook her finger in Sam’s face. “You have to let me know what you want to eat. You know I can cook anything. I’ll make sure you’re hooked up for every single craving you have.”

  “You’ll be the first to know. You might want to stock up on chocolate though.”

  “Yes, I can do that.” Her voice quivered.

  “Stop, no more tears, we’ll be fine. Now, go and see if you can find a new cake recipe for Ethan to try out. You know how much he loves cake.”

  “Okay. I’m so happy and sad for you at the same time. You finally have everything you ever wanted, Ethan is a good man. I’ll be praying for both of you.” Tracy sniffled and walked away.

  She spent a few minutes talking to a few other staff members. When Ethan walked back in, everyone went quiet.

  In the silence of the room, she took the mold he had brought into the room and placed it on the table. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand over the cement, and carefully pressed down. It was colder than she thought it would be. She couldn’t look up at her staff who were watching her make her handprint for the Legacy Wall. There would have been no way she could have kept it together. As it was, she could hear some of them trying to hold their sobs back. When she was done, Ethan was there to help lift her hand and wipe it clean before she used a stick to write on it.

  Quickly, she drew a butterfly in the corner before the tears clouded her vision and she stood up and left the room.

  The next few weeks were a whirlwind of construction planning and making sure Ethan knew everything he could about the resort. Luckily for her, he picked things up quickly and since he did have a background in business, most of it he already knew. She also appreciated the fact that while he may have other ideas on how to run things, he was learning the way she wanted things done first before making any suggestions.

  The amount of rest she needed surprised her, between work and reading up on pregnancy, she didn’t have much time for anything else, and Ethan was making sure she didn’t overdo it. She almost scoffed at the idea, as if her body would let her. She also realized how much she missed spending time with her guests, not to mention going on adventures with them. As she sat on her porch swing with paper and pen, she tried to come up with a schedule where she could get back to having fun again. There was a reason they said laughter was the best medicine.

  When she heard Ethan approaching, she smiled. She already knew he’d have a funny story or two to tell her, and something to eat. The staff had taken it upon themselves to make sure she was overloaded with all the right foods to help not only her baby, but foods which were said to help prevent cancer.

  “There’s my beautiful lady.” He slid next to Sam and put his arm around her. “Come here often?”

  “Every day.”

  “Well then, lucky me.” He held a bag up for her. “Look what I have for you.”

  “Food?”

  “Yes, food, but you’ll love this.”

  “I’m waiting.” She held her hand out.

  “Close your eyes . . . Come on, you trust me. Just close your eyes and open your mouth.”

  “No tomatoes.”

  “I know what you like and what you don’t. Give me a little credit.”

  She sighed, closed her eyes and opened her mouth. When he placed something chocolatey and sweet on her tongue, she moaned. “Oh my.”

  “Exactly. Is it the best thing you’ve ever had? If I do say so myself, hiring that pastry chef was a great idea. It’s also giving Tracy more time to work on the meals, which is where her passion is.”

  “I have to agree with you, even though I hate to feed your ego.”

  “You should see what he’s planning on making for Halloween. They’re going to be creepy looking but oh so tasty.”

  “Oh, Halloween.” She sighed.

  “What? I thought that was your favorite holiday?”

  “It is, I don’t know where the time went. I don’t have a costume.”

  “Seriously? Sam, one of your extra rooms upstairs has only costumes in it. Surely you can find something there to wear.”

  She shrugged. “I try to do something different every year.”

  “It’s okay, you can recycle, and it’s kind of the ‘in thing’ right now.”

  “Ha-ha. Maybe you’re right.” She stood up. “You need a costume too.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about me. You pick yours out. I’ve got this whole Halloween thing handled.”

  “That scares me a little bit.”

  He bent his fingers into claws and laughed like an evil genius would. “And you should be.”

  “You’re hopeless.” She turned to walk away from him.

  He came up behind her and gently wrapped his arm around her waist. “Hopelessly in love with you.”

  Sam smiled and leaned back into him, knowing, no matter what the future held, the moment was perfect.

  “Are you ready yet?” Sam asked Ethan through the closed door of the spare room.

  “I bet this is a first, a woman waiting on a man to finish getting ready.”

  “Don’t you start with me, mister! I’ll open this door right now and ruin your surprise.”

  “Hey, cut me some slack. This is harder than I thought it would be.”

  “Do you need me to zip you up?”

  “Ha-ha. No, I’m ready. Stand back, I’m coming out.”

  “Oh my,” Sam said as she looked him up and down and then nodded. “Oh, yes. That’s working.” She gestured for him to turn around. “Let me see if the backside is as good as the front.”

  “Samantha!”

  “Come on, you can’t come out dressed like Thor and not expect women to drool ove
r your body. And move that cape out of the way so I can see your butt.”

  “So you’re saying you like my body.”

  “No, Mr. McGregor, I love your body.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “But why Thor? Don’t get me wrong, it’s working, but I never would have guessed you’d pick out this costume.”

  “Simple, my dear, you know what Thor does in the movies. He meets this beautiful mortal woman. They spend some time together. He falls for her, but he has to leave. He’s got these responsibilities to take care of back in his realm.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But he never forgot her. He wanted to go to her, but his duty to his people was strong and the Bifrost is broken. Then she needed him. She had a sickness in her blood. He did everything, taking her back home to be treated by his people, even asking the brother he no longer trusted to help him save her. He defied his father, the king, committed treason to help her. In the end, he gave up the crown, what he’d been born to do, to rule the seven realms, for her. There was no other superhero I could be for you but Thor, because I’d do all of that and more for you.”

  The words he spoke touched Sam so deeply she felt every broken piece of her put back together, simply by the love of this good man. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

  “I think I do, the very same you’ve done for me. Healed me, made me better, given me back hope.” He pulled away and looked her up and down. “Now, just what are you dressed up as?”

  “What, it’s not obvious?” She giggled. “We must be connected, although a different comic. I’m dressed up as Dr. Jean Grey from X-Men. She’s powerful, caring, and a scientist.” Sam shrugged. “I’m trying to be positive.”

  “It’s totally working.” He pulled her into his arms. “Now, let’s go have some fun.”

  “You know, the ladies are going to be all over you.”

  “Of course. That’s the other reason why I picked this costume out.” He looked at her with a straight face for all of ten seconds before he started laughing. “Nah, they all know I only have eyes for you.”

  He swept her up in his arms and danced her back into the bedroom while singing the song “I Only Have Eyes for You” to her.

  Six Months Later

  Day 68

  Ethan–

  I needed you to understand where I was coming from. From the very start, I thought I’d create this journal for you, so in a way, you could take this journey with me. But it’s also something for the future so you can always have something of mine to remember me by.

  There’s no denying the fact any longer. I knew I was never going to get better, but for so long I wasn’t getting worse. Now I know, I don’t think I’m going to make it one–hundred-and-twenty days.

  Evan

  Sam waited until Ethan had gone down to the main house before she slowly made her way upstairs to the bedroom in the back of the house. Before they had officially moved in together, it had been an empty room. After she found out she was pregnant, she started sneaking items into the room and organizing them into containers. She tried to look at this as good planning. Her attitude was still positive; they were both going to make it, but she needed to be ready for the worst. Plus she could focus on other things as their child grew up and she’d already have each holiday covered.

  Stopping by the first one, she ran her hand over the label, Thanksgiving. At that point, she had been tired, but still feeling well. Good enough in fact she still went down to the office every day and would participate in the less strenuous events.

  They had a traditional huge meal gathered around the large table in the rec center and gave thanks that they were able to spend time with each other, share food and laughter. Thumbing through the pictures she’d taken, she swore she could smell the turkey and stuffing from that day. After Halloween, it was her next favorite holiday. She loved all the food and always ate more than she should have.

  Putting the pictures down, she picked up the first of eighteen USB drives and looked at the date on it, next Thanksgiving. She wanted to make a video their child could watch every year until they were eighteen. Since nothing was guaranteed and she didn’t know how weak she would become, she decided to record the videos sooner rather than later.

  Ethan had started making small changes around the resort during her pregnancy. All were good ideas, and he did them in such a way that the transition was smooth.

  Making sure everything was in perfect order, she put the lid back on and went onto the next one, Christmas. The smell of peppermint wafted up as she opened the lid. Inside were eighteen Christmas ornaments for their child along with a letter on the wonder and meaning of Christmas for when they needed to be reminded of it.

  Her fingers played with the heart necklace around her neck Ethan had surprised her with for Christmas. It had three diamonds in it, one for each of them. She’d cried then, just as she cried at that moment. Her emotions were overwhelming her a lot, and she spent a bunch of time crying.

  Moving to the next box, she smiled. New Year’s. Every year they always celebrated with New York City, since most of their guests couldn’t make it to midnight. This year as the ball started to drop, she’d grabbed on to Ethan and kissed him as if her life depended on it. She wanted the kiss to carry over from one year to the next. She thought it was best to end one year together as another began.

  They had found out the day before they were having a girl, and everything was looking good with her. Sam broke down and sobbed, so thankful she was healthy. So far. They had started trying to figure out names, but couldn’t agree on anything, in fact, they still couldn’t.

  For this container, she decided her daughter should have a new life lesson for the start of every year. Something she wished she had known growing up, or had found out earlier in her life.

  Sam also included the fantasy football trophy in this container, she wanted her daughter to know, even though football was considered a sport for men, that didn’t mean you couldn’t love it and kick the boys’ asses. Which was what she did. They’d continued the league through the rest of the season, and Sam had won the most weeks.

  With the New Year came a new project Ethan was working on, something secret he was keeping from her along with the improvements on the property. She was spending more and more time with the guests or alone. They wouldn’t let her do much of anything, and she was feeling trapped.

  Growing up, Sam had always made homemade cards for her parents. She did the same for her daughter for Valentine’s Day. She wanted to make sure her daughter never doubted how much she was loved, so made a card for each year, telling her exactly how much she meant to her, how she was more important than anything else.

  All the stories and movies she’d watched growing up about the prince coming and whisking the girl off on a romantic date finally came true. Ethan had taken her down into the city where he had an appointment at a day spa set up for her. She spent all day being completely pampered. When she was done, they made sure her hair and make-up were perfect to go with the new outfit he had bought for her. The evening was spent having a romantic dinner overlooking the lights. She could feel their daughter move in her belly as Ethan held her in his arms.

  Ethan still spent many hours working and doing research. If there was something out there she could take or do that would help her and not harm the baby, he was tracking down information on it. He was relentless in his pursuit of knowledge and keeping the resort running.

  Since they were both of Irish heritage, they made sure everyone celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Corn beef hash, green beer and bad accents were heavy that day, as was her belly. Sam was more tired than she’d ever been. She knew why, it wasn’t only the pregnancy. Cancer was growing in her. At that point, she was praying almost hourly to slow the growth of it. If it could be held under a certain size, she’d be able to deliver her daughter and then have the cancer taken care of. They could still both survive.

  Sam made eighteen trinkets, little things from different cultures that were said to brin
g luck to a person. Her child, her daughter was her miracle. She wanted her to have all the good luck, more than anyone else.

  Ethan was checking on her all the time now. They both knew the further along she was the more things that could go wrong. He only left her for short periods of time. Even when a guest was dying, he wouldn’t stay away long before he was back making sure she was okay.

  Working on all of the holiday containers while he was away became harder and harder. For Memorial Day, she found stories of regular people who went above and beyond for their country, and ended up paying the ultimate price, their life for America’s freedom. Sam wanted her daughter to know that men, and women, paid a high price for everything she had, and to never take that for granted. Even though Evan hadn’t died serving this country, she still put something of his in there, a little history on her uncle.

  She found old books written by the Founding Fathers for the Fourth of July. To understand what we are as a country, she wanted her daughter to know how it all started. For Labor Day, she added more books. These were books which were written for or by the people who had dreams, who followed them with all their heart, so their work was their passion and not a job.

  The Halloween container, was actually two. When they were putting all the decorations away last year, she held out her favorite ones, and put a note in there as to why they were her favorites, along with the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe and a dozen of her favorite horror movies.

  Turning, she faced the longest wall in the room. Before her were eighteen containers, one for each of the birthday’s her daughter would have. She’d tried hard to figure out what she would want for each year and think of something that wouldn’t be obsolete by the time her daughter got to open it. The hardest thing was making sure her daughter knew Sam loved her. She hoped with everything she was doing by putting these containers together, their daughter would know she did everything she could to make memories for her. She wanted her daughter to know she loved her and would never regret any decision she made in deciding to have her. This was the only thing Sam could think of to leave her that would continue to show how much she loved her.