120 days...

by Stratton, M.

  “Lily,” Devlin said. “Come meet Ethan McGregor, he’s magic when it comes to finding the right property at the right time if you’re looking to invest.”

  “Nice to meet you.” She shook his hand as the little girl on her hip shyly looked over at him. “But I think I’m happy with the property in Maine, thank you very much.”

  “And Los Angeles.” Devlin winked at her.

  “That’s all you. I only come out here when I need to. Leave me with the kids and my artist’s studio back home and I’m happy. You go play make-believe.”

  “It’s what I do.” He smiled and put his arm around her. “This little sweetheart is L.D., and the boy running around like crazy is Leo.”

  “Hey, Dad,” said Leo. “Look at this place. How cool is this!” He had climbed up on the old ranch equipment Ethan had found and cleaned up. “I could totally use this for ninja training.”

  “Yes, you could. Now get down before you hurt yourself,” Lily answered.

  “He wasn’t talking to you.” Devlin smirked at his wife. “Hold up there.” Quickly, Devlin ran over and jumped up on the equipment next to the son he had officially adopted after he’d married Lily. “Oh, yeah, you could totally use something like this. Hey, Mom, we should do something like this in the backyard.”

  “No, now both of you get down before you get hurt.”

  “Girls,” Devlin said and elbowed Leo.

  “Yeah, girls. We need more boys in this family.”

  “Ha! No . . .” Lily said and gave them both a look.

  “Mama . . . down . . .” L.D. said.

  “No, sweetie, we’re running a little late to begin with. Hold on a few more minutes and you can run around.”

  “’Kay.”

  Lily hugged her tightly and spoke to Ethan. “She’s so laid back and calm. Nothing like the rest of us. It’s a nice change”—she pointed behind her—“from all of that.”

  “I can see you have your hands full.”

  “Which is why we left ours at home.” Melissa looked at Will. “And don’t get any ideas. I’m not ready for anymore yet.”

  “Yet being the operative word, darling.” Will kissed the top of her head.

  “Besides, you know Hannah is loving having some one-on-one time with the little one.” Royce turned and looked at Ethan. “Hannah is my very lucky wife and Lissa’s assistant. She decided to stay home for this trip since she’s feeling a bit under the weather.”

  Lily turned around and said, “Come on, boys, it’s time to go. And don’t . . .” shaking her head, she continued, “ . . . jump down.”

  “All right, let’s get this show on the road.” Devlin slung his arm across Leo’s shoulders. “We’re always waiting for these women, aren’t we?”

  Lily sighed. “Lead on, McGregor, lead on.”

  Leo was full of youthful exuberance as they walked down to the rec center running up and down the path. Ethan filled them all in on the workings of Last Resort and what their plans for the future were. When they stood outside, Ethan held open the door and let them walk in. Soon enough, the whole room hushed.

  “Don’t stop talking on my account,” Devlin said. “Tell me, how have the movies been so far?”

  Ethan peeked in and saw Sam’s mouth hanging open. He knew this would get her. Devlin Cross was one of her favorite movie stars, and add that he was in the next Marvel movie made this extra special for her. Devlin saw her start to struggle to stand up and knew he couldn’t get to her in time to help.

  “My lady.” Devlin held out his hand to Sam, which she took with shaking hands. “I remember when Lily was pregnant. I was constantly helping her up.”

  “Hi . . . hello . . .” she stuttered.

  “Hello, Wonder Woman, or can I call you Samantha?” He bowed and kissed the back of her hand.

  “Sam, Sam’s good.” Her wide eyes swung toward Ethan and she mouthed, ‘Oh, my gosh. You did this.’

  He grinned and nodded.

  “If you’ll excuse me.” Will stepped around Devlin. “I believe it’s my turn to meet this beautiful lady.” He bowed at the waist. “William Martinsson at your service.”

  “Umm . . .” Sam blinked big eyes back and forth between the two of them. “Too much.”

  Royce stepped around the other two men and laughed. “I don’t know the meaning of too much. Although, if I had known it was going to be a costume party, I would have worn my costume from the movie. Speaking of the movie.” He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a DVD. “Anyone want to watch the new movie?”

  The small crowd cheered and Royce laughed. “Well, lucky for me, this is the movie, huh? Here, Ethan, put this on will you, while I have a chat with this lovely lady?”

  Ethan handed the DVD to Phil and put his arm around Sam feeling her shake from the excitement and hoping it wasn’t too much for her.

  “You’re such a flirt,” Melissa teased Royce.

  “Which is how I managed to get Hard-Hearted Hannah to fall in love with me.”

  “Well, there is that.” Melissa stepped over to Sam. “Hello, I’m married to Will, I’m–”

  “No, no, seriously? I know who you are! You’re Melissa Loring, I’ve read all of your books. Well, I don’t have a lot of time to read, so it takes me a long time, but I love your crazies.”

  Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute she looked, beaming with happiness and practically bouncing around with excitement.

  “Then you’re going to love this.” Lissa held up a tote bag filled with books. “When Will told me he was coming here and I learned what you did here, I had to do my little part. I’ve got signed copies of all of my books here so your guests can read them, along with copies of my next two releases. You’ll get to read them before anyone else.”

  Sam took the bag and clutched it to her chest. “Thank you so much. I can’t wait to read the new ones, oh, and of course, go back and re-read the others.”

  Devlin leaned over to Royce and whispered, “Why do I get the feeling she’s a bigger hit than we are?”

  “Yeah, there’s a first. The author is more popular than the movie stars. Someone should write about that. We can file that under fiction.”

  “You two stop it,” Lily said. “Devlin, go over there and stop your son from eating all of the chocolate cake and here,”—she handed L.D. to Royce—“Do something useful, charm her. I want to meet Sam.”

  Ethan ran his hands up and down Sam’s arms trying to keep her calm and grounded. He remembered all of the other times guests had something big like this happen for them and the next day they’d crashed. He didn’t think that would be good for Sam, but the thought of doing something so special for her greatly outweighed the fact she might end up in bed all day under the watchful eyes of a nurse.

  “Hey, Dad,” Leo said, “when are we going to start the movie? I haven’t seen this one yet. I can’t wait. Is there any popcorn?”

  “Manners, Leonardo,” Lily reproached. “Sorry, sometimes I think he was raised in a sewer like the Ninja Turtles he loves so much.”

  “No worries,” Sam said. “We have popcorn and candy if you want some.” She pointed to the kitchen area.

  “Awesome!” Leo jumped up and ran over there.

  “Devlin . . .” Lily called.

  “On it. Come back here, kid, you’ve already had enough sweet stuff.” They walked over to the kitchen area as Leo pleaded his case for more candy.

  “Well . . .” Sam rocked back on her heels. “I never expected something like this.”

  Royce frowned at her. “Why not.”

  “This is something I do for other people, not for me.”

  “Which is exactly why Ethan did this for you. He called Devlin who called Will who called me. When we heard what you are doing up here, we all had to come to make this a special night for you.”

  “That’s nice of you.” She turned slightly and looked up at Ethan. “I didn’t know you knew Devlin.”

  Devlin overheard the comment as he walked u
p and took his daughter from Royce. “Since this acting gig is a fickle business, I wanted to make sure I diversified. Ethan found some investment properties for me all around California. I must say, I’ve made a lot of money because of him. Anyway,”—he put his arm around Lily—“this is my beautiful wife Lily and our daughter L.D. She wanted to meet you.”

  Lily held out her hand to her. “I can’t believe you came up with the idea and were able to make it happen. You truly are Wonder Woman.”

  “I was lucky enough to have everything fall into place and be able to help so many people.”

  Ethan knew by now there was no use correcting her. She always downplayed how much work it was to get the resort up and running, not to mention continue to do it as she did.

  “We walked by the Legacy Garden on the way here, all those people . . .” Lily wiped away a tear from her eye. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “Each of them has touched me more than anything I did for them.” She leaned back into Ethan.

  “Someone needs to tell your story.” Lissa looked at Sam thoughtfully. “More people need to know about what you do here.”

  “Come on, you need to sit down again,” Ethan said and guided her to the couch.

  “You may be right.” She smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome, my dear. Now relax and talk to the ladies while Devlin, Royce and Will go around and spend a little bit of time meeting everyone.” The other men had already started talking to the guests and staff.

  “Sounds good, oh and can you get me something to eat too?”

  “I figured that would be our last stop before heading back to you lovely ladies.”

  “Charmer.”

  “Hey, do you see this guy?” Ethan pointed over his shoulder to where the three men were surrounded by the people. “I have to pull out all the stops.”

  “Well, you’ve got my heart, so you can relax.”

  “You heart is nothing to trivialize. It’s something I will spend every day making sure I’m worthy of.”

  “Ethan . . .”

  “Be quiet, enjoy. I’ll be back.”

  They were lying in bed and Ethan was rubbing her feet.

  “Another doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” she said.

  “Yep.”

  “It’s going to be good news. That everything is going well.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Ethan . . .”

  “Yes, honey.”

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Devlin, Royce, Will and Melissa, I can’t believe they spent so much time with us. And Lily, she’s so cool. And their kids. Wow. Melissa and Will have a baby, so I was able to get some advice from both of them. It was a really good day, all because of you.”

  “Nah, you always have really good days. I just helped a little bit with this one. Come on, tell me you wouldn’t have loved today, even without the celebrities.”

  “You’re right. It would have been a great day without them, but with them? Spectacular.”

  “Oh, really.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “So you’re telling me they were the only reason today was spectacular.”

  She giggled. “Okay, part of the reason, the rest of it was seeing you in that Thor costume.”

  “I’m glad you approve.”

  She grinned. “Oh, I do, I do.” Her smile faded. “We do need to talk about something.” With her belly fluttering, she didn’t know if it was from nerves or their daughter.

  “Anything.”

  “I think I’ve come up with a name for her.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well, I was thinking of both of our mothers, Bonnie and Jennifer. What about Jennie? Jen for Jennifer and n-i-e for Bonnie. Do you think it’s too hokey?”

  Ethan cleared his throat. “No, no, I think it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect, just like you.”

  “I’m far from perfect. Now since that’s decided on. We need to come up with a middle name.” She tapped her lips with a finger thinking. “Well, I came up with the first name, how about you figure out the middle name?”

  “Sounds good. And the last name?”

  “McGregor of course.”

  “But what about your last name?”

  With a quick intake of breath, her stomach dropped. Her mind whirled with exactly what he was asking her. She didn’t want to assume marriage and make a fool of herself. “What exactly do you mean?”

  “I know this isn’t the perfect situation, and if I had my way, I’d plan the most romantic evening and ask you, but we can’t do that right now. So instead . . .” He stood up and walked around to her side of the bed and got down on one knee. Picking up her hand, he said, “Samantha Rose Truman, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

  The words stuck in her throat; she didn’t know what to say. Almost every girl dreamed about this day, and there it was, the man of her dreams down on one knee in front of her, their child growing inside of her. Along with the cancer.

  “Why now?” she asked.

  “I didn’t want to rush you, or make you think the only reason I was asking you was because you are pregnant with my child. I wanted you to know deep down in your heart that I love you, no questions, no stipulations, and no guarantees.”

  “I do know that, but can you listen to me?” She winced at the pain that showed in his eyes.

  “You don’t want to marry me?”

  “No, no, Ethan, please that isn’t it at all. Under any other circumstances, I’d be jumping in your arms kissing you, but with this situation you have to understand where I’m coming from. I’m not going to marry you just to die. So I’m asking you to wait for me. Wait until after the baby is born, after I’m out of the hospital.”

  “I know what’s behind this and dammit, we’ve been through this. You aren’t going to die.”

  “You know it isn’t in my plan to die. But look at me, I’m not at my best right now. Let me focus on the rest of this pregnancy, and then we’ll get married.”

  “It’s not in either of our plans, but that isn’t why I want to get married right now. I want to get married right now because I love you and I don’t want to miss out on one more moment without you being my wife. If we end up married for one day or fifty years, it doesn’t matter to me. You are what matters.”

  “What about ‘in sickness and health,’ Ethan? We’ve had so little health. I’m not going to have our marriage all about the sickness.”

  “You don’t get to decide for me what and when I can deal with all this shit. What do you think I’ve been doing all this time? It’s not going to change if we get married. I need you to know how committed to you I am. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I know you’re not going anywhere. I know you are committed to me, to us.” She placed her hand on her belly. “If that were the case, you would have left a long time ago.” Sam’s eyes filled with tears. “Ethan, I didn’t know a love like ours existed before you walked into my life, and now I can’t see what it would be like if you weren’t in mine anymore.” She smiled at him. “Any other time I’d already be planning our wedding, but right now, I don’t think I can handle much more. But, what we can do is go and get our marriage license and I promise, once we have everything ready for Jennie, then we’ll start planning our simple wedding.”

  “There’s no changing your mind?”

  “I’m a woman.” She smiled at him. “There’s always a chance for me to change my mind.”

  “It’s always good to have hope.”

  She watched at Ethan stood up and walked around to his side of the bed and climbed in after he turned the light off. He slid in behind her and wrapped his arms around her like he did every night and she relaxed into him. Hope, hope was good.

  Day 80

  Ethan–

  We are making your brother as comfortable as possible. I am continuing to make the daily entry for him. He took a turn for the worse in the middle of the night. I’m sorry, but it’s only a
matter of time now. I want you to know I will stay with him until the end. I won’t leave his side.

  Samantha

  “Well, Samantha, your baby is doing remarkably well. You, on the other hand, are not,” the doctor said. Her normal doctor was on vacation so they had to see someone else.

  “I feel fine, well, as fine as I can.”

  “You’re lying to yourself. Luckily your child is very healthy, the odds of her surviving are good, but yours aren’t so good.”

  “Wait a minute.” Ethan’s voice was hard. “Don’t you talk to her like that. We’ve been doing everything possible to make sure both she and the baby are fine. We don’t need some wet-behind-the-ears newbie telling her she’s not going to make it.”

  “Ethan!” Sam said.

  “No, I’m not going to stop.” His voice was loud. “Do you know who you are talking to? Samantha Truman, she runs Last Resort. You know that place up in the hills where everyone goes when the doctors have given up on them and said they were going to die within weeks. Do you know what she does? She gives them time. More time than any stinking doctor did. She makes it possible to live their last days with hope and laughter and dignity. Something you need to learn how to do. I don’t care what you think. I know if anyone can prove you wrong it’s her. We’ll be back here after she’s given birth just to show you how wrong you are. Come on, we’re leaving.” Ethan went over and carefully helped Sam off the exam table. “We’ll be back when you’re gone.”

  They stopped at the desk to make their next appointment. Sam’s regular doctor was back the following week, which made Ethan happy. He was still fuming at the audacity of that young punk. What did that kid know, hell, he looked like he should still be in high school.

  “Ethan . . . Ethan, slow down.”

  Sam’s breathless voice came from behind him and he stopped looking back. “Sorry, that guy just pissed me off.”

  “Yeah, I kind of got that. You can’t get angry at him. It’s all he knows.”

  “He should be open to other options. If he’d even read your file, he’d know what he was dealing with, who he was dealing with. I can’t wait to go back there after Jennie is born.” He opened the door for her, helped her into the SUV then took a few deep breaths to calm down before he slid behind the wheel.