“Mine too.”
I didn’t know then that we both meant those words for very different reasons
“Best day of my life,”
Afterwards, people drifted out with quiet congratulations.
Someone brought a grocery store cake.
Ben dozed with my hand in his, and I sat watching the slow rise and fall of his chest.
I was memorizing him the way you memorize a song you’re about to lose.
I finally slipped out to find coffee.
That was when a nurse caught my elbow in the hallway and told me something shocking.
I was memorizing him
She was young, maybe my age, with tired eyes.
She glanced toward Room 407, then back at me, and lowered her voice.
“Don’t tell him I told you this.”
“Told me what?”
“Before you leave tonight,” she whispered, “look under his mattress.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Look under his mattress.”
“He’s lying to you. He and the doctor. They have a plan.” Her hand tightened on my sleeve. “He doesn’t know I’ve seen it.”
Then she was gone, swallowed by the fluorescent hum of the corridor.
As if she had never existed at all.
I stood there with a paper cup of vending machine coffee, my new ring cold against my finger, trying to breathe.
Then I turned back toward Room 407.
“He’s lying to you.”
I forced a bride’s smile onto my face.
But I couldn’t stop wondering what on earth my childhood sweetheart had hidden beneath his hospital bed.
Ben smiled the second he saw me.
“There you are.”
“I got lost looking for coffee,” I lied.
I forced a bride’s smile onto my face.
“You always get lost.”
I smiled back because I didn’t know what else to do.
Every instinct told me to lift that mattress the second I got another chance.
But every instinct also told me that if Ben noticed even the smallest change in me, I’d never learn the truth.
A few minutes later, Dr. Klein stepped into the room carrying a tablet.
I didn’t know what else to do.
“How’s our groom today?” he asked warmly.
“Married,” Ben said with a grin.
“I heard. Congratulations to both of you.”
He checked the monitor beside the bed, barely looking at it before turning back to Ben.
“Everything’s still on schedule.”
Ben gave the slightest nod.
“How’s our groom today?”
“So tomorrow should work?”
“It should,” the doctor replied.
Neither of them seemed to realize I was watching more closely than usual.
What was still on schedule?
Ben didn’t have any treatments tomorrow.
The doctor smiled politely at me before leaving.
What was still on schedule?
But all I could think of were the nurse’s words.
“He’s lying to you. He and the doctor. They have a plan.”
“You okay?” Ben asked. “You seem far away.”
“Just tired.” I forced a smile.
He squeezed my hand.
