Page 71 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

“Sir, we will be landing in five minutes. Mrs. De La Cruz, we will be needing you to take a seat and buckle up in the front of the cabin,” the co-pilot announces at the threshold of the bedroom door.

The doctor leaves us to take his own seat as the co-pilot follows him. Madison rubs her thumb over my sweaty cheek and looks back at the door briefly before kissing my lips. “Pull through this,Ocean Eyes. I’ll be there waiting for you when you come out of surgery.” She pecks my lips three more times before rubbing my cheek again and hopping off the bed.

I want to believe her, but this sense of doom is settling over my chest. If this is the last time I get to tell her, then she needs to hear it one more time. “I love you,Mariposita. If I don’t get the chance to tell you this again, promise me you’ll consider starting over. Fly away from all of this death; this chaos.”

She walks back over to my bedside with tears rolling down her rosy cheeks. “Tell me that again when you wake up from surgery.” She places another sweet kiss on my almost numb lips. The warmth of hers awakens mine for a few blissful seconds.

“Tell you what? That I love you?”

“Yeah, it sounds nice. I won’t fly if you’re around.”

“And if I’m not?”

She pauses, contemplating. “Then I’ll consider it.”

“Good girl.” It takes a hell of a lot of effort just to grab her hand and squeeze it.

I watch her leave, memorizing every inch of her.

She’s fucking perfect.

The irritating beepingof machines fills my senses. Intense pressure sits heavy on my chest. I’m stuck like this, unable to talk, unable to move. Everything is black around me. Bright light fills my vision. A woman approaches with a baby in a blue blanket. She reaches out and the light touches my face. Warmth and buzzing follow as the pressure slowly begins to fade.

“My sweet boy. You’ve done all of this to save your sister and those innocent souls. What a beautiful sacrifice you have made. You even found the love of a woman who has softened the hardened parts of you that Basilio created.”

“Mamá?” I ask, my voice sounding different than my own; younger and more childlike.

“You have a choice, Diego. We always have a choice. Do you wish to take my hand and join me and the others? Or do you wish to go back to your throne and Madison?”

Fuck. I’m dying. No. No. Not yet. I need my wife. In such a short amount of time, she’s filled a place in my heart that I never thought would be open to anyone. I need her. And I’d be selfish to hope that she needs me too. My death will destroy her. I need to get back to her.

“I want to go back, Mamá.”

Her hand lowers to my chest as the bright light grows even brighter. “I can give you more time, but I can’t tell you how much. That’s not up to me, cariño.”

“I can live with that.” I laugh at my own joke and the fact that I am somehow being given a second chance. I was sure my soul would have gone straight to hell or someplace similar.

“You are a good one, Diego. She wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t. Give your sister my love. Let her know I’ve got someone very specialhere who can’t wait to meet her.” She rocks the baby in her arms and then her light fades away until I am left in darkness again.

The beeping increases and the pressure is back until I feel warmth spread across my hand. My eyes loosen, allowing me to force them open. The room is dimly lit. I glance around at my surroundings and discover I’m in a bedroom that looks just like a hospital room. There are a bunch of machines hooked up to me. One being a blood infusion pump. I follow the line of the IV down to my hand, the one being held by the same person who gave me the strength to come back from the dead.

My beautiful wife.

“I love you,” I say groggily, remembering her request for when I was out of surgery.

She shoots me a dazzling smile and brings my hand up to place a kiss.

“We almost lost you there.”

“I was given a choice, and I chose to come back to you, to my sister, and the people who need my leadership.”

She gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you did. I wasn’t quite ready to fly.”

“I could always push you again,” I laugh, instantly regretting it. My body feels like it's been hit by a Mack truck.

She shrugs. “‘Where you sleep, I sleep.’ So, I guess you’d have to come with me then.” She uses my words against me.Ahh that sass. The things I wanna do to her right now.

Damn right I’d follow her. If she wants me, I’ll follow her anywhere. I’d give up my leadership to my cousin—or my sister—if she ever wanted it.

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