Page 4 of My Promise To Keep

She’s Your Wife

Leo

Eleven Years Ago

He was thin. Thatwas the thought in my mind as I walked into their apartment to find Luke on the couch. This cancer was quick, shrinking him to nothing in a matter of months. We foundit too late. There was nothing they could do, and now we all just had to accept that we were losing him.

‘Hey, man. Thanks for coming.’

He gestured to the chair opposite, but I sat on the couch with him, needing to soak up the moments of closeness. He’d been my cousin for my whole life, but my big brother and one of my best friends for a decade.

I loved him. I loved him so much that I had stuck by his side that whole time. I was loyal to the people I loved, and there was nobody I loved more than Luke. Even when he made the girl I had thought I was destined to marry,hisgirl, then his wife. I kept it shut and let myself be happy for them.

When they got married, they moved into the apartment above the bar that Zoe and her siblings had inherited from their dad, even though they weren’t old enough to run it yet, and that was that. There was a tattoo of his initials on her ring finger that made me step back once and for all. She was his wife — that made her my family, and that changed everything.

‘Don’t look so nervous.’ He smiled as I tapped my fingertips on my thigh.

‘Well, you’re apparently on a mission to make everybody promise you something, and you know I won’t be able to say no to that, so I am nervous. You hold the power to make me do some stupid shit.’

He tried to laugh and started to cough, and I felt like a dick.

‘Fuck, sorry.’ I helped him get some water and watched as he caught his breath. He was getting weaker.

‘Don’t ever apologize for making me laugh. You have been one of the best parts of my life, brother.’

Fuck. Don’t fucking cry in front of him. We all made a promise not to let him see our tears — he doesn’t need that on his shoulders, but it's hard. We are losing such an important part of our lives.

‘How’s work?’

I widened my eyes at him. ‘You called me here to make small talk?’

He grinned. ‘I just want to know you’re going to be okay.’

‘I am. I’m doing good and loving it.’

I had just turned twenty-one and had finally been able to start my apprenticeship at the tattoo shop where I’d been working since I was eighteen.

‘Good. That makes me happy. Keep going, okay. I know this is going to be real fuckin’ shitty for you, but don’t let my early exit ruin what you’ve got comin’. You’re too talented to throw this away over my stupid ass.’ I shook my head, not wanting to think about what was to come. ‘Leo, look at me.’ I did. ‘I’m dying, brother. You need to face that, or it’s going to knock you on your ass, and I’m relying on you to be strong for Zoe. She’s going to need you.’

‘She has her family,’ I grumbled.

‘You are her family.’

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, not able to look at him. For the most part, I’d been able to forget this thing I held for his wife. I’d been over an hour away from them for three years, only seeing them on the odd weekend I came home, if they ventured into the city, and on holidays. When we were all together, having fun, it was easy for her to just be my friend, Zoe, and for me to relax and enjoy the time with my favorite people, but him asking me to be there for her felt wrong. It felt like a betrayal, and I didn’t know yet, but it was about to get worse.

‘Listen, what I’m about to ask of you is going to seem like too much, but I need you to hear me out.’ I turned my head to meet his gaze, curious as he swallowed hard and struggled to take a breath. ‘I want you to love her.’

I narrowed my gaze at him, my eyebrows pinching in confusion.

‘I do love her.’

He smiled just a little. ‘I mean, really love her the way I love her.’ What the fuck? I turned my body to him now, but I couldn’t speak. ‘She’s twenty-four, Leo. She’s going to be a widow before she’s had a chance to be a mom, before we even bought a house, before so fuckin’ much.’

‘What the fuck are you asking me?’

‘Show her how to love again.’

‘Luke, I know talking sucks for you,’ I shook my head. ‘But I’m going to need you to use more words.’

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