Page 17 of Conri

Chapter 8

Roger Went stood on the stoop of his favorite alpha’s home and waited for him to come and allow him in.It was later than he expected to be showing up, but he knew that if they were all in their beds, they’d welcome him with open arms and big hearts.He so loved this family.

“Your lordship.”He couldn’t catch Conri fast enough before he was down on his back with his belly and throat exposed.“To what do we owe this honor?”

“Get up, man.Christ, with people doing that all the time, you’d think I was some sort of monster.Get up, Conri.”He finally got the man to stand, but it was a moot point.His brothers were in the house as well, and he’d swear they dropped quicker than their brother did.The only person who didn’t was a young woman with such beauty that he was ready to swear to her himself.“You must be Cassidy Warmer.”She corrected him.“Sorry, yes, I heard that you had married.You’re more beautiful than I heard.”

“If you don’t do whatever it is to get them up, I’m going to make it so you have to bow before everyone because you’ll be broken.”He laughed and told her that he tried his best not to have them do it, but it was something in their DNA that made it so.“I don’t care.They look ready to die on this mountain, and I’m not ready to lose any of my family members just yet.Have you come here about my family?”

“I have indeed.Are they around, too?”She told him that they were just getting ready to sit down to dinner.Then she asked him if he’d like to join them.“I would.Thank you very much.I’m assuming that Ethel Valley is around, too?”

“I am.What brings you here…never mind.I remember.You certainly took your time in getting here.He’s already heard from a second doctor, and the news hasn’t been given to us yet.So this might be all for naught.”Roger said that he’d still like to offer immortality to them if they wish it.“That will be up to them in whether they wanted it or not.I’m thinking they will, if only to be here when the children come.But that’s not up to me.”

Dinner was delightful.He got to meet the Warmer family and enjoyed the father a great deal.Another beautiful woman added to their family was in Elizabeth.She treated him much the same way that Ethel did in that she seemed to have no respect for him at all.Which he supposed was all right for now.After dinner, they retired to the living room, and he could already see the touches that Cass had made to the room by simply being around.Getting down to business, he took Howard’s hands into his very much larger ones.

“How frank would you like me to be, Howard?I mean, I could ask you questions, but I do believe I know the answers to them.”The man looked around the room and then back at him.His small yes was all he needed to tell the room it was much too late for him to help the older man.“You’ve been blacking out, haven’t you?Sometimes, you will wake in a different area than you remember being in and have no idea how you got there.”

“Yes.Sometimes, it is only for a few minutes, but now it’s more like hours will be lost, and I haven’t any idea if I’ve walked or driven myself to that point.Also, I’m assuming that you know about the memory loss, too.”He said that he did.That his mind was a jumble of half ideas and memories.“I have no trouble remembering things from long ago, but daily memories are something that I’ve lost.And it’s embarrassing.”He looked around at his wife, then back at him again.“You can’t help me, can you?”

“No.The tumor is shrinking.You’re getting better.Tell him that, Howard.Tell him that you’re getting better.”His wife came and sat on the floor in front of her husband.“Tell him that it’s fine and that you want to be here forever.”

“I don’t want to be here forever like I am right now.And we both know that I’m not getting better.We knew that as soon as the doctor told me that the tumor had shrunk.”They all looked confused.“If he gives me immortality, I have a feeling that it’s not going to help me as much as make me suffer for the rest of my life.Suffer with memory losses, big holes in my day where I can’t remember what I was doing.That’s it, isn’t it?I would be just as I am right now, and you won’t be able to fix that.”

“You’re correct.And it’s not only the memories and black holes but the loss of appetite, too.You’ll continue to lose weight simply because your brain no longer works like it did before.And while the tumor will no longer kill you, it will continue to incapacitate you until you are little more than a shell of a man.The damage has been done, and it is far more than I can fix even with my considerable magic.”Cass told him that the doctors had hopes of him living longer.“I’m sure that they did.Giving him another six months to a year for him to continue on the path that he’s on right now.There is no hope for him.And I’m sure if you were to think about what they said, they said they could prolong his life, not save it.”

“He did say that.”Kendrick was a good man, too, one that he’d come to depend on when he had medical questions that he might need answers to.“Chris said that he could prolong his life, Cass, but he never mentioned saving it.I believe in my heart of hearts that he’s going to tell you when he talks to you that the tumor has done its damage to the part of the brain where the shrinkage is.There is nothing left of that part of the brain for it to live off of.”

“You’re saying that the tumor is sucking his life away one part of his brain at a time.”Kendrick told Elizabeth that was correct.“So we’re no better off than we were before.”

“No, that’s not true.You will have a bit longer with him.Instead of the year that the other doctor gave you, you might have as much as two years.Will his life be productive and free of pain?No, it won’t.He’s going to pay for the extra time, and more of his memories will fade, and his blacking out or even becoming someone that is different than he is right now.There is no telling what will happen to him.This is a large tumor, and it’s gone too long for anyone to be able to predict what’s going to happen.”Cass asked if immortality would make it better.“No.I’m sorry to say it will just make him worse for a lot longer.He’ll suffer in ways that we won’t understand until he gets there.”

“I don’t want him to die.”No one said anything to Elizabeth’s outburst.“Can’t you do something?Is there anything that I can give you that will make him live out the rest of his days in peace and quiet with me?”No one said a word, but Conri got up and pulled the elderly woman from the floor.“Can you help him, Conri?”

“I wish that I could.But I promise you with all my heart that I’ll make sure that his final days are pain-free.I’ll hire round-the-clock staff to see to his every need.Then, when he passes, I’ll take care that you never have another worry so long as you live.Cass and I will care for you so that—”

“I can’t go on without him.I don’t want to live without my husband by my side.Can’t you understand that?He’s all that I ever wanted in life, and now something is taking him away from me.”When she collapsed in his arms, Conri stood there holding onto her as she sobbed her heart out.It touched him, too, the way that he comforted her with dignity and respect.Finally, when she seemed to cry herself out, he led her to the couch and sat her down next to her daughter.Cass and other members in the room were crying a great deal now as well.

Wiping at his eyes, he said that he could take away some of the pain but not all of it.It was considerable, too, the man was dealing with.It was a small wonder that he was even up and about.He could taste it on him.

“I want to die on my own terms.I need to die the way that I want to.With my family by my side when I take my last breath.”Roger nodded, his own heart breaking for the man and his family.“I’ve already decided that I’m going to turn down the extra treatments that will be offered to me.The pain now is about as unbearable as I’ve ever dealt with.”

“Dad, why didn’t you say anything to us?We could have made things better for you.We certainly wouldn’t have dragged you all the way to Columbus to get those extra tests.Were they that bad for you?”He nodded at his son.“Then I don’t understand why you went through with it.”

“Because it gave us all a little bit of hope.The pain was worth it to see that small glimmer of hope on all your faces.”He turned to face the room.“I’m old and beaten.If I were to die tonight, I’d feel blessed that I got to see all my children today.Got to spend time with my friends and family.Would I do it again, go through all that prodding and poking?I would, just for you all.”

Roger felt like he should leave but couldn’t without causing a scene.So he sat on the couch with Conri and Cass, thinking about how much he wished he’d had better news.Something more than he wasn’t able to help the man when, of all the people he knew, this man deserved it more than anyone else he’d been able to help.

“Will you make me immortal?”He was surprised by the request from the son, Howie.“I’d like to live out an eternity with my sister if no one else.We’ve missed a great many years she and I, and I would like to be around.”

Roger said that he could do that, and after taking his hand into his, it was done.The man looked shaken, but he went to his mother and sat on the floor in front of her.Whatever he was going to say, it was going to make the entire room sit up a little higher on their seats.

“I won’t try and convince you to live with us.I know, we both know how much Dad means to you, and I won’t ask you to do that.But I will ask you not to die soon.I have missed time with you and Dad as well.I need you in my life for whatever time we have left.The same with Dad.I want to be there with the two of you until the time is gone.”He kissed the back of her hands as he continued.“Dad will say the same thing, I’m betting.You be here to gather up more memories and stories to tell him when you cross over to be with him.Children may not come from me again, but you know that Conri and Cass will have a houseful.The way they look at each other, I’m surprised they haven’t told us yet that Cass is pregnant.”

“You looked at Margaret the same way, too.”He kissed his mom again.“I can’t live without him, son.You two have your lives, but I don’t want to be here without him.While I understand what you’re asking me to do, I just don’t know that I can do that.”

“Yes, you can, Bethy, my dear.Yes, you can do that and more.I like the idea of you having this extra time to live here without me pestering you into things all the time.You store up those memories, and you bring them back to me.Tell me stories like only you can do for me.”Elizabeth cried and said she didn’t want to.“You have to do it for me, love.You need to do it for the children.As they said, they’ve missed time with us, and I believe that they’ll be there for you forever.”He went to her then and pulled her into his arms.“I have loved you since the first time I saw you coming out of that house on Main Street.Do you remember that?You were going on a date with another young man, and I tricked him into leaving you at that bar.I’ve always said that he must not have wanted to be around you if he was that easy.But I won that night and every day since then.Because I got you.”

“You told him that his girlfriend was looking for him.He dropped me like a hot potato.”Elizabeth laughed again as she picked up the story from Howard.“I do believe that the two of them married and divorced before we even had our first anniversary.You were the best thing that happened to me.”

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