Page 2 of Keep This Promise
I lie beside him, my arm draped over his chest, careful of all the wires. My chin trembles, and the tears fall freely. “I love you.”
“I love you too. It’s because of that love that I can die in peace, so you have to let me go, and you have to leave before I take my last breath.”
I shake my head in rebellion. I don’t want to leave him. I don’t want him to die in this room with no one. Eden and I love him and should be with him in his last moments. He’s been a wonderful father to her and means the world to me. “You’re asking me to do the impossible.”
“Look at me, Fee.” I lift my watery gaze to his. “Nothing is impossible when it comes from love. You . . . have to go. Not because you want to, but because I need to protect you and Eden the only way I can. Follow every direction.”
“What direction?”
“The ones you’ll find along the way.”
“You’re being so bloody cryptic.”
Theo inhales deeply, the gasp causing his chest to lift as he uses his strength. It’s growing closer to the end. “Go.”
A sob rises in my throat, but I keep it down. “What are you so afraid of? Who are you protecting me from?”
His eyes close, and he struggles to breathe. “We’re running out of time. Please.”
The way his voice cracks at the end sends my resolve crumbling. I want to fight him, to deny this and stay beside him where I promised I would be, but how can I? Theo is asking me to go. He’s begging me to listen to him, and it’s clear something is wrong.
“You’re that afraid?”
“Yes. Ofhim.”
“If I go, you have to promise me that you’ll forgive me. That you know I didn’t want to go. That I would fight anything for you. You gave up your life for me when I was pregnant with Eden, and I owe you everything.”
“You owe me nothing. You gave me a child to love when I never could have one any other way.”
Theo’s heart condition is genetic, and he’s known from a young age that he would never risk having a child and passing on the illness. Eden was a blessing he never expected, and he was the savior I never knew I needed.
“I don’t want to say goodbye.”
He brushes my cheek. “It’s never goodbye with us. Best . . . friends.” Theo gasps and then smiles at me. “Never end.”
I rest my forehead to his, my heart rioting against what he’s asked me to do. “I keep waiting for the doctor to come in and tell us there’s a heart.”
“There’s no heart for us, Fee.”
I know this. Still, I wish it.
“You could have mine.”
“If only we could share.”
Another round of tears falls down my face, splashing against his chest. “Where am I going?” I ask.
“Where it’s safe. To someone who will protect you where I failed to.”
Theo is richer than anyone I’ve ever met, how he can’t afford to hire someone to keep me safe in England is insane. Also, he hasn’t explainedanything. I don’t understand this danger we are in or why Eden and I need to leave because of it. He’s telling me nothing, and we’re running out of time. For crying out loud, I can’t even start a fight with him about it and demand answers as he’s gasping for breath.
A part of me wonders if it’s even real, even though he tells me it is. “I don’t want to spend this time together fighting. You’re asking me to trust that I’m in danger, and I believe you, but none of it makes sense. I will do as you ask because you have always loved me more than I deserved and have never lied to me.” Although, it’s quite clear he hasn’t been honest about something since this is the first I’m hearing of danger in our lives.
“Look at me.” I lift my head. “You deserve more than I could give. You deserved more than the love of a brother or friend. Find someone who makes you light up. Who will love Eden like a daughter. Promise me.”
I don’t want to promise him that, but he’s dying, and I don’t want to deny him anything. “I promise.”
He takes my hands in his, holding them tight. “Keep this promise, Sophie. Now go. Go and follow every direction. Every single one. Exactly as it says.”
