Page 33 of Forever Yours on Christmas Eve
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. I’d love to, Sev. I miss youso much,” she said, the words flying out of her mouth. “I don’t know how it’s even possible to miss you as much as I do; we’ve only gone on a couple of dates.”
“I know what you mean,” he said, giving her a half-smile, hoping to glean something from her that would make it all make sense for him, too. “But I’ve known you for over a year and… You mean a lot to me,” he said, sliding all his chips into the center and going all in.
“You mean so much to me, too,” she said, giving him a heartbreaking smile. She sighed, her eyebrows buckling in frustration. “Please, just wait for me while I get through all this? Maybe by the start of fall, I might be able to get back out into the world again, and I can come up for a visit to see you.”
“Take all the time you need, sweetheart,” he assured her. “I’m here for you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Sev had returned to Maine three weeks later, and even though he felt closer to Kelsey in proximity, the agony of being away from her was starting to wear on him. He needed to be physically close to her. To hold her. Touch her. Kiss her. Even just bask in her presence. The more he got to know Kelsey, the more he craved her.
He knew right down to his bones he’d never get enough of her.
And selfishly, he thought back to the night he’d first met her. Sitting next to him on a barstool in her wedding dress, fresh off a breakup. How differently this all could have turned out.
But it didn’t. And roll on nearly two years later, Kelsey was finding her own way and still single.
Apart from him, of course. They may not be “official,” but she was his, label or not.
Upon reevaluating the Admiral’s progress, it was decided he’d have a couple of extra treatments that would take them into the fall. As a result, Kelsey made the decision to not return to school that semester. Her father nearly came unglued at her formaking that decision, but Sev knew she was nearly as stubborn as he was. Promising him that she would return once he got the all clear on his health, he seemed motivated to follow his doctor’s orders to the letter, if for nothing else than to get well as fast as he could. Which looked like it would be by the end of the year.
Sev considered it perfect timing for the holiday season. That is, right up until Kelsey called him at the start of December. When his phone rang and her sad face filled his screen, that whitewashed wall behind her, he knew it couldn’t be good.
“We’re not going to make it up this year,” she said, her face crumpling at the declaration.
And to be honest, Sev crumpled a little bit on the inside, too.
“What’s happening?” he asked calmly, getting up from his desk and making his way to an empty hallway. A lone folding chair sat next to a window overlooking the tarmac, which he figured many a Sailor had used before him.
“We just got done making Dad’s appointments, and by the time the bloodwork results come in, it’ll be a few days before Christmas. They couldn’t make it any sooner, and we can’t see anyone until Dad has the all clear to be around people again. And even if he can, I don’t know if he’s going to feel like traveling. There’s no way we can come back to The Point,” she insisted. “I’m not going to be able to meet you at the Second Call like we’ve done every year.”
“Sweetheart,” he began, sighing in relief, given every horrible thing that had just flashed through his brain. Still, like he had that last time they were together, he felt himself look up at the ceiling, through the roof, and into the sky full of stars, wondering why he was being pulled away from the only woman who had felt right in his entire life.
“This isn’t the end of the world. We can make this work.”
“I don’t want to make it work,” she said, stubbornly. “We’ve been planning this for a year now. I’ve… I wanted to see you again.”
“Me too, sweetheart,” he said. “But just because we’ve had a bump in plans doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen. It may not be on Christmas Eve this year, but I will see you again. And when Ido, I’m going to hold you long, and make up for all the times I couldn’t give you a hug throughout the year.”
“I could so use a hug right now,” she said, her hauntingly beautiful eyes staring through the phone at him, touching his soul, and changing him forever. They knew the Admiral was going to pull through, and even if they were nearing the end of the race, Sev knew she was weary.
“Will you be somewhere where I can call you? On Christmas Eve?”
“I will,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have any plans. We’ll be here in Newport.”
“Then let’s do that,” he offered. “We aren’t helpless here. Let’s do a video call.”
“Like we always do.”
“No, not like we always do,” he said, mocking her tone. “Let’s make it a real date. We’ll dress up, order dinner. If you give me your address, I’ll even send you flowers.”
She laughed in response, and he gripped his phone tighter, wanting to bottle up that sound and play it over and over when times were tough.
“Now what do you say? You gonna make the most of this with me?”
She sighed, smiling for the first time since he’d gotten on the call with her. Looking around at the space she was in, she confessed, “I hate this.”
“I do too,” he said. “But we can complain about it or make the best of it.”
She chuckled, sadly. “Start from where we are.”
