Page 219 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“How could you think that I would tell her?” Schooling her features, Simone rested her fingertips on her throat. “Of course, I didn’t say anything.”
Rowan physically relaxed, and Bea even wagged her tail. “Thanks, Simone.” He turned to go back inside, whispering to Bea as they left. “See, I told you GiGi wouldn’t say anything.”
“I cannot believe you,” Simone whispered when they were alone. “We promised not to say anything.”
“You promised,” Ben pointed out. “Not me.”
Simone planted her sharp elbow directly into his ribs. “You better not be pulling this crap when I’m gone, or I’ll make you sorry.”
Comments like this were coming more and more from her lately, and it was really pissing him off. Something was going on, and she was being very Simone about the whole thing.
“Cut the shit and tell me.” His tone surprised even him, but that was the fear taking over. “You keep talking about when you’re gone. You’re not going fucking anywhere.”
“Watch your mouth.” Simone stiffened, like she was bracing herself. “My heart. It’s not working like it should.”
He waited, and when she took too long, he nudged her. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have a heart.”
Wiping at a tear, she leaned into his side when he wrapped an arm around her. “Last year, when that Zanmi woman gave me the injection, the doctors at the hospital noticed the irregularity then. I’ve been to see a cardiologist several times since, and I’m doing what they say to do, but it’s still on the decline.”
“Decline?” The word stuck in his throat. “Give me the details.”
“They say it’s a mix of age and stress-related wear and tear.” She rested her hand on his chest, right where his own heart beat strong. “It’ll get me, eventually.”
“Just don’t let it be soon, okay?” Taking a deep breath, Ben laced his fingers with hers. He hated how his voice trembled, but Simone wouldn’t judge. Well, she would, but he was fine with it. “We have grandkids to watch over.”
“I’ll do my best.” She kept her eyes on the sunset, smiling softly at the few people on the beach. “And you’ll do the same, Benjamin.”
“We have a deal,” he murmured. “And I keep my deals. Remember?”
“That I do.” She nodded. “And speaking of deals... thank you for letting us bring him home to her.”
Michael Sinclair. The day CeCe’s journals were found, they had both agreed he should be with her, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of soul searching to do as they waited for information. And once they knew it could finally happen, it had been one hell of a fight with the government. They’d won, and in the end, Sinclair’s ashes had come to rest in Haven’s graveyard, allowing him to spend eternity with CeCe.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for the burial.”
“Rowan handled it.”
Unable to sit still for very long, Simone rose to stand, and he joined her, knowing that’s what she wanted. “Michael’s parents are nice, normal people, Ben. I told them they could come and visit him whenever they wanted.”
“That was good of you.” He braced his hands on the cool metal railing, looking out over Firewater Beach in all its glory. “Especially considering that, as of tomorrow, you’ll no longer own Haven House.”
She smiled at that. “They’re going to argue when we tell them.”
“The proposal will distract Annabeth, and I’ll talk to Abe.”
“Abraham is so much like Ty,” she sighed. “But with Izzy… Ben, they’ve been together a year.”
“We might actually marry him off.”
“And I like her,” Simone said, as if shocked by the fact. “I really and honestly like her as much as I like Lenora, and I think that between those two and Rowan, my babies will be okay without me.”
Without me.She’d already accepted her fate, and he hated that she had gone through this alone.
“Promise me something,” he said, pulling her close again. “You keep doing what you’re doing, keep listening to the doctors, and I’ll never let you go through anything alone.”
She felt so small in his arms, and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed the weight loss or the way her eyes no longer held the same glimmer in them as they once did.
But he noticed it now and was already making plans to find the best damn cardiologist in the country to treat her.
