“Do you still have the prizes, Aunt Sam?” Ava asked, curious and Nick couldn’t help but wonder too. Sam pushed her sunglasses down from the top of her head, and shielded her eyes.
“Of course not, that was a long time ago, sweetie.” And just like that the temperature grew cold again in the confined car. Nick sighed and turned the radio louder, keeping his eyes firmly on the road, hoping it wouldn’t be long until the softer side of Sam, emerged again.
Luke lifted his shirt up over his abdomen and looked away as the doctor injected him with one of three injections he needed in order to donate the marrow to Jake. Leah had warned him that it would be more painful in the stomach, still it was the most effective and Luke was all about results. He looked over at Jake, who hooked up to a huge machine that was filtering his blood, or at least that’s what he thought it was doing.
He couldn’t have been sure, since they had arrived at the hospital everything had been a blur for Luke. He hissed out a breath as the doctor finished with his task. He sighed and sat down, preparing himself for the rest of the process.
“Jake, we’re ready for you now,” said a nurse, with an inviting smile. Jake glanced up and stared at her blankly for a minute. They all looked at him the same, like they pitied him and envied him all at the same time. He nodded towards her before turning in his seat to face Cara. She took both of his hands in hers, squeezing them ever so tightly. She leaned her forehead against his and peered at him from under the fringe of her eyelashes.
“I’ll be waiting for you, baby.” She untangled one of her hands from his and lifted it to his face, with the back of her hand she softly caressed the slight stubble that emerged along his jaw. “I love you.” She whispered and he closed his eyes, relishing in the way the words sounded from her lips. She was his heaven on earth. When he opened his eyes, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers softly.
“I love you more than anything, Cara.” He said huskily between kisses. When he reluctantly began to pull away from her, she grabbed his face, and cradled it in the palms of her hands.
“September nineteenth.” She said as she stared into his eyes. He furrowed his brows and tried to rack his brain for what was on September nineteenth. Surely, it wasn’t an anniversary or a birthday. He’d remember that.
“What?” He asked cautiously, praying he hadn’t forgotten an important date. Shit, why couldn’t he place that date.
“It’s the day you’re going to marry me.” She smiled. “I thought I’d let you know.” She winked at him and then dropped her hands, letting him process that she had set a date for their nuptials. “Go get yourself well because I have big plans for you Jake Lanza.”
Jake stood up and felt as if his legs wouldn’t work. She had set a date. His heart was heavy as he stared at the nurse. A vision of Cara walking down the aisle flashed in his head, and he closed his eyes, hoping to cement the image of her, dressed as his bride, to his mind. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and with newfound courage, he turned to Cara. He bent down and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I can’t wait.” He whispered.
Nick crouched down over the toy rifle and aimed it at the clown’s mouth. He glanced to his left and then to his right, sizing up the competition. Sam rolled her eyes as she watched him from the sidelines. She already had a huge stuffed animal tucked under each arm, but Ava had set her sights on the large pink unicorn that loomed over Nick’s head. The buzzer sounded and the race was on to see who’s balloon filled with water quickest.
“Go Nick! Go!” Shouted Ava, from beside Sam, she looked up at her aunt, her face covered with powdered sugar from the Fried Oreos they had consumed. “Do you think he’ll win?” She asked hopefully, and Sam looked over at Nick as the bell rang signaling there had been a winner. By the smug look on his face as his hands released his weapon, Sam expected they would be adding the unicorn to their list of conquests.
“He did it!!!” Ava ran into Nick and wrapped her arms around his waist. Sam watched him bend down and lift Ava in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all. The attendant handed her the unicorn and she hugged both the toy and the man who had won it for her, with all her might. Watching Nick with a child, did something to her, it chipped away at the walls around her heart. He was a natural, and for the briefest of moments she allowed herself to picture the fantasy of them with a family of their own. It was a dream she had put to rest the minute she came home from Seattle, but still a dream that played heavily in her head for some time.
Seeing Nick with Ava when she was a baby had provoked the dream originally, and seeing him with her now, resurrected the dream.