A light rises behind me. I feel its warmth through my shirt as it washes over Marley’s face. She stares into the light, a sob escaping her lips.
Dread creeps up the back of my neck as I turn to see what Marley sees.
There, standing right in front of that vast field of Stargazer lilies, is Laura.
She’s backlit by some otherworldly light, standing in a glowing circle, like the sun during an eclipse. She raises her hand as if reaching for something. With a sinking feeling, I know exactly what she’s reaching for.
Marley.
Marley pulls herself from my arms.
“No. Marley, no. Don’t do this,” I beg, the breath leaving my lungs in a plea. “Please, Marley. Stay.”
She looks up at me, the green in her eyes lighting up the hazel like fireworks. I stare, trying to memorize her face, her eyes, because I’m so afraid this is the last time I’m going to see her.
She knows what I’m thinking. Her fingers trace my scar, my brow, my cheek, and come to rest against my lips.
“I love you, Kyle Lafferty,” she whispers fervently. “I will love you forever. Our story will live on forever.”
She presses her lips to mine, then says, “But I need to do this.”
She pulls away from me again.
“No!” I try to run after her, but my feet won’t obey. I watch helplessly as she walks toward Laura.
“Marley, stop. You don’t have to do this. Stay with me! Marley!”
My words come out in harsh, broken sobs. She gets closer to Laura and takes her outstretched hand. I want to close my eyes so I don’t have to see her go, but I can’t. If this is my last moment with her, I want my eyes to be open. I want to see it.
Marley looks back at me, tears flowing from her eyes, as if she can hear my heart breaking. But then she looks to Laura, who wraps an arm around her waist.
Marley, my Marley, gives me one last smile… then follows Laura into the lilies.
“No!” The cry that comes from my throat sounds inhuman.
My shout echoes around me until it becomes the sound of the beeping hospital monitor. I’m there, at Marley’s bedside, my hand around hers. I look at everyone, all of them waiting desperately for some good news, but I have none to give.
“She’s not… she’s not coming back.”
“No.” Catherine hurries to the bed, runs her hands along Marley’s face. “Marley, baby. You wake up right now.”
But the girl in the bed doesn’t move.
Kimberly covers her mouth and presses her head against Sam’s shoulder, both of them looking at me with so much pity and love that I have to turn away.
I feel Mom’s hand on my shoulder, offering me any strength she can lend me.
And the monitor beeps… beeps… beeeeeeeeeps.…
Flatline.
Catherine’s anguished scream rips through us all, the sound finding a home in the shattered remnants of my heart.
Marley. Gone.
Dr. Benefield shoves us all away from the bed as she starts to call the code blue. But… she hesitates. Catherine yells, “Do something! You have to—”
Dr. Benefield holds up her hand in a gesture so sure and confident that we all freeze. She nods toward the bed, toward Marley’s hand…
… where the fingertip monitor now lies in Marley’s palm, her fingers closing around it as we watch in disbelief. My eyes fly to her face, afraid to hope.
Then her lids flutter and open, those beautiful hazel eyes searching for and finding mine.
“I had to say goodbye. To Laura.”
My knees buckle and I collapse onto her bed.
Catherine smothers her face with kisses. Marley gives her a long look. “I’m back, Mom. I’m back.”
Everyone in the room loses it. Even Dr. Benefield. The tough doctor turns away to wipe her eyes. I would laugh if I had any room inside me to feel anything but relief and gratitude.
Marley turns to me, and I memorize all of those features I was afraid I’d never see again. She takes my hand. “I had to say goodbye to my life with Laura… before I could start my life with you.”
Her life with me. No words have ever been sweeter. I kiss her cheeks, her nose, each tiny freckle precious to me. The soft jasmine scent of her skin makes me dizzy. She’s here. She’s really here. My lips move lower to hover over hers, and just before they meet, I thank every higher being that ever lit up the sky for this second chance.
Marley closes the distance and kisses me. It’s the world’s most perfect kiss.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you for not letting go.”
Her fingers flutter in my hair, down the back of my neck, as she says, “Thank you for our story.”
“Our story. What happens next, then?” I tease her, still unable to process my own joy.
She looks at me like I’ve just asked the dumbest question ever. “We live happily ever after,” she answers. “Obviously.”
I laugh. “Just like one of your fairy tales?” I ask.
She smiles that sweet, shy smile that I love so much and brushes her lips against my ear as she whispers, “Yes. Just like that.”
Her lips pull me in again, and I’m overwhelmed by everything that’s happened, from the shriek of twisting metal to the look in Marley’s hazel eyes the first time I told her I loved her. My breath catches in my throat, knowing this won’t be the last time I see that look. We’ll have a million more moments like this one, an entire story to live together.
Starting now.
A Note from Mikki
I was told once to stop believing in fairy tales. I was told that only dreamers keep their heads in the clouds and their eyes on the stars. I was told that true love was only for books and movies, that life would teach me that none of these things exist in the real world.
They could not have been more wrong.
My belief in fairy tales and true love sustains me; it keeps me alive in a world that doesn’t always welcome dreamers, and while my feet never leave the ground, my gaze is forever on the sky above and the universe beyond.