Chapter 13: All of It

I woke up in a room with one small light and a tube in my nose.

My mouth was dry, my belly was stitched shut, and I was alive.

The surgeon stood at the foot of the bed with her mask pulled down.

"You're out of recovery," she said. "It went well."

"All of it?"

"Every visible piece. The tumor came out whole, with room around it."

I shut my eyes.

"Pathology will tell us about the edges in a few days. But I'm not worried, Mrs. Aldercott."

I didn't correct her.

I turned my head on the pillow.

Gavin was asleep in the vinyl chair beside the bed.

He had pulled it close, and his tie was gone, and his jacket was over his knees.

One hand hung off the armrest, open, with the pale scar on the thumb facing up.

His other hand held the corner of my blanket.

He had not let go of it, even in sleep.

I looked at him for a long time.

Three years I had watched this man from the next room and learned his face by the light under the door.

Now he slept in front of me with nothing to hide.

"He hasn't left once," the night nurse whispered from the door. "Not for coffee. We tried."

"Thank you."

"Your sister's been in the lobby since yesterday," she said. "The one in the white coat. She keeps asking to come up."

My stomach turned over, and it was not the surgery.

"Is she on my visitor list?"

"No. Mr. Aldercott put a hold on it before he went in with you. Nobody comes up but him."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Gave It All Back to My Sister, Even My Husband from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.