Chapter 7
The wedding rings caught the bedside light whenever Nancy moved.
She kept noticing them.
Hers on her thin, aged hand.
His beside the hospital wristband.
The sight made her heart ache with a sweetness almost too sharp to bear.
They had been married less than fifteen minutes, and already the future had become a sealed box.
Thomas seemed to know her thoughts.
“I did not marry you for the box,” he said.
Nancy looked up.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because if you think I waited all this time just to make you sign something dramatic, I will be offended.”
“Can dying men be offended?”
“Deeply. We are very sensitive.”
She shook her head, smiling through tears.
Nathan looked toward the door again.
Nancy noticed.
“What are you listening for?”
“Nothing urgent,” Nathan said.
“Attorney Cole.”
He met her eyes.
She liked that he did not lie easily.
“Thomas asked that the ceremony remain uninterrupted.”
Nancy looked at Thomas.
“By whom?”
Thomas closed his eyes briefly, not from pain, but from weariness.
“People with opinions.”
“About me?”
“About anything I choose without asking them.”
Nancy sat back.
The room felt warmer suddenly, though the daylight had not changed.
“I don’t want to cause trouble.”
Thomas’s eyes opened.
That sentence seemed to sadden him.
“You have spent too much of your life avoiding trouble other people earned.”
Nancy’s throat tightened.
He said it gently, but she heard the years inside it.
Years of politeness.
Of stepping back.
Of not asking for too much.
Of letting practical people make practical decisions that left love standing outside closed doors.
Thomas lifted their hands.
“That ends today.”
Nancy looked at Nathan.
“Is that what the box does?”
Nathan’s face remained carefully neutral.
“The box waits.”
“That is a very lawyerly way to be unhelpful.”
“It is one of my best skills.”
Thomas smiled.
Nancy did too, despite everything.
Elaine glanced at the monitor, then at Thomas.
“Mr. Whitaker, do you need to rest?”
He shook his head once.
“Not yet.”
Nancy heard the quiet urgency beneath it.
Not yet.
As if the room still had one more thing to give before rest became unavoidable.
She moved closer.
“Then tell me something you are allowed to tell me.”
Thomas looked into her eyes.
“I have loved you longer than I was brave.”
Nancy’s breath caught.
The box did not matter for one perfect second.
Then Nathan’s phone vibrated silently near his pocket.
May you like
His face changed.
Read Chapter 8 👉 Because Nathan’s silent phone reminded Nancy that someone outside the room was already pressing against Thomas’s final secret.
