How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

She turned her head, her gaze steady and calm. "If the surgery goes perfectly, if

the prognosis is good and they manage to remove all the tumor and cancer cells,

and if I can walk away whole-that would be the best-case scenario. But the truth

is, no one can make that promise."

Given how far her illness had progressed, and the earlier miscarriage that forced

her into surgery, it was clear she'd been through more than anyone should have

to bear.

"Jarrod, you really don't have to-"

"I reached out to some specialists in Europe," he interrupted, his voice low.

"They're working together to come up with the best possible treatment plan." He

turned away, grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl, and started peeling it with

careful, deliberate motions. He didn't look at her, focusing instead on removing

every strand of pith from each segment. If you looked closely, though, his hands

were trembling ever so slightly.

He'd cut her off before she could finish.

Elodie stared at him, silent. She didn't want to give him false hope-she wasn't

even sure what to hope for herself. No matter how she looked at it, the road

ahead was bleak.

In the best-case scenario, the surgery would be a success. She'd need regular

checkups, but her daily life and everything else would go back to normal. But

also the chance the operation would fail, that

short-to just

to remove her uterus entirely. She'd

own.

from the best outcome, everything else was a

to carry.

just being realistic, she told herself.

as serious as this, dangling too

was dangerous-for him

orange, he held

mouth, and he simply waited, hand suspended in the

to withdraw.

was as if they were locked in a

Elodie let out a

there's a

heart and

I hate to admit it,

see me as a burden right

was

feels

But

line things might not

want to

kind of one-sided

best if

to try with me?"

orange segment to her lips. "Why not wait twenty, thirty,

ask me if

mouth

the eye, no pretense. "Is any part of this

Jarrod met her

you," he

emotion. His dark

with pain as

pale, fragile

in a way, he