Chapter 42

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-Brooke-

I watched as Colby and Alex helped dad lay down in bed. His week of hospitalization has passed, and now he get's to stay home until his condition worsens. And even then we're trying to make sure he's home and not in a hospital. Once Colby and Alex got dad settled I went over to check his blood pressure and temperature. He still had a low grade fever, which we were told would fluctuate over the course of the months. But if it went over 101 we needed to take him back to the hospital immediately. His blood pressure was normal.

"Thanks for the help," I smiled at Colby and Alex who both smiled back at me. Sky sat down next to me on dad's bed, and Stella crawled under the covers with him. I glanced at the wedding band around her ring finger. A few days ago we held a private moment in dad's hospital room. We got an officiator to read the vows to my dad and Stella, and married them. They signed the papers in the hospital, I signed as a witness and so did Alex, then he took the papers to the clerk's office. 

Stella will be staying at our house now that she and dad are married. Alex says he'll stay at his mom's house to keep the mortgage going. While in the hospital, dad told me he'd be leaving all of his belongings in me and Sky's care to do with as we please. Including his money. A lot of the money I helped him build up for years is in there, and it's about to come back into my possession. But I have more money than I need, so I intend to split it evenly among dad's closest friends and family. 

I admit though...having that conversation with him was hard...

...

"Why are we talking about this now?" I asked him, careful not to wake up Sky who was asleep on the pull out. He cradled my hand carefully between his.

"I want to make this clear before the marriage tomorrow," He spoke softly too. "I love Stella, but my girls come first. You and Sky can do what you want with my items. I entrust them to you. You can rid of them, you can keep them, whatever you want."

I felt tears pricking my eyes. "I don't think I want to talk about this."

"I do," He insisted, tightening his grip on my hand. "I love you, Brooke. No matter what happens to me, just know that I will always be with you." 

I shook my head. "We've still got time, dad."

"I don't want to go these next 6 months dreading the inevitable. I wanna enjoy the moments I have left. I wanna meet my grandchildren," He placed his hand gently on my stomach and I felt one of the girls kick in response. He smiled when she did. "So let's get this talk out now, so I don't have to dread it these next 6 months."

I nodded a bit. "Okay."

I was crying by the end of the conversation. We remembered all the times we loved together and made a list of things he wanted to do before his time came. He wants to visit LA one more time, and sit on the beach, facing the Pacific. He wants to go to mom's grave one more time, and place flowers down like he always has. He wants to encourage Sky to pursue her dreams. He wants to have a family game night with just Sky, me, and himself. He loved those days from when Sky and I were younger. He wants to go outside and dance in the rain. He wants to read his favorite book one more time and watch his favorite movies. He wants to make his favorite meals and order from his favorite restaurants. He wants to hear me play my violin for him one more time too.

We wrote everything down so we wouldn't forget. I knew I'd be making a couple of trips over the course of the 6 months. So I made sure to make notes for myself on things to bring and prepare for when I visit. It was a heavy conversation, but we had fun coming up with ideas on things to do. I could tell dad was scared, but accepting of what's to come. I wondered if he would get more anxious as he get's progressively worse.

One Thing Right -Sequel to The Best of Our Love(Colby Brock)Where stories live. Discover now