My Love

My Love~Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Tears are Salty

Stephen’s POV

She was painting when I first saw her. She was singing to herself. That beautiful melody I knew so well. I said the notes in my head.

“My love.” She sang.

At that moment I knew that was what I wanted. To be her love. To be the one she sings to. I wanted her. I wanted to hold those hips she swayed back and forth. I wanted to kiss those lips she moved around the words she sang. I wanted to hold those hands she used to paint. I wanted those eyes to be locked with mine that she used to see what she wanted.

“Tonight. You sleep for good.” Her voice rang again.

I wanted Iris with me for good. To lay down with me every night and sleep.  *****************************************************************

“Morning!” Iris chimes.

She comes over and kisses my cheek and then sits down to eat her breakfast.

“Why do you always insist on eating breakfast at my house Iris?” I say to her.

“Are you complaining?” She shoots back, talking around the eggs in her mouth.

“No. I just think you may be taking advantage of my excellent cooking.” I flash her a quick smile.

“Well…” She trails off, “Maybe just a little bit.”

She shows me the amount with her fingers.

“Plus it’s not the only thing…” She mutters under her breath.

“Super ears remember Iris?” I point to my ears.

“Damn awesome boyfriend.” She smiles.

I roll my eyes at her and get up to clean my plate off.

“So, it’s the first day of summer break. What do you want to do?” I say casually.

She snorts, “What do you think? I wanna sleep outside in this gorgeous weather!”

“How did I know I was gonna get stuck napping with you all day?” I grumble.

The phone begins to ring and I put up a finger to her before she continues to talk.

“Burke residence.” I say formally.

“Hello. Can I talk to Stephen?” A deep voice says.

“Speaking.” I frown.

“Hey Stephen this is Dr. Ramos. I got your blood test results back. And,” he hesitates, “I have some upsetting news I’m afraid.”

“Oh. Well I’m sure it can’t be that bad. Go ahead.” I urge.

“Well Stephen I’m sorry to tell you that you have Leukemia.” He says slowly and gently.

The whole world stops and I slowly sink down into the chair at the table. My body feels numb. I can’t have cancer. That isn’t fair!

“O-oh umm,” I stutter unsure how to answer, “I guess that is bad news.” I force out a laugh.

“I’m very sorry Stephen. I will need to see you tomorrow morning for follow through. We need to map out your treatment and discuss this further.” He says.

“Oh. All right Dr. Ramos I’ll see you tomorrow.” I whisper and hang up the phone.

I can’t move. I can only stare out the window. Iris is staring at me with wide eyes. I don’t want to tell her. She’ll be crushed. I wouldn’t blame her if she broke up with me. Who would want to deal with their boyfriend having Leukemia? God, no. Please don’t do this to her. To me. Please she doesn’t deserve this.

Iris crouches down in front of me and waits for me to calm down. My insides are screaming but outside I am stiff. She watches with worried eyes. A tear slips down my cheek and she wipes it away with her thumb.

“My love.” She sings.

I begin to sob. This isn’t right!

“Look what you can do. I am mending. I’ll be with you.” She continues with the song.

“No. Please. Iris I don’t want to do this to you.”

“Tell me.” She whispers and kisses my tear stained cheeks.

“I have Leukemia Iris.”I choke out.

“We’ll get through it together.” She says gently.

I look at her and the earnestness of her face makes me cry harder.

“Don’t worry.” She says.

She wipes her lips along my tears and kisses each eye lid.

“Tears are salty.” She says seriously.

I burst out laughing.

“You silly girl. Only you would say that.”

“Deal with it.” She smiles.

She takes my hand and leads me outside to my hammock. She sets me down gently and walks away. She whirls back around at me and runs full force towards the hammock.

Oh no.

She jumps on me which sends the hammock rocking.

We laugh together which soon turns into crying. I rub her back while she chokes out apologies on my chest. I cry with her and make promises I know I can’t keep.

I want to live. This is my life in my arms. I can’t bear to lose her.

“It isn’t fair. I want to live a long happy life with you. I want everything to be okay. I don’t want you to have a life threatening disease. I don’t want to see you die. I don’t want to see you hurt or in pain. I love you too much. What if you don’t make it out of this? What if it just ends so quickly I don’t get a chance to say goodbye? I want to live our life. I don’t want to say ‘I love you, good bye’ every day just in case. I don’t want to be afraid. I don’t want to feel what I feel now. My heart is breaking Stephen. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave. I don’t want this to be our last summer.” Her voice breaks on the last sentence.

If I die she dies too. I don’t want that to happen.

So I say the only thing I can, “If you need to leave me I understand.”

“No. I will never leave you. Especially now. I love you Stephen. We’ll get through this together. You and I. My love.” She says softly.