The days that passed didn't get easier for Thanya and Hansen. The longer Thanya stayed in that hotel room, the more sure she fel, that it was better if she went back home. The longer Hansen stayed at his parents without Thanya, the more he was sure she needed to come back.
Belle and Dan were both aware that she wasn't staying with them. Belle was sad about it, and wanted to know why, but Hansen refused to tell her. The last thing he wanted was for Belle to get involved too. Dan, on the other hand, could not be happier. He was glad that Thanya wasn't there.
The next day Hansen woke up early, stopped by a small 24 hour diner and picked up breakfast for them to eat together. He spent the day with Thanya and the night with his parents. When he walked into Thanya's hotel room, she was still asleep. He put the food down on the table walked to her side of the bed. bent down and kissed her forehead, causing her to wake up.
"Good morning," Hansen said, as he gently tucked the hair behind her ears.
She smiled and in a sleepy tone mumbled, "Good morning."
"Breakfast is on the table, I got you the usual," said Hansen as he went to grab her wheelchair.
"Sausage, white rice, scrambled eggs, and ha—" Thanya said, as Hansen helped her onto the wheelchair.
"Hash brown on the side," Hansen said, finishing her sentence.
Thanya laughed and said, "Thank you!" Then wrote an "A+" in the air.
Hansen laughed and proceeded to wheel her to the kitchen table, while they ate breakfast. Hansen would tell Thanya all the stories from his childhood to cheer her up and make her laugh. They would reminisce about the embarrassing moments and the most memorable ones. It made Hansen so happy to see Thanya smile.
A couple of days later, while they were eating another meal at the table, Thanya told him that she wanted to go home. She wasn't purposely trying to hurt him, she just genuinely felt that it would be better if she left and went home. It took hours to convince Hansen that it was the right thing to do. He cried, she cried, and eventually he gave in.
That hurt him, but what killed him were the words that followed soon after.
"Hansen . . . I can't marry you," Thanya said quietly.
It hurt her to say it, but it was something that had been running through her mind. She felt like a burden to him - that was something she never wanted to be to anyone. Now that she had no legs, she thought about all the things that she couldn't do, and how inconvenient it would be for Hansen. Plus, one of the main things she dreamed of was seeing herself walk down the aisle to her future husband. Without legs, that was something she wasn't able to do.
She knew that there were prosthetic legs, but they were expensive. She knew that it would take her years to save up for them. Thanya never saw herself doing this, especially since Hansen was such a good man. She felt that because he was such a good man, he deserved a good woman. She definitely didn't feel like one anymore.
Hansen put down the fork he was using, and took a deep breath. In all honesty, this was one of the things that he was hoping she wouldn't say. It hurt him to hear her tell him that she wanted to leave, but he understood. This on the other hand, practically killed him. He felt like he was dying.
"Why are you saying this?" Hansen asked, refusing to accept her answer.
"How can I walk down the aisle with no legs?" she asked with tears in her eyes.
"We can still get married Thanya! I will carry you down if I have to!" Hansen said in a pleading voice.
He loved her, and he would go to hell and back to keep her. Thanya shook her head in disagreement. She wished that he could see things from her point of view. Of course no one could ever have predicted this happening. As she saw the tears starting to form in his eyes, she was close to changing her mind.
Thanya shook her head and looked down.
"I LOVE YOU!" Hansen's voice cracked as he replied.
"And I will always love you too," Thanya replied.
"Well, then we can still get married," Hansen said in a frustrated tone.
He didn't care if she didn't have legs. He wouldn't care if she didn't have arms. He wouldn't care if she went blind. He would always be there for her. He would always love her. That night felt like a long night for both of them. Both went to bed, with red eyes and broken hearts.
The next morning Hansen woke up early to pack his bags and head over to Thanya's hotel room. He ran into Belle in the kitchen, about to make pancakes. Dan was still asleep in their room. Belle smiled when she saw Hansen, and wore a confused face when she saw the packed bags in his hands.
She turned off the stove and walked towards Hansen.
"You and Thanya heading back home today?" Belle asked Hansen.
Hansen nodded. "I have a job to go back to," he said, in a humorous tone.
Hansen was leaving to Hawai'i with Thanya, to take her back home. There was no way he would let her go by herself.
Belle nodded and kissed her son on the cheek. "We'll miss you and tell
Thanya I said the same to her too." "I will," Hansen nodded.
"I love you, honey," Belle said. "You and Thanya come back again to visit, all right?"
Belle really liked Thanya because of her kindness and sincerity. She could tell that Thanya was a good person, and definitely way better than Hannah-Belle never liked Hannah, she always had a high maintenance attitude. She was sad seeing Hansen hurt the day he found out Hannah was having an affair. On the other hand, she was also glad that Hannah was out of the picture.
Hansen nodded, hugged Belle goodbye and picked up his bags. He headed to the car and drove to the hotel Thanya was staying at. As he helped her pack her bags and took her to the car, he thought of all the ways to get her to change her mind. She was a stubborn woman when she wanted to be.
After they arrived at the airport and checked in their bags, Hansen's phone started ringing. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller I.D. It was Jim calling. He accepted the call and held his phone to his ear.
"Howzit, Hawai'ian?" joked Jim.
"Hey, brother," Hansen chuckled in reply.
"How's your father doing?" Jim asked.
"He's doing better," Hansen replied.
Jim knew about what happened to Thanya. Monica told Jim, and Jim would have called Hansen right away, but he knew that his friend needed time. Jim was only calling now because he felt like enough time had passed and his friend needed to talk to him. Plus, his Oscar asked when Hansen was coming back.
"Glad to hear that. How's Thanya doing?" asked Jim.
Hansen looked at Thanya as she wheeled herself to the glass window, watching the planes come and go. She wore a sad expression, and he wished he knew what she was thinking. He would give anything to change her mind, and have her marry him. She was the type of woman that was hard to come by.
"She's a fighter, so she's pulling through," Hansen said firmly.
"I'm sure," Jim said, agreeing.
"How're the girls doing?" Hansen asked with a chuckle, referring to Leilani and Malia.
Jim rolled his eyes on the other side of the line and said in an irritated tone, "Brah! It hasn't been easy with the girls. These keikis started talking about Slushy Tuesdays the day they found out you left. Thanks to you, I've been taking the girls to 711 every week after school on Tuesdays, to get their slushies. Kanani demanded that we keep things the same. Since they're doing so well. We don't want to ruin it, so we're going to just keep them on the same schedule that you keep them on."
Hansen laughed - and he definitely missed the little rascals. He enjoyed taking them to school and picking them up as well. They kept him young, and if it wasn't for them, he would have never gotten the chance to see Thanya again. He was grateful for the two little girls.
"So when you coming back home?" asked Jim.
"Thanya and I are at the airport heading home right now," Hansen replied. "Great! Glad to hear that, brother," replied Jim.
Even though they weren't related, it felt like they were. They fought together and were always there for each other whenever the other one needed them. When it was time for them to board the plane, Hansen said his goodbyes to Jim and walked over to Thanya.
"Ready to head home, fiancé?" asked Hansen. Thanya sighed and looked down. "Hansen . . ."
Even though Thanya broke up with him, Hansen refused to accept it. He fought to get her to give him a chance. When she did, it was one of the best days of his life. If he had to do it all over again, he would. He would spend the rest of his life showing her, and waiting for her.
Hansen wheeled her away from the window and proceeded to head to the entrance to board the plane.
Meanwhile, back at the Hayworth's house
"Where's Hansen?" Dan asked his wife, as he wheeled himself to the kitchen table.
"He left. Didn't he tell you?" Belle asked, while she set the table.
Dan looked away from his wife. "He didn't tell me."
"It's not like Hansen to do that," Belle replied, confused.
Belle was suspicious about why Hansen would do that. Hansen was close to Dan and respected him. Hansen always wanted to be like Dan and did everything he could to make Dan proud, so it was very unusual for him to do this. Belle immediately knew something was wrong. She looked at her husband.
"What happened?" she asked Dan.
Dan refused to tell her, but after much convincing, he relented and did. Belle was not happy. She was furious, not at her son, but at her husband. Not once did she ever think her husband was like this. She never suspected him to be racist, so to hear this was heartbreaking, especially to hear that he was taking out his anger on Thanya. Belle really liked Thanya.
"You need to fix this," Belle said to Dan.
Dan scoffed. "There's nothing to fix. He will get over her," Dan replied, emphasizing the word nothing.
Dan was hurt that Hansen didn't say goodbye. He knew how much Hansen looked up to him. He blames Thanya for Hansen leaving without saying goodbye. He blamed her for everything that was wrong. From an outsider's point of view, what he was feeling was clearly wrong. Yet Dan refused to see it that way. To Dan, Thanya was the problem, and he'd be very happy if she was out of his life.
"We are going to Hawai'i," Belle said, as she left the kitchen and picked up the phone to book a flight to Hawai'i.
Dan scoffed. "She can't be serious," he mumbled.
"I heard that!" was the last thing Belle said before the conversation ended.
It took days for Dan to realize that Belle was right. He needed to apologize if he wanted to see Hansen happy again and mend the bond between them. That didn't mean it would be easy for him to do. He knew that he wouldn't be sincere if he apologized, but he would do it, if everything would go back to normal between him and Hansen. He also knew that no one would believe him if he apologized, so he made sure to leave Alabama with something he knew would work.