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“Please, just…” My fight with Nova is clouding my mind and this news feels like another blow. I can’t even think straight. “Can you make her more comfortable? Anything will help.”
“About that, Alexa has expressed that she’d like to leave hospice care and receive outpatient care, but—”
“No buts. If that’s what she wants, that’s what she’ll have.” I promised Rowan. I can’t go back on my word now.
“Unfortunately, we don’t allow patients in her state to leave unless it’s in the care of a family member. And we can’t let her go under the authority of an eleven year old.”
“I can do it.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re not considered family, Mr. Harrison. At least not in the legal sense.” He shakes his head.
My eyebrows sink. “But I’m Rowan’s father.”
“It still wouldn’t work. It must be a sibling, a cousin, an aunt, even a husband—”
“A husband?”
The doctor nods.
“Is that the only way?”
“Yes, it is.”
Alexa needs a husband.
The truth crashes into me and nearly knocks me off my feet. To fulfil her wish, I have to marry her.
It’s the only way to keep my promise to Rowan.
The only way to help Alexa in her last days.
And it’s the one way that will destroy any hope I have with the woman I love.
CHAPTER15
THE FAMILIAR FACE
NOVA
“You don’t haveto keep coming here.”
I set the fruit basket on the desk next to Alexa’s hospital cot and give her a strained smile. “It’s my last time.”
“Well that sounds ominous.”
I glance around, avoiding eye contact. “Where’s Rowan?”
“He’s watching TV outside. This one,” Alexa juts her chin at the flat screen on the wall, “only has documentaries and news channels, so he gets bored quickly. The nurses here spoil him and let him change the channels for the TV in the waiting room.”
He’s a cute kid and his mother is in hospice care. It’s totally believable that he’d have an entire hospital under his thumb.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Alexa.
“Like a million bucks.” She tries to pose, but her hands are so weak she can barely lift them. “Can’t you tell?”
My eyes skim her pale skin that’s nearly translucent. Her eyes are sunken in and her lips are chapped. It’s frightening how much older she looks now. It’s like someone’s pressing fast-forward on her life and has no intention of taking their hands off the button.
“You look nice,” I say politely.
