AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ollie stayed at the hospital a little longer than usual because they thought he might have caught an infection, but thankfully it wasn’t anything serious. He healed from that, and his body hadn’t shown any signs of rejecting the kidney. His immune system would remain compromised, and we would always have to be careful, but he likely would live a fairly normal life and do normal kid things.
Ollie rang the bell on the tricycle and giggled loudly. Alex was kneeling beside him. “You like it, Ollie?”
“I love it, Daddy,” he said.
Hearing Ollie call Alex daddy never got old. It still took me by surprise to hear those words flow so naturally from his mouth, but I loved it. I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my son, and the two had already grown close over the last few weeks. I was excited to see what the future held for us, all of us.
Alex’s mother was also there, talking to Ollie. She handed him a gift ? a stuffed giraffe that Alex had when he was a child. Ollie gripped the giraffe to his chest and hugged it tightly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Duncan standing off to the side. He waved at me when our eyes met. I slipped away, letting the grandmothers and Alex spoil Ollie for a bit while I greeted my friend.
“Thank you for coming, Duncan.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m a sucker for happy endings, you know.”
“Well, I wouldn’t consider this an ending so much as a new beginning.”
“I agree. I see a lot of potential here for you and Alex.”
I glanced over at Alex who was laughing with Ollie over something I was unaware of. The two of them looked so happy.
“I think there’s potential too, thankfully.”
“And not that you need to worry about it, but if you ever decide you want to go back to work, the clinic will hopefully be open later this year. You know you always have a job with me, Grace.”
“Thank you, Duncan.” Alex had promised that I’d never have to work again, but that wasn’t like me. I loved nursing? I went into it not because I wanted to be rich, but because I wanted to help people. It was nice to know that the job would come with flexibility to put my family first. That was an offer I couldn’t pass up.
Everything was going to work out.
The future was bright.
My son got a kidney and the best dad in the world in the process.
What more could I ask for?
Epilogue
GRACE
A Year Later
“How was work, sweetheart?” Alex poked his head from the home office.
“It was good,” I said with a smile, and I meant it. It wasn’t draining like some of the other nursing jobs I’d had before, and Duncan was doing something great by offering affordable and sliding scale care for those who needed it most. “How did the meeting go with France?”
Alex chuckled. “I need to work on my French, clearly, but I think that pharmacies will start carrying the pump next January, at the latest. It should be smooth sailing from here.”
“Mommy!” Ollie came barreling out of the office, dropping his tablet onto the floor. “I missed you!”
I picked him up, but he was almost getting too big to carry, especially considering the news I had to tell both of them. But that would wait until dinner.
Speaking of which, something smelled delicious.
“Did you start dinner already?”
“Ollie helped.”
“Is that…”
