Truth Be Told by Marie James

Author:Marie James [James, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Security Romance
Publisher: MJB Publishing
Published: 2021-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Tinley

I rub small circles on Alex’s back as he cries quietly. I’ve stopped worrying about my own tears and how they’ve been falling for hours and soaking my shirt. As we talk softly to Mom, her breathing growing more and more ragged with each passing second, I still continue to pray for a miracle even when I know there isn’t one to be had.

I knew this day was coming. I knew it was coming fast, but knowing it’s here is killing a small part inside of me. I know parents don’t want to outlive their children. Her leaving this world first is how it’s meant to be, but I never thought thirty-one years was all I was going to get. My grandmother passed away when I was twenty-one. Mom got forty-five years with her mother. I feel like I’m being short-changed, and Alex is really getting shafted.

“Shh,” I whisper when Alex’s breathing hitches.

I’ve never witnessed someone die before, never seen the moment someone took their very final breath, but it’s nothing like I expected. There is no shuddering breath nor one final gasp indicating she’s trying to hold on just a little longer. Her breathing just stops, there one minute and gone the next, her body seeming to melt into the bed, relaxed and finally at peace.

“Sh-She’s g-gone?” Alex asks, his hand holding hers tighter.

“Yeah, buddy,” I answer, knowing that my world just got a little smaller.

Alex swallows, his eyes still glued to her face, and I’m torn on what to do. I hate his final memories of her are going to be watching the remaining color drain from her face, that he’s watched her slowly wither away from the vibrant active woman she was into someone most people wouldn’t recognize if they hadn’t seen her in the last couple of years while cancer, chemo, and radiation took its toll on her body.

He deserves more. I deserve more.

Life keeps kicking us in the gut, too often to even get fully on our feet before the next blow comes. When will it be over? When will we be able to finally take a breath without the worry of the world imploding? Probably never, and that’s the soul-crushing reality of the life we have.

“You think? I don’t give a fuck what you think! I want you out of the goddamn house!”

My head snaps toward my mother’s closed bedroom door.

Is he serious? Of all the times my brother decides to show up, he picks now, this very moment to storm in and try to take over.

“Why don’t you spend a few minutes with her?” I say as I press my lips to Alex’s forehead.

He looks nervous, his eyes darting to my mother’s hand in his to the bedroom door.

“Does that make you uncomfortable? To stay in here with her?” He shakes his head. “Everything will be okay.”

I stand, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, completely unsure if it’s a lie.

I slip out of the room, tears still tracking down my face and find my brother and Ignacio practically nose to nose and ready to throw down.

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