Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky

Author:Marlo Schalesky [Schalesky, Marlo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56142-8
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

Paul watched her lying there, still against the thin white pillow. Her lips were dry, cracked. Her skin, colorless and waxy. They would come soon. A nurse, a doctor, someone. They would moisten her lips, touch her skin, check her vitals. And then they would go. And he would wait, here in the dim light, in the shadows, beside her. It seemed he had waited forever.

In the last hour, she had gotten no worse. She had gotten no better. The outlook was grim, they’d said. There wasn’t much hope. But he wouldn’t believe it. He couldn’t. There was hope. There had to be. He wouldn’t lose her now.

Please … Maddie.

He rose and stood over her. And did not weep. Some would say that tears showed he cared. But that wasn’t true. Some things went deeper than tears. And his love for Maddie was one of them.

So he bent his head and would not cry. Even if he’d wanted to, he could not. There were no more tears left. Not anymore. He’d used them up, long ago, it seemed. And now nothing remained but the waiting. And the dimming hope. And the love that had bound him to her for so long. That love had carried them through the darkness before—those days when he thought he’d lose his mind. He’d shaken his fist at God then, wondered, cursed, doubted, paced. Lost faith. Then found it again. Now, he did none of those things. He only waited … and watched … and listened to her faulty breathing.

Lord, help us. Make her whole. Let me take her home.

A quiet prayer. Simple. All he could manage. All he needed to.

She stirred, just a little. She knew someone was here. He could sense it. And for now, it would have to be enough.

And so he waited. Just as he had so many years ago, as she sat there on the edge of the water in Pacific Grove …

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