to bed, and she knew the moment of truth was coming. She couldn’t fob him off in bed, and he would see the bandage.
She came back into the bedroom in her dressing gown, and stretched out on the bed with a sigh. It had been a stressful three weeks for her, and she was still feeling shaken by it. Peter was already in bed and she could see from the look in his eye that he was about to get amorous with her. She looked at him with a serious expression and reached for his hand.
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
“You’re pregnant? Fine, I’ll marry you. We’ll have a shotgun wedding,” he said with a smile and she laughed.
“Not exactly. No, actually I’ve had a hell of a few weeks.”
“I had a feeling that you did.” He didn’t look surprised. “You sounded awful.”
“When I had my annual mammogram, they found a small lump. It was malignant, stage one cancer. They think they got it all, so I’m fine. I didn’t want to worry you. I had the lumpectomy last Friday, and I was a mess all week, to be honest. It scared the hell out of me, and it kind of woke me up. I’m not ready to retire, and I probably never will be. At least I hope not. But I don’t want to push quite so hard. I want to take a little more time to smell the roses, as they say. With you, if that’s okay with you. And I thought of something else. I still don’t want to get married. And you don’t want to date. But I think I’d like to try living with you, if that appeals to you. You could move in here, if you’d like to.” She looked at him tenderly. He was stunned.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this, about the lumpectomy?” He looked angry, and she was shocked. “I knew something was wrong, dammit. You wouldn’t even take my calls. What do you think I am, some kind of fair-weather boyfriend? I love you. I want to be here for you, in good times and bad. I don’t want you going through something like that alone. You don’t have to be so brave, Olivia. You get to be human too. I’m here because I love you, not just for a good time. And I warn you, I am going to be very, very angry at you, if you ever do something like that again, and go through all that, and don’t call me. In fact, I want to be here, as part of the furniture, so you don’t have to call me.”
“I felt stupid that I didn’t. I was miserable. And scared. I was so shocked at first, I didn’t know what to do. And then I was in the middle of it, and I just kept going. I promise I won’t do anything like it again. And what do you think about my other idea, about living together?”
He leaned over and kissed her then. “I think I may have to, otherwise I’ll never know what you’re up to. I don’t trust you.” He still hadn’t gotten over what she’d told him, and he was upset about it. “I can’t believe you’d go through all that and not call me.”
“I know. It was stupid,” she admitted readily, and she regretted it.
“Yes, it was. And I would love to live with you, Olivia. And I suppose we don’t have to be married. I just thought it would be nicer. I’m old-fashioned, I guess. But if you prefer living like a couple of libertines, and that won’t upset your children, then I’m signing up. Where do I enlist?” He was smiling as he leaned down and kissed her. And then he remembered and looked concerned. “Does your arm hurt?”
“I can’t use it for a couple of weeks.” She opened her robe then and showed him the bandage. It was bigger than he’d expected.
“My poor baby,” he said, as he put an arm around her and held her close to him, and a few minutes later they slid into bed and turned off the lights.
“So when are you moving in?” she asked him in the dark with a giggle.
“Is tomorrow too soon? I thought you’d never ask me,” he said, and turned to kiss her in the dark. “Olivia, you are a terror, but I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, snuggling up to him, and feeling safe again for