Chapter 2 - Forty-Two Days
Ethan reached Natalie before anyone else.
Her knees hit first.
Then her shoulder.
He caught her head inches above the floor.
“Natalie!”
Her eyes were open, but unfocused.
“I'm okay,” she whispered.
“You are not okay.”
Lead flight attendant Rebecca Sloan dropped beside them with a portable oxygen bottle.
“Give her space.”
Passengers leaned into the aisle.
Rebecca looked at Ethan. “Has she eaten?”
“How would I know? Apparently everybody here knows more about my wife than I do.”
Rebecca flinched.
Natalie squeezed his wrist.
“Ethan. Not now.”
The cockpit door opened.
Captain Mercer stepped out, still wearing his headset.
“Return to the gate,” he told another crew member.
Ethan looked up sharply.
“You knew too?”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
“She told management because she needed medical leave.”
“Six weeks ago?”
“About a month.”
Ethan looked down at Natalie.
A month.
Captain. Crew. Scheduling.
Everyone except the man who slept beside her.
The aircraft rolled back toward the gate.
Airport paramedics boarded before the door was fully secured.
Natalie insisted she could walk.
She made it three steps before her legs buckled again.
Ethan lifted her despite her protest.
“Put me down.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“You had six weeks to tell me to put you down.”
That ended the argument.
He carried her off the airplane.
Inside the jet bridge, Natalie rested her forehead against his shoulder.
“I was going to tell you tonight.”
“You said that like it helps.”
“It was our anniversary.”
“That makes it worse.”
At the gate, paramedics placed her on a stretcher.
A woman in a camel coat came running from the concourse.
“Natalie!”
Ethan knew the voice before he saw the face.
Allison Grant.
Natalie’s older sister.
Allison reached the stretcher and grabbed Natalie’s hand.
“What happened?”
Ethan stared at her.
“You knew.”
Allison froze.
Ethan’s voice went flat.
“You knew about the cancer.”
“She needed support.”
“I am her husband.”
“She didn’t want to burden you.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
Ethan looked from one sister to the other.
“No. Don’t do that. Don’t turn this into some noble decision you made for me.”
Allison stepped between him and the stretcher.
“She was scared.”
“So was I, apparently. I just didn’t know I was supposed to be.”
The paramedic asked who would ride in the ambulance.
Ethan answered immediately.
“I will.”
Allison said, “Actually, I’m her medical proxy.”
Ethan turned slowly.
“What?”
Allison opened her purse and removed a folded document.
“She signed a healthcare power of attorney three weeks ago.”
Ethan stared at the signature.
Natalie Cole.
His wife’s name.
Allison tapped the paper.
“If Natalie can’t make decisions for herself, I do.”
Ethan looked at Natalie.
Her eyes were filled with shame.
“You replaced me?”
Natalie whispered, “I thought you were leaving.”
Ethan went completely still.
“Leaving?”
Allison looked at the paramedics.
“We need to go.”
Ethan caught the side rail of the stretcher.
“Natalie. What are you talking about?”
She looked up at him.
“I saw the divorce attorney emails.”
Ethan’s grip tightened.
“I have never contacted a divorce attorney in my life.”
Allison’s face lost color.
And Ethan saw it.
— — —
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