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Tears filled his eyes as Micah backed his truck out of Marla’s driveway. A tight knot in his gut, he felt as if he’d just been sucker-punched in the stomach. He wiped away the tears intermittently. What Marla just told him was unbelievable. She had been the last one to talk to Allie. She had been the one who was with her when she died. She had been the doctor who had tried to save her.
Micah couldn’t see the road through his tears. He pulled over on the shoulder and put his truck in park. He put his face in his hands and sobbed.
“Why, God, why?” he cried. “Why did it have to be Marla?” he yelled out in agony. He beat his hands on the steering wheel. The horn sounded, and he tried to calm himself down. He didn’t know how to be okay with the fact that he was in love with the woman who couldn’t save his wife’s life. He didn’t blame Marla, but he could not reconcile being in love with the woman who heard Allie’s last words. Had he betrayed Allie? “Dear God, this has to be wrong,” he said. Memories of Allie flooded his mind. He imagined seeing Allie speaking her last request to Marla. Then he imagined Allie seeing him with Marla. He could no longer separate the two women. When he thought of Marla now, he saw Allie dying. “I can’t do this,” he said out loud, slamming his fists onto the steering wheel once again.
Micah regained his composure long enough to drive home. Once home, he opened a bottle of beer and slugged it down. He opened a second bottle of beer, but then he set it down on the kitchen counter. Allie wouldn’t want me to drink because of her. He knew that drinking himself to oblivion would only temporarily solve his heartache. For a short time after Allie’s death, he turned to alcohol to cope, and he knew alcohol was not the way to sooth any pain. He lay down on the couch with his face buried in the cushions. Tears flowed as he started to sob again. “Lord, how could you let me fall in love with Marla? Couldn’t she have been anyone else? I can’t look at her now and not see Allie.”
Micah cried until he became exhausted. Eventually, he fell asleep.
The following morning, Micah awakened to his broken heart. He was in love with Marla, his heart ached for her, and for Allie. Learning that Allie had made a dying request had been a shock. Knowing she made it to the woman who tried to save her, the woman he was in love with now, made him feel nauseated. Guilt was flooding his heart and soul. He felt guilty for loving Marla like she was there to replace Allie, and somehow, he had to stop loving her.
He brushed his teeth and washed his face before heading out to his truck. Glancing at his phone, the time was nine o’clock. He drove over to Marla’s house and knocked on the front door. After a few minutes, Marla answered the door wearing her pajamas and robe. Her eyes were puffy, and her nose was swollen. She carried a Kleenex in her hand.
“Sorry to bother you this early. May I come in for a minute?”
Marla nodded and stepped out of the doorway to let him in. She closed the door behind him.
Micah walked into the living room and paced. Marla stood still and watched him.
Finally, he stopped pacing and looked at her.
“Thank you for telling me what you told me last night.”
Marla wiped a tear from her cheek, and she nodded.
“The thing is, I’m having trouble reconciling the fact that I’m in love with the woman who was with my wife when she died. I can’t find a way to be okay with it. You were the last person with her to hear her last request and to see her before she died. I can’t look at you now without seeing Allie dying. Why didn’t you tell me what she said three years ago when she died?” He choked out through tears.
Marla closed her eyes tightly. “You’re right. I was the one with her. I tried with all my might to save her, but I couldn’t. That day that she died, I was going to go tell you what happened, but Marcus was her doctor, so he was the one to talk to you. I told him to tell you what she said. I thought he did, but apparently, he didn’t. I’m so sorry, Micah.”
He said in a low voice, “There is part of me that is comforted by knowing she had a message for me, but there is also part of me that died inside when I heard it. Not only did I miss her last words, but she said that she wanted me to move on. That breaks my heart. I need some time, Marla. I have to figure out how to be okay with all of this, and I just don’t think I’m going to be able to. I’m sorry.”
Micah walked toward the front door and opened it. “You have to know how much I love you, Marla. I just can’t be in this relationship anymore, because it’s no longer just you and me. It’s you and me and Allie, and that will never work.”
“I understand,” she said, nodding her head. Tears rolled off her cheeks as she added, “I love you no matter what, Micah. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. Even if it was for a short time, you showed me what real, unconditional love feels like. I will always be grateful to you.”
Micah sighed loudly and turned. He walked through the door and closed it behind him.
Marla’s knees buckled, and she lowered herself to the floor. Sobs escaped as her heart cried out for the loss of the man she loved.