Dany
Jack and I hold hands as we rush into the front entrance of the hospital. This is the first time I’ve come here with anticipation and excitement. It colors the whole place differently.
On the way here, Karl drove like a speed demon. I texted my mom to let her know I was thirty minutes behind schedule, but to keep everything in place. Karl had already dropped the girls and Sissy at the wedding.
I drag Jack to the windows where Dave usually sits.
It’s empty.
There’s no one here.
I turn in a circle. Scan the lobby.
A nurse bustles through. A young couple carrying flowers walks toward the elevators. I stare at the empty space in front of the windows.
“He’s not here,” I say. All the hope that had been rising like a buoyant balloon pops. “He’s usually here in the afternoon.” I let go of Jack’s hand.
I thought Dave would be here. He’d been in this exact spot every day I came in for the entirety of my treatment. And now…
“Come on,” says Jack.
He pulls me to the information desk. “Excuse me,” he says. The sharp-eyed woman behind the desk frowns at him.
“May I help you?” she asks.
Jack gives her a flash of his dimples and the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her eyes narrow.
He points at the windows. “We’re looking for the gentleman who sits by those windows.”
The woman purses her lips.
Jack continues, “his name is Dave—”
“He’s in his late seventies. Looking for a kidney. He sits in a wheelchair and has—”
“I can’t help you,” she interrupts.
“We’d just like to know if he’s been in today,” I say.
“I can’t help you.”
“Or if he’s been in this week?” asks Jack.
The woman shakes her head. “Sorry. Next,” she calls.
A woman in a business suit steps forward.
“No wait,” I say. “Please. If you’ve ever been in love, if you’ve ever loved someone so much that you’d search the world for them, then please tell us if he’s been here, if he’s still…” I trail off. If he’s still alive, is what I can’t say.
“Ma’am,” says the hard-eyed woman.
“Yes?” I ask.
Her gaze softens. My hope rises again. I lean forward.
She lowers her voice. “I started here this morning. I can’t help you.”
“Oh,” I say. It comes out as a small puff of air.
“Thanks,” says Jack.
He takes my hand. We turn away from the desk.
“So, this Dave guy. He had gray hair?”
“Sure,” I say.
“And did he wear three-piece suits and wingtips?”
“Yes?” I say.
“And did he wave at you whenever he saw you?”
I turn to look where Jack is pointing.
“Yes,” I say.
I run over to Dave and surprise him with a hug.
“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” I say.
Dave pats my back and returns my hug.
“Nice to see you, too,” he says.
He looks healthier than the last time I saw him. A lot healthier. There’s a twinkle in his eye.
“Did you get your transplant?” I ask.
“I sure did. All recovered, too.”
“That’s wonderful,” I say.
“It’s my final checkup. I’m heading to New Zealand at the end of the month.”
I look at Jack. He raises his eyebrows.
“This is Jack. My fiancé.” I step closer and Jack puts his arm around me.
“Congratulations,” says Dave. “When’s the wedding?”
Jack coughs to cover a snort.
I clear my throat. “I have a question,” I say. I tense in anticipation of his answer. “Are you, by any chance, David Crestwood?”
Dave tilts his head. “No.”
“Oh,” I say. My shoulders sag.
“Not anymore.”
“What?” says Jack.
“I changed my name to Dave Creston forty years ago,” Dave says. “It’s actually a funny story, I was in the Ural Mountains and —”
“Hang on,” I say. “So you’re David Crestwood.”
“Well, yes,” says Dave.
“From Stoutsberg?”
“As you see,” he says.
“And did you once know a woman named Geraldine Bloom?”
“Gerry?” he asks. He smiles and his face looks twenty years younger.
“She went to Russia to find you. And China.”
“Gerry did?” he asks.
“I could take you to her if you’d like,” I say.
He stands. “I’d like that very much.”
“Wait a minute,” says Jack. “Did you say your name is Dave Creston? Did you by any chance own the Creston warehouses downtown?”
We pull up in the Hummer. The string quartet starts to play.
Cleo, Sylvie, Gerry, my mom and Sissy are gathered at the front of the gazebo. Somehow, my mom also managed to invite about fifty of our closest family friends.
“This looks like a wedding,” says Dave.
“Absolutely,” I say.
Jack winks at me.
The gathering of people notice our arrival. They stand and turn to watch our approach.
Jack, Dave and I walk down the aisle toward the gazebo.
When we are ten feet from the front, Gerry steps forward.
“David?” she asks.
“Gerry. My peach,” says Dave.
“He’s real?” squawks Cleo. She falls back into her chair with a thud.
“Oh my word,” says Sylvie.
“Dude. You’re seriously getting married?” asks Sissy.
“No,” I say.
“Not today,” says Jack.
“Yes,” says Dave.
“Yes?” says Gerry as she steps toward Dave.
He pulls a silk handkerchief from his pocket. When he opens it, there’s a lock of gleaming brown hair tied with a blue ribbon inside.
“I kept this all these years. You remember giving it to me in the orchard?”
“I do,” says Gerry.
“Unbelievable,” says Cleo.
“Shhh, no interruptions,” I whisper.
Gerry reaches out and puts her hands in Dave’s, around the silk handkerchief.
“Gerry. Marry me. I’ve waited nearly sixty years. I don’t want to wait a second more.”
Gerry’s face breaks into the most radiant smile I’ve ever seen.
“Yes, absolutely,” she says.
“Check?” I whisper to Jack.
He grins down at me, then laughs long and loud.
It’s a wedding on the beach. Just not ours.
Then he takes me in his arms. I gaze up at him. In his eyes I see our future. There’s adventure, and love, and building a family and a home. It’s a whole lifetime of lists and love. I’m not afraid. I’m not scared at all. I’m only happy to be here in this moment, in his arms.
“If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m going to kiss you in front of all these people,” says Jack.
“Well, then do it already. Because I’m never going to stop.”
So, he does.