"Are you going to read again?" he asks, staring out the window and looking at the flowing river against the sunrise.
She sighs and lays the thick leather book down on a nearby table. "If you would like, then I will," she says simply, sitting down on a chair.
The morning sun gleams through the window and floods into the room gracefully. She's always been fond of this nursing home, situated by a nice river and surrounded by wilderness. Sometimes, this place reminds her of her home back when she was young, happily married with children in the house that she and her husband had worked and dreamed together on.
"I'm curious about what happens next. Do they forgive each other? Or does Jason stay with Reyna? I hope Piper doesn't lose him again," he speculates, watching in eager anticipation as she begins to open the book.
She almost laughs as she meets his blue eyes, flooded with excitement. "I don't know, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out," she says, the humor evident in her voice.
She searches for the page, though it doesn't take long. She's read the story so many times that she almost has every word, every crinkle, every misspelling memorized. She clears her throat and begins to read:
"Well? It's your choice. I won't be the other woman! I'm strong enough, I've already lost you once. I might be able to do it again!" Piper yelled, filling the hot summer air with her voice.
Jason paused by his car, not wanting to meet her beautiful kaleidoscopic eyes. "I don't know, Piper! I love you, but I also love Reyna. I can't leave her like that. She thinks we're to be married!"
"Then why are you here? Why did you come back?" Piper snapped.
The wind began to pick up, and Jason could smell the rain in the atmosphere. It was only a matter of time before they got poured on. Jason stepped forward, closer to Piper.
"Because I thought that if I came back, it would finalize everything. I thought I would see you happily married, over me, us, completely. But it didn't work out that way!" Jason yelled over the wind.
Piper's messy braids were flying around her face, and the thunder boomed above them, making her seem all the more threatening. "I wouldn't let myself be over you! I waited, just like you told me to! I rejected every man that dared to ask me out on a date, because I thought of you! You didn't and still don't realize how much I will always love you. I will never let you go!"
They were within arms reach now, unconsciously moving closer to each other during the argument. "Piper, I'll never let you go either. Not ever again," Jason said just loud enough for Piper to hear.
The thunder rumbled again, and Jason saw a flash of lightning out of the corner of his eye. The rain began to pour down like there was no tomorrow, and Piper pulled him closer. "Prove it then, Jason!"
Jason grasped her face, only glancing into her kaleidoscopic eyes for a moment before kissing her soft lips, throwing every piece of emotion he had ever felt for her into it.
"Thank you for keeping him entertained, Mrs. Grace," the nurse apologizes as she walks into the room.
She just smiles and closes the book, ignoring his protests. "You're very welcome. I'll just go get some breakfast now," she says, standing up and taking the book with her.
"Will you come back?" he asks as the nurse begins to check him over.
She nods and opens the door. "Of course I will. I have never left you," she says sadly, though she doubts that he catches that.
As she walks down the quiet hall with the leather book, she realizes how stupid she was for saying that. He can't find out yet, or else he'll start to freak out, just like he did last time. It was horrible, and she had promised herself that she would never let that happen again.
She can feel exhaustion coming over her from her old age as she nears the kitchen. But she's lived this long, and she won't leave him here alone. She wants him to die first, in peace.
Laying the thick book on her usual table, she orders her food and stares out the glass windows, thinking about life.
They don't believe he'll ever come back, her children. They say that this time, he's gone. He won't remember her or them ever again. This time it's final.
"Ma, if you believe that he will remember everything again just by reading that stupid book, then you're just as lost as he is!" Amelia had said one afternoon when she had come to eat dinner with her.
She had shakily grasped Amelia's young hands over the table. "Mel, someday you'll understand. When you love someone so much, it's hard to let them go. And I've never let him go, so why start now? Love is a beautiful and harsh thing," she'd explained to her youngest daughter.
Amelia had just rolled her blue eyes and stood from the table. "Mom, I'm thirty-two. I think I know a thing or two about love. I just want you to know that it's hopeless."
Then Amelia had left her alone at the table.
She didn't think it was hopeless. He always came around at some point, and she was patient. There wasn't much longer until they were both dead anyway.
The doctors say that she suffers from heart problems, which is why she stays at the nursing home too. But she knows that it isn't just the physical heart problems that the doctors see, it's the emotional ones that she suffers from as well.
All the pain she has gone through for him is not for nothing. He's here now, and she's still in pain as she watches him be oblivious to everything they've ever had together. And their story is so beautiful, so emotional and touching. She's not bragging either, that's just what she's heard the nurses and doctors say.
She remembers when they had both found out about his condition. And really, it hadn't surprised her. He'd started to forget about the most common things, like who Percy was, or where the mailbox was.
As soon as he had been diagnosed, he had been frantic. "I won't ever forget us, Piper. I won't. I don't want to!" he had said, and she could've sworn that she'd seen tears in his eyes.
He had holed himself up in their room for days, spending all of his time on that thick leather book. He had been devoted to it.
"Piper, whenever I leave you, read this to me and I'll come back. Just for you, Pipes. I can't leave you again," he'd said as he handed it to her on a cool summer night as they sat on their porch together.
It had worked for a few years. But every time it had taken longer and longer, and sometimes she had felt like giving up, he was too far gone. Like he had promised though, he came back, eventually.
She strokes the leather book lovingly, pulling herself out of her thoughts as her food is brought to her. Soon, she will have to return to him and read the next part.
Maybe he'll come back for her.
"Piper, I thought that you were never going to come back, never forgive me again," he says as she lays down next to him on his nursing home bed.
She smiles, knowing that she could never be mad at him, not when he had finally remembered. Even if when as soon as they had kissed in joyful reunion he had forgotten and had a freak out, screaming and cursing at her and waking up the entire nursing home. She'd been so devastated that she'd had a heart attack, causing her to collapse as the doctors held him down.
"Jason, I won't ever leave you. Welcome back," she says, holding on to him tightly, knowing that this moment can't last for much longer.
He strokes her face, his blue eyes glistening with tears. "Pipes, I don't want to leave you again. I don't want to die not remembering us."
And she knows. But she can feel herself fading, whether into death or just sleep she doesn't know, but she is fading. And if her assumptions are correct, he is too.
Amelia watches as her siblings leave, finally accepting the death of their parents. She's accepted it too, but she can't help but feel remorse as she finally realizes that after all these years, her mother was right about love.
And she never got the chance to tell her that she was, Amelia thinks as she lays down the pink rose with blue ribbon in front of the grave. She clutches the book of her parent's love story, and glances at the grave one last time before following her siblings.
Jason and Piper Grace
Together and
Never Leaving
One Another
Ever.
So that was something I had saved up from a while ago, already typed up and saved! I shall update my other stories soon! This is something to apologize for that!