Apparently I can't help myself. Sorry, readers...
Disclaimer: Not mine.
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Mary had always said she would be there for him.
The day he left Abigail, he had shown up on Mary's doorstep, too drunk to stand upright and crying quietly. She had instinctively pulled him inside, dried him off and settled him on her couch with a cup of coffee. He stayed there that night, and the following night. A week turned into two, and then a month.
She wasn't certain exactly when the shift happened, but one day they were just friends and then another day, they were in bed together and she knew she could never go back to being just friends and living in a constant state of denial. He felt the same and a week later, he moved in with her.
They never discussed marriage in depth, but it didn't stop them from going to the courthouse and filling out the paperwork declaring to the world that they would love each other for the rest of their lives.
Or, as she would find out too soon, she would love him for the rest of her life.
They were married for nine years when he stepped out of their home after kissing her and Norah goodbye. She would never remember much of what she did, but the call that came in that afternoon would be forever seared into her brain.
"Mary, it's Marshall. There's been an accident."
Stan's voice reverberated in her ears as she fled the house, not thinking that Norah would be getting off of the bus in just an hour. No, all she could think about was Marshall and getting to his side.
The drive to the hospital was a blur to her and she arrived just as the ambulance was pulling into the ambulance bay. There was no sense of urgency, no doctors or medical staff rushing out to assist them.
Why?
She ran from her car to the ambulance, where the medics were lifting a stretcher out of the back. Her throat burned and she shook her head.
"Marshall!"
One of the medics approached her. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry…"
She shoved him and bolted to the stretcher, yanking back the white sheet.
Marshall's face was pale and his eyes were closed, and for a moment she crazily believed he was only sleeping.
What she would have given for him to be just sleeping.
Slowly she leaned over and rested her head on his chest. It wasn't right. He should have lived for decades more and died surrounded by his family.
She would have been with him.
Her sobs reached her ears and vaguely she felt hands on her arms, but she violently pulled away.
"Let me go!"
She had promised to be there for him no matter what.
Thunder rumbled overhead, threatening to drown her in rain and sorrow.
At that moment, she would have been grateful.
Marshall had died alone and afraid with no one to hold him.
She had not been there with him in his final moments.
He had been alone.
A painful sob clawed its way out of her throat as she cradled his head in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Marshall."
She had always said she would be there for him.
She was wrong.
The End.