Addison sat at the table, sighing softly as she rested her head in hand and stared out the frosty windows, waiting for Alfred to return home from the airport. He'd left for the week on a trip to Nova Scotia to run a few of the trails currently open there, and today he was supposed to be back. He was supposed to be here, and she was sure he would have called her if the traffic was this bad, but three hours late? That wasn't like him at all. The woman bit her lip and glances at the clock, reading the clock, before calling his brother again, asking if he'd heard from Alfred yet. The small 'no' from the other end left Addi worrying about her fiancé, soon thanking Matthew and hanging up the phone. Her gaze resumed its focused back on the driveway outside leading up to the house, illuminated with a soft light that occasionally flickered, snowflakes piling up on the wires connecting it to the rest of the house. Darned squirrels: they were always causing trouble. She'd have to ask Alfred to fix it, or at least tape the exposed wire.
Hearing her cell phone go off, she quickly looked down and didn't even bother looking at the caller ID, simply sliding the green button to answer the call and wasting no time with putting the receiver to her ear.
"Hello? Yes, this is Addison speaking, who's this?" she asked, sounding a bit nervous before her heart drops, eyes widening. "Wh-what…?"
The New Yorker's mind flashed back to one of her happiest moments with Alfred, back in December. They'd been enjoying a run with the dogs when Al stopped the sled at the top of the mountain, the evening sky bright with reds and pinks and oranges. A truly beautiful sight, one that Addi could never get tired of, and hadn't with all of the times he'd taken her up there. That fateful day in December, though, he'd got down on one knee first in the snow while she was looking off into the distance, cuddling with Pooka and Georgia at the front of the sled. She turned to hear him clearing his throat, her words catching in her own as she stood up, jaw dropping as she watched him speechless.
"You'll catch flies in that mouth, Addison," he'd teased, sticking out his tongue. "We've been going out for a year, and I know we've had a few little disputes, but I don't think they compare at all to what you mean to me and how much I love you…I mean, I want you forever—forever and always. You know…through the good and the bad and the ugly? We'll grow old together! So that's why I'm asking…will you, Addison Jones, marry me? And be my wife for forever and always?"
There was only one thing she could say, and she said it. Yes. Yes, she would marry her dear boyfriend. They'd already been mistaken for being married, for they'd managed to find another person with their same last name. Though, Jones was admittedly a rather common name. But now it was official, and she ran up to him to give her fiancé her left hand, feeling him slip the beautiful engagement ring onto her left ring finger. Tears of joy rolled down her frozen cheeks, never quite adjusted to the Alaskan cold as much as she had to the New York cold. The two lovers embraced in a warm kiss, staying up at the top of their mountain for some time longer, heading back down to the house. The two of them stayed up for while Alfred put the dogs back where they were housed in the kennel before clothes were lost and sheets and legs were tangled in a lover's embrace.
She pulls up to the entrance, not even bothering parking her car as she gets out, leaving the vehicle running and the doors open as she sprints inside, halting inside when the automatic doors closed behind her. Maybe…maybe this was all a bad dream..? Maybe it would all be over soon, and she'd just wake up…
Addison walks to the front desk, feeling the shock fully settling in, asking them to see an Alfred F. Jones, knowing that if they said yes this wouldn't have been just a dream, just her falling asleep on the dining room table and being able to wake up and see her fiancé standing there with a big bouquet of flowers and a comically large box of chocolates, his own style. The confirmation of the patient at the front desk ripped her spirits away from her and she began to blindly follow the woman, not sure she could find the way to his room on her own. A million thoughts raced through her head as they walked down never ending halls, through a labyrinth of doors and elevators to the third floor, she noticed. She pulls herself together for a few moments as they get to the outside of the room, the doctor walking out giving her a sad smile as she tried to keep a straight face as she walks into the room.
And there he was, in all of his broken and bloody glory, still managing a big grin for her, even though she could see the dull pain in his dim eyes. The IVs in his arms were the only things keeping the pain away from him, and Addison couldn't help but to be thankful for it. She couldn't have stayed in the room if he was in too much pain, as selfish as it sounds.
"Hey…Addison? That's you right?" he asks softly, at which point she comes over and sits beside his bedside, holding his hand too tight. The man didn't mind though, trying to squeeze hers back for all it was worth.
"Alfred…oh, Alfred, you're so hurt…you-you-you're not—"
She was cut off by Alfred leaning over and touching his finger to her lips, obviously in pain as he leaned so far over in his bed. "Addison, please, I'm fine for now. Don't be sad, babe, come on…I'm gonna make it out, and when we get married you'll have our gorgeous daughter like you've always wanted…how is she?"
The girl couldn't help the tears flowing down her cheeks, running a hand through her hair stressfully before nodding, feeling Alfred's hand caressing her swollen belly with one gentle hand. "She's perfect, Alfred, perfect…We'll go to the doctor next week for the ultra-sound…just to-just to confirm she's okay and if she'll be our little girl, or our little boy…A-and Alfred? We're going to have a good life, with our cabin on the hillside, right? We'll stay there forever, through the good and the bad and the ugly?"
The usual playful glint in Alfred's eyes sparked back up for a second as he nods, adding in, "And we'll grow old together, and we'll always remember that for rich or for poor or for better…We'll still lover each other, forever and always, baby."
Talking for a little longer, milking every last second with Alfred for what she could, she gets an idea and smiles faintly, letting out a little laugh. "Let's get married; right now, please Alfred." It took less than a second for Alfred to agree, watching his girl run off with a smile, wondering where she'd gone off to after hitting his nurse call button on the bedside. Alfred tells the nurses that Addison needed them and to wait, unsure of when she'd be back.
Addison had wiped her eyes a bit, finding the office of the hospital's chaplain and telling him the situation, managing to convince him to go up to Alfred's room, then returns with the clergy member. A man from the room next-door came out to see what the commotion was about, hearing about the situation from one of the nurses. He calls Addison over, whispering a few words of encouragement before walking up to his wife in the bed, asking her for a favor before taking her wedding band and his own, handing them to Addison.
"Just bring them back sometime today, or leave them for the nurses to give back to us," she tells Addison, suckling her newborn baby in the hospital bed. "Good luck, dear."
Thanking them greatly for their rings, Addison enters the room and gives one to a rather tired looking Alfred, who looks it over and starts to laugh. His laughter was an epidemic spreading to all corners of the small room, though Addison felt tears start to flow down her cheeks again. Even the corners of Alfred's eyes shone with the beginnings of tears, listening to the chaplain recite a couple of verses. Before they get to the "I dos" but after exchanging rings, Addison puts in her own little addition, stealing it from Alfred's wedding proposal two months prior.
"Alfred…I want you forever, forever and always, through the good and the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together, and always remember, whether happy or sad or whatever, that we'll still love each other, forever and always."
His eyes slip closed, loving smile still plastered to his cheeks whispering a "forever and always" before feeling warm lips covering his own, the cold splash of a salty tear hitting his lashes as they kisses for the last time.
She finishes the vows, but the beeps on his heart monitor were getting too slow, and she felt a knot growing in her throat. He beckons her closer; unable to open his eyes but finding the strength to take her hand, Alfred loosely twines their fingers together. He opens his mouth to speak, his voice was almost too low as he says, "I love you forever, forever and always…Please just remember, even if I'm not there, I'll always love you, forever and always…"
He exhaled one last time, not feeling the wet splashes on his face as the line on the heart monitor above him went flat, letting out a solid beep for a number of the seconds before the nurses turned off the machine, filing out of the room with the chaplain as the newly widowed woman let out heartbreaking cries, begging someone, anyone, to bring her perfect husband back.