Chapter Two
When Ivy arrived home Sam greeted her at the door as she approached. He had expected her home earlier and had been watching for the car to pull up in the driveway.
"Sam, you startled me!" She exclaimed, "What are you doing home so early, I thought you had a staff meeting at the police station?"
Sam took her hand and led her inside, "I felt bad for not being able to go with you to the doctor today so I ended the meeting early so I could come home and help you with dinner," he gave her a kiss and grinned at her. He noticed that Ivy didn't return the gesture; instead he could see tears forming in her eyes, although she tried to hide them. Thinking he had done something wrong he tried to joke with her, "But if you would have rather cooked dinner alone I could leave…" Still getting no response Sam looked deep into her eyes and saw that something really was wrong, "Oh, Ivy, what's the matter?"
Ivy embraced him and laid her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she sobbed.
When Sam finally got her calmed down she told him the prognosis Eve had told her.
"Don't cry, Ivy, please," Sam said, wiping the tears from her face with his thumbs. "Maybe there's something else they can do…another option they haven't looked into."
Ivy shook her head 'no' as she struggled to regain her composure. She felt as though the disease was her fault and that it was punishment for all the bad things she had done in the past. Ivy thought perhaps she could be able to cope easier if it wasn't for the pain that Sam was going through, that alone was enough to make her hang her head in guilt.
That night it took a long time for Sam to get Ivy to fall asleep. Just when he thought she had settled down into a slumber she would jerk awake in a cold sweat and apologize incessantly for keeping him awake. He did everything he could to assure her that she was no bother but his words didn't get far past Ivy's stubbornness. She was worried about the whole ordeal and so was he. At long last Sam felt that she had slipped into a deep sleep. He waited to be certain that she was alright and then made sure that she was safely tucked under the covers. He lightly kissed her forehead as he eased out of the bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
After pouring himself a glass of milk he took a seat at the table. He couldn't believe that Ivy, his Ivy, was so sick and he couldn't do anything to help her. When they had found out she had cancer they had been crushed. At that point in time they had at least had the hope that the treatments would work, now they didn't even have that. After years of being apart they had finally found one another again and now God was taking her away from him.
With a deep sigh he rose from his seat and went back to the bedroom. Ivy was still sleeping soundly so he slipped back in beside her and wrapped his arms around her. As he laid there he kept imagining what his life would be like if he lost her. How would he be able to cope with losing the one true love of his life?