While You Loved Me
Author's Note: I apologize for it taking so long to update but I haven't been feeling very good these past few days…sciatica was acting up grrr. Any who, where's the last chapter before the epilogue. I hope you have enjoyed this as much I have enjoyed writing it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight but I sure love playing with the characters.
Chapter 18
Emmett's POV (Still reading to Bella)
The day that Emmett was supposed to take Bella to Nashville, she came downstairs in a better mood than she usually was. Emmett was happy to see her in such a good mood but it worried him after seeing her depressed for so long.
"Hello, my love. It's good to see you in such a good mood." Emmett said kissing his wife lightly on the lips.
"I know I haven't been myself lately, honey, and I am sorry. I am having trouble remembering a lot of things, but you being as in tune with me as you are you probably already noticed that." Bella replied. "I wanted to give you this. As I wrote on the first page, if you read this to me every day I WILL come back to you for as long as I am able to." She added, handing him a thick notebook filled with her thoughts, their story and their children's stories.
"Sweetheart, we're going to get you some help today." Emmett said pulling her close.
"I know, darling, but I have this feeling that we're not going to like what he has to say and one of these days I won't remember anything." Bella sighed, leaning into Emmett's chest.
"Then I will be there for you every step of the way until my last breath." He said kissing her head gently.
"I love you Emmett." Bella said looking up at him.
"I love you too, my Bella, with all of my heart until my very last breath." Emmett replied kissing her gently on the lips. "We must get going if we are going to make it to Nashville on time."
Emmett led Bella to the car and they headed to see Dr. Garcia in Nashville. When they arrived, they met with a tall, thin, Spanish man with dark brown eyes and wavy black hair who insisted that they both call him Eleazar. He had them describe what was going on and then he administered a number of tests to rule out all possibilities before proceeding.
"I would like the two of you to come back in tomorrow so that I can give you a proper diagnosis, the test results should be in by then. Do you have lodging in the area or are you going to travel home?" Eleazar asked.
"Oh, no. We can just rent a hotel room for the evening. What time would you like us here, Eleazar?" Emmett asked.
"How about around 10 in the morning, would that be ok?" he asked and both Emmett and Bella nodded before they all said their goodbyes.
Bella and Emmett found a plush hotel room in Nashville so they wouldn't have to get up so early to return the next day and spent the night in each other's arms. Bella seemed to have a feeling that she knew what the diagnosis would be and was oddly at ease, while poor Emmett was worried sick. The next morning, they both woke up and showered before heading back to meet with Eleazar for a diagnosis.
"I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you, I wish I did." Eleazar said grimly.
"What is it, Eleazar?" Bella asked.
"Well, Bella, Emmett, I hate to inform you of this but Bella has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's Disease." He said and both Bella and Emmett broke down.
"W-What's the plan, Eleazar?" Emmett asked, trying to stay strong for both himself and Bella.
"Well we are going to start drug treatment to hopefully try to slow down the progression of the disease and to help with some of the behavioral and sleep difficulties associated with the disease." Eleazar said "I am going to go ahead and warn you that some of these medications can cause some stomach upset, diarrhea, vomiting muscle cramps and fatigue but that differs from person to person."
"I-I don't know if I want the drugs." Bella stammered.
"Are you sure, sweetheart? If it keeps you here longer, can't we at least try them?" Emmett asked his wife and Bella hesitated.
"Can…Can you give me something if I start having these side effects?" Bella asked.
"We will try to make you as comfortable as possible without interfering with the medicinal treatments, yes." Eleazar said.
"What's next?" Emmett asked.
"Eventually, you will have to be moved to an assisted living facility unless you have family that's willing to help in caregiving." Eleazar said.
"I wouldn't put that burden on my children, they have busy lives of their own." Bella said.
Bella and Emmett headed home with a ton of prescriptions in hand with heavy hearts after hearing what the Doctor had to say. That night they called a family meeting to break the news to their children about Bella's condition and the course of action.
"I know you are all wondering what we have brought you here for." Emmett began "I am afraid that we have some bad news, and we wanted to tell you all in person."
"What is it, Daddy?" Claire asked, holding Carmen's hand tightly.
"Well the news we got from Dr. Garcia was not good news, it appears that your mother is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease." Emmett said grimly and their children began to sob. "They have your mother on all sorts of medications but as he said before, that will only prolong her life for so long before the disease eats away at her organs as well as her brain."
"What are you going to do, Daddy?" Leah asked.
"I am going to stay here and care for your mother for as long as I can but eventually we will both go to an assisted living facility to live out the rest of our days." Emmett said.
"Dad, we can help too, you know?" Jacob said holding his sobbing wife close.
"No, Jake…I will not allow any of you to put your lives on hold for me when I can get around the clock care in a nice home." Bella said.
"But, Mom…"Leah began and Bella held up a hand to silence her.
"But nothing, that is my decision and I am sticking to it. You all can come visit me for as long as I can remember you all." Bella said and though her children weren't happy about it, they agreed to their mother's wishes.
After the family meeting, Emmett did just as he said and cared for Bella day in and day out. The disease started becoming worse and worse as the years went by and by the 5th year of having the disease, they began looking at facilities to go to. They found a nice home for them both to go to but agreed that they wouldn't go until Emmett was no longer able to care for Bella on his own.
Ten years after being diagnosed, Emmett suffered a major heart attack and was diagnosed with heart disease making it to where he could no longer care for Bella or himself on his own so they checked themselves into the New Moon Assisted Living facility in Nashville.
The children came to visit on a weekly basis until Bella was unable to remember them, or even Emmett, at all. They continued to come see Emmett, though they questioned why he still stayed there when he could just come home to live out the rest of the days with his family. Emmett always had the same reply.
"That's my sweetheart in there, the love of my life, and I promised her when we first found out she was sick that I would never leave her side. I owe it to her to stay here with her." He would say and though it upset the children, they agreed to him staying with their mother.
Author's note: I know this is not as long as the rest but, it's the last chapter and I am having trouble thinking of more to add to this chapter. I apologize.