The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 161

That evening, Avery went through the motions of bathing Angel and getting him ready for bedtime. He had spent the day watching one of his favorite movies with Mabella and they playing to their hearts’ content, so by the time he had his bath, his eyes were drooping closed by the second.

Avery helped him into his pajamas and put him in bed, then grabbed a book to read him his bedtime story.

Angel gazed at the door and then rested his head on Avery’s lap. She stroked his hair. "Daddy has more work to do today. He will join us later but you are tired so let’s start without him, shall we?" she said.

Angel nodded, but he lifted his head to look at her. "Are you sad, mommy?"

"No." She forced a smile. "Why would you think that?"

He pointed at the book in her hands. For a moment, she didn’t realize what was wrong with it. Then she saw the title and chuckled. She had picked up a bedtime storybook, alright, but it was for kids about four years younger than Angel.

The whole book was only about ten sentences long and the pictures were what made it an actual book. Some of them were textured, like the rubber ducky on page two.

It was actually one of the books she used to read to him before he could understand it, and he would run his tiny fingers along the textured pictures in the pages and look up at her in amusement. She had brought it out from the shelf of unused books in the basement when she found out Angel would soon have a sibling that she would read the story to.

Yet, now she had brought it out for her five-year-old son. No wonder Angel knew she was not in her right mind.

She chuckled. "Don’t you want to read this one tonight?" She joked.

Angel shook his head with an expression she could swear was saying ’I am not a baby."

She kissed his cheek and stood up to look for another book. This time, she found Rumpelstiltskin.

She was halfway through the first Chapter by the time Damon came in and Angel was already passed out with his head on her lap. She smiled up at Damon as he walked over and kissed her before he tucked Angel in and kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, buddy."

He dimmed the bedside lamp and turned to Avery, who was now standing with her arms folded at her chest. It didn’t take a genius to know something had happened.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of Angel’s room to their own room, before he sat her on the bed and took her shoes off to massage her feet.

Then he asked, "what happened?"

She couldn’t hold back anymore. It was as though a dam had broken in her eyes and the tears wouldn’t stop.

Damon held her through her sobs and rubbed her back soothingly, but he didn’t say a word.

She wasn’t sure how long had passed. Maybe it was ten minutes, or it could have been a few hours. All she knew was that Damon had sat in the same spot, gently comforting her as she cried it out. Then she told him what she had found out from Julie and she had to stop herself from breaking into a sobbing mess again.

"Sorry, I’m way too emotional." She sniffled.

He pulled her from beside him to his lap instead, kissing her temple. "Of course you’re emotional. You’re pregnant."

She rested her head on his chest. "Can you imagine living every day knowing you’re going to die?" she sobbed.

Of course, she knew she was not immortal. She would die some day and so would everyone else she knew.

But actually knowing you had a certain amount of time to live was inexplicable. When every cough reminds you what is happening to your body and you’re out of breath simply because you made a trip to the bathroom...she couldn’t imagine how Julie felt. Yet at the same time, she had a daughter to worry about and a husband she could see breaking into pieces every day.

She was not crying only because it hurt to lose one of the few friends she had managed to make. And it was not just because Julie was an angel in every sense of the word. It was breaking her heart because of all people, Julie didn’t deserve any of the things happening to her.

The two of them had pictured a future, with the two of them staying friends over the years, Angel and Aubrey remaining best friends as well. Maybe they would also have more kids close in age and a few pets each, and their husbands would spend sunday afternoons arguing over games while the two of them caught up and their children blazed around the neighborhood as they played.

None of that mattered right now. Not as much as the thought of how much physical pain her friend must be in. If only there was a way to ease loved ones of their pain.

Damon kissed her temples, then her lips. "The only thing you can do for her is help her enjoy the rest of her life as much as she can."

She nodded. "You’re right." To think she had not thought about it.

Julie was already wearing a bracelet around her wrist to indicate to any emergency operators that she did not want to be resuscitated if anything were to happen to her and she was not in any position to make medical decisions for herself.

Even so, spending the rest of her life in sadness wasn’t going to make it any easier for her loved ones after she was gone. This was not better than one of those situations where a person didn’t know they were dying the next second, but at least they had time to make her feel cherished in her sunset days.

And tomorrow would be one of their chances.

_____

The following day, Avery woke up with Damon’s hand under her pajama top, which was a common occurrence.

She kissed his lips gently and crept out of bed. Last night when he tucked her in, she vaguely felt him leave their bed. She knew he was still drowning in work and had only taken time off to tuck Angel in and comfort her before he returned to work.

So she let him sleep in while she got ready for work herself.

Today, Angel’s school was having a parent-child day where each child invited their parents and they had an entire afternoon of fun.

She was glad the school didn’t specify whether the parent had to be a mother or a father. Growing up, her school had mother-child and father-child days and sometimes, it would be awkward. Sometimes there would be a child with no mother on mother-child days or no father on father-child days. Back then, no one cared if school events ended up making some of the pupils feel left out and it would usually result in said kids being bullied.

Before Damon’s return, she’d been worried Angel would be bullied about not having a father on father-son day. She had been ready to drag Gabe over from whatever hellhole he’d be living in at the time to act as a father figure. Luckily, she never had to do that.

In the afternoon, she had just arrived in Angel’s school when Damon drove over as well.

She blinked in surprise when he walked over to where she was setting up with Angel. "You didn’t have to come."

"There’s no such thing as being too busy for my family." He kissed her, making her glare at him.

"We’re in a school, Damon."

"So? How did all these children come into existence?" he retorted, earning another glare.

Though Avery had to admit, Damon did look tempting. He was wearing jeans and a polo since this was a casual school event, and setting up stalls to showcase their art and then play games didn’t exactly sound like one of the occasions to wear a suit.

She lowered her voice to whisper, "you look even better in jeans than in suits."

He feigned shock. "Really? I spent ages trying to impress you by wearing suits."

She snorted. "Have you seen Angel yet?"

As if asking for him summoned him, the boy came running toward them with Aubrey in tow.

"Hey sweetheart," Avery picked Aubrey up and kissed her forehead, trying not to let her mind wander to what was happening to her mother. "Are your parents here yet?"

Aubrey looked down and shook her head. "Daddy had to take mommy to hospital. I don’t know if they’ll come."

If she thought her heart couldn’t shatter any more, she was wrong.

"If they don’t come, you could join us." Damon offered. "We can run the three-leg race together."

Aubrey giggled. "Daddy always falls."

"Does he?" He laughed. "We’ll try not to fall."

Avery smiled. She would have loved to join the race with Angel but she knew how messy it could get, especially with racers sometimes tripping and falling and accidentally tripping the ones behind them. That wasn’t exactly safe for her right now. So she turned to Angel. "What do you want to do while Aubrey and daddy go for the race?"

Angel thought about it and pointed to a stand with a long table and many chairs lined up around it, and art supplies set on the table. Several parents had already taken seats with their children and were painting on the canvases, so she sat down with Angel and picked up a brush. She thought they were going to paint a unicorn or dragon but when she looked over at what Angel was painting, she smiled.

He had painted a slim woman and a little girl holding her hand. He wasn’t a master artist but she recognized the features. Aubrey and Julie.