?WINGLESS AND BEAUTIFUL?
?EPISODE 86?
We sat there for a while, locked in each other’s embrace, smiling to ourselves as we enjoyed the illuminated view around us.
More than that, we were savoring the moment that we were finally together again… here in our garden where we first met and fell in love.
We came a long way from the first day we sat on this bench. I was just waking up from my nightmares then.
Hunter couldn’t even see the beauty of the world before him. But now… my nightmares were far from haunting me.And Hunter was whole again. He could see not just the lights that surrounded us… he could see me… and he loved
me the same way he did when he couldn’t see how I really looked like.
“Will your transplant last forever?” I asked, worried about what his answer would be.
He sighed. “Nothing lasts forever, angel,” he replied.Then he smiled at me. “Well, maybe except for us.”
“How long then?” I asked again looking into his eyes.
He touched my cheek gently. “Maybe fifteen, twenty years. Give or take.”
“In twenty years you will only be thirty-eight.” I could feel panic creeping through me.
“I can do it again. I will do it again,” he said, squeezing my hand, giving me reassurance.
“I already signed up for it.I wouldn’t want to miss seeing our children grow up, would I?”
I smiled at that thought.
What he said was not just a reply to my question; it was a statement that held so many promises that I knew he would keep.
He tilted my chin up so I could look at him. “I’m not leaving you anymore, angel.”
I nodded, my chest felt heavy with intense emotions…intense feelings of love for this boy.
“Promise?” I asked in a tearful voice.
He leaned forward and kissed my lips. “I promise,” he said. “Now, you have to make me a promise too.”
I nodded. “Anything.”
He took a deep breath. “Since I’m a little bit short oftime in seeing the beauty of the life we will make together,will you promise to give us an early start?”
I drew my brows together. “What do you mean an early start?”
He smiled. “I mean start a life as early as possible. You know… get married, make a family, get pregnant… earlier than the other couples would normally do.”
I looked at him thoughtfully. “It depends. What’s your timeline?”
He smiled at me wistfully. “Maybe after college.”
“That early?”
“Earlier if possible,” he said. “I was lucky this operation was highly successful. I would do it again for sure.
But justin case the second one doesn’t work out… then it’s still okay.
I have seen your face and would remember it for as long as I live. I would like to see and remember the faces of our kids too. I would be there for them fully, completely…for as long as I could… before my world gets coated in
darkness again.”
“Oh, Hunter…”
Tears welled up in my eyes. My heart felt heavy as Iimagined how that would feel like for him.
He hugged me. “Ssshh…” he whispered. “Corneal transplant operations are highly successful.
During the first year and a couple of months after, rejection episodes might occur. I didn’t immediately come back for you until I was sosure that this was a success.
“I wanted to be sure I could be with you, be capable of taking care of you until the next transplant is necessary.
And even if the second one does not work out the way we wantit to, I wouldn’t care anymore.
You would have already shown me the best things in life. And I know even if I couldn’t see you, I would still get to hold you in my arms, kiss you… love you. We’ve been there before, angel.
Haven’t I made you happy in the past? Back when I was still blind?”
“Very,” I sobbed against his chest. “It didn’t matter thatyou couldn’t see. You have always made me feel safe, made me feel happy.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I promise you… you would have the best memories of yourlife for the next twenty years, Hunter.
If it’s God’s will that the light switches off in your world again, I would make sureyou would have enough memories to keep you happy.
And even then, I would never leave you. I would keep giving you happy memories for as long as I’m alive.”
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