| Regan sat on the hospital bed the next Saturday and nervously swung her feet back and forth. Blake didn�t come with her this time, since he had to visit his family for a few days in Ann Arbor. He promised he�d call her as soon as he possibly could to find out what had happened.
She wasn�t sure what to expect, but she knew that whatever it was, it couldn�t have been as bad as dreading the fear of being pregnant. That was something she never wanted to go through again. Not until she was married to Blake at least. Married to Blake. Just the thought of it made Regan smile so widely she thought her face would fall apart. Marrying Blake and then having Blake�s kids just made her pine even more for the future. She was definitely going to go to Ferris State now, she had decided. She was overly excited about it. Regan and Blake had talked about the end of the summer and what they were going to do. Blake said he didn�t want to press her to follow him to college, but she made up her mind without even waiting for his disapproval. �Hello, Regan is it?� the nurse asked, walking into the hospital room. �Yes that�s me,� she said, jumping a little. She had been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn�t even heard the door open. �Time to take your blood,� the nurse (her nametag red �Sue�) told her. Regan unconsciously scooted closer to Sue, bent her arm out, and waited for the needle to penetrate her skin. Getting shots and taking blood was never a thing that had bothered Regan. She barely even felt the needle going through her skin anymore. After doing that, Sue left the room and with that, left Regan to her thoughts. She looked up at the ceiling and couldn�t even begin to imagine how much all of this was so scary to her. She had been to the hospital on numerous occasions. When she was four, she came in to get tubes in her ears, when she was eight, she had fallen off of a gate she�d been playing on and scratched her head up. When she was thirteen, she ran into a room where the floor was wet, slid, and hit her kneecap hard on the cement under the thin carpet. When she was fourteen, she�d had to go in for abdominal pain, which had turned out to be a problem she had ovulating and she later overcame. The hospital was no stranger to her. She felt more scared here now then ever for the strangest reason. It had to have been her family history, which only her family knew of. She was too reserved to tell anyone about her medical background. Her grandfather and been a type one diabetic, her grandmother had a number of lumps in her breasts, her cousin had developed but later got over uterine cancer, her uncle was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig�s disease and died soon after. His wife, Regan�s aunt, had died of an unknown disease only years later. She was terrified that something was wrong with her, and hoped it all turned out to be nothing. She left the hospital a couple of hours later, and they had told her they would call her once they figured out what it was that she had. She was more than anxious to find out what it was and get it cured. Meanwhile, Blake had promised to call, and she didn�t know how she was supposed to survive a couple of days without him. He wouldn�t be back until Monday, and since it was only Saturday afternoon, she had the rest of the day and all of Sunday to mope around without him. She decided to finally finish off her journal, finish another Danielle Steel novel, and edit the story she had finished just before the school year�s end. That was all she did for the next two days, besides think about Blake. He had called her both days to tell her he missed her and loved her so much. He couldn�t wait to get back to town because the minute he did he was going to come over, wrap his arms around her, and kiss her until she couldn�t be kissed anymore. She had commented that it wasn�t possible. Finally, after two excruciatingly long days, it was Monday. But Monday morning dragged on forever. She tried taking a shower, watching a movie, writing, reading, and even playing around online to tame her boredom. It was to no avail. Since it was such a beautiful June afternoon, she decided to grab one of her romance novels, settle on the porch swing, and wait for his car to pull up. It took her an entire chapter before she got thirsty and headed inside for a drink. The anti-depressants the doctor had given her to relieve her fatigue had certainly helped. She loved being able to walk around for a while without getting as tired. She did get winded every so often, but once she sat down and blew it off, she was ready to go. Ten minutes after her Kool-Aid quench, the familiar Cavalier slowed down into her driveway, pulled up, and honked. She smiled brightly, knowing he�d come over to greet her. She sat with her back to where he was walking up and she was pretending to be so into her book that she didn�t even notice his feet clambering up the wooden steps. �Hey there,� he whispered, bending over to kiss her cheek. �Hi,� she said, putting down her book, closing her eyes, and leaning into the warmth of his lips. �You look better today than I have ever seen you,� he said, walking back around to sit with her. She pulled up her feet and sat straight up. �I feel better,� she said with a courageous smile. �Great,� he said, putting an arm around her and squeezing her tight. �Oh Blake,� she whispered, putting her face close to his neck. �Regan,� he sighed. They sat on the porch for a long time, just staring at the gorgeous spring sky. Blake turned to Regan, planted a soft kiss on the side of her head and pulled her close. �Look at me sweetie,� he requested, and she did as she was told. She had a wistful look about her and he loved just gazing at her. �I want to tell you something I�ve never before told anyone,� he said, his voice dripping with honesty and love. She looked at him; loving him more and more each time she took a breath in and smelled his sweet cologne. �Yeah?� �You are the most beautiful woman I�ve ever met or seen in my entire life,� he said, pushing away hairs from her face very gently. �When I first saw you, I thought to myself that you were an angel. I had never seen someone so lovely. That day at the soccer game, seeing you run out of the locker room, just looking at you� I knew my life had changed forever. It�s very strange how it came to me. All I had to do was look at your beautiful face and into your deep eyes and I knew. I knew sometime inside of me was changed forever.� She opened her mouth to speak but he silenced her with a finger to the lips. �I mean, I�ve loved before in my life, but not anyone like you Regan Stanbury. You are everything I never knew I always wanted,� he sighed, laughing at himself. �Before I first saw you, I thought that part of my life was over. I thought I�d never love anyone again. I mean, after Megan stomped all over my heart and I lost Kristen, I thought my love life was pretty much doomed. I didn�t see myself sharing a life with anyone I had in mind. For some reason,� he said, looking away from her for a second and then back to her when he collected the words he wanted to say. �For some reason when I saw you,� a grin broadened on his face. �All of that changed. It was like, in a flash of light, I saw my entire future right before me and my heart did a complete turn around, and I knew that I would never be quite the same again.� She looked down at their interlocked fingers, and couldn�t tell whose fingers were whose. �I love you Regan,� he whispered into her ear. �You�re smart, you�re funny, you�re beautiful,� and as he said the words, tears poured down his cheeks. �Regan, no matter what I will never love a girl the same way I love you.� Finally, she met his eyes, and he saw that she had been crying as well as he had. �Blake you have no idea how much you�ve made a mark on me. I�ve improved and grown so much just by having you in my life. And sometimes�� she stuttered, feeling a lump grow in her throat. �Sometimes I wonder how I could have ended up with someone so wonderful. I tell myself how much I don�t deserve someone to have the kind of faith in me that you do. I don�t deserve to be loved as much and be seen as some goddess by someone who is just as good as he sees me.� �Regan,� he whispered again. She wiped the tears from his eyes and he smiled at her lovingly. �You are the one for me and I know that now.� �How can you?� she asked, sighing to herself. �Because, I have never felt this way about anyone else in my entire life, Regan. I lost two people I was definitely in love with, but I never loved them as strongly as I love you. I don�t intend to lose you Regan. I�m not going to break your heart. I�m not going to go to college and leave you like Evan did. I am certainly not going to tell you how much I love you and then sleep with someone else. I�m going to be there for you, every single day of my life. Every minute I�m going to be concerned about you. Every single second of my day I�m going to love you unconditionally, and make sure you are happy. Every bit of my energy is going to go into the fact that you remain happy with me. Forever.� �Forever,� Regan said, sniffling. �I�d love nothing more.� �Oh Reggie,� he said, turning even closer to her, and kissing her cheeks softly. �Don�t cry. Please don�t cry. The only reason you are going to be crying when you�re ever around me is because� you�re going to be so happy.� She burst out into a fresh set of tears, and laughed. �That�s why I�m crying now. I love you more than anything in the entire world. Hearing you say it back to me is like music to my ears.� �One day, when you�ve graduated, and we�re in college together, and ready, we�re going to get married. We�ll live somewhere really nice, and we�ll have kids that will look just like you and act just like me. Beautiful and funny, little Blake�s and Regan�s.� She burst out laughing again. The thought of it was too cute not to imagine. �I would give anything to see a smile on your face every single day of my life. I would give you anything to see you happy.� She wiped tears from her eyes, kissed him and put a hand up to his cheek. �You�re all I need to make me happy.� He felt tears pour down his cheeks one more time before he put his forehead up to hers and whispered, �Regan Nichole, I would die for you, any time. Day or night, just to make sure that you are happy.� They kissed until they were a mixture of tears and lips. He lifted her up in a cradled carrying position, took her up to her room, laid her gently on her bed, and made love to her until the sun went down. Afterward, they lay in each other�s arms, and Regan prayed to whomever was listening, and thanked them a million times over for the greatest gift anyone could ever have given her. And his name was Blake Isaac Turner. |
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