about tomorrow

Franny's surgery was to take place at 9 a.m sharp. It could possibly last way into the afternoon.

"I'll just have to take a late lunch then." Nate bit a grin as he held Franny's hand. He was doing his best to keep upbeat. He knew he had too. Although, a part of him, wished he'd been with her for all the happy milestones over the years.

He felt awful sad they hadn't been closer. But then he might not have the two sons he was proud to know, nor would there be Zac who he knew, deep down was a Momma's boy. But no one was to know.

They'd been over all the particulars. It was a surgery the doctor's warned her about for years, due to her heart defect. Now the time was right.

She'd have four weeks to recover from it, at home. And she'd certainly saved up her sick days. Honestly, he never thought of her sick. She was the one who was handy with a snow shovel or carrying those twenty-five pound sacks of potting soil to keep her garden ripe with strawberries, raspberries and even blackberries in her back yard.

Franny might not have been Martha Stewart, but she did make her own jam and pickles. She did love her home, and it showed. He hoped he was worthy of her. He wanted to be.

"It'll be fine." She looked at him as she got comfortable in the hospital bed the night before.

Nate figured Zac would be here by now, but he wasn't. He didn't question it. Maybe it was for the best.

"The last time I was in a hospital this long, I gave birth to Zac." She sighed. It sounded like a solo trip. She'd never talked about it before. He didn't know if her ex-husband was around even then. She hardly ever wrote about him in her letters.

"What sort of flowers would you like?" Nate wanted to know.

"Oh, don't bother." She laughed at him.

"But I want too." He told her. He was bringing a dozen red roses, no matter what. "I feel I have so much to make up." He couldn't help it if his eyes filled up with tears. "You've always been my best friend." He breathed in tears. "I love you. You know, I do."

If only she would have said yes to his plan for them to go to Vegas and get married last month, but she said they should wait.

"I know." Her face was brave. He knew he needed to have faith in her. "I love you, too."