Drew had never seen a woman look so beautiful at seventy eight, but his wife managed it somehow. He'd never been more in love than he'd been after his stroke, when they told him that time was almost up. It had been painful, of course, but nothing was as painful as looking at Cleo, with such sadness in her eyes as she sat next to him on his hospital been, her time-aged hands in his own.
"You can't leave yet." she would whisper, and he'd just hold her hands tighter, before stroking her hair, or touching her face.
"If I could decide, I'd stay here with you until all of mankind disappeared." he would say, and they'd lapse back into the silence, waiting for the clock to stop ticking, and give him just a few more moments.
But it was time. Everyone had their time, and Drew's had come when his stroke had hit, and now he was on borrowed time, saying his goodbyes while standing in the doorway of death and whatever lay beyond. Perhaps he should have been more serious, and been religious, and not in the fake way he used to pray before eating out his wife, thanking god for the feast.
Damn, if he didn't have a good run, though. His grandkids were healthy, his kids were happy, and if he had to leave this world, he was glad to leave it as it was.
"Daddy, please don't go." Sadie cried, her face contorted with sadness as her brothers stood around her, some soothing her, but each one of them trying to contain their own tears. He loved his kids endlessly.
"Parents aren't meant to outlive their children, sweetheart." He answered, trying to soothe her, give her something to hold onto when he was gone.
People would visit, and so would the nurses, checking blood pressure, and his heart rate and looking at him nervously before leaving. He already knew that he was dying, it was just a matter of when.
"You just can't die on me." Cleo said, laying in the bed that he would die in, as he held her to his chest. He dropped a kiss to her forehead, and held her even closer.
"Lightbulbs die, babe... I will depart." He responded, before settling down to go to sleep. Her even breaths signaled that she was a sleep, and for a long time he stared at her, watching her like he always had. He'd loved, lost, and loved her all in one life, but it had never been a mistake. He would love her in heaven if there was one, and he would love her in oblivion.
And he held her close, as he'd done for sixty one years, and fell asleep as they had for just as long. But when morning came, her eyes were the only ones to open.
