My Future Stepbrother

Chapter 81

Coles P.O.V. – Two years ago

“Do I really have to do this?” I hated wearing a suit. They were always so stuffy and this tie is definitely choking me.

“Yes you do. That lovely nurse gave us the tickets and do you know how expensive the food is they’re putting on? There are children starving in Africa and you are going to complain about having to wear a tie to eat food some people would kill for?”

I hear Aleah and Brianna sniggering from the couch in the corner.

“And what do you two think you’re laughing at?” I scold.

“We just both know you’re going to lose when she pulls the whole ‘children starving in Africa thing' on you.” Aleah laughs again before Brie commands she keep still, apparently she was ruining the braiding process Brie was trying to complete with her hair.

I look to my beautiful wife. You’d never guess she was so sick with that glorious smile spread across her face. She’s still as radiant now as the day I married her, I just wish she’d reconsider her decision.

I knew the side effects of the chemo were getting to her and the doctors told us that more wouldn’t cure her, just extend her life slightly. She had decided earlier today that she was done feeling sick all the time and she wanted her last few weeks with us to be better than the last few months. She wasn’t going to continue with treatment. I wasn’t handling that decision well but I have to accept it’s her decision to make.

I looked from her perfect blue eyes to their mirror in our daughters face. She had looked so much like me as a baby but now it was like looking at Heather all over again. I knew that one day soon her face would be all I had left of the woman I love.

I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into my arms. As my hands run down her back I can feel every bone in her spine, another reminder of how much this evil disease has taken from her. She was always vibrant, vivacious and curved in all the right places. She was still perfect but it had taken its toll.

I had fallen in love with Heather the first day I saw her, of course she didn’t give me the time of day. I was just the bar tender at the local bar – she was the blonde beauty that was already making waves in the art world. I loved the way that no matter how much she tried, she could never quite get all the paint off her finger nails.

Then came the night I’d dreamt about. I think every guy that came into the bar hit on her that night, I couldn’t blame them with how beautiful she looked. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her as she blew off every mans advances and spent it instead giggling with her girls and murdering songs on the karaoke. She was definitely something to look at but she couldn’t hold a note to save her life.

As the night grew to a close I saw a guy that had tried it on with her multiple times follow her outside, I ducked out the back ready to pounce on the guy but I needn’t bothered. I opened the back door to find her shoving her knee straight between his legs as he crumbled to the floor like a piece of paper.

I asked her if she was okay and she flashed me that same perfect smile. That was it, I was completely in love with her.

She let me walk her home, we sat in her room until the early hours talking about everything and nothing until finally she asked if I ever planned on kissing her. The rest was history.

We’d come a long way since then, a lot of love and a lot of heartbreak. We’d suffered two miscarriages before we finally had our miracle in Aleah. We’d both lost our parents young and all we wanted was a family of our own, she was everything to us, absolutely perfect.