"You know you can call me and see me whenever you like?", she asked him for the third time as they stood at her hotel room door, telling each other goodbye.
"I know.."
"I mean it, Lindsey! Any time! One call and I'm there! If you need me to look after the kids or..."
"Thank you, Steph! That means a lot."
"I hate seeing you like that..", she said softly and stroked over his cheeks, "I love you so much."
"I love you, too, Steph."
"Please call me! I need to know what's happening!"
"I will. I promise."
She bit her lip, trying hard to choke back her upcoming tears. She needed to be strong now. For him. He was already weak enough, he didn't need another fragile person in his life.
"I have no idea when we'll meet again..", he mumbled suddenly and looked sadly into her eyes.
She took a deep breath. That hurt.
"I'm going to miss you so badly", he admitted then and one single tear ran down his cheek.
"I'll miss you, too, Linds..", she said with a trembling voice, "But I'm only a call away and I'll be thinking about you anywhere I go."
"I'm still so sorry for all the heartbreak you must have suffered from during the past weeks.."
"It doesn't matter anymore, Linds. You had a very good reason for not calling me. I'm not mad at you anymore.."
"I wish things were different, Steph! I wanted to make this right for you. For both of us. Now, it's all going to be a living hell!"
"Oh baby..", she said and pulled him into her arms, "I'll wait. I'll wait for you. I've been waiting for you for the past 20 years of my life."
"You promise me to be there for me? To wait for me?"
"I do. Of course, I do."
"Steph, things have changed. The kids are going to lose their mother.. This is not about a simple divorce anymore.. This is going to be really hard. And intense."
"I know. But that doesn't change the fact that I still love you, Lindsey! I'm not going to run away! We're in this together and if you want to have me around, I'll be there!"
--------------
The next three weeks past by and Stevie and Lindsey hadn't met once. But Lindsey did call her daily, always at the same time at 2 in the morning when Stevie was still awake and Lindsey was sure that his children and Kristen were asleep.
Stevie knew that Lindsey had to be strong for his family and only when he was talking to her, he allowed himself to show his true feelings. He cried a lot and she tried her best to comfort him but it still wasn't enough. He desperately needed someone to hug him, hold him.. And she wanted nothing more than to be that person but Kristen had still no idea what had happened between the two of them the past one and a half years and Stevie thought that right now wasn't really the time to tell her about it.
Lindsey had told her that Kristen was always tired, she lay 20 hours of the day in her bed. She had pain in all of her bones and had also broken her arm and two of her fingers when she had fallen one step down the stairs. She suffered from osteoporosis and also from numbness and muscle weakness in her legs. Lindsey also feared that Will had an idea what was going on because he didn't leave his mother's side once. He had even started to play hooky. And still, Kristen refused to tell her children that she was ill.
Stevie couldn't even imagine how hard it must be for Kristen and Lindsey. How do you tell your children that you are going to die? But Kristen didn't have much more time left, she got weaker and weaker day by day, and she needed to tell her children soon. It was inevitable.
