Inferno Part 3

~183~ What IS

Luke's POV

Shay and I are laying in bed, listening to the sounds of the ocean through the opened balcony doors.

Shay has the blankets half off of her, with her bare leg hanging out and over the tops of my thighs.

I'm absentmindedly tracing her ribcage with my fingers, never wanting to let her go.

"Are you having a good vacation?" I ask as I pull her in tight, ignoring the fact that one of her breasts isn't pressed against my bare chest like it once would.

"Seriously the best. I can't believe it's almost over."

"What do ya wanna do today?" I ask, hoping she'll want to stay in bed all day with me and continue doing what we just finished.

"Since it's our last day, I wanna spend it with everyone—Seems only right."

I nod. The plan is to have a big dinner with everyone tonight, but hanging out with them all day would be fun too.

"Ok. Let me text my dad and see what they're up to."

I reach over and text him, and then set my phone back down.

"Do you ever think about our future?" She asks as she rubs her hand on my chest, playing with what little hair I actually have.

"All the time baby," I whisper.

She's quiet, and I know exactly what she's thinking. There's something that we haven't told anyone yet—Shay got a test done, to see if her cancer is likely to come back.

The Oncotype DX test.

The test results came back that she has a moderate risk of getting it again at some point in her life.

We've tossed around the idea of getting her other breast removed, but she wants to wait. She'll go for regular mammograms, and will consistently go to oncology checkups.

Right now we're choosing not to focus on the 'what if'', and only the 'what is'—She IS cancer free. She IS lying in bed next to me.

The plan IS to start having babies in a year or so. Right now she's still doing hormone therapy, so that's out of the question. Eventually though, we're gonna have a family.

"When can we start trying?" She asks as I'm having my inner monologue.

"When the doctor gives the ok. I refuse to put you in danger just to start our family right now."

"I'm so ready to be a mom," she says sadly.

"I know," I say as I hold her even tighter.

My phone lights up, and I look at it.

*Hey Lukie Boy! We were hoping you guys would wanna hang out today. Let's meet up at 10 at the go-cart track. You good with that?

*yup. See you at 10

"We have an hour till we meet up with the family. What do you wanna do?" I ask once I put my phone back down.

She looks at me and smiles, sitting up and straddling me.

"You," she says as she takes my hand and puts it on her breast.

I've learned to never make a big deal about her boob, because I don't wanna make her feel bad—so I just start kissing her instead.

She pulls away and shakes her head. "Luke, stop."

"Stop what?"

"I'm still a woman—I still get turned on when you touch my boob. Please?"

I nod as I take her off of me and flip her over, laying her on her back. I get on top of her and bend till my lips reach her nipple. I spend some time on her, making her back arch in pleasure.

After her breathing quickens, I continue on, and touch the place where her other breast once was.

After a few more minutes, I take my mouth off of her and look into her beautiful brown eyes.

"Anyplace else need attention?"

She bites her lip and nods, pointing down with a sly smile.

I grin as I go under the blankets, and spend some more time on her.

This IS the best week of my life.

~*~

We meet up with the family at ten, and they all smile at us.

"We thought you guys jumped ship!" Dad says as he gives me and Shay both a hug.

Shay laughs as she smiles at me. I'm sure dad is well aware that we've basically been in bed for a week straight, but he's definitely not gonna say anything about it.

"Who's doing go-karts?" He asks.

After everyone's excited cheers, dad grins and we all go have a really fun time.

~*~

After go carts we swim for a bit, mini golf for a while, and then we split up to get ready for supper. When we all get down to the main dining room, I sit next to Shay and Emma.

We all wear nicer clothes tonight, because it feels right. I take Shay's hand and kiss her cheek, and feel the love around this table. We eat a delicious meal, and then sit around and talk for a while.

Suddenly dad clears his throat and stands up, and we all stare at him.

"You all know how much I like to make speeches, so I'm gonna make you all endure another one."

Soft chuckles fill the table as the adults shush the toddlers.

"The time when Shay first came into our lives, was honestly a really hard one. We were all getting over the attack, and our family was broken in many ways. Shay came to dinner one night, and for the first time in a long while, Ellie was herself. I sat back and watched my son be someone I had never seen before. I watched my wife be someone I hadn't seen in a long time. I watched this beautiful young lady impact our lives so significantly in just a few short hours, that I prayed that night she would someday be my daughter."

"My daughter has been through hell and back this last year. We've all been through hell and back. I'm a better man for having you in my life, young lady. My son is a better man. This family is better—stronger. You kicked cancer's ass, and we all watched you do it."

We're all so engrossed in dad's speech, none of us notice all of the other passengers that are eating, along with the workers, stop and listen to dad. They all start cheering, and stand up to clap for my wife.

Shay puts her head down and wipes her eyes, and I kiss her head. When she looks back up, she has a smile on her face as she looks at dad again.

"We all chipped in to get you something, Shyann," dad says as he gets in his pocket. He walks over to her and hands her a small box.

She sniffs and opens it, and starts to cry again. I'm not even sure what it is, because she quickly stands up and hugs dad tight, crying into his shoulder.

"You're a warrior, my sweet girl. You may be soft and gentle, but you're a damn warrior," dad says in her hair.

When she pulls away, she shows me what's in the box.

It's a beautiful, dainty rose gold necklace—completely covered in small diamonds.

It's the breast cancer survivor symbol.

I take it out of the box and put the beautiful necklace on her. She touches it softly and nods. "Thank you everyone. Not just for the necklace—Thank you for this family."

Everyone takes turns hugging her and telling her how much they love her. Once everyone is sitting down and it's quiet, I squeeze her hand.

"Thank you for this week, mom and dad. Thank you everyone for taking time off of work to come with us. This has been the best week of my entire life."

The family we have IS everything, and now that I'm older I see it. I appreciate it. I need it.