There's No Way

Hope

[Shawn's POV]

We had just hit the four week mark of Camila's recovery from her myomectomy. She had one more week before she would meet her doctor for a checkup and hopefully be cleared. If he didn't clear her then, she would have to wait another week. She was determined to officially be out of recovery sooner rather than later, so she took it pretty easy most days.

One day, we had been laying in bed watching our wedding video. The videographer had just given us the final edited video and it was absolutely perfect. It cut to a clip of when I slid the ring onto Camila's finger before showing a shot of her doing the same to me.

"Do you like the ring I picked out?" I asked curiously. She nodded happily.

"Oh my god, yes. I love it. It's perfect..."

"Good," I said in relief. "I honestly wasn't planning on proposing yet but I saw the ring while I was out getting a few things for our Bali trip and couldn't pass it up. I knew that was your ring and figured...why not?" Camila smiled, but it quickly faded into a look of nervousness.

"I have a confession to make..." she said as she anxiously drew her bottom lip between her teeth. I cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "I kinda knew you were going to propose..."

"What?" I asked in shock. "How did you know?"

"I found the ring in your socks when we were on vacation."

Shit.

"You did? Why didn't you say anything?" I asked, still completely blown away by this development.

"Because! I didn't want to ruin the surprise. If I would've told you that I found the ring you would've felt obligated to give it to me right then instead of waiting for the right moment...I just wanted you to be able to do it your way." I sat there for a moment in silence. "Are you mad?" she finally asked.

"God, no. Of course I'm not mad, baby—I'm just surprised...wait, what were you doing with my socks?" Camila blushed as she tried to come up with an answer.

"I, um...I just...okay fine! My feet got cold. You were right. Those tile floors did get pretty chilly..." she said as she hung her head in mock defeat. I just laughed and shook my head.

"See! And you thought I was crazy for packing socks. At what point during our trip did you find the ring?" I asked curiously.

"The second day," she sighed. "While you were at the gym."

Well now I felt horrible. She probably spent our entire vacation trying to figure out when I was going to propose...just for me to not propose at all during the trip.

"Okay, follow-up question: how many times during the trip did you think I was going to propose but then I didn't?"

"Oh my god," she said dramatically. "I was practically holding my breath the entire time." She took a deep breath. "This is kind of embarrassing, but when you didn't propose on the trip...part of me thought you had changed your mind. I mean I'm pretty sure I spent like the entire flight home trying to figure out if there was something I did or said that made you decide you needed to wait."

"What? No! I genuinely just didn't feel like any moment was good enough. You know I'd never change my mind about you..." I said as I gently kissed the tip of her nose.

"Good, you better not. You're stuck with me now, Mendes," she quipped.

- 1 Week Later -

We had officially made it to five weeks since Camila's surgery and were now on our way back to the hospital for a post-procedure check up and to hopefully have her doctor officially clear her. Camila was definitely anxious about the appointment, but more of an excited anxious than a scared anxious. On the way to the hospital, Aaliyah called me. She had asked if it was okay for her to come spend next weekend with us. I moved my cell phone away from my face and asked Camila.

"It's Aaliyah, she wants to know if she can spend next weekend with us." Camila shrugged and nodded.

"I don't see why she couldn't...is she flying in?" I brought the phone back to my ear.

"We'd love to have you over! Camila wants to know if you're flying in." She said yes, that she had saved up enough money babysitting to buy a plane ticket. "Okay! Send us your flight info and we'll be there to pick you up!" The call ended and I slid my phone back into my pocket as I intertwined my hand with my wife's.

"Did she say why she's coming?" Camila asked. I shook my head.

"Not really, just asked if she could visit." The impromptu trip seemed a little strange to both Camila and I, but we'd take any opportunity to see family that we could get. We pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and made our way inside.

"I really hope I don't need another week," Camila said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze as we sat in the waiting room.

"Do you feel like you need another week? Or do you feel like you're okay?" She contemplated her answer for a moment.

"I think I feel okay. I guess it's kind of hard to tell but I haven't been in any pain...so I think that's good?" Just as the sentence left her mouth a nurse came out and called Camila back for her appointment. She stood up and started toward the door before turning around and holding her hand out to me. "Can you come with me?" I grabbed her hand and we followed the nurse back into the small room with fluorescent lighting. The nurse asked Camila the same questions I had asked her about how she had been feeling as well as a few other standard-protocol questions.

"Alright! The doctor will be in here in a few minutes to do the ultrasounds and to check the incision," she said with a friendly smile as she grabbed her clipboard and turned to walk out of the room.

"I hate ultrasounds," Camila mumbled after the nurse had left. I gave her hand another gentle squeeze.

"I know you do, baby." If I'm being honest, I hated them too. Whenever you think of someone getting an ultrasound you assume it's because they're pregnant. Nobody ever tells you about the ultrasounds you have to get because you can't get pregnant. The doctor finally came in and greeted us. We were both overwhelmingly grateful that Camila had such an incredible doctor throughout all of this - it definitely made the tough situation easier to deal with. He looked at her incision first, and seemed to be very happy with the way it had healed. He then pulled over the ultrasound machine and asked Camila to lift her shirt up. He squirted a generous amount of the ultrasound gel on her stomach before moving the wand over her skin. I couldn't see the screen from where I was sitting, though even if I could I don't know that I could make out what any of it was. I tried my best to read the doctor's face to see if I could figure out what he was thinking, but his poker face was second-to-none. All three of us were completely silent as he did the ultrasound, none of us really knowing what to say.

"We'll pay you extra if you find a baby in there," Camila said dryly, successfully breaking the awkward tension that hung in the air as we waited. The three of us laughed.

"No baby, unfortunately—but also no tumors! I still want to do a transvaginal ultrasound to get a better look and to examine the scarring, but so far things look very good." Camila and I both let out a sigh of relief as he prepped for the next ultrasound. He knew this one was much more uncomfortable, so he made sure to be as quick as possible.

"Alright, Camila," the doctor spoke. "Honestly, everything looks great. Both the incision and your uterus have healed wonderfully and I don't see any trace of returning fibroids. I still want you to come in for periodic checkups just to make sure they don't start popping up again, but for now I think you're good to go." I looked over at my wife and she was clearly thrilled. It looked like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and I don't blame her. I felt the same way.

When we returned home, the whole house felt lighter and brighter. The overwhelming darkness of hopelessness had been replaced with golden rays of hope—and for the first time in a few months, both of us fully believed that things really would be okay.

A/N: This one was a real struggle bus to write. I really struggled to feel inspired for this one, but oh well. Not every chapter can be a winner. Lol. Love you guys, hope you're having a great weekend and staying safe. ♥️