will you be mine

35

"heart failure, but he's only 41" I can't believe what I'm hearing. Arks daughter penelope looks as surprised as me.

"did you know he had a problem with his heart" she asks me.

"I had no idea, he never told me he was ill" how could he have kept this from me. The doctor tells us that ark is on medication and has been for a few years.

"how bad is it doctor" penelope asks with a shaky voice.

"it is terminal"

"terminal" I repeat cutting him off, I can feel the colour draining from my face.

"unfortunately yes, Noah is already taking the medication we can give, he's changed his life style. The bypass we just completed went well and will hopefully prolong his life"

"and what's my dad's life expectancy" penelope asks.

I hold my breath as I await his answer.

"Noah was given a life expectancy of 5 years 3 years ago" did I really hear that, Arks known this the whole time we have been together and has never told me.

"you think he only has 2 years to live" I can bearly speak, how can this be true. I feel physically sick, how could my soul mate only have 2 years to live.

.........

I gasp as I look at ark, he looks so small and frail sat in the hotel bed. He cries when he sees penelope and I enter.

"I'm sorry" he says as he wipes his eyes.

I turn away and wipe my own tears, it's hard seeing him with all the wires on him. It's too much but I can't let it show, I have to be strong for him. We don't have much time, we need to make the most of it.

I take the seat to his left and take the hand he offers. He looks so slim and frail, how could i have not noticed that he was unwell.

"why didn't you tell me Noah"

"you only call me Noah when I'm in trouble, am I in trouble"

Penelope giggles as her dad gives me a cheeky smile.

"maybe a little, I want to know why you didn't tell anyone. Why have you been dealing with this on your own"

"I don't know"

"dad, just tell us" penelope begs.

"At first I just thought I'm gonna live for every moment but then things changed and I saw a future that I wanted so i thought if I changed my life style and took the pills that I could beat it but I guess its not that easy"

..…......

After talking for hours about his illness and what he plans to do with his remaining time. It breaks my heart to know that we don't have all the time I thought we had. I had envisioned our whole life together. It suddenly makes sense why he wanted to get married so suddenly and I feel so guilty for refusing him.

I call ludo and Chad back to the hospital so they can see ark, they along with Robbii have been messaging me non stop. Robbii was on his way back to Vegas from La so he could be with us.

Ludo shakes his head in mock anger as he walks in the room "good your alive now I can kick your ass for telling Rose I was gay"

Ark laughs loudly and for the first time all day he sounds like himself. "actually I told her you were bi"

"your an ass hole" ludo laughs.

Chad stands beside me while ludo loiters by the door, he seems awkward. I can't focus on it too much as ark needs all my attention.

"so we may need to bring the tour forward" ark suggests.

"fuck the tour" chad and ludo say in unison.

"no man I want to do one last kick ass tour while I still can. I'm not saying I can manage to tour the country but maybe we could tour from here to LA."

Hearing him speak about a final tour is too much for penelope so she has to excuse herself. I can barely stand it but I can't leave his side.

" ill call Maggie I'm sure she can arrange something but I will need to tell her why"

"yeah I know, I guess I'm gonna have to tell everyone. We could call the tour the arks final journey"

Chad laughs, I muster up a small laugh although the name isn't really to my liking.

"I've got maybe 2 years left, I'm gonna make every minute count. Once the tour is over with I'm gonna spend every second with the people I love."

Ark turns and smiles at me "we have a lifetime of memories to make"

...........

Arks finally home and almost looks like his old self, he still doesn't have an appetite but he blames that on the pills. Arks mom waits on him hand and foot, she won't even allow him to make his own drink.

It's been a week since we got back from the hospital and I have only 4 days until my flight back to the UK. I can't possibly go and leave him but I can't just leave the store without a manager.

I call Kate and fill her in on what's going on, she tells me to stay in Vegas as long as I need to and she will arrange for my replacement at the store but I refuse. I have to go back to the UK and make arrangements. I only moved to the UK to leave ark behind but now I have no reason to run anymore, it's time I came home.

I have to pack up my life and arrange for someone to take over my half of the rent. I'm not sure how I will be able to leave ark for a full month but I owe it to ethan and myself to give England a real goodbye. I have Ark to keep me busy plus he's insisting that we stick to the schedule and open my new boutique on time. It's hard to even think about my brand when i want to spend as much time with him as possible.