Are You Gonna Be There
By:
Stephanie Woodworth
© 2000 Chaotic Bliss Fan Fiction
Marabeth Williams was once
beautiful, young and thought she had her whole life ahead of her. At 23, she was still young and until
recently she thought she was still beautiful.
She lay in the hospital bed and listened to the doctor explain to her
parents the procedure he wanted to do to her.
No more her brain screamed. How much can one person bear in one
life? The chemotherapy looked as though
it was going to work and it had for quite awhile. Now he wanted her to have a hysterectomy. How could she let him? She wanted to have a family some day. She wanted a man to love her. She realized that if she didn’t do what the
doctor was suggesting it could very well cost her her life. She heard her mother start crying and wanted
to end her misery. She got out of the
bed and quietly called her friend Karen, who was a nurse at the hospital,
hopefully she’d help her.
“3rd floor nurse’s station.”
“Is Karen Miller working today?”
“Yes, just a minute let me get
her.”
After a brief silence Karen
answered, “This is Karen.”
“It’s Marabeth. I need your help.”
“Are you alright?”
“I soon will be. I need you to come visit. I want to leave the hospital and need your
help. I need you to remove the IV and
all these other tubes. I need it
tonight after my parent’s leave.”
“I don’t think I can do that
Marabeth. You need to stay here.”
“I’m sick of being sick. I just want to live my life. Please help me,” she pleaded.
Karen was silent. Marabeth had been like the little sister she
never had. She would do anything for
her and even now couldn’t tell her no.
“I’ll be down after my shift at eleven.”
“Thank you so much.” Marabeth hung up and quickly called another
friend, Alicia. They’d lived next door
to each other most of their lives. The
phone rang and Alicia’s brother, Brandon answered. “Hello Brandon.”
“Mara what’s happening?” Marabeth grinned at the nickname that
Brandon had given her. He was her first
crush and he still held a special place in her heart.
“Same. Hey is Alicia there?”
“Alicia, it’s Mara.’ He
screamed. “Just a minute Mara, she’s
coming.”
“What’s up?” Alicia asked skeptically. She missed her friend since she’d been
admitted into the hospital two weeks before.
She’d tried to visit at least every other day, but couldn’t stand seeing
her lying helpless in the bed.
“I need you to get me some stuff
from home.” She named off all the
things she’d need. “Just use the key,
you know where it’s at. Do it now
though while my parents are here at the hospital. They don’t want me to have my stuff here.” She made sure that she didn’t tip her off on
her plan. She loved Alicia like a
sister but knew that she’d tell her parents if she knew that she planned on
running away.
Alicia delivered the items
Marabeth had requested and only stayed a few minutes before making up some lie
to leave. Marabeth spent the afternoon
working out her plan in her head and was very grateful when Karen showed up at
eleven.
“Thank you so much for doing
this. You don’t know how much this
means to me.” Marabeth watched as Karen
slipped the IV from her hand. She
removed her catheter and waited while Marabeth got dressed. “I promise I’ll never tell who helped me do
this. I was just too afraid to take
everything out on my own.”
“Please keep yourself safe. Is there anything that you need?” Marabeth shook her head.
“Marabeth, I love you. Please
know that if you ever need anything that I’ll help no questions asked.” Karen hugged the younger girl and quietly
left the hospital room. She looked up
and down the hall making sure that no one saw her. By doing this she jeopardized her job. She glanced back to the room once and watched as Marabeth sneaked
out into the hall. The nurse’s would be
around in forty-five minutes for vitals and would miss her then. Hopefully she wouldn’t get all that far.
Little did Karen know that
Marabeth had a plan and had everything planned down to the second. She hurried down the back stairs of the
hospital with her backpack slung over her shoulder. She stopped at the ATM and withdrew the two hundred-dollar
limit. She had about a hundred more in
her backpack and planned on hitting another ATM in the morning. She’d move around quickly so her parents
couldn’t track her down.
She boarded the bus to New Orleans and sighed as the bus
finally took off. She was on her
way. She wanted to see the United States. Her parents had always been so
overprotective. She never got to travel
when all the other kids did. She wasn’t
allowed to go away to college. Being an
only child had its privileges, but it also had it’s down sides. Other kids got to go to summer camp, on
vacations with their parents, but Marabeth never went anywhere.
She looked at the notes she’d scribbled
on a pad, her to do list. First was
calling Mr. Baker, the banker at her bank.
She’d do that as soon as they stopped in New Orleans. She took the bottle of pills out of her bag
and shook them. Not all that many, how
am I going to survive with only a month’s worth of pain medication? She popped a pill in her mouth and
swallowed. She closed her eyes and
tried to envision a beach or someplace warm.
It wasn’t long before she’d drifted off to sleep.
“Honey, honey,” she felt someone
shaking her and opened her eyes to see the bus driver. “We’re in New Orleans. Time to get off the bus.”
“Thanks,” she said with a
smile. She exited and looked
around. She found the ticket window. “When’s the next bus going towards Orlando?”
“There’s on leaving in two hours that you can take and transfer to
another one that’ll take you to Orlando.
Going to Disney?”
“Yeah, I’ve never been and thought
now would be a good time.” She looked
at her watch and figured she had enough time.
“Where’s the nearest bank?”
The lady working at the terminal
gave her directions to the bank and Marabeth turned and headed in that
direction. The bank had just opened and
she walked right up to the first teller.
“Hello, I’m from out of town and thinking of moving here. I’d like to get some money transferred here
from my home bank. Is that possible?”
“Did you want to open an account?”
the young teller asked.
“If I must to get the money
transferred.” She glanced at her watch
and hoped that this wouldn’t take long.
“Okay, we can contact you bank if
you’d like and have everything arranged.
The money should be here by tomorrow.”
“Oh no, that’s no good. I need the money for a down payment today,”
she lied. “If I call my bank and they
can transfer it right away, is that going to make it faster?”
“Sure.”
“Where is there a phone I can
use?” She was led to a boardroom and
given a phone. She dialed the information
operator and asked for her bank. She
was transferred and when the receptionist answered asked, “May I please speak
with Mr. Baker?” Mr. Baker was the
president of the bank and an old family friend. Marabeth hoped that the news of her escape hadn’t spread through
the whole town yet.
“This is Mr. Baker, how can I help
you.”
“Mr. Baker, it’s Marabeth
Williams. I need you to forward all the
money in my account to a bank.”
“Sure Marabeth, how are your
parents?”
Oh good, he doesn't know. “Fine.
They send their best.”
“What’s the account number?”
“555-00-2525.”
“Just a moment.” She heard him punching keys. “Oh wow.
You have over ten thousand dollars here. Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe we should call your parents and ask if it’s alright.”
Marabeth began to panic, “No need
to do that Mr. Baker. I’m 23 and can
make my own decisions, besides my grandparents left me that money to do with as
I wish.”
“I guess I can do it.
What’s the routing number of the bank and your account number?”
“Let me give the phone to the
teller here and she can tell you want you need.” Marabeth watched as the young teller finished the transaction.
“Okay, Ms. Williams.
The transactions done.”
Marabeth looked at her watch and
noted that she still had plenty of time to make the bus. “I’d like to close my account then. Please give me the money in smaller bills if
you would.”
The teller’s eyes got very big. “You want all this money now?”
Marabeth nodded. “I’m not sure
we can do that.”
“Let me talk to the president of
the bank.” A half-hour later Marabeth
walked out of the bank with her inheritance from her grandparents safely tucked
into her backpack. She was headed for
Orlando and from there she’d play it by ear, but by god she wasn’t going back
to that hospital bed! She was going to
defy death as long as she could. And
while doing so she’d see everything she’d always wanted to see.
As Marabeth’s bus pulled into the
terminal in Orlando she felt a pang of excitement. She quickly exited her seat nearly plowing down an elderly couple
in the front of the bus. “Sorry,” she
yelled over her shoulder. She hailed a
cab. She was grinning from ear to ear
because she’d never been in a taxi before.
“Where to sweetie?” the gruff
driver asked.
“Walt Disney World,” she answered
cheerfully.
“You got hotel reservations?”
“No, not yet. Just take me to any of the hotels near
Disney.”
Arriving at the hotel she quickly
checked into a room. She was really
tired and blamed it on all the traveling she’d done over the last day. She found herself lying down on top of the
covers and sleeping clear through to the next day.
Upon awaking Marabeth decided to
pamper herself greatly by ordering breakfast from room service, then soaking in
a hot bath.
She finally dresses and picked up
the brochures strewn across her bed.
She shuffled them and drew one form the group. “Epcot Center.” She spent
the day roaming around Epcot enjoying all the things there was to see. She stayed until the fireworks before
calling it a night.
Again she slept late and ordered
room service deciding that she’d spend the day lounging around the pool to try
to alleviate her pale complexion.
“Traveling alone?” one of the
lifeguards asked as she climbed out of the pool.
Marabeth didn’t want to answer him
scared that he might do something to her.
She simply nodded returning to her chair and grabbing her stuff.
The lifeguard watched as the cute
blonde picked up her belongings. He
glanced at his watch. Time for a
position change. He signaled the
others.
“What’s up Stu?” another lifeguard
asked.
“Think I can take a quick break?”
“Sure,” he said climbing up in the
chair. “I can see your thing for
blondes hasn’t changed much,” he yelled after Stu as he jogged off in
Marabeth’s direction.
She’d just finished pulling her
sarong around her new suit and was heading inside when he yelled, “Hey … hey!”
Marabeth turned around to see the
lifeguard from earlier. He wasn’t overly
handsome or built like the rest of the lifeguards. He was well over six-foot tall she observed when he finally stood
in front of her. He smiled down at her. He had a nice smile and deep brown
eyes. Oh how I love eyes.
“Hello,” she smiled back.
“Hi, thought I’d see if I could walk you back to your room.” He took the bag she was carrying. “I didn’t mean to scare you off.”
“You didn’t and you don’t have
too,” she blushed. She’d never been
picked up by a guy before.
“It’s my pleasure. By
the way my name’s Stuart, but my friend’s call me Stu.”
“Mine’s Marabeth.”
He stuck his hand out for her to
shake. “Nice to meet you Marabeth,
that’s a very pretty name.”
“Thank you.” They began walking up to her room.
“How long are you staying here?”
“At least a week, maybe more.”
“Have you been to Disney World
yet?”
“No, maybe tomorrow,” she said
hesitating before pushing the button for her floor.
“Would you like to go with me?”
Marabeth looked at him
open-mouthed. “Um … sure.”
The elevator opened and Stu
said, “Tell ya what, why don’t we meet
in the lobby say nine o’clock.”
“Okay.”
“Well, gotta go my breaks almost
over. See ya tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow Stuart.”
“Stu,” he yelled as the doors
began to close. “My friend’s call me
Stu.”
“Stu,” she whispered as she began
to walk to her hotel room. Marabeth
sighed, she had a date.
She took extra care while getting
ready the next day. She’d taken a cab
to the mall and bought herself a new outfit and a suitcase to carry her new
belongings.
She pulled her blonde hair into a
ponytail carefully curling a few tendrils across the back of her neck.
She pulled on the navy tank top
and denim shorts. She was glad that
she’d tanned the day before. The dark
colors of her outfit looked even better with the tan. She glanced at the bedside clock and noticed that it was about
time to meet Stu. She grabbed her money
shoving it into a pocket and headed for the lobby.
The day at Disney was just as
Marabeth had always imagined it would be.
She acted like a five year old and was sure that she was having more fun
that some of the little kids she saw.
Stu made sure that they hit all the rides that she wanted to go on. They rode the Tea Cups, Space Mountain, The
Pirate Ride, It’s a Small World and finally Splash Mountain. It was there that Marabeth saw a small
plaque hanging on the wall that disturbed her a bit. It was a picture of Brer Rabbit and it read; ‘Can’t run from
trouble, no place that far.’ Not true, Marabeth thought, not true at all and I’m going to prove it wrong.
They stayed until dark and with
her newly purchased Mickey ears Marabeth and Stu stood and watched the parade
of lights and the fireworks. To the
rest of the world they resembled a cute couple, but in reality Marabeth had
felt almost uncomfortable with the way Stu was treating her.
“Ready to go back to the hotel,
hun?” Stu asked. “Maybe we can get a
late dinner, or early breakfast.”
“Um, yeah I’m ready to go back,
but I’m tired and I think I should get some sleep.” She didn’t want to have to tell him her whole story, but the day
had taken a lot out of her and she was in a great deal of pain.
The ride on the monorail back to
the hotel was a silent one. Once in the
lobby Marabeth said, “I had a wonderful time.”
I can just ignore calls from him
if he calls, she thought. “I see
you some time.” Hopefully not.
“I’ll take you up to your room,
it’s late, don’t know what kind of crazies could be lurking about.”
Like you. “That’s okay, I’m sure the security here is
fabulous.” Unfortunately Stu didn’t
take no for an answer. Marabeth found
herself ridding up the 5 floors to her room.
They were standing outside her door and she had her room key in her
hand. No way in hell I’m going to
kiss him … this wasn’t a date … I don’t even really like him as a person. “Night,” she stated while sliding the
keycard into the lock. The green light
came on. I can hurry and get in and
shut the door. Too bad her thoughts
didn’t come true. Stu pushed his way
into her room.
“I really did have a great time,”
Stu said pushing the door shut behind him.
“I’m glad that you agreed to go with me. I knew you’d be fun to hang out with. I’d watched you swim all day yesterday.” He walked up to her and ran his hand down
her face. “You are very pretty.”
“Stu, I think you should go,” Oh
god please let him leave. “I’m
leaving in the morning and I need to get my rest.”
“You said that you were staying
for awhile. Did you change your mind?”
“Yes, I’m trying to see as much as
I can while I still can.” Marabeth
pushed him towards the door. “Better
go. Thanks for the wonderful day.” He did leave and Marabeth was very grateful
when he did. Lesson learned, she
thought, never talk to strangers.
She didn’t leave like she told Stu she was going to. She did change hotels and didn’t leave her
room the next day. She was in a great
deal of pain. She looked at the atlas
that she’d bought. She opened it up to
the map of the United State and closed her eyes. She pointed and when she opened her eyes back up her finger was
on New York. “New York it is,” she
sighed. She picked up the phone and
booked a flight for the next morning to New York.
Marabeth smiled as she exited the
plane and grabbed a taxi. This was
becoming easier and easier for her.
“Waldorf Astoria.” She sat back
as the driver sped away. She decided on
the Waldorf because guest of “Regis and Kathie Lee” stay there and the pictures
were always so pretty.
Arriving at the hotel Marabeth
allowed the cab driver to unload her single suitcase. The bellboy took it and she allowed him to. She was in a great deal of pain and only
wanted a bed. She thought about heading
home realizing that maybe she’d made a mistake that was until she walked into
the lobby of the gorgeous hotel. She
was awestruck. “I need a room,” a
broken down Marabeth asked the desk clerk.
“How many nights?”
“I’m not sure. I want to pay cash. Let’s start with a week.” She waited patiently while the clerk
registered her information. The pain
was growing increasing worse and the medication that she had wasn’t working. She was doubling up on the doses and if she
kept it up she’d be out of medication in a few days.
Finally settled into her room she
popped another pain pill. She prayed
that it would take away the constant throbbing she’d been experiencing for the
last day. She opened the small
refrigerator in the room and reached for a bottle of water but she paused
seeing the fully stocked refrigerator.
She instead grabbed a few of the bottles of alcohol and washed her pain
pill down with them instead.
Marabeth unpacked her suitcase
while waiting for the pill to take its magical effect. Maybe I just need to sleep it off. She climbed into the massive bed and closed
her eyes. When she awoke hours later
the pain was all but gone. Her new
magic potion had worked. “I’ll have to
remember that.” She climbed in the
shower hopping that she could hit the streets of New York at night and find
something fun to do. As she dried off
and curled her hair she realized that it was later than she’d thought.
While she was finishing dressing,
her stomach growled. “Guess I’ll have
to find some place to eat.” She grabbed
her money and id card and headed for the elevator.
Marabeth was messing with her
purse and decided to stop in the lobby to repack it slightly. She no more than stopped when someone plowed
into her. “Ouch,” she uttered landing
on the hard floor.
“Oh josh, I’m so sorry,” a tall
blond man said offering her a hand to help her up. Once on her feet again Marabeth straightened her skirt and glared
back at the person in front of her.
“Are you all right?”
“Fine, no thanks to you.” She picked up a few loose items that had
fallen out of her purse. “You should
really watch where you’re going.”
“Well I could say the same about
you.”
She stared up at him open mouthed. “I’m sorry to be in your way. Obviously you are better than me and I was
the only one in the wrong.” She
curtsied.
“No need to bow milady,” he said
in a mock regal tone. He smiled and
offered Marabeth his hand. “My name’s
Lance.”
Marabeth hesitated thinking back to Stu. Something in Lance’s eyes made her feel safe. “Nice to meet you, my name is Marabeth,” she
said shaking his hand.
“Are you here on pleasure or
business?”
“Pleasure and you?”
“Business, but I can’t seem to come to New York and not see
the sights. Have you ever been here
before?”
“No, first time,” she said smiling
at him. I’m experiencing a lot of
first this week. She wanted to say but didn’t.
“Why don’t I take you to dinner to
make up for knocking you down.”
“I … I’m not sure,” she stammered.
“Why, don’t trust me?” Lance laughed. Oh my god that’s it.
“Where were you just going?”
“Uh … I was,” she stuttered. Why is he making me so nervous? “I was going to get dinner.”
“See so now you can join me for dinner,” Lance said
with a smile.
“I guess I can’t say no.”
Lance took hold of her hand and
lightly swung it back and forth as they headed out of the hotel’s main
door. Screaming girls greeted them and
Marabeth found herself being separated from Lance. “Sorry girls, um, not tonight.
I’m running late.” He grabbed
her hand again and ushered her into the waiting limo. “Sorry about that,” he said.
“Who were they, or better yet, who
are you?”
“They’re fans and I’m just Lance
tonight.”
Marabeth wanted more than just
that for an answer. She wondered who he
was. She glanced down at her simple tan
skirt, black tank top and sandals. “I
hope were not going someplace fancy.”
“No,” the phone interrupted
him. “Lance. No. Not tonight. No.
Let me check. No, I have to be
on TRL tomorrow. Maybe next visit. Okay.
Thanks.” Lance hung up the phone
not noticing the look of awe on Marabeth’s face. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem, where’d you say we
were going?”
“Well I wanted to take you to this
little restaurant I know, but let’s just go to a deli.”
They found a small-secluded deli
and ate in almost complete silence.
“What are you doing in New York?”
Lance asked.
“Uh . . . I’m just visiting. I’m hitting all the places I’ve always
wanted to go. Kind of rebelling against
my parents.” She lied. She stared down at her sandwich completely
interested in the lettuce. She’d never
dated someone before, but wondered if this was what a first date felt like.
Trying to break the unbearable
silence, Lance continued to ask questions,
“Where are you from?”
“California,” she fibbed.
“You don’t look like a typical
California girl to me,” Lance said trying to tease.
“Well, uh, I guess I don’t.” She once again stared down.
“What do you do in California?”
“I’m a senior in college, studying
political science.” Not a lie, she
thought.
“That’s impressive, what are you
going to do after you graduate?”
“Well, I’d planned on going to law
school, but now I’m not going to finish school.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He picked up his drink and played with the
straw. “May I ask you why you aren’t
going to finish?”
“Rebellion. My parent’s are really bugging me so I
quit. Maybe someday I’ll go back.” I’m dying her heart wanted to tell him,
but she didn’t want sympathy. She could
get that at home.
“I see. Is this rebellion something new?”
“Yeah, just decided that my
parent’s weren’t always right.” She
glanced at her watch. “I’d better get
back to the hotel. I’m getting
tired.” She tried to stifle a
yawn. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You are very welcome.” Lance looked her over again. She was young and beautiful and obviously
smart. What was it about her that had
him want to rescue her? Rescue her from
what? He had no idea. What’s with this rebellion stuff? No way that she’d rebel against anything or
anyone. Why did her have to feel
something special about her? From the
first moment that he looked down into her blue eyes he felt his heart do
somersaults. His blood ran
quicker. “You sure that you don’t want
to go out dancing? I know some great
places.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not into dancing.”
“That’s fine, then I guess we
could go back to the hotel.” Lance
stood and helped her out of the booth.
Once again they rode back to the
hotel in complete silence. The doorman
opened the back door and Lance got out.
He turned and offered Marabeth a hand.
The small group of girls stopped them again. Lance pulled the doorman aside, “take her inside and ask her to
wait for me. Stay with her till I’m
done here.” He said slipping him a very
generous tip.
“Yes sir,” he followed Marabeth
into the hotel and stopped her. “The
gentleman has asked that you wait here for him and for me to stay with you
until he was through out side.”
“Okay,” Marabeth stood patiently
watching Lance pose for pictures and sign things. “Who is he?” she finally asked.
“I’m not sure ma’am.”
Lance finished with everyone
outside then returned to Marabeth’s side.
“I’m sorry, if I’d have know it would have taken that long I wouldn’t
have had you wait.”
“That’s fine.” Marabeth said standing up from where she was
sitting on a couch in the lobby.
“Can I walk you to your room?”
Marabeth smiled, “I’d like
that.” Lance grabbed her hand and they
walked to the elevator. “I had a
wonderful time tonight. Thank you
again.”
“It was my pleasure. How about we try it again tomorrow
night. I’ll get reservations for Tavern
on the Green … you’ll wear a dress … I’ll wear a suit … a nice dinner … maybe a
bottle of wine … dancing. I think you
get the idea.”
“I’d love to, sounds wonderful. Oh, but I don’t have a dress.”
“Not a problem, I know this little
shop that you are just going to love.”
Lance looked down at his watch as they walked up to the door of her
room. “I’ll pick you up at noon
tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Lance leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for such a nice evening.” With that he turned and left her standing
there.
Marabeth placed a hand on her
cheek where Lance had kissed it. Who
was Lance? She opened the door and
entered her room. She mixed the same
concoction that she’d taken earlier and washed her pain pills down with
it. She jiggled the pill bottle
examining the few pills that she had left.
Maybe a doctor here would help her out.
She finished off the drink stripped out of her clothes and climbed into
bed.
A pounding awoke her out of a
sound sleep. “Coming,” she mumbled as
she pulled a robe on. She swung the
door open to find Lance.
“Did you forget?”
She glanced down at the watch. “Oh no, I over slept,” she let go of the
door and headed in the direction of the bathroom. She turned around to say something to Lance only to find that the
door slammed in his face. She ran back
and opened it. “Sorry,” she said with a
smile. “Come on in, make yourself
comfortable.” She once again headed
toward the bathroom. “Give me 15
minutes and I’ll be ready. Promise,”
she said shutting the door behind her.
Lance glanced around the
room. It resembled his, there was a
small kitchenette, and a living area and what he could only assume was the
bedroom. He picked up a medication
bottle. Morphine 25mg every four hours
as needed for pain. He opened the
bottle and saw that there was only about twelve left. Wonder what she takes these for?
The door opened and Lance about
dropped the pill bottle. He put it down
quickly grabbing a magazine lying there and flipping through it. He looked up to see Marabeth standing there
in her robe and her hair pulled up in a towel.
She was absolutely gorgeous. She
was just standing there smiling. Lance
had to control himself so he wouldn’t run to her and sweep her up in his arms. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, and spend
the rest of his life making her smile like she was right then.
“I’ll be out in five,” Marabeth said sweeping through the room picking
up her pill bottle in the process. “I
promise.”
And just like she’d promised,
Marabeth walked out of the bedroom fully dressed, hair and make-up perfect five
minutes later. “Ready?”
How could she ever be more
beautiful? She wore basic white
shorts and a navy t-shirt. Her long
hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
Lance stood once again fighting the urge to sweep up in his arms and
carry her off to the bed. “Sure.”
He walked ahead of her opening the
door for her. “Where’d you say we were
going?”
“Saks.”
“What’d you just say?” She said in shock.
“Saks,” he smiled at her. “Guess you’ve never been to Saks.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Don’t be intimidated. I’m sure they have big stores where you
live. Saks is no different.”
They skipped the front entrance
this time sneaking out a different door.
They were greeted at Saks and took to a private dressing area.
They were sitting on a couch when
a lady approached them. “Hello, my name
is Teresa. I’ll be showing you,” she
paused to look at the clipboard she carried.
“Dresses and shoes, anything else?”
“Anything she wants,” Lance said
as his phone rang. “Excuse me I have to
get this.”
“Okay, here we go.” With that people came out carrying dresses,
coordinating jewelry, shoes and accessories.
Marabeth felt slightly overwhelmed.
“If there is anything that you’d like to try on just let us know.”
Lance finished his call. “Sorry about that.” He looked over at Marabeth; she had a deer
in the headlights look. “Let’s start
with that one, the red one, the one on the end and the short black one.”
“Yes sir, ready Miss?”
“Huh?” Marabeth said barely able
to take it all in.
“Are you ready to try these
dresses on?” she asked motioning for Marabeth to follow her.
Marabeth nodded. She followed the woman behind a curtained
area. “I … I wear a size 5,” Marabeth
stuttered.
“I guessed as much, size 7 in
shoes?”
Marabeth nodded astonished that
this complete stranger knew what sizes she wore.
“Do you need anything to wear with
the dress?”
“Just shoes I guess.”
“I meant underneath. Do you have a slip?” Marabeth shook her head. “Pantyhose?” Again she shook her head.
The woman smiled realizing how naïve she must actually be. “Did you want to get something special to
wear?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s fine. Mr. Bass said that you were allowed anything
you wanted.” The woman smiled. “Would you like to see some undergarments,
miss?”
“I guess. And please you can call me Marabeth.”
“Fine Marabeth, I’ll send someone
for slips and undergarments then we’ll get started.”
“Okay. Thank you Teresa.”
Teresa was a bit taken back. Most of the people she dealt with were stuck
on themselves and no one ever remembered her name. “Would you like something to drink while we wait?”
“No thank you. I’m fine.”
The woman returned with slips,
bras, garter belts and underwear in her size.
“I’ve never had that many frilly
things in my whole life.” She blushed
thinking of wearing some of the items of clothing there. The woman helped her pick out things and she
dressed. The first dress she was trying
on was a dark green one that fell right above Marabeth’s ankles. She wore a simple pair of black pumps with
it. She looked in the mirror, “I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t we let Mr. Bass see and
he can help you decide.”
“Oh. I really don’t want to go out there,” Marabeth said feeling very
shy.
“It’s going to be all right. Mr. Bass seems very nice and he seems to
really like you.” Teresa said trying to
get the young girl to possibly open up to her.
“I guess I could show him. I just don’t know him all that well.” She blushed again realizing how that must
have sounded. “Teresa, just who is Mr.
Bass?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No, he sort of bumped into me
yesterday and we went out to dinner and then we are going to dinner again
tonight.”
“Mr. Bass is Lance Bass of
FreeLance Entertainment,” Marabeth just stared at her. She had no clue what that was. “He’s also one fifth of the now disbanded
boyband, NSYNC.”
Marabeth felt like slapping
herself on the forehead. “Well that
explains what all those girls wanted last night.” Marabeth giggled. “You
probably think that I’m so stupid.”
Teresa smiled at the young
girl. “Lucky, yes. Stupid, no.” She grabbed Marabeth’s hand and squeezed it. “Are you ready to go show him?” Marabeth nodded and Teresa led her out to
where Lance was sitting.
He smiled, “Very lovely. What do you think?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Let’s go to the next one then,”
Teresa suggested. And so it went, a red
sun dress, a navy strapless, a floral print that hit right above the knees, the
simple black dress that barley reached her thighs and finally a silvery-grey
slip dress that fell to her ankles and required very little undergarments.
“I can’t do this. I can’t wear this dress without a bra.” Marabeth was turning about in the three-way
mirror.
“You look wonderful. I only wish that I had a body like yours so
I could wear that dress.”
Marabeth smiled, “Thank you.” She twirled in the mirror again. “I feel like Cinderella, or Julia Roberts in
‘Pretty Woman’ just without the whole prostitute thing.” Teresa laughed. “Guess I should go show Lance.”
She glanced in the mirror one last time.
As soon as Marabeth stepped out of
the changing room it was as if time had stood still or at least began to move
in slow motion. Marabeth watched
Lance’s eyes pan her and the dress, and then heard the low whistle that escaped
his lips. She was grinning from ear to
ear as she strutted past him like she was a model on a runway. She stopped, turned and walked back past
him.
She had no clue what made her do
what she’d just done. She blushed and
watched as Lance stood. “Wow!” Lance
whistled again. “This is the dress.”
They walked out of the store
half an hour later with the silver dress, new shoes and a matching handbag.
“Thank you,” Marabeth said as
they climbed into the limo.
“You’re welcome,” Lance said
turning in his seat to face her. “Do
you know how many times you’ve thanked me?”
Marabeth shook her head. “Too
many. I enjoyed doing it. You look beautiful in it.”
The limo stopped and Marabeth
looked out the window. “What are we
stopping for?”
“Your surprise. I’ve arranged for a spa treatment this
afternoon. Anything you want,” Lance
said with a smile.
“I’ve … I’ve never had anything
like this. Private shopping sprees,
spas, … I’m sure I’ll never get a
chance to do this again.” The driver
opened the door and help Marabeth out.
Lance followed her out stopping
to speak to the driver, “Please be back
by two we need to stop off at MTV before we return to the hotel.”
Marabeth felt a tinge of
panic, “What are we going there for?”
“I have to make a quick
appearance on their afternoon show, TRL.
It should only take an hour or so.
You can tag along. You can sit
in the audience or hand out backstage.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go spoil you,” Lance said
grabbing her hand leading her into the shop.
She was massaged from head to
toe, mails and toes nails painted, hair trimmed and styled and makeup
applied. When they walked out two hours
later Marabeth felt like a new person.
She smiled brightly as they climbed back into the limo totally
forgetting that they were headed to a television studio. “You have no idea how good I feel right now,
better than I have in a very long time.
Thank you,” she said kissing him on the cheek.
Lance was stunned at first. Did she just kiss me?
“Mr. Bass, you must hurry,” the
limo driver said pulling up at the MTV studios. “We’re running late.”
Lance jumped out of the car
grabbing Marabeth’s hand and walked toward the studio doors. There was a huge gathering of fans waiting
for him. He stopped and signed a few
autographs before heading inside.
“Wow, are they all here to see
you?” Marabeth asked in awe.
“I guess. I’ve got some of the best fans.”
Carson Daly greeted them outside
the green room. “Hey Lance, who’s the
beautiful woman?”
“Marabeth Williams, this is
Carson Daly, kind of the Dick Clark of this generation. He hosts TRL.”
“Very nice to meet you,”
Marabeth said shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet you too,” he said
with a sly grin in Lance’s direction.
“I’ll let you get to makeup Lance and I’ll see you in a few.” Carson smiled at Marabeth then walked away
from them.
“He seemed very friendly.” Marabeth said trying to find something to
say.
“He is. Listen I need to head off to makeup, you can
come along or go to the green room.”
“I’ll just go into the green
room.”
Lance stopped a person walking
by, “Excuse me, would you please show Ms. Williams to the green room?” The guy nodded. “Thanks. I’ll see you
later,” Lance said squeezing her hand before she walked off.
“You can help yourself to any of
the food. Mr. Bass will be in as soon
as he’s done with makeup.”
“Thank you.” Marabeth made herself comfortable on one of
the sofas and watched as Carson started the show. They showed Lance sitting in the makeup chair and explained that
he’d be on later to bring a new video for one of his artists. Carson went right into the number ten video.
The green door opened and Lance
walked in. “Enjoying the show?”
“Yes. It’s different. I’ve
never watched it before.”
“Never?” Marabeth shook her head. “Have you ever been to a television studio
before?”
“No.”
“Well then you have to come out
with me.”
“Oh no. No I can’t.” She couldn’t risk being seen on television by someone she knew.
“That’s fine, you can stay
here.”
The young man from earlier interrupted them. “Mr. Bass it’s time to go.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Marabeth watched as Lance did his interview and
debuted a new video by Samantha Jacobs.
He explained that Samantha would have loved to be there to deliver the
video herself but she was promoting her CD in Asia at the moment.
They played the video, which was different to
Marabeth. She never was a big music
fan, except when she started chemotherapy, then she listened to classical
music, a recommendation from a fellow chemo patient.
She was watching the number one
video when Lance returned. “Ready to
go? I need to take a shower and get
ready for tonight.”
Marabeth nodded and followed
Lance back to the limo. “Samantha is
very beautiful.”
“And she can sing too. She was a real find for me. We held a talent search and found her going
to school in Michigan. She sang in high
school, but was currently only singing at church. Her friends convinced her to audition. Glad we found her or it would have been a real waste.”
“She’s very luck to have a
manager like you.” Marabeth said for
lack of anything else to say.
The limo stopped at the hotel
and the driver helped Marabeth out followed by Lance. The number of fans has almost doubled from earlier. Lance whispered something to the bodyguard
accompanying them. He pushed his way through the crowd allowing Lance and
Marabeth to follow.
Once in the hotel lobby Lance
led Marabeth to the elevators and accompanied her to her room. “I’ll be back for you in an hour.”
“Okay, but where’s my stuff we
bought today?”
“It should be inside your
room. The driver brought it back while
we were at the spa.”
“Oh,” Marabeth said in utter
embarrassment. She opened the door and
quickly slid in the room. The door
closed and she leaned against it trying to take in all that she’d done that
day. She sighed amazed at all that she’d
seen and done. Until that moment she’d
pretty much blocked the sharp pains radiating from her abdomen. She tried to stop the tears began to stream
down her face. “It won’t be long,” she
whispered. She knew her body and knew
that she didn’t have much longer to suffer.
She walked away from the door and cringed as she walked past the
mirror. Her makeup had begun to
run. She quickly went to the bathroom
and tried to repair the damage.
Marabeth was putting her shoes
on when there was a knock at the door.
“Just a moment,” she yelled. She
looked at her reflection in the mirror one last time, still unsure about
wearing the dress in public. She left
the bedroom and headed to the kitchenette.
She grabbed a glass of water and swallowed down two of the remaining
four pills.
“Sorry it took me so long,” she
said opening the door. She glances up
to see Lance standing there with a bundle of at least two dozen long stem red
roses. “Oh my goodness,” Marabeth
gasped. “They are absolutely
beautiful!” She took the bouquet
inhaling their heavenly scent. She sat
the vase full of flowers on one of the end tables leaning in one more time to
smell them.
“Are you ready?” Lance asked.
“Yes,” Marabeth said grabbing
her purse off the couch and taking the arm he offered.
*Two
Hours Later*
“Oh my god that cheesecake was
to die for. I’m sure I’m going to bust
out of this dress!” Marabeth said
leaving the restaurant.
Lance was walking slightly
behind her with his hand rested on the small of her back. From his view there was absolutely nothing
wrong with her, she was drop dead gorgeous.
“Would you like to go for a carriage ride before we go dancing?”
Marabeth’s face lit up, “I’d
love to.”
Lance flagged down a carriage
and help Marabeth in.
“Where to sir?”
“Around the park.”
“Yes sir,” the driver signaled
the horse and the carriage jumped causing Marabeth to grab hold of Lance’s arm.
Marabeth blushed when she
realized what she’d done. “Sorry.”
“That’s fine,” Lance wrapped his
arm around Marabeth’s bare shoulder.
“How’s that?”
“Fine,” she said snuggling
closer to him. “Look how beautiful it
is tonight. The only thing I miss are
the stars.”
“What part of California did you
say you lived in?”
“California?”
“You told me that you were from
there.”
Marabeth felt deeply
embarrassed. “I’m so sorry. I lied.”
Lance felt as if she’d slapped
him in the face. “So did you go through
all this trouble to get close to me?”
He felt so stupid.
“Oh no! I never meant to hurt you. I … I just didn’t know if I could trust
you,” she fiddled with the straps on her purse. “I ran away from home, sort of.”
“What do you mean you ran away
from home? How old are you?”
“I’m old enough to be on my own,
but my parents didn’t see it that way.”
She was staring down at the floor of the carriage. “I’m so very sorry.”
“I still don’t understand.” Lance said removing his arm from around her
shoulders. “Are you in some kind of
trouble?”
“I suppose so. I left the hospital without any one knowing,
well my friend, Karen knows because she removed all the tubes they had in
me.” Marabeth began to babble. She turned and looked at him. “Maybe I should start at the beginning. Short version. I have cervical cancer.
It’s progressed too far. The
doctor wanted to perform a hysterectomy.
I refused. My parents insisted
and were trying to make it so I was not able to make my own medical
decisions. I bolted and have been trying
to see things that I’ve never seen before.
I live in a small town in Michigan, not in California.” She reached over and grabbed Lance’s
hand. “I honestly never knew who you
were until we were shopping today. I
never wanted to hurt you. I’m just
trying to live the remainder of my life without staying in a hospital
bed.” Marabeth looked up at Lance to
see tears streaming down his face. “I
really am sorry that I lied to you.
Today has been the best day of my life.”
Lance leaned forward and
whispered to the driver. The carriage
stopped and he hopped down. “Don’t
move. I’ll be right back.”
Marabeth was petrified that
Lance was going to leave her there. What
have I gotten myself into this time, she thought.
A few minutes passed and Lance
climbed back into the carriage holding a single white rose.
Marabeth laughed trying to hide
her nervousness. “You already bought me
more roses than I’ve ever had in my whole life.”
“This one is special. This one is more important that the twenty
four I gave you earlier. This one is
white to symbolize the pure love I feel for you.” He placed a finger under her chin to lift her face so he could
see it. She was crying. He placed a hand on her check wiping the
tears away with his thumb. “May I kiss
you?”
Marabeth held her breath as his
warm lips met hers. She’d never felt
anything like it. The flood of feelings
pulsating through her body was almost more than she could bear. As the kiss ended and Lance looked back down
at her he knew that he would do anything for her and wanted nothing more than
to spend the rest of his life with her.
Breaking the kiss Marabeth once again
began to fiddle with the straps on her purse.
“One thin I’m …” she started.
“Still want to go …” Lance said
at the same time. “You first.”
“No, it’s really silly.”
“Finish. I want to hear what you have to say.” Lance insisted running his thumb over the
knuckles on her hand.
“The one thing that I’m really
going to miss, I mean the one thing that I won’t be able to buy or pull off in
my little around the US trip is becoming a sadie.”
“A what?”
“A sadie. Haven’t you ever seen ‘Funny Girl’?” Lance gave her a blank stare. “The movie.
Staring Barbara Streisand.”
“Yes I know what ‘Funny Girl’ is
but what’s a sadie?”
“There’s a song in the
movie. A sadie is a married lady. I’ve always wanted that song played on my
wedding day.” Marabeth’s face turned
crimson. “Have you really never seen
that movie?” Lance shook his head. “You just have to see it. It’s one of my favorites!”
Lance leaned forward and
whispered to the driver. “We can go
dancing another time,” Lance said sitting back next to Marabeth.
Oh great, I should never have
brought up the sadie thing. She sat
very quiet, worrying that she’d said something wrong. “Okay,” she simple uttered.
Lance dug his cell phone out of
his jacket pocket. He punched in a
number and waited while it rang.
“Good evening and thank you for
calling the Waldorf Astoria.”
“Hello, this is Lance Bass and
I’d like for you to make some arrangements for me.” He turned and whispered the rest of his conversation so Marabeth
couldn’t hear.
The carriage stopped beside the
limo and Lance quickly paid the driver before hoping out. He turned and offered his hand to Marabeth.
“Thank you.” It was the first thing she’d said since
Lance’s phone call. They climbed into
the limo and she sat as close to the far door as possible. They rode back to the hotel in complete
silence. As the limo pulled up to the
hotel Marabeth tried to hide the fact that she was crying. I can’t believe that I ruined this
evening.
She carefully exited the limo
surprised that there were no fans present.
Lance walked slightly ahead of her.
He stopped momentarily at the front desk before heading to the
elevators.
“Thank you for the lovely
evening.” Marabeth finally said. She had a knot in her stomach, half fear
that she’d done something wrong the other half pain.
Lance turned and grinned at
her. He took her hand in his and
brought it to his lips. “Our night is
far from over.”
Marabeth got a panicked look on
her face. “I’ve … I’ve never. I can’t,” she stuttered, embarrassed.
“Oh no not that.” Not that I
don’t want to! “I’ve arranged for
our own private viewing of ‘Funny Girl’ in your hotel room.
Marabeth’s face flushed a bright
red. “You’re kidding me.” She giggled. “I thought that you were upset at the sadie stuff that I said, then
I thought you wanted to …” she blushed an even deeper red.
Lance squeezed her hand. “Not that I don’t want to, but I don’t think
we should move that fast.” He leaned
down and kissed her quickly. “I could
never be upset or mad at you. I love
the fact that you know what you want and I have the urge to get it for
you.” Lance grabbed the key card from
her hand and slid it in the door. “I’ve
honestly never felt this way about a woman this soon. I have fallen in love with you.”
Marabeth didn’t know what to
say. She walked through the door to her
room followed by Lance. When the door
shut she turned to face him. “I can
honestly say that I’ve never been in love, so I don’t know if what I’m feeling
is love.” She smiled taking his hand
and leading him to the sofa. “I feel
like I can’t breath when you are around.
That my heart is gong to explode.
That … that,” she smiled back at him as tears streamed down her
face. “I sound corny don’t I?”
Lance laughed, “No, you are
wonderful.” He wiped the tears off her
face. “Are you ready for the movie?”
“Oh yes. I can’t wait!” They stood and went into the bedroom. “What did you do?”
Marabeth exclaimed looking around the room. There was a video screen and projector set up. On the bed were a huge bowl of popcorn and
various bags of candy.
“I didn’t know what you liked to
eat while you watched movies. I hop
this is fine.”
“Yes,” she said hugging him
tightly.
“Marabeth, I want to know
everything there is to know about you.”
“One thing I should wan you. I love to sing along with this movie.”
“Okay.”
“Oh yeah I should also tell you
that I can’t sing.” She laughed. “Let me get out of this dress.”
“Fine,” Lance watched as she dug
through her drawers. “Need any help?”
Marabeth suddenly stopped. “One more thing I should tell you. I’m a virgin,” she blushed.
“I … I,” Lance didn’t know what
to say.
“Wait here’s the ironic
part. I’ll never. I mean I can’t.” She never thought she’d have to have this discussion. “The pain and cancer makes it impossible.”
“I understand.” It was Lance’s turn to blush. “I just wondered if you needed help with the
zipper on your dress.
“Why don’t we just start this
over.” She laughed. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to change out of this dress.” She smiled grabbing shorts and a shirt. Marabeth stopped before entering the
bathroom. “You know I really could use
your help.” She sat her clothes down on
the sink and walked back to where Lance was standing. Pulling her hair to the side Marabeth turned her back to
Lance. “Would you?”
He held his breath as he slid
the zipper down the back of the dress.
As the zipper descended revealing her perfect milky skin Lance was
overwhelmed with want. Before he could
control himself her kissed the back of her neck.
A moan escaped Marabeth’s lips
as a chill ran down her spine. “You are
absolutely beautiful.” Lance said in a
deep whisper. Marabeth shivered as
Lance’s warm breath scrolled across her shoulders.
“Thank you,” Marabeth said
barely audible. She stepped into the
bathroom. “I’ll be right back
out.” Sexual tension hung in the
air. Lance did everything he could to
control the feelings of want and need that coursed through his body. He understood that nothing was going to
happen between them tonight. He also
knew that the physical act of sex was not the only way that her could show her
that he loved her. There were other
ways.
Marabeth emerged from the
bathroom wearing a simple pair of blue shorts and a University of Michigan
shirt. She’d pulled her hair up in a
ponytail. If Lance thought she looked
beautiful and elegant in the evening gown, she now was radiant.
“What?” Marabeth said
questioning his stare.
“Nothing,” Lance fiddled with
the remotes to the projector. “Ready?”
“Just a sec,” Marabeth ran into
the other room swallowed the last two pills in her bottle before returning to
the bedroom. She hoped on the bed,
“Ready.”
Just as she warned Marabeth sang
along with all the songs and she knew all the words. She giggled as the movie ended.
“I warned you.”
“You weren’t too bad, compares
to finger nails on a chalkboard.” Lance
was laughing at his own joke when Marabeth smacked him with her pillow.
“I’m sorry,” Marabeth said when
Lance stopped laughing.
“You have no idea what you just
started.” Lance leapt forward on the
bed toward her, tackling her and beginning to tickle her.
“Lance, Lance,” she giggled
incessantly.
He continued to tickle her and
before either of them realized what was happening they were undressing each
other. Lance planted light kisses along
Marabeth’s collarbone continuing on to her shoulder. He pushed her strap on her bra down and continued his path. He paused looking up into her eyes.
Passion burned bright in her
eyes, but along with it was a scared look.
“What? What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Did I hurt you?”
Marabeth smiled. Why didn’t God let her meet Lance years
ago? Sometimes life was just so unfair. “Nothing.
I’m fine. I just … I love you.”
“Do you mean it?” Lance blushed realizing how bad that sounded. “I mean don’t feel like you have to say it.”
She sat up. “I mean it.
I know it’s fast but I guess with the way my life is right now I have to
move fast.”
Lance stood up and grabbed his
shirt pulling it back on.
“What … what are you doing?”
He sat down next to her on the
bed taking her hands in his. “Marabeth,
I want you. I want you more than you’ll
ever know, but tonight’s not the night.”
He stood back up and kissed her forehead. “I’m going to go to my room.”
“No, please stay,” Marabeth grabbed
Lance’s hand.
“Okay.” Lance slipped his shirt back off and turned
the covers down on the bed. They both
crawled in and snuggled together.
“Goodnight Marabeth,” he said kissing her cheek.
“Night and thank you again for a
wonderful day,” she replied already half asleep surrounded by his love and
strong arms.
Lance work with a start. He reached for Marabeth only to find her
side of the bed empty. He wiped the
sleep from his eyes and tried to focus on the clock next to the bed. It was only eight o’clock. He hadn’t even been to sleep five
hours. He pulled the covers back and
went to check for Marabeth. He opened
the bathroom door, but she wasn’t there.
He checked the balcony, but the doors were shut and locked. He opened the bedroom door and walked out
into the living room and kitchen area and was shocked when he saw her curled up
in the fetal position on the couch. He
walked over to her and ran a hand down her cheek thinking that she was asleep. When she turned to look at him through her
tear laden lashes Lance knew that something was terribly wrong.
Lance quickly grabbed the phone
and dialed 911.
“911 Emergency.”
“I need an ambulance,” Lance
continued to answer the questions poised to him and opened the door to the
hotel room as instructed. Returning to
Marabeth’s side he wrapped her up with a blanket. “They’re on the way.” He
held her tight. “They’re on the way,”
he repeated.
The EMS arrived and strapped
Marabeth down to a cot. “We’re going to
give her something for the pain. Can
you tell us again where her cancer is?”
“Cervical cancer,” Lance said
trying to keep hold of Marabeth’s hand while they pushed her into the elevator.
“Do you know if the cancer has
metastasized?”
“No.”
“Is she allergic to anything?”
“I don’t know.”
They pushed her off the elevator
and toward the ambulance. Flashes
popped as the onlookers took pictures.
“Why don’t you follow us?”
“No, I want to stay with
her. Can’t I ride in the
ambulance? I don’t want to leave her
alone.”
“We recommend that you follow in
your car.”
“Please, please let me go with
her. I don’t have a car here.”
“Fine, you can ride up
front.”
The ride to New York Medical
Center was quick and Lance tried to follow when they pushed her into the
emergency room. “Wait here. Immediate family only.”
“I'm her fiancé,” he lied.
“I’m sorry sir you’ll have to
wait out here until we get her comfortable.”
Lance didn’t say anything
else. He just sat down on the nearest
couch.
“Are you with Marabeth
Williams?” a young lady wearing scrubs asked.
“Yes, how is she? Is she okay?” Lance asked jumping up from the couch.
“She’s fine. We’ve hooked her up to a Morphine drip to
help ease the severe pain. She’s
becoming a bit more lucid and we took the liberty of calling her parents. They said they’d take the next plane in from
Michigan.”
“Did she tell you to call her
parents?”
“No, is that a problem?”
“It might be. Have you told her yet?”
“No.”
“May I please see her now?”
“Are you a relative?”
“I’m her fiancé.” The lie was getting easier.
“Okay fine, but only for a short
time.” The nurse led him to a small
room where Marabeth was lying on a cot.
“Only a few minutes.”
Lance waited until the door
closed. “Marabeth, Marabeth can you
here me?”
She slowly opened her eyes. She tried to speak but couldn’t form the
words.
“Shh, just listen. I had to tell them that we are engaged or
they wouldn’t let me come back.” He sat
down on the stool next to the cot and took her hand. “I have some bad news.
They called your parents and they are on their way.”
“No, no parents,” she
whispered. “They want the surgery. They won’t just let me die.”
“I know, so I’ve got a
plan.” He squeezed her hand tight. “Marry me.”
Marabeth’s eyes got real big.
“Let me finish. I want to do
this to help you. I love you. If we were married they have no say. I won’t let them hurt you.” Lance looked up to see tears in her
eyes. “Please Marabeth.”
“No. I can’t let you do this.
I’m dying.”
“I know and I still love
you. I want to marry you even if it’s
for a day or by some miracle we are together for fifty years.”
“Lance, before I agree to marry
you, you have to make me a few promises.”
“Okay anything, anything at
all.”
“My parent’s told everyone right
away when I found out that I had cancer.
I went from being Marabeth Williams to the girl who has cancer. It was all my parent’s fault.” She tried to sit up but couldn’t. “They were wrong! My name is Marabeth Williams.
I’m the girl who loves life, loves to smile, loves a stormy day, and
loves rainbows. I’m not just Marabeth
Williams, the girl with cancer. Please
Lance don’t let me parents take control of my care. They don’t want to let me go.”
Lance grabbed hold of her hand
tightly. “I promise you. I’ll never let your parents do anything that
you wouldn’t want.”
“Then yes Lance, I’ll marry
you.”
He leaned down and kissed
her. “You’ve just made me the happiest
man in the world.” He stood and dialed
on his cell phone. “City Hall please.” He paced back and forth in the small
room. “Hello, my name is Lance Bass and
I need to talk to someone who can help me get a marriage license.”
Someone switched the phone over
and Lance listened as it rang. “City
Clerks Office.”
“Hello, I need to get a marriage
license and my fiancé and myself would like to get married today.”
“I’m sorry sir but you have to
hold your license for two days in New York.”
“That won’t work! Give me your supervisor.” No matter how high Lance went up the
governmental ladder everyone had the same answer for him.
Finally frustrated, Lance
asked, “What is the nearest state that
you don’t have to wait?”
“Let me check, um, Connecticut
would be the closest.”
“Thank you,” Lance hung up. “Looks like we’re going to
Connecticut.” Lance turned to find
Marabeth resting. “Don’t worry, I’ll
take care of everything.” He left the
room and quickly found the doctor. He
explained what they wanted to do and that you had to hold a license in New
York, but not in Connecticut. “Is there
anyway that you can get a ambulance to take us to the nearest hospital in
Connecticut?”
“Let me see what I can do to
help you.” He picked up a phone and
dialed. After a few moments he returned
to Lance. “There is a hospital in
Greenwich that is about 41 miles away.
I’m not sure if she can handle the trip though. Sam, on of the paramedics from earlier,
suggested that we air lift you. It
would only be about ten to fifteen minutes.
If you want I can help make all the arrangements.”
“Can she return her after we get
married? I want her to get the best
care possible and I think you can provide what she needs.”
“Sure. Let me get back with the chopper service and I’ll let you know.”
“Great, I’ll be in her room
waiting.” Lance returned to Marabeth’s
side. She opened her eyes and
smiled. “It’s going to all work
out. I promise,” he leaned over and
kissed her. “I promise.”
The ceremony was quick and kept
quiet. Marabeth wore a hospital gown
and Lance the same suit that he’d worn on their date. No pictures were taken and they were only on the ground long enough
to say their vows.
Upon return to New York Medical
Center Marabeth was admitted to a private room under her new name. The doctor ordered medication to control the
pain and did everything possible to just make her comfortable. He informed that without an act of God it
wouldn’t be much longer.
It was well after midnight when
Marabeth’s parents showed up. If the
lady working in admitting hadn’t been a fan and heard the rumors that were
running rampant throughout the hospital Brenda and Tom Williams would have
never found Marabeth’s room. Her name
wasn’t even listed on the registry in the computer.
Brenda Williams was a 5’2” red
headed fiery. No one wanted to upset
her or not give her what she wanted.
When she burst into Marabeth’s hospital room she wasn’t prepared to be
confronted by a bodyguard, let alone a bodyguard the size of Clem.
“No visitors allowed,” the 6’2”
ex-football player with the neck the width of a tree, said.
“I’m NOT a visitor you oaf, I’m
her mother!” Brenda barked.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bass’ husband
left strict orders with me that no one was allowed in.” Especially her parents, he thought.
At first Brenda thought that she
had the wrong room, but when the door opened and a blonde haired man walked out
she could see Marabeth lying in the hospital bed.
“It’s alright Clem I’ll take
care of this. Marabeth has request NO
visitors.”
“Like I was telling the oaf over
there I’m not a visitor, I’m her mother,” Brenda’s voice was raised and Lance
was trying to back her away from the room.
“Don’t touch me!” She shook free
of Lance’s grasp. “Just who the hell do
you think you are?” She sized up the
man in front of her. He was about 6’
tall and looked as though he’d lived in the obviously expensive suit her was
wearing.
Lance smiled and outstretched
his hand, “Hello, my name is Lance Bass.
I’m your son-in-law.” Lance
wished that Marabeth could have seen the look on her mother’s face. The spitfire of a woman before him turned
pale and looked faint. “Is she going to
be alright?” he asked the tall man behind her.
Tom helped his wife sit down on
a nearby couch. “I’m sure she will be
eventually.” He looked back at the
young man. “I’m Marabeth’s father,” he
shook Lance’s hand. “Your
father-in-law, I guess.”
“Hello Mr. Williams.”
“Please call me Tom. Marabeth’s given us the scare of our
lives. We’d hired a private
investigator, but they turned up nothing.
We just flew in and we are tired and we wasn’t to see our daughter,” he
said in a calm but authoritative voice.
Whereas Brenda was loud and outspoken to get what she wanted Tom
Williams had an understated way of controlling the situation. He was going to see his daughter and he
didn’t care who this young man thought he was or how many bodyguards he hired
to guard the door.
Lance looked at the two people
in front of him. He didn’t plan on
liking her parents when he thought of this plan. He not only like them, but also saw a lot of Marabeth in them. He felt sorry for them. “It’s really up to Marabeth. Let me check with her.” If it were up to Lance he would never let
Brenda Williams in to see his wife, but Tom was a different story. Marabeth didn’t need a confrontation; hell
she wasn’t strong enough for one. When
Lance went back into Marabeth’s room she opened her eyes and she smiled at him.
“I missed you when I woke and
you weren’t here.”
“Your parents are outside.”
“I thought you made sure that
they couldn’t find me,” Marabeth said obviously getting upset.
“I thought I had.” He walked over and grabbed her hand. “Please stay calm.”
Lance held her hand and waited
for her to calm back down. “Marabeth I
don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want, but I think that you should
at least talk to one of your …”
“You promised that you wouldn’t
let them hurt me,” she cried.
Lance wiped the tears from her
cheeks. “I know and I’ll still only do
what you want, but why don’t you think about letting your dad come visit.”
Tears continued to stream down
her face. She believed Lance when he
promised that he’d keep her parents away from her. What made him change his mind? “If I said no,” she sniffled, “would you be upset with me?”
Lance shook his head. “Nothing you do could ever upset me.” He kissed her forehead. “I just thought that you’d want to say
goodbye to your parents.”
Put that way how could she say
no? “Okay. Fine,” she conceded. “But
only my father. Please don’t’ let my
mother anywhere near me. Please Lance,
please.”
Lance gathered her in his
arms. Her begging broke his heart. Just how controlling was Brenda Williams? He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll make sure that only your father is
allowed in. Clem can keep your mother
out.”
Lance went out and told
Marabeth’s parents what she’d agreed to.
Brenda threw a tantrum but Tom quieted her down. Lance decided that he’d give Tom privacy
with his daughter and went for a walk.
He instructed Clem to mot allow Brenda into Marabeth’s room under any
circumstances.
As Tom opened the door his
breath caught. The little girl he’d
loved, the little girl he’d raised, laid helplessly attached to beeping
machines. She looked like a little rag
doll lying in the huge hospital bed. He
tried to keep from crying but it was inevitable. He slowly walked to her bed remembering all the times he’d spent
watching her play softball and volleyball or attended one of her many dance
recitals. Why did this awful disease
have to affect his little girl?
Marabeth tried to pull herself
up in the bed but it proved to be too painful.
“Don’t,” Tom said trying to help
his daughter sit up.
“I’m sorry Dad.”
Tom shook his head. “Don’t ever be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for.” He pulled a chair up to her bedside and
grabbed her hand. “You were the cutest
little baby. You’ve always made your
mother and me very proud. Nothing
you’ve ever done could disappoint us.”
“You’re not mad that I left the
hospital?”
“We were scared, but never
mad. Your mother was very worried. She was sorry that it took your leaving to
see just how much we were pushing you.”
“I never wanted to scare
you. I just didn’t want any more
treatments or surgeries. I’m so
sorry.” Marabeth sobbed.
Tom moved up to the bed and let
his daughter cry on his shoulder.
“Don’t cry sweetie, everything is going to be fine.” Tom was waiting for the right moment to ask,
no beg Marabeth to talk to her mother.
* * *
Lance had walked up and down every hall on the
floor Marabeth was on. He headed back
to her room hoping that everything was still all right. When he rounded the corner he saw Brenda
sitting in the same spot he’d left her and she was crying. He walked up and sat down beside her. “I’m sorry that it has come to this.”
“It’s not your fault. You’re just doing what she asks.” She turned and looked at him
“You must really love her.”
Lance got a silly grin on his face. “I do.
I really do. I’d love nothing
more than to spend the rest of my life with her. Unfortunately I realize that unless a miracle happens I won’t get
to.” Lance stood and walked towards
Marabeth’s room. He peered through the
window in the door. Marabeth was
hugging her father. At least everything
was going okay with them. He walked
back to the couch and sat back down.
“Can you tell me what she was like as a child?”
Lance and Brenda sat for nearly an hour discussing
Marabeth’s childhood, her rebellious teens, and her plans to become a lawyer
and enter politics. “She wanted to be
the first female president.” Brenda
laughed as Tom came out of the room.
She immediately stood and walked to him. “How is she? Does she
want to see me?”
Tom placed a hand on his wife’s arm. “She’s resting right now. She said she’d think about seeing you. I’m sorry.”
Lance sat with her parent’s most of the early
morning. He explained to them how they
had met. Told about their day of
shopping and finally their date. “Did
you know that she likes the movie ‘Funny Girl’?”
Brenda started to laugh, “Likes it, she loves
it. She can repeat it backward and
forward. She also sings every song
while watching it. I think she has to
buy a new copy of the tape every year.”
Lance wanted more than anything that he’d have to
buy Marabeth a new copy of ‘Funny Girl’ every year for her birthday. He stood suddenly. “I’m going to go check on her.
I’ll be right back.”
Days later
Marabeth was still refusing to talk to her mother. Lance spent every waking hour at the hospital. Brenda had been nice enough to go to his
hotel room and bring back the things he needed. He’d promised Marabeth that no matter what he wouldn’t allow her
mother in. It was getting harder and harder to keep his promise.
Marabeth’s condition had
worsened and it was now necessary for her to be permanently on oxygen.
She’d just awoken from one of
her many naps throughout the day.
“Lance,” she said barely audible.
Lance jumped out of the chair he
was resting in. “Are you okay?”
“I … I,” she was having a
terrible time talking do to the medications.
“My mom,” she barely said.
“You want you mom?” She nodded.
“Just a sec and I’ll go out and get her.” Lance ran for the door.
Clem was long gone. It had
become a silent agreement that Brenda wouldn’t try to visit Marabeth.
Brenda had very seldom left the
hospital. She’d made the couch in the
hall her own and she could always be found there.
Today was no different. When Lance opened the door both Brenda and
Tom jumped up. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
“She wants to see you.” Lance held the door as Brenda slowly walked
in. For days she’d been praying that
Marabeth would change her mind.
The room was dark except for the
light that came through the slats on the window blind. Marabeth looked worn out and very tired.
Brenda stopped just inside the
door and stared. Where had her little girl gone?
The woman lying before her was an adult and for the first time
Brenda saw the real Marabeth.
“Mom,” Marabeth cried.
Brenda instantly went to her
daughter. They both never spoke a word
their hearts said it all. They sat for
well over an hour with Brenda just holding Marabeth. Tom and Lance had long since left the room.
“I love you Mom,” Marabeth said
still wrapped in her mother’s embrace.
Brenda sniffled and wiped the
tears off her daughter’s cheeks. “I’ve
loved you long before you were ever even dreamt about.”
“I’m sorry that I ever
disappointed you.”
“Oh Marabeth you have never ever
done anything to disappoint me. You’ve
always made me proud to be your mother.”
“You aren’t upset that I married
Lance are you?”
“Oh no sweetheart. He’s perfect and it’s very obvious that he
loves you.”
Marabeth tried to hug her mom
but she wasn’t strong enough.
“Marabeth, I love you so much.”
Brenda hugged her daughter tight.
“I’m going to go and let Lance come back.”
“Thank you for everything.”
“Anything sweetheart,
anything.” Brenda kissed her daughter’s
forehead. “Sleep well baby,” she said
as a fresh wave of tears crept down her face.
That’s the same phrase that she used to say when she’d tuck Marabeth in
as a little girl. She somehow knew that
this would be the very last time that she’d ever get to tuck her daughter in.
As Brenda left the room Lance
and Tom stood to greet her. “How is
she?” Lance asked.
“She’s asking for you.” Brenda hugged him. “Thank you so much.”
“It was all Marabeth’s
doing. I just let her make up her own
mind.” Lance walked back into
Marabeth’s room.
Marabeth was trying to pull
herself up in bed. “Let me help you.”
“I really do love you,” she
whispered. The pain was leaving and she
could almost sense that the time was here.
“I love you too.” He kissed her lightly. “Do you know what the one thing I regret
is?” She shook her head. “We never went dancing.”
“May I have this dance?”
Marabeth said on a whisper.
Lance picked her up and held her
in his arms and began to sing. “Looking
back on the memory of … the dance we shared beneath the stars alone … for a
moment all the world was right … how could I have known that you'd ever say
goodbye … and now I'm glad I didn't know … the way it all would end the way it
all would go … our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
… but I'd of had to miss the dance … holding you I held everything … for a
moment wasn't I a king … but if I'd only known how the king would fall … hey
who's to say you know I might have changed it all … yes my life is better left
to chance … I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the
dance.” He looked down and just knew
that Marabeth was no longer with him.
He dropped to his knees still holding her in his arms and tears
streaming down his face. He leaned down
and kissed her lips. “I love you
Marabeth and would have never missed this dance.”
The
End
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