Sooner, or later?

'Help me fix this,' Stan thought.

Stan tried to unlock the lock with the rusty key.

The hinges were rusty too.

The trunk opened with a creaking sound.

He uncovered a picture of him and Stephanie, taken 12 years ago.

"Go get her, dad," Leah said, hushed.

Stan walked to the graveyard, pausing for a while before he started walking with renewed vigour.

Till he reached the hospital.

The doctor was getting Stephanie ready for dialysis. End stage renal disease.

But that was not all. Stephanie had Alzheimer's.

"Ah, Stan," she said tearfully.

"How could you forget my birthday?" she said, teary-eyed.

"Honey, I never forgot..." Stan said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Will you wait?" She said.

"Always," Stan said quietly.

He sat down on the hospital bench as they took her away.

Stan had never been married. That was the story.

But he had had a wife who was dead. He was a widower. His wife died after 2 years of marriage. He was left with no one but Leah.

And now, Stephanie.

When Stephanie called him and said "Darling, have you forgotten me so easily?" he thought she was kidding. But then she said, "You ate my Christmas cake and didn't leave me any."

And so he remembered that fateful Christmas 12 years ago.

Stephanie had made fruit cake. It was Christmas and also her birthday.

It was so good, he ate all of it. He wanted to surprise her, so he came early that day.

It was that day he saw Stephanie kissing another man.

He felt as if someone had twisted a knife inside of him.

That day, she saw the empty foil in which the cake was, and said tearfully, "That was just a moment of weakness - please, don't go. I love You, Stan."

Yesterday, Stephanie had called him up and said, "You ate all of the Christmas cake that I had made for you! Where are you?"

"I am not yours anymore, Stephanie, I haven't been for a long long time now," Stan said. He didn't know about her medical condition.

"Why ever not!" she exclaimed.

"I love you!" she said.

"Don't you love me anymore?" she said, accusingly.

It was like nothing had happened. He went to her house that day, for the first time in 12 years. The house was in a state. Everything was Messed up. He entered without invitation. The door was open.

Stephanie muttered to herself, "I don't love you, Ian. I love Stan... I always have."

She was in her bed. It was 12 in the afternoon.

When she opened her eyes, she saw him at her door and said, "Darling, you are here! I have been waiting for so long!"

She kissed him.

The rest of the day passed as if nothing had ever happened or went wrong between them.

It was only the next day when he came back did he know something must have been wrong.

He had helped clean the house the previous day. When he came the next day, the house was in a state again. Stephanie kept muttering to herself, "I can't let Stan know or he'll leave me!" When he came in, she said, "Stan! You have come! You ate all the cake!" And she hugged him.

Stan didn't say anything. He noticed a post-it stuck on the fridge - Next appointment, 28.12.2024. And a phone number.

Stephanie was stuck in the last day of their relationship. In her mind, the twelve years had gone in a breeze.

He took the liberty of calling the number written on the post-it on her fridge.

"Hello," Stan said.

"Who is this?" The voice asked.

"Stan. Any appointment for Stephanie Tucker?"

"Yes, may I know who this is?"

Stan related what he had seen after coming there. The woman on the phone, who was a social worker, Samantha, told him warmly how Stephanie was an angel in general, jolly but difficult at times. Also she had talked about how she loved Stan. But she didn't always remember that 12 years had passed since.

After Stan got to know this, he fell quiet.

But he decided to help Stephanie in any way he could.

*************************

It was one fine morning that he was hanging out at her place.

She was laughing at some joke he made.

Stephanie looked at him for a long, long while. Everything was quiet except for the warm summer breeze and the cooing of a bird that could be seen from the veranda.

Something surreal hit Stan. As if for that moment, everything was Real and not simply a facade.

"12 years," Stephanie said all of a sudden somberly.

"12 years I haven't seen you, Stan. Have you forgiven me for that day you saw me kissing Ian?"

Stan came near her and stroked her hair away from her forehead. "Of course," he said, quietly.

"No, you haven't," she laughed. "Otherwise, why haven't I seen you before all this time?" she said, her eyes getting moist.

"I didn't have anyone after you, you know," she said, as if trying to set things right.

"Promise me something," she said solemnly.

"What?" Stan asked.

"You will be with me when I die," she said.

"You won't be dying any time soon," consoled Stan.

Stephanie shook her head. "I can feel the cold settling in on me. I don’t have much time."

"Will you marry me?" Stan asked.

"What?" Stephanie said, dumb-founded.

"Marry me?"

"Yes!"

*************************

3 days later.

It was a cool summer morning.

Stan let Stephanie sleep till late.

But when it was 2.00 in the afternoon and she hadn't still woken up, he called her and shook her.

Stephanie wouldn't wake up.

Leah called the hospital and the two of them took a limp Stephanie to the hospital.

It turned out that she'd had an electrolyte imbalance and soon she'd be okay.

Stan huffed a sigh of relief.

When Stephanie had woken up, it was one of the few moments that she seemed to be grounded.

She called Stan to her and said, "That day, 12 years ago, I was there, mildly attracted to a man who was the hunk of my dreams, flattering myself with the attention he gave me. But I never forgot the man who was always there, who kept me grounded, who loved me in sickness and in health. It was a mistake, and I knew it the moment that hunk's lips touched mine... I am sorry, Stan."

"It's all forgiven and forgotten, love," Stan said quietly. "I know you were sorry."

Stephanie simply nodded. "I wasn't expecting that."

"That things would be okay again?" he said.

"Yeah," she whispered.

At two in the morning, Stephanie was shivering.

At three in the morning, she had a fever. She grew delirious.

Stan hurried to her side.

"You won't die, you can't," Stan said to her.

"Life is fleeting and short. I wish we had more time," Stan repented.

If only, that day, he had waited for her. If only... Stan wiped his tears off.

Stephanie opened her eyes momentarily.

"Stan?" she said, uncertainly.

"Stephanie!"

"What are you hugging me for? We aren't *that* close," she squealed like a child.

Stan laughed.

He could take care of this person.

Spend every day like a new day.

Now that he had her by his side, every day would be rewarding.

"You're right. I am Stan, and I am at your service," Stan bowed.

Stephanie laughed. "I like you," she said, "you're such a darling! Goodnight."

This was nice, Stan thought.

She wasn't going to die anytime soon, he thought happily as he drifted off to sleep, Stephanie's head on his arm, her arm around him.

***********************