Change of Heart (27 page)

Regardless, none of that matters right now. What matters is Casey and the fact that she’s currently fighting the first of many battles for our future.

***

I jolt from my sleep, apparently woken up by a nearby ruckus. I hadn’t realized how tired I was. I look around, trying to get my bearings. As the outside world starts to fade in, I realize I’m alone in the alcove. Where are my parents? Mrs. Evans? I look at my watch, only twenty minutes had passed since my parents arrived. I can’t even believe I fell asleep in such a short amount of time.

Maybe they went to get something to eat?

I shake more sleep out of my head and look towards the doorway.

No. No, no, no.

Dr. Wyatt is there.

It’s too soon! Casey’s only been in the OR for thirty-five minutes. The surgery is supposed to take three to six hours. What the hell is he doing here? He’s supposed to be there, with her!

My parents’ backs are facing me, but I see Mrs. Evans’s profile. Her hand is over her mouth and tears are streaming down her face. She’s shaking her head.

No.

Not my Casey.

I slowly rise and take a step towards them, but I feel dizzy. Everything is in slow motion. I shake my head, trying to clear the sleep out. I need to wake up. Maybe this is a dream? A nightmare? Maybe I’ll wake up and Casey will be in recovery.

I manage one more step and hear a faint call of my name before blackness takes over.
 

Chapter Forty-Five

Decker

Four Months Later

“Decker,” a feminine voice calls as I step out of the florist.

I turn and see Carrie Miller walking towards me on the sidewalk. Sighing, I curse myself for not having gone to a different florist. Carrie’s family owns the little boutique two shops down, and I knew there was a chance I’d run into her here. She could probably smell me coming. The girl has been relentless since high school. Knowing what I know now, I’m glad I never got involved with her.

Clutching the daisies in my hand, I face off against her. Against Casey’s high school arch-nemesis. “Carrie,” I say coldly.

Her cheerful expression falters, but only for a brief moment before her plastic demeanor falls back into place. “I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

For good reason,
I think to myself. “I’ve been busy.”

“About your friend–” she starts, giving me a sad smile. Fake emotion to go with her fake face. My blood boils at her belittling words and condescending tone, and I have to remind myself that it’s not okay to hit a girl.

“I’m not talking about her with you,” I scoff. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m heading to the cemetery.” I hold up the flowers.

“Right,” she looks at me with sympathy in her eyes. “Would you like some company?”

Is she kidding me?
I bark out a laugh. “Seriously? Did you think I’d never find out the way you and the rest of the crew treated Casey behind my back in high school? Did you think she’d never tell me?”

Carrie’s face blanches, and she doesn’t say a word. At least she’s finally catching on.

“She was my best friend. I thought you all were my friends, too. How wrong I was. How could you do that to her? How could you treat another person so poorly? Someone as sweet and kind as Casey. You’re nothing but a bully, Carrie. So the answer is no. No, I do not want your company now or ever. The love of my life is waiting for me, and I don’t need a fake friend when I’ve got that.”

Carrie scampers off with tears in her eyes. Serves her right after all the times she’d probably made Casey do that same thing.

“That was pretty cruel,” a voice says from behind me, startling me. The voice of an angel. My angel. I turn around and take her in. She’s standing a few feet away from me looking perfect in a white sundress, the sunshine making it look as though there is a halo over the crown of her head.

“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, taking the few steps to close the distance between the two of us.

She smiles up at me. “So are you,” she says, patting my chest with one hand while smoothing my button-down shirt with the other.

Casey’s different now. She’s still the same girl we all know and love, but having a second chance at life changed her. She’s bolder than she was before and today’s wardrobe choice is proof of that. The v-shaped cut of her dress exposes part of her scar—something she never would have shown off before. In fact, I never did see the scar from her first open heart surgery until she told me all her secrets in the hospital.

“You ready?” I ask, taking her hand.

“As I’ll ever be.”

We cross the street, our hands clasped together, swinging between us. This is our new normal.
This
is heaven.

There was a moment four months ago when I thought I’d never experience this—life—with Casey. When I saw Dr. Wyatt in the waiting room that day, I thought it was all over. I thought Casey was gone. The idea had brought me to my knees, quite literally since I’d actually passed out right there on the dingy floor.

What I hadn’t realized at the time was that Dr. Wyatt was there to bring us good news—amazing news. Mrs. Evans’s tears were those of joy, not sadness. As it turns out, shortly after Casey was put on the table, Dr. Wyatt had gotten notification from the transplant specialist that a compatible heart had become available in another hospital in the city. For whatever reason, Casey was the most convenient candidate for that heart—not that I’m complaining, it’s just the whole situation was unreal.

Dr. Wyatt had only made the initial incision by that point, so he’d quickly stabilized her and rushed out to the waiting room to speak with Casey’s mom and get approval for the transplant—which of course she gave. It was a miracle. An unbelievable miracle. But it’d happened.

When I’d woken up and they’d told me what was going on, I was overjoyed—hugging anyone who came within a five foot radius. And when Casey had woken up, she’d been stunned silent. She had a new heart. There was no more waiting, no second surgery. It was all done. There was still time for her body to reject the new heart, but all her other woes were mollified. She didn’t die on the table, and everything with the surgery went beautifully.

It was rainbows and fucking butterflies.

Recovery was tough. She stayed in the hospital for two weeks and was under close watch for the three months that followed, checking in with her doctors twice a week at first, and then weekly. She hated being so limited, but I kept reminding her that it was essential to our forever together, and she’d settle right down.

Dr. Smythe finally gave her the okay to travel two weeks ago, and we finally got to have our road trip. The route was a little different than the one I had originally planned, this one including the precise proximity to hospitals along the way. Casey had rolled her eyes at that, but I didn’t back down. Later on, she told me it made her love me more.

Once we enter into the cemetery, I let go of Casey’s hand and wrap my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side. It makes us wobble a little as we walk, but I would easily trade my balance for nearness to Casey.

Casey takes the daisies from me as we approach her father’s white marble headstone. She crouches down and places the flowers in the small bronze vase in front of the stone. When she stands back up, she leans back into my chest, and I wrap my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder.

“Hi, Daddy,” she starts. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by to see you, but as I’m sure you know, I’ve been a little bit busy. But everything is good, really good. I’m so happy, Daddy. And in case you weren’t paying attention last night…I said yes.” She looks down, smiling at the sparkling diamond on her left hand, and my heart swells.

“Decker, you better not knock me in the water,” Casey warned as I led her, blindfolded, out onto the dock.

The candles were all lit, as planned, and there was a blanket spread out at the end of the dock with some fruit and cheese and sparkling grape juice. Her mom had even laid out her fine china for the occasion.

Once we reached the end, I loosened the blindfold, and Casey gasped.

“Deck…it’s like a fairyland,” she breathed as she took it all in.

What must have been one hundred candles were set around the dock, glowing in the darkness, some were even floating nearby in the water. My mom and Mrs. Evans had really outdone themselves. It looked much better than I could have ever imagined.

“What is all this?” she asked as she turned to face me, gasping once again when she saw I was down on one knee. “Decker?”

“Casey…I think I knew when I was six years old that I wanted to be by your side for the rest of my life. Back then though, I think I was planning a future of making mud pies and climbing trees.” We both laughed. “But nevertheless, you were always right there baking dirt and swinging from branches beside me. Things changed over the years, and it wasn’t always good, but in the end it’s you and me, side-by-side again. The way I’m certain it was always meant to be. I know this may seem sudden to some, but it’s not. We’ve been working at this for fifteen years and if there’s anything you and I have learned, it’s that life can be cut short. I don’t want to waste another minute, Case.”

I nervously reached into my pocket, finding the warm metal with the tips of my fingers. I pulled it out and held it up to her, looking into her eyes. Her hands were covering her face, but her eyes were shining…glowing.

“Casey…I want to start our forever together today. Will you marry me?”

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she nodded. “Yes! Of course I will!” She dropped down to her knees, and I slid the ring on her finger. She gazed admiringly at the two karat princess cut diamond on a platinum band before launching herself into my arms.

“I love you,” she said, leaving kisses all over my face. Our lips finally connected amidst the cheers of our nosy parents in the background, undoubtedly huddled in the Evans’s kitchen watching the scene.

This was perfection. It was everything I could have ever wanted all wrapped up in one moment. With Casey, life would always be perfect.

Casey

“Decker told me he snuck over here yesterday to ask your permission.” I sniffle and a few tears escape. “I miss you, Daddy, so much. But thank you. Thank you for bringing me Decker. Or for bringing me to him. You all knew we’d end up together in the end. I’m just so sorry you aren’t here…really here…to see it.”

Decker tightens his arms around me and tilts his head to kiss my temple. He’s my rock.

“We’ve got to get going, got a wedding to plan and all. We’re only home for a week before we have to get back to California. Decker transferred to USF, Daddy. Can you believe it?” I laugh, barely believing it myself. “Neither can I. Turns out he can’t stay away from me.” I lean my head against his and rub my cheek against his.

Deciding to finish college in California was not an easy decision for Decker. He was a Gamecock through and through. But the idea of spending another minute away from me while I finish my degree at Stanford was simply unthinkable for him. I’d offered to leave Stanford, but he refused, knowing it was my dream school and he wanted me to live and experience everything I ever wanted since I was so afraid for so long. He said it was a small sacrifice on his part to be with the girl he loves, and this last year in California will be enough time for me to phase out of my post-transplant check-ups. Then I’ll be referred to a heart specialist here in Charleston, where we’ll get to live happily ever after.

“I love you, Daddy. I’ll visit again before we leave.” I kiss the tips of my fingers and brush them against the marble.

“I’ll take good care of her, sir,” Decker says, patting the top of the marker. His gesture makes me love him even more. I didn’t think it was possible at this point. Everything he’s done for me and with me since we’d reconnected has been completely selfless and amazing.
He
is amazing.

We stroll out of the cemetery, hand-in-hand once again, both of us smiling, both of us happy.

“So where do you want to get married? Here or California?”

I look at him like he’s crazy. “Here, of course.” Why would I want to get married in California when our history and our families are here in Charleston? Sure we got back together in California, and it will always be special for that reason, but it isn’t home.

He smiles as if he knew what my response would be. “Maybe we can put something together for Christmas or spring break?”

I stop walking, the lack of movement causing Decker’s arm to jerk back. “What?” he asks, confused.

“I don’t want to wait that long,” I tell him. “I think we’ve waited long enough to be together.”

He certainly can’t argue with that, and he knows it, so he says nothing.

“Let’s go to the courthouse tomorrow.”

Decker steps so that he’s facing me and tilts his head to the side. Now he’s looking at me like I’m the crazy one. “Case, you deserve something bigger and better than a courthouse wedding.”

“All I deserve—all I want—is you. We can do something bigger when we move back, but I don’t want to waste another minute. I want to marry you here in Charleston, and I want to do it now, before we go back to California.”

“But what about our moms? You know they’ll freak out.”

Valid argument, but I have a solution. “No, they won’t. They’ll be so excited about planning the big wedding that they won’t care.”

He laughs, nodding his head. “You’re probably right.”

“Duh, better get used to it,” I smirk bumping my hip into his.

“Gladly,” he grins, leaning in to kiss me. “Okay, let’s do it.”

My eyes light up. “Really?”