THE STARS ARE BEAUTIFUL - WATTYS AWARD NEW ADULT WINNER 2019

Callum | 31

WE HAD THE OCEAN UNDER our feet when we wed. The sun was sinking into horizon. And Everly Anne had the brightest eyes I had ever seen. Her dress wasn't short, but her eyes, they were shining when she said, "I do."

***

The air felt like heaven had merged with Earth. Warm sea salt breeze washed over me as I lay under the heat of the sun, basking in the glory of nature, so far away from the sterile and stale of the hospital.

"You're grinning ear to ear, Callum."

I opened my eyes, squinting from the sun as I looked at Everly. "You know that part where Red and all the boys get beer because Andy schooled that cretino guard?"

She nodded. "As you know, this pregnancy and I are well versed in all things Shawshank Redemption. Seeing as how it is always on cable, and I am always ordered to rest."

"I was just thinking that this is how it must have felt. This sun, this beach, this view." I eyed her full breasts purposefully. "This is free beer on a sweltering rooftop after years of being a slave to The Man."

She laughed at me, shaded under a large umbrella. "Is it now?"

I smiled back at her and then extended my arm so I could reach her stomach. "I'm gonna be a father, Everly Anne. You're my wife."

It was the most I'd seen her laugh in weeks.

"Did my baby bump give it away?"

Rolling closer, I kissed her stomach. "I love your baby bump, topolina."

She stared thoughtfully at me for a moment. "I need to tell you something. It's kind of eating at me."

My nerves bundled. "Let's hear it, wife."

"I don't want to upset you on our wedding day, but I can't keep pretending. I lied to you before you left New York."

"About what?" I asked.

"I wasn't going to leave him a letter." She fell quiet and waited, but my mind couldn't understand. "Timothy."

I looked at her a bit puzzled. "In New York? The night you were on the sidewalk?"

"I'm so sorry, Callum Andrew."

"I'm not angry, Everly Anne. But why would you have lied?"

"I was scared. I knew I wasn't strong enough to be on my own, but I tried because I wanted to prove that I could do it—mostly to you, not him. I just wanted you to see that you were worth my trying."

"So why did you leave?"

"Before we started the differential for your class, I had a head scan because I'd fainted two days in a row. Timothy thought at first it was only due to anemia, but then I had a seizure, and he sent me for full testing. When they scanned my brain, it revealed an aneurysm that hadn't ruptured. The neurologist wanted to treat me, but Timothy was scared, because there wouldn't be any way for me to feel the pain as a symptom if one ruptured or if I had bleeding because of the procedure. He thought it was smarter to leave it alone, since it wasn't posing a risk worse than what the procedure could cause. And I was okay for a while, but when I came back from Montauk, he made me have another scan, and there was a second aneurysm. They did the procedure that time. And I was okay, but then I stayed with you and blacked out one night but didn't say anything. And then another night, I couldn't see out of my left eye. It was all foggy. So I tried to leave. I didn't want you to come up to your mother's attic and find me dead on the floor. I was scared."

I exhaled pure frustration. "You could have told me this, Everly Anne. You should have."

"You needed to graduate, and I didn't want you to lose focus. I swear I never would have told Timothy that I had been at your house. I would have never gotten you in trouble."