Until the Very End

Chapter 48

Don woke up in a start. He felt like he had been sleeping for a while. He knew that couldn't be right, as he set his alarm to wake him up every two hours so he could check on how Meryl was doing with her concussion; however, it seemed like to him, that she was checking on him and his arm more than he was on her. Don looked around and saw that Meryl and the babies were missing from the room. He looked at his phone and his alarms had been turned off. He was pretty sure he knew who turned off his alarms, and why. But he was worried about her being up and caring for the babies alone while battling the awful concussion. He carefully sat up and took stock of how he was feeling, he was actually feeling pretty shitty, and if his wife was feeling as shitty as he was then he wanted to help her. He had often teased her that was what marriage was all about-feeling crappy together yet doing this thing called life.

***

Don walked carefully, as he was still in a good deal of pain, into the kitchen to see that Meryl had the babies in their swings and it smelled like she was cooking breakfast. He just shook his head. He knew the saying you can't keep a good woman down, and she was the best he knew, but he was worried about what would happen to her if she didn't get the rest her body needed and recovered from the concussion. He saw her bend over to put something in the oven and start to stumble and sway when she stood back up. He quickly went over to her and wrapped his good arm around her. "Okay, back to bed."

"Don Man." Meryl smiled softly, tenderly and tiredly at her husband. "Honey, I'm fine. But you should be asleep."

Don helped her over to one of the stools at the breakfast bar to sit down. "I was asleep for longer than I had intended because it seems that someone turned off the alarm on my phone. You wouldn't by chance know anyone who would do that, do you?"

"You caught me." Meryl chuckled making Don smile as he leaned up against the breakfast bar. "Baby, I really want you to rest. I need you to rest. You won't take any strong pain medications because you are worried that the babies and I might need something. I can see in your eyes how much pain you're in, and how crappy you feel. You were actually sleeping soundly, and I wanted you to sleep for as long as possible. The babies started waking up so I brought them, one by one, out here and put them in their swings."

Don nodded as he leaned down to tenderly play his lips and tongue against hers, kissing her forehead when he pulled away. He then went over to kiss his babies good morning, getting a few sleepy smiles from them, before going back over to the breakfast bar and sitting down next to his wife, facing her. "I know you wouldn't put them in danger by carrying them both at once. I'm worried about you. I can also tell how shitty you feel. You should still be in bed with me, and not up cooking and taking care of the babies yourself."

"Why the hell not?" Meryl snapped as tears appeared in her eyes. "You are still recovering from life-saving lung surgery, and now you had to have another surgery because of me."

Don pulled her to him with his good arm as she stood up and tried to walk away, pulling her to sit on his lap on his good side. "This is NOT your fault. None of it. You saved all of us, baby, and don't you EVER forget that. I would gladly be recovering from a stab wound if it means you 3 are with me. I just hate you are recovering from yet another severe concussion."

"And I would gladly recover from a severe concussion if it means you and our family are safe." Meryl said as she leaned her head against Don's. "I'm just so tired, Don Man, of all of it."

"I know, baby, I am too." Don sighed with a kiss to her head. "That is why I want you in bed. Baby, why are you up cooking so early? Why are you cooking at all?"

Meryl looked up towards the stairs leading to the second floor of their Tribecca penthouse. "I wanted to make us all breakfast before Lou has to head to the airfield. I feel like even though she is 21 years old that she needs some normal. That she needs some stability. I know that is something we all need, especially right now. So, I wanted to give that to you and her. I wanted to give that to us."