Marcie and Leo Ch. 039

Marcie wasn't feeling well. It wasn't her usual bubble thing I alluded to in a few chapters. She actually had a cold. The first thing I did when I realized she was sick was call in to work. Because I am the CFO, my assistant already knew what to do. This was the status quo while my late wife was fighting her cancer and afterwards while I mourned her passing. So, Aubrey already had the routine down.

The second thing I did was make sure we had all the medications in stock. Marcie had a stuffy nose. She also had a sore throat and a cough. As a precaution, we both took an At-Home Covid test. Both of us tested negative. I made sure she was comfortable before I went to the store, albeit masked up, to get juice and soup and other things. It was one of the first times I dealt with Marcie being sick to be honest. So, I may have overdone it a bit. When I arrived home, Marcie was still in our bed with the pillows propped up so she could sleep. Her tablet was in her hand. She saw me walk in and smiled.

"Leo, is everything alright?"

"Yes, my pet," I responded before I started putting everything up.

I also took the opportunity to unpack the new crock-pot so I could get the soup started. Marcie was in the kitchen watching me as I did. I turned and saw her smiling at me. It was the smile that said, "I caught you overdoing it." I smiled back at her before I started to explain.

"I though if I poured the bag of soup into it that it would keep warm so you could have it whenever you wanted to."

"Leo, how much soup did you buy?"

"About four bags."

"Leo, each bag has twenty portions in it. Are you going to freeze the rest of the bags?"

"Yeah, sure."

"How many bottles of cough medicine did you buy?"

"There was a buy one, get one free sale. So....twelve."

"Leo!" she yelled before she started to cough.

I poured her a glass of water before I escorted her back to our room. I tucked her in the covers before she looked up at me.

"Leo, it's just a cold."

"I know, but..."

It was then tears started forming in my eyes. Against my better judgement, I quickly ran out of the room to where the tissues were to dab my eyes. I took a few deep breaths before I walked back in. There were tears in Marcie's eyes.

"Leo, you don't do well when your loved one gets sick, do you?"

I shook my head.

"Missy never told me when she was sick. She kept it from me because she knew I'd worry. It's one reason I didn't know about her cancer until it was in Stage three. I just worry."

"Let me guess. Missy was by your side whenever you had a sniffle."

I nodded my head. Missy opened her arms. I slipped in and rested my head on her shoulder.

Gentle Reader, I know the thought of the male protagonist in the story leaning on his female protagonist isn't the manliest of pictures. The thing is Marcie knows me very well. There have been many times where I cried on her shoulder in real life, away from this storyline. One of the lessons she helped me remember throughout all those times is that there's no lack of manliness crying on your woman's shoulder. We're human. We all have emotions and denying them leads to worse problems.

So, there I was crying on Marcie's shoulder for a bit while she held me. It was when my tears started to dry up that she looked at me lovingly and kissed me on the forehead.

"You're sweet when you worry, Leo. I get these occasionally. It's alright. I'll take a nap and then we'll check out all the stuff you bought. Hopefully, we don't have to rent out a storage container to store it all."

I kissed her on her forehead before she fell asleep. I then slipped out of the room and started one of the soup bags in the crock pot before grabbing my laptop and checking on reports. As I was knee deep in numbers, Aubrey called.

"Leo, you didn't panic. Did you?"

I can't believe the women in my life read my mind so easily.

"I did a little."

"Crock Pot?"

"Check."

"Bags of soup from the restaurant supply store?"

"Yes."

"Lots of cough syrup?"

"Uh-huh."

"Please tell me you didn't buy the heating pad, the cold compresses or the diabetic socks."

"Why?"

"You didn't buy them this time?"

"I learned my lesson about that one."

I could hear her laughing on the other end.

"Did she yell at you?"

"Thankfully not."

"Leo, you are a sweetheart. You must not worry so much though."

"Easier said than done. I still..."

"Blame yourself for not catching Missy's cancer sooner?"

"How did you..."

"Like minds, Leo. I don't think a cold is indicative of cancer. Did you do a Covid test?"

"Both of us are negative."

"Did you go out this weekend?"

"Not that I can remember. We stayed in. We ate food here."

"Okay, I'm not sending you any more reports today. I think you better concentrate on your patient."

"Thank you, Aubrey."

"Did you put her favorite stuffed animal in bed with her?"

I knew I forgot something.

"I will now. Thank you, Aubrey."

"No problem, Boss. Make sure you load up on the Vitamin C until she gets over it. She seems more resilient than you when there's an illness."

"I will."

After she hung up, I went to find her white bear she received from her sister after her husband passed. I snuck it next to her head under the blanket before I slipped back outside. I spent the rest of the day working around the house. It was a few hours later when Marcie was out of bed and walking into the kitchen to ladle herself a bowl of soup. She looked at me and smiled before she sat down at the table.

"I'm glad you bought my favorite, Leo."

I smiled.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright. I think I'll be better in a day or two. Thank you for taking care of me."

"You know I got you, Amor."

I walked over and kissed her on the forehead. It felt a little warm, so I went to the freezer to pull out a compress. She looked at me warily.

"It's just a fever, Leo. I'll be alright."

I turned and put it back in the freezer. I then ladled back another bowl for me. I sat at the table and enjoyed spending that quiet moment with Marcie.

"For better or for worse, Leo," she said.

"In sickness and in health," I responded.

We sat there enjoying the soup, enjoying each other's company. Marcie's gonna be just fine.