Perfect for Me

Abby has never cheated on me, and I've never cheat on her. We are a blessed pair. People sometimes talk about our age difference. But no one questioned it when Abby would spout out, "Yea, I seduced my dad after my mom died. Married him and here we are..."

Instead, people laugh when she says that. We look nothing alike. And no one really knows us. Well, except for Sam and Abby's grandparents.

Sam found a wonderful woman in college. She treats him ok, but I am his dad, and no one can treat my son like I would want them too. Truly she does him good, and I can see that he loves her and that is what counts.

Because Abby and I are not blood related, she became pregnant. Abby and I had my third child. I wanted to give her this before I left. She is a little girl; We named her Abigail after her grandmother that she would never meet.

But now it is my turn. The doctor diagnosed me in a regular checkup after he found that I had lost almost forty pounds in six months.

I have stage four prostate cancer. Abby didn't understand when I refused to follow the doctor's orders and not go to the kemo and radiation treatments...

I tried to explain to her that it is time for me to go see her mom. I missed Abigail still; though I love Abby with just as much heart as I ever loved her mother, I still love her mom.

I told Abby that if I went to the treatments that it would shrink the savings account to nothing. Even though Abby had an excellent job, I didn't want to leave her destitute.

Abby:

I held my father, my lover, my husband in my arms. I loved him as much as I loved anyone in the world. No one could come anything close to as handsome, as my dad. The four days that I can remember being the happiest was when I gave birth to our daughter, when I married my husband and dad, when he asked me to marry him and when I got the D.N.A. results.

I had never been happier than that day. But dad and I have had many days that have been wonderful.

Today, I paid the price for loving a man thirty years older than me. I had to watch him die. As I held him, I knew he was a tough man, and I knew he fought great pain. But he isn't fighting anymore, just moving on. I know he wants to go see mom. I miss my mom too. But I am really going to miss my dad, my lover, my husband.

After I felt him take his last breath, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "How is mom going to take it when I get up there and take him back from her?' He is the perfect man for me."

***

Thank you for reading.

R. Lee Benton

Please leave a comment even if you didn't enjoy the story.