shimmering as it turned a thousand different shades of yellow, each paler than the last, before finally becoming the color of the stars.
Jamie watched all this in silence, my arm tight around her, her breathing shallow and weak. As the sky was finally turning to black and the first twinkling lights began to appear in the distant southern sky, I took her in my arms. I gently kissed both her cheeks and then, finally, her lips.
“ That,” I said,“ is exactly how I feel about you.”
A week later Jamie’ s trips to the hospital became more regular, although she insisted that she didn’ t want to stay there overnight.“ I want to die at home,” was all she said. Since the doctors couldn’ t do anything for her, they had no choice but to accept her wishes.
At least for the time being.“ I’ ve been thinking about the past few months,” I said to her.
We were sitting in the living room, holding hands as we read the Bible. Her face was growing thinner, her hair beginning to lose its luster. Yet her eyes, those soft blue eyes, were as lovely as ever.
I don’ t think I’ d ever seen someone as beautiful.“ I’ ve been thinking about them, too,” she said.
“ You knew, from the first day in Miss Garber’ s class that I was going to do the play, didn’ t you. When you looked at me and smiled?”
She nodded.“ Yes.”
“ And when I asked you to the homecoming dance, you made me promise that I wouldn’ t fall in love, but you knew that I was going to, didn’ t you?”
She had a mischievous gleam in her eye.“ Yes.”“ How did you know?”
She shrugged without answering, and we sat together for a few moments, watching the rain as it blew against the windows.
“ When I told you that I prayed for you,” she finally said to me,“ what did you think I was talking about?”
The progression of her disease continued, speeding up as March approached. She was taking more medicine for pain, and she felt too sick to her stomach to keep down much food. She was growing weak, and it looked like she’ d have to go to the hospital to stay, despite her wishes.
It was my mother and father who changed all that.
My father had driven home from Washington, hurriedly leaving although Congress was still in session. Apparently my mother had called him and told him that if he didn’ t come home immediately, he might as well stay in Washington forever.