Chapter 26 - Five Years Later

Five years after I found Sophie sitting beside that IV pole, we returned to St. Vincent Medical Center.

Not because she was sick.

Because Dr. Brooks was retiring.

The oncology department held a small reception.

Sophie complained that hospital sheet cake should be illegal.

Dr. Brooks heard her.

“You spent six months eating crackers.”

“I developed standards.”

Lily stood beside us.

Twelve years old now.

Tall.

Sarcastic.

Completely convinced that my military rank existed mainly to embarrass her.

She hugged Dr. Brooks.

“Thanks for saving my mom.”

The room became quiet.

Dr. Brooks looked at Sophie.

Then at me.

“She did a lot of the saving herself.”

Sophie shook her head.

“We had help.”

Her hand found mine.

I squeezed it.

After the reception, Lily wandered toward the vending machines.

Sophie and I walked down the old corridor.

Then we stopped.

The spot.

The wall.

The same tall windows.

The place where I had seen her sitting five years earlier.

“You remember?”

Sophie laughed softly.

“Every day.”

“I almost took a different hallway.”

“I almost told the nurse I didn't want you in the room.”

“I would have ignored you.”

“I know.”

We stood there.

I imagined my younger self walking toward us.

Uniform beneath his coat.

Certain he could survive anything by refusing to feel it.

I didn't hate that man anymore.

I understood him.

But I was grateful I wasn't him.

Sophie leaned against my shoulder.

“You know what I think about sometimes?”

“What?”

“If Captain Reese hadn't gotten sick.”

“I've thought about that.”

“If you hadn't taken the wrong corridor.”

“I've thought about that too.”

“What if we never found each other again?”

I looked at her.

“Then I hope we still would have become better people.”

She smiled.

“That wasn't romantic.”

“I've been warned about my romantic skills.”

She kissed me.

Then Lily shouted from down the hall.

“Can you two stop being gross?”

Sophie laughed.

We walked toward our daughter.

At the exit, I looked back once.

I had once believed that hallway was where I discovered Sophie might die.

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Years later, I understood something else.

It was also where the version of me who kept running finally stopped.