Then I reached across the
console and took his hand.
“But I’m also going to be here.”
He looked at me.
“For the appointments. The difficult days. Everything.”
My voice shook.
“You don’t get to carry this alone anymore, Mark. Not one more day.”
His fingers tightened around mine.
—
Part 4: One More Wedding
We told Sophie that Saturday.
She drove home from university, and we sat together at the kitchen table.
Mark tried reading from an index card he’d prepared.
But his hands shook too much.
So I explained the diagnosis while he held our daughter’s hand.
At first, Sophie didn’t cry.
She asked questions.
Detailed nursing-student questions.
About treatment.
Memory testing.
Medical evaluations.
What the doctors expected.
She wrote down the answers carefully.
Then, suddenly, she stopped.
She set down her pen.
Looked at her father.
And whispered,
“Daddy?”
She hadn’t called him Daddy in years.
Then she started crying.
Mark pulled her
into his arms.
He held her the way he’d held her when she was little.
“I’ve still got good days ahead, sweetheart,” he whispered.
“I’ll be there when you graduate.”
He smiled through his tears.
“And someday, I’m going to embarrass you at your wedding with terrible jokes.”
“You’d better,” Sophie whispered.
We all knew the future was uncertain.
But for that moment, we let ourselves hope.
Eventually, Sophie wiped her eyes.
Then she glanced at me.
“Mom mentioned a folder with a ring on it.”
Mark looked embarrassed.
I squeezed his hand.
He drew a breath.
“I’m planning to marry your mother again.”
Sophie blinked.
“What?”
“September twentieth. At Loon Lake.”
He smiled.
“And I need your help finding her a dress. If I choose it, she’ll never forgive me.”
For a moment, Sophie simply stared.
Then she laughed through her tears.
“You enormous romantic idiot!”
She threw her
arms around him.
And for the first time since I’d discovered his diagnosis, our kitchen was filled with laughter.
—
The following weeks were both beautiful and difficult.
We visited Mark’s neurologist together.
Dr. Patel explained the condition and the care plan.
She discussed medication, routines, memory supports, and ways to make our home safer.
We began labeling things.
Putting reminders on a whiteboard.
Keeping a clear calendar.
And making sure important contact information was always accessible.
After the incident on Route 9, Dr. Patel told Mark he could no longer drive.
