Ben spoke quietly.
“Rosie has a medical directive. I am her chosen decision-maker while she is unable to speak.”
My parents stared at him.
“She prepared it with her own lawyer,” he continued. “Not yours.”
My mother looked as though he had struck her.
“You turned her against us.”
“No,” Ben said. “You underestimated her long before I arrived.”
The elevator doors opened behind them.
For several seconds, neither parent moved.
Then Dad took Mom’s arm.
They left without another word.
The corridor felt lighter when the doors closed.
Ben leaned against the wall.
“I am sorry I did not tell you.”
I looked at him.
“You should have.”
“I know.”
“You should never have helped them keep something this serious from me.”
“I know.”
“But you did not marry Rosie because of that contract.”
“No.”
“You loved her.”
“From the time she waited beside the window for my bicycle.”
His voice cracked.
“I just did not understand what kind of love it was until we were older.”
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
“She is awake.”
Ben’s entire body went still.
“Can I see her?”
“She is asking for you.”
He took one step, then turned toward me.
“She asked for Cathy too.”
The nurse smiled.
We walked into the recovery room together.
Rosie looked impossibly small beneath the blankets.
Her face was pale.
Tubes and monitors surrounded her.
Yet the moment she saw us, she smiled.
“There you are,” she whispered.
Ben reached her first.
He bent over the bed and pressed his forehead against hers.
“You scared me.”
“I scared me too.”
He laughed and cried at the same time.
I stood beside the bed.
“You knew about the contract.”
Rosie’s expression changed.
“Ben told you.”
“You asked him to.”
She nodded.
“In case I did not wake up.”
“You woke up.”
“I did.”
I wanted to be angry with her for hiding the truth.
Then I saw the exhaustion in her face.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“I would have helped you.”
“I know that too.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Rosie looked toward Ben.
Then back at me.
“Because everyone always fights over me.”
Her voice was weak but clear.
“Mom and Dad fought about where I should live. Doctors talked to them instead of me. Teachers asked you what I wanted when I was standing right there.”
Tears filled my eyes.
