The royal family had left to go on their trip. Sarah was feeling much better. Just weak.
There was a knock on her door. She was lying on the bed reading her journal. “Come.” She looked up, “Jack.” She smiled, “come in.” She put her book aside.
“How do you feel?” He kissed the top of her hand.
“Tired.”
“Have you been on a tour yet?”
“Not really.”
“I will show you around. If you feel up to it?”
She got out of bed. Jack noticed that she was already dressed. All she had to do was slip on a pair of shoes. He led her outside to the Queen’s flower garden.
“You brought me out here to make me sneeze didn’t you?” The garden was breath taking.
“Not intentionally.” He smiled.
They started walking along the gravel paths through row after row of blooming flowers. “Tell me Jack, how did you get this job?”
“David.”
“I beg your pardon.” Shivers ran through her.
“David came to the university to see you one evening. I almost ran him over, I was late for class. We struck up a friendship and the rest is history.”
“Oh, I see. Why am I here?”
“Several reasons really. What do you think is wrong with Orion?”
“It could be a lot of things: gallstones. His gallbladder may need removed. Ulcers. An eating disorder, drugs.”
“He hates me. I can’t get close to him to help him.”
“I don’t work with eating disorders.”
“I know. The second reason you’re here is actually a new reason.”
“Oh,” she frowned.
“The servant Michael,” They had cleared the garden and were walking toward a pond. “There is something wrong with his lower back. I told Juliah about it. I want her to keep an eye on him.”
“You didn’t tell him.”
“No.”
Jack guided her to a stone bench near the pond. They sat down. He let out a long sigh. “Sarah, I know you don’t need this right now. However, I’m a selfish man; weak and scared.”
She was confused.
“I’m sorry.” He sighed.
“For what?”
He removed a bottle of pills from his jacket pocket, plunking them down on the bench.
She picked the bottle up examining the pills. “Jack these are morphine.” Her immediate reaction was to be appalled.
He took a deep breath, “I eat them like candy.”
“What?! You don’t look like a junkie.”
“Look around you. Isn’t this place breath taking?”
She did and it was. The perfectly manicured lawn, flowers of every shape, size, and color bloomed all around them. It was peaceful.
“This is my home now. I’ve been here for 14 years. While you continued your education, I birthed a prince.” He chuckled. There was a deafening silence between them. “I’m dieing Sarah. I could have come to you. I was afraid I would die during the trip. I want to die here.”
She couldn’t believe her ears.
“Sarah,” he continued, “I have Glioblastoma.”
“Brain cancer,” Sarah gasped.
He lowered his head “forgive me.”
“Jack,” she whispered.
“No, Sarah. I didn’t want to die alone. I had to see you again. I tricked you.”
“Jack.” She tired to smile. “I would have gotten here faster if you would have told me the truth.”
He stuck the bottle back in his pocket. “You don’t think evil of me?”
“How could I?”
“Oh Sarah,” he cried.
She embraced him. They sat on the bench for hours in the silence of each other’s company.
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