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Roger Went stood on the stoop of his favorite alpha’s home and waited for him to come and allow him in. It was later than he expected to be showing up, but he knew that if they were all in their beds, they’d welcome him with open arms and big hearts. He so loved this family.

“Your lordship.” He couldn’t catch Conri fast enough before he was down on his back with his belly and throat exposed. “To what do we owe this honor?”

“Get up, man. Christ, with people doing that all the time, you’d think I was some sort of monster. Get up, Conri.” He finally got the man to stand, but it was a moot point. His brothers were in the house as well, and he’d swear they dropped quicker than their brother did. The only person who didn’t was a young woman with such beauty that he was ready to swear to her himself. “You must be Cassidy Warmer.” She corrected him. “Sorry, yes, I heard that you had married. You’re more beautiful than I heard.”

“If you don’t do whatever it is to get them up, I’m going to make it so you have to bow before everyone because you’ll be broken.” He laughed and told her that he tried his best not to have them do it, but it was something in their DNA that made it so. “I don’t care. They look ready to die on this mountain, and I’m not ready to lose any of my family members just yet. Have you come here about my family?”

“I have indeed. Are they around, too?” She told him that they were just getting ready to sit down to dinner. Then she asked him if he’d like to join them. “I would. Thank you very much. I’m assuming that Ethel Valley is around, too?”

“I am. What brings you here…never mind. I remember. You certainly took your time in getting here. He’s already heard from a second doctor, and the news hasn’t been given to us yet. So this might be all for naught.” Roger said that he’d still like to offer immortality to them if they wish it. “That will be up to them in whether they wanted it or not. I’m thinking they will, if only to be here when the children come. But that’s not up to me.”

Dinner was delightful. He got to meet the Warmer family and enjoyed the father a great deal. Another beautiful woman added to their family was in Elizabeth. She treated him much the same way that Ethel did in that she seemed to have no respect for him at all. Which he supposed was all right for now. After dinner, they retired to the living room, and he could already see the touches that Cass had made to the room by simply being around. Getting down to business, he took Howard’s hands into his very much larger ones.

“How frank would you like me to be, Howard? I mean, I could ask you questions, but I do believe I know the answers to them.” The man looked around the room and then back at him. His small yes was all he needed to tell the room it was much too late for him to help the older man. “You’ve been blacking out, haven’t you? Sometimes, you will wake in a different area than you remember being in and have no idea how you got there.”

“Yes. Sometimes, it is only for a few minutes, but now it’s more like hours will be lost, and I haven’t any idea if I’ve walked or driven myself to that point. Also, I’m assuming that you know about the memory loss, too.” He said that he did. That his mind was a jumble of half ideas and memories. “I have no trouble remembering things from long ago, but daily memories are something that I’ve lost. And it’s embarrassing.” He looked around at his wife, then back at him again. “You can’t help me, can you?”

“No. The tumor is shrinking. You’re getting better. Tell him that, Howard. Tell him that you’re getting better.” His wife came and sat on the floor in front of her husband. “Tell him that it’s fine and that you want to be here forever.”

“I don’t want to be here forever like I am right now. And we both know that I’m not getting better. We knew that as soon as the doctor told me that the tumor had shrunk.” They all looked confused. “If he gives me immortality, I have a feeling that it’s not going to help me as much as make me suffer for the rest of my life. Suffer with memory losses, big holes in my day where I can’t remember what I was doing. That’s it, isn’t it? I would be just as I am right now, and you won’t be able to fix that.”

“You’re correct. And it’s not only the memories and black holes but the loss of appetite, too. You’ll continue to lose weight simply because your brain no longer works like it did before. And while the tumor will no longer kill you, it will continue to incapacitate you until you are little more than a shell of a man. The damage has been done, and it is far more than I can fix even with my considerable magic.” Cass told him that the doctors had hopes of him living longer. “I’m sure that they did. Giving him another six months to a year for him to continue on the path that he’s on right now. There is no hope for him. And I’m sure if you were to think about what they said, they said they could prolong his life, not save it.”

“He did say that.” Kendrick was a good man, too, one that he’d come to depend on when he had medical questions that he might need answers to. “Chris said that he could prolong his life, Cass, but he never mentioned saving it. I believe in my heart of hearts that he’s going to tell you when he talks to you that the tumor has done its damage to the part of the brain where the shrinkage is. There is nothing left of that part of the brain for it to live off of.”

“You’re saying that the tumor is sucking his life away one part of his brain at a time.” Kendrick told Elizabeth that was correct. “So we’re no better off than we were before.”

“No, that’s not true. You will have a bit longer with him. Instead of the year that the other doctor gave you, you might have as much as two years. Will his life be productive and free of pain? No, it won’t. He’s going to pay for the extra time, and more of his memories will fade, and his blacking out or even becoming someone that is different than he is right now. There is no telling what will happen to him. This is a large tumor, and it’s gone too long for anyone to be able to predict what’s going to happen.” Cass asked if immortality would make it better. “No. I’m sorry to say it will just make him worse for a lot longer. He’ll suffer in ways that we won’t understand until he gets there.”

“I don’t want him to die.” No one said anything to Elizabeth’s outburst. “Can’t you do something? Is there anything that I can give you that will make him live out the rest of his days in peace and quiet with me?” No one said a word, but Conri got up and pulled the elderly woman from the floor. “Can you help him, Conri?”

“I wish that I could. But I promise you with all my heart that I’ll make sure that his final days are pain-free. I’ll hire round-the-clock staff to see to his every need. Then, when he passes, I’ll take care that you never have another worry so long as you live. Cass and I will care for you so that—”

“I can’t go on without him. I don’t want to live without my husband by my side. Can’t you understand that? He’s all that I ever wanted in life, and now something is taking him away from me.” When she collapsed in his arms, Conri stood there holding onto her as she sobbed her heart out. It touched him, too, the way that he comforted her with dignity and respect. Finally, when she seemed to cry herself out, he led her to the couch and sat her down next to her daughter. Cass and other members in the room were crying a great deal now as well.

Wiping at his eyes, he said that he could take away some of the pain but not all of it. It was considerable, too, the man was dealing with. It was a small wonder that he was even up and about. He could taste it on him.

“I want to die on my own terms. I need to die the way that I want to. With my family by my side when I take my last breath.” Roger nodded, his own heart breaking for the man and his family. “I’ve already decided that I’m going to turn down the extra treatments that will be offered to me. The pain now is about as unbearable as I’ve ever dealt with.”

“Dad, why didn’t you say anything to us? We could have made things better for you. We certainly wouldn’t have dragged you all the way to Columbus to get those extra tests. Were they that bad for you?” He nodded at his son. “Then I don’t understand why you went through with it.”

“Because it gave us all a little bit of hope. The pain was worth it to see that small glimmer of hope on all your faces.” He turned to face the room. “I’m old and beaten. If I were to die tonight, I’d feel blessed that I got to see all my children today. Got to spend time with my friends and family. Would I do it again, go through all that prodding and poking? I would, just for you all.”

Roger felt like he should leave but couldn’t without causing a scene. So he sat on the couch with Conri and Cass, thinking about how much he wished he’d had better news. Something more than he wasn’t able to help the man when, of all the people he knew, this man deserved it more than anyone else he’d been able to help.

“Will you make me immortal?” He was surprised by the request from the son, Howie. “I’d like to live out an eternity with my sister if no one else. We’ve missed a great many years she and I, and I would like to be around.”

Roger said that he could do that, and after taking his hand into his, it was done. The man looked shaken, but he went to his mother and sat on the floor in front of her. Whatever he was going to say, it was going to make the entire room sit up a little higher on their seats.

“I won’t try and convince you to live with us. I know, we both know how much Dad means to you, and I won’t ask you to do that. But I will ask you not to die soon. I have missed time with you and Dad as well. I need you in my life for whatever time we have left. The same with Dad. I want to be there with the two of you until the time is gone.” He kissed the back of her hands as he continued. “Dad will say the same thing, I’m betting. You be here to gather up more memories and stories to tell him when you cross over to be with him. Children may not come from me again, but you know that Conri and Cass will have a houseful. The way they look at each other, I’m surprised they haven’t told us yet that Cass is pregnant.”

“You looked at Margaret the same way, too.” He kissed his mom again. “I can’t live without him, son. You two have your lives, but I don’t want to be here without him. While I understand what you’re asking me to do, I just don’t know that I can do that.”

“Yes, you can, Bethy, my dear. Yes, you can do that and more. I like the idea of you having this extra time to live here without me pestering you into things all the time. You store up those memories, and you bring them back to me. Tell me stories like only you can do for me.” Elizabeth cried and said she didn’t want to. “You have to do it for me, love. You need to do it for the children. As they said, they’ve missed time with us, and I believe that they’ll be there for you forever.” He went to her then and pulled her into his arms. “I have loved you since the first time I saw you coming out of that house on Main Street. Do you remember that? You were going on a date with another young man, and I tricked him into leaving you at that bar. I’ve always said that he must not have wanted to be around you if he was that easy. But I won that night and every day since then. Because I got you.”

“You told him that his girlfriend was looking for him. He dropped me like a hot potato.” Elizabeth laughed again as she picked up the story from Howard. “I do believe that the two of them married and divorced before we even had our first anniversary. You were the best thing that happened to me.”

“You got that right. You’ve been my number-one girl since then. I love you, Bethy, my dear. And I will love you until you’re by my side once again. Stay with them. Please? For me?” She asked him if he was planning on dying tonight. “No, I’m not planning on anything, but I just don’t want to waste time anymore. We’re going to live out what time we have left, like it’s the last day. I love you. So very much.”

“And I love you, too.” She hugged him, still sobbing about him not being with her when he passed away. Roger thought that she was taking this a great deal better than he would have had this been his wife and family surrounding him. “I’ll stay and try to make memories. I’m not going to even try and make you understand how much I’m going to miss you. But I do want to be able to see grandchildren. All right.”

The rest of the evening was spent talking about family. There was a great deal that he didn’t know and a lot more than he’d only heard little bits about. It made him sorry that he wasn’t spending more time with his own kids. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have time, but he’d just kept working until they didn’t bother asking for him to come and spend time with him. Roger decided he was going to take care of that as soon as he got home. Making time with family was something everyone should be doing, not just when they knew one of them was going to die soon.

~*~

Howard was exhausted, but he didn’t feel the pain like he’d been feeling the last few weeks. He knew that Roger had given him a bit of magic to help him along, and he was grateful for it. After taking his shower, he was ready for bed around midnight. Elizabeth had been in bed for about an hour now, and he went to their room to look in on her.

Sitting next to the bed in the room’s only chair, he moved a lock of hair from her face so that he had a clear view of the face that he’d come to love all his life. Leaning back in the chair, he thought of all the things that had made him happy over the years. Seeing Elizabeth heavy with his children had been the most special of all his memories.

“I’ve made some changes to my will, love. It will benefit all of you when the time is right. I’m leaving the horse farm and all the land to Conri. Not that he thinks of it like he’s beholding to the great vampire, but a pack needs their own land, I believe. He’s been such a good man to all of us that I hate leaving him with the task too of taking care of Cindy. No matter what we say about writing her out of our lives, she is still our daughter, and I couldn’t do that even if I wasn’t sick with this damned tumor.”

He thought of the things that he’d left the pack and the man who runs it. It made him think of his own beautiful daughter, Cass, and how much she seemed to love the big wolf. Smiling to himself, he thought of what his son said about them having a houseful of children by the way they looked at one another.

“I know that they don’t need it, but I’ve set aside some money for their children to have a bit of a nest egg. And children that Howie might have, too. I don’t think he’ll mourn too much longer. He sees his sister’s happiness, and I’m betting that he wants that for himself, too, before too much longer.” He thought about the memories that she’d bring with her when she came to be with him and hoped that was true. That they could sit and talk about their family like he’d never left them. “I want to go now, love. I hate waiting daily for the pain to hit me so badly that it takes my breath away. I don’t like not remembering things like names and people. It frustrates me so much that it makes me angry. I don’t like that feeling either, just so you know.”

When Elizabeth sighed heavily in her sleep and rolled to her back. He could see her face fully now and thought she was just as beautiful tonight as she was when they met all those years ago. She could still make his heart skip a few beats when she smiled like she was doing now.

“I know that I said I was ready to depart this life, and I am. But I’m hoping for just one more day with you. A day that we can hash out what you’re going to be doing with the rest of your life. I want you to be happy, love. I want you to be able to hold our grandchildren and love on them. I want everything that I can’t do now for you to do for me. Tell them…tell them every day that I would have loved them to pieces. Take them to my gravesite and tell them stories about me so that they know me.” He thought about that. “No, don’t do that. You can tell them stories when they ask, but don’t bore them to death with daily stories about me. They’ll get enough of me from all you telling them little stories. And don’t take them to the grave. I don’t want children there when they should be out and full of life in a yard someplace.”

He looked out the window when he thought about how much he was going to miss, and it made him sad. Too sad to talk to his wife right then. While he allowed the tears to flow down his cheeks, he wondered if it would be painful when he died. Would the tumor hurt him more in the end and found himself to be a little frightened about that.

Looking at his wonderful wife, he could see the frowns that were marring her beautiful face and knew that he was the cause of it. Touching his finger to the slight marring, he told her that he loved her.

He must have dozed off in the chair because he was suddenly wide awake. Getting up, stumbling a little to the bathroom, he wondered if he’d been in here already as the toilet was running. Going back to the bed, he felt a wave of something roll over him, and he had to hold onto the dresser until he had his balance back.

It took him several tries to get back to the bed. Twice, he nearly fell when he released the dresser, and then he almost tripped up when he realized that he’d lost one of his slippers at some point. Getting into the bed, finally, he was glad for the size of the thing so that he’d not disturb Elizabeth with him trying to get the covers right and over him.

Lying there, he thought about the way he was feeling and was afraid. Afraid that this was the time and he wasn’t going to get to talk to his wife or family again. Crying a little, he tried to remember the name of the young man who had taken them in and couldn’t. It hurt his heart that he couldn’t remember his son’s name either.

“You’ll be just fine.” He looked over at his wife. “You’ll be just fine if you want to go. I know that you’re hurting.”

He sobbed loudly and took her hand to his heart. Telling her how he was feeling again, he couldn’t remember if he’d been up and about just now, and she told him that it didn’t matter. That she had him now and that he could go to sleep if he wanted.

“But I might not wake up.” She seemed to understand that as well and laid her head on his chest just over his heart. “I love you, Bethy love. With all that I am. I’m going to miss you so much.”

“Shhhh. I have you. Close your eyes and tell me a story. The one where you tricked Dominic into leaving me at the party by myself.” He said he didn’t know who that was. “It’s all right. I’m going to tell you one then. It’s about this man who brought me roses all the time when he thought I could use a pick me up. How chocolates would just show up in the house when I’ve had a bad day.” She patted his chest, and he nearly panicked when he couldn’t remember who she was or why she was with him. “I have you, Howard. I want you to do what you need to do. Just close your eyes and think of me. All right?

“Yes, all right.” It didn’t seem important that he told her that he didn’t know where he was nor who she was. Just closing his eyes, he could feel her breath on his chest, and it made him feel like he could take on the world. When he started to feel heavy, his body being weighted down with something akin to a weight being settled over him, he no longer felt panicky but calm for the first time in what seemed forever. “I love you and that you’re here with me.”

The weight was almost nearly taking his breath away, and he didn’t seem to mind that. His head didn’t hurt, but why he cared, he didn’t understand. All he knew was that someone was with him at this time, and he didn’t feel alone any longer. He felt…he had peace in his heart for whatever was going on, and his breath felt lighter like he didn’t need to breathe anymore and didn’t. The last thing that he felt, or even thought of before he faded away, was that he should know the woman in the bed with him, but it was too much. Fading, or whatever it was called, was taking everything away from him.

~*~

Cass held onto her mother’s hand while the medics that had come with the ambulance had worked to save her father. He’d been gone since two mom had told her, and she hadn’t been ready to let him go. She understood that more than she could explain to her mother how much she really did understand.

It was now six-thirty, and she’d been able to say her goodbyes too. Howie had been here at four, and he, too, got to go and sit with Dad for a time while they all waited. Her dad was gone. Her hero wasn’t going to be around for her anymore. It didn’t bother her as much as it might have if not for the calmness of her mother right now.

“We talked for a little while. I could hear him talking to me as well when he thought that I was asleep. Then I saw him getting up and wandering around the room like a caged animal, and I realized that he didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t want that for him, not if I could do something about it.” Cass asked her if she’d let him go. “Yes. I told him that I had him, and he seemed to believe me, so I held him until I got up to talk to you.”

“Did he have any pain, Mom?” She said that he hadn’t. His heart just faded quietly away until he was gone. “That’s all we could ask for him to go peacefully.”

“Yes. I realized something else, too. I was being selfish about wanting him to live out that year when he was in so much pain. Your father was a proud man, and forgetting things like he’d been doing would have embarrassed him.” Cass nodded and held hands with Conri, who had been there for all of them. “I told them they were wasting their time with trying to revive him. But they continue on doing it.”

“They’ll stop soon.” Again, a calmness rolled over her. “Dad went out like he wanted with his family near him and in his own bed. I love that. He’s at peace and no longer hurting like he was either.”

Calling the police had been done by Conri. And only when they’d all had their time to say goodbye to him. There was some discussion about telling Cynthia, but that all went to the wayside while they talked about Dad and his dying the way that he had.

She would go and tell her and make sure that she was locked up well, but that would be the last time for a while. When her mother passed, she would go there again to tell her. It was important to her to make sure that she wasn’t out of the loop, though she wasn’t a good person. She did deserve to know when her parents were gone. And when the time came for Cynthia to take her last breath, she’d be notified, and that would be the end of her visits to the asylum.

“Your father had made sure that his wishes were known before the will was to be read. Sometimes, people forget that if they make arrangements in their will, the service will be delayed, or things might not be known until the reading of the will. But your father had everything arranged.” Calling the funeral director had been her job, and she didn’t feel the kind of grief that she thought she should. “He was a good man and well-loved by the townspeople.”

“I know that. He was a great father, too. I’m going to miss him.” The man, if he’d given her his name she, didn’t remember it. “I’ll be down with his suit in a couple of hours. The house is full right now. Is about noon all right with you?”

“I have everything that I need. He dropped off his suit the other day when he was in town. I have that and the other things that he wished to have with him when he passed. Some pictures and a good book he said that he’d not had a chance to read yet.” She laughed, and it made her feel good. “Your father was a character too.”

“Yes, I can see him doing that. Having time while waiting on my mom, I’m betting that he said about it.” She was told that was exactly what he said. He’d have plenty of time to read the books that he’d not been able to.

“He told me that he hoped that heaven had a good library. That would be something that he missed, too.” After getting off the phone with the man, she sat with her mom on the couch in their living room. She told her what dad had said about a good book going to be what kept him from being bored. And just like she hoped, her mom laughed and hard. Howie said he had one for him that he was going to slip into the casket as well. As well as a few pictures that he could take with him.

“I hope he gets to see Howard and Margaret too.” Howie hugged her when she stood up. “You’re the best sister in the world. I’m going to be looking forward to spending the rest of eternity with you by my side, little sister.”

She was going to look forward to spending some time with him and Mom too, while she had her here. Knowing that everything had been taken care of by her dad surely did make her feel like he was getting whatever he wanted. Christ, she was going to miss her daddy.