He Kept It from Me
“No,” I said, shaking my head, like I could undo it by refusing to accept it.
Jake’s eyes filled and overflowed, and I realized I had never actually seen him cry before.
“I found out a few months ago,” he said.
“I didn’t want to tell you until I knew more, and then more kept coming, and it was worse, and I kept thinking, if I tell her now she will leave, and I can’t lose you too.”
I stared at him, my mind flashing back through cancelled dates, the nights he said he was working late, the sudden weight loss I had blamed on stress.
“You were going alone. To appointments, to tests, to all of this.”
He nodded, wiping his nose with the heel of his hand.
“I wanted you to feel happy about the wedding,” he said.
“I wanted today to be pure, just one day where you weren’t worried about something crashing down.”
“You waited until after you married me to tell me you might die,” I said, and there was more hurt in my voice than I wanted.
