The Secret Marcus Had Been Carrying Alone – 9!001

PART 2 – The Secret Marcus Had Been Carrying Alone – 9!001
PART 2

David’s fingers closed gently around my arm.

Not tightly. Not possessively.

Just enough to steady me.

“Come with me,” he said.

I looked past him, toward the corridor that led to the surgical wing.

“Where is Marcus?”

“He’s not on the floor.”

“What does that mean?”

David swallowed. His eyes were still wet, and somehow that frightened me more than if he had been crying openly.

“It means he asked to be left alone for a few minutes.”

“A few minutes?” My voice rose despite myself. “David, you’re acting like something terrible has happened.”

A nurse at the station looked down at the chart in front of her.

David glanced at her, then back at me.

“Not terrible,” he said carefully. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

That answer did nothing to calm me.

I pulled my arm free.

“Then tell me what’s going on.”

The hallway seemed to narrow around us. Phones rang at the nurses’ station. A cart rolled past, its wheels squeaking with every turn. Somewhere beyond the double doors, an overhead announcement called for a respiratory therapist.

Normal hospital sounds.

But every face I passed seemed turned toward me.

Every silence felt deliberate.

David lowered his voice. “There’s a consultation room upstairs.”

“I don’t want a consultation room. I want my husband.”

“You’ll see him.”

“Then take me to him.”

He hesitated.

That hesitation cut deeper than anything he had said.

“What are you afraid of?” I asked.

His expression folded in on itself.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Then why won’t you tell me where he is?”

“Because I promised Marcus I wouldn’t say anything until he was ready.”

I stared at him.

The lunch bag swung lightly from my hand. The pie inside had probably shifted against the container. The note beneath the fork was still there, waiting for a moment that suddenly seemed impossibly ordinary.

“You promised my husband,” I said slowly, “that you would keep something from me?”

David closed his eyes for a second.

“I promised I wouldn’t be the one to tell you.”

The words landed with a quiet force.

I looked toward the elevators.

“How long?”

His lips parted.

“How long has this been going on?”

He looked down at the floor.

“That depends on what you mean.”

“How long has he been keeping something from me?”