A lifetime worth of love

Emily.

"Hello, it's an emergency!" I spoke with my frail voice into the phone as I spoke with the state emergency number.

"He..he..He's having a stroke, sir!" I said, trying frantically to keep my breathing under check.

"Please be quick, he's just a kid" I said with years in my eyes.

"Continue doing CPR till we get there, we'll be there in 5 minutes" the man spoke from the other end of the phone.

I looked at my mom, fear was written all over her face. I understood why. She was doing her best not to lose her faith that her son would be fine. I looked into her eyes and I could read what was going on in it.

Dad.

We had lost dad a few months ago to the same thing my little brother was fighting for his life with right now.

Mom felt her world crash when dad died. He was her favorite until the day death took him from us, I still remember how he teased me about getting a husband before he gets too old.

Heart failure, that was what took him from us. We had spent so much on medication not knowing his fate had been settled. We were told he needed surgery, but due to the situation we were in, we had spent all our savings on medication for him.

Now we were facing the same trauma with my little brother.

* * * *

"Mrs Spencer?" I jumped up from my seat as I heard the doctor's voice. He was holding a file in his hand which I felt would be my brother's result. He wasn't smiling. My heart had started to beat fast.

"Can I have a moment with you?" I followed him closely to his office praying I would get good news from him.

"He's in a bad condition" He said after clearing his throat.

"But he's going to be fine, we have it under control" he said reassuring me.

"But...he'll be admitted for a few weeks in preparation for his surgery." He said without taking his eyes off my eyes.

"Surgery?" This can't be happening, that was one word I was praying I won't hear again in my life.

Not life repeating itself again, it was just like a few months back when I was told my dad would need to undergo surgery.

We were completely dried out financially from taking him to ine hospital to another, from spending money to buy his drugs and other things that he needed before we were told he needed surgery.

He died a few weeks before the date of the surgery.

I bet he didn't want us to go through hell looking for funds for his surgery.

"Why does he need surgery?" I asked.

"It's been 3 months since he started having this health issue, waiting any longer before removing the tumor could put him at greater risk, and low chances of surgery success." He said without still taking his eyes off mine.

"How long do we have for the surgery?" I asked him, during my dad's time..we had just a month to put up the bill.

"6 months, 7 months at most." I sighed deeply, thank God, at least I have enough time to work out the surgery bills.

"He'll be discharged in a few weeks, his medications would have been sorted out by then"

"Thanks sir." I said as I walked out of his office with a heavy heart.

"Good morning, mom" I said while rushing doing things I needed to do before leaving the house. The was a hot pancake on the kitchen shelf, I took one and nibbled at it.

"Hey, sweetie." She replied with a beaming smile on her face.

Then the smile on her face slowly turned into a frown.

"Aren't you always on off today?" She asked.

I nodded my head and swallowed what I was eating.

"I need to check something at Clara's place real quick." Clara had been my best friend since I was in high school, she had been with me during the period my dad died. She was also helping in raising the surgery funds for my little brother.

"She told me someone had an offer for a job somewhere nearby, so I'm gonna go check it out."

I have two jobs I'm doing already, but it wasn't paying enough to boost my savings for Bryan's surgery.

I had to go out and scout for a third job. Maybe the pay would assist more and increase the surgery savings.

"See ya, Mom." I said as I closed the door behind me.

"Hey babe, what's up?" I said excitedly as I saw my Best friend, it's been a while since I saw her, I've been really busy with work.

"Here comes the workaholic," Clara replied to me jokingly.

She stood up from where she sat, came near me and gave me a very tight hug. I could smell her strawberry cologne on her, she has been a fan of strawberries that has affected almost every aspect of her life.

"Emily!!!" I heard a tiny familiar voice, it was Tracy, I was just going to ask of her now.

"Baby," I said to her. She was so adorable, she's just 5, but she has the brain of an adult. I met her at Clara's ice cream store, since that day she always wanted me to come over.

I squatted down to her height as she was running towards me. I smiled as she ran into my already spread arms and hugged me.

"I've missed you," she said as she buried her face into chest.

"I've missed you too," I said to her smiling.

"So tell me, you promised I would get an answer from you today,". Oh Christ! I had almost forgotten, she asked me to be her bestie, children never forget this kind of stuff. I had promised her I'd give her an answer today.

I looked at Clara who was smiling at me and I looked back at Tracy, whose face was already on me, waiting for an answer. I couldn't say no, could I?

"Yes, I will." I said smiling, accepting my fate. I couldn't just resist her request.

"Yayy!!!!" She said excitedly, holding me more tightly this time and giving me a kiss on my cheek, guess she was happy with my response.

"I have a best friend now," she continued. I could only laugh, she looked so adorable when she's excited.

"Hey sweetie, Daddy's back." I looked up and saw a handsome man hovering over me. He was huge. I stood up, releasing myself from Tracy's soft grip, I was lost looking at this man's face. He had the face of something perfectly carved by a Greek artist. He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt, his blue eyes were fixated on me for a few seconds then took it back to Tracy, he had a very nice smile.

"Daddy, guess what," He bent down and picked Tracy up, carrying her into his broad chest and looking straight at her, smiling.

"What princess? Tell daddy.' He said.

"I got a best friend today." His eyes widened.

"You're so lucky, princess," She nodded in excitement.

"So where's this new best friend of yours, or won't you introduce Daddy to her?"

"She's the one, dad" Tracy turned back, pointing at me, still smiling, then turning back to her dad.

"Nice to meet you sir, I'm Emily" I said, stretching out my hand for a handshake.

"Nice meeting you Emily, I'm Zach" He said, giving me a faint smile.

"I suppose you're my daughter's best friend" he said looking straight into my eyes, smiling.

"Yeah, she's an adorable kid." I said, returning the smile back to him.

"Thanks for being a nice bestie to my daughter," he said to me and then looking at Tracy, he arranged her hair.

"Let's get going honey, daddy has somewhere important to be."

He turned back and walked towards the exit, with Tracy hanging on his shoulder, she waved me goodbye, I smiled and blew her a kiss.

"Byeeee."