The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Lawson Roby Read Free Book Online Page B

and no matter how much he tried he couldn’t shake any of it.
    Derrek, Denise, and Mackenzie pushed through the revolving door and over to the information desk.
    A silver-haired, distinguished-looking gentleman smiled at them. “How may I help you?”
    “We’re here to see my brother, Dixon Shaw, but we don’t know the room number.”
    “No problem.” The man typed a few keystrokes on his keyboard, looked at the computer screen, and wrote Dixon’s room number
     on a small sheet of paper. “He’s on the eighth floor.”
    Derrek took the information. “Thank you.”
    As they proceeded down the main corridor, no one spoke, and soon they turned left and waited for the elevator. When it arrived,
     they stepped inside, and Derrek pressed the eighth-floor button. Thankfully, there were no stops in between, and now they
     walked down the long hallway to Dixon’s room. Derrek was a nervous wreck, but suddenly, all he could think about was Dixon
     recovering. Maybe he could beat the cancer after all. He’d heard Dixon very clearly when he’d said his cancer was in its final
     stage, but he also knew that God could perform an amazing miracle. He knew anything was possible, and he’d certainly met a
     number of patients where he worked who’d beaten stage-four illnesses a while ago, and they were still in remission today.
     He did know that the overall survival rate for pancreatic cancer was pretty dismal, but he still hoped, wished, and prayed
     that his brother’s outcome would be different.
    They strolled past the oncology nurses’ station, perusing various room numbers. However, when they stopped in front of Dixon’s
     room, Derrek saw an attractive, thirty-something woman with short hair standing outside of it. Dixon’s best friend, Sam, was
     there, too, but since the door was closed, Derrek wondered what was going on.
    Sam, who after all these years still looked the same, stocky and bald, immediately shook Derrek’s hand and hugged him. “It’s
     been a long time, D, and I’m glad you came.” Then he spoke to Denise and Mackenzie. “I also want you guys to meet Dixon’s
     fiancée, Nina.”
    Denise smiled. “Hi Nina, it’s good to meet you.”
    Derrek and Mackenzie said hello, too, and then Derrek asked, “So what’s going on? Why is the door closed?”
    Sam seemed as though he hated to answer. “About twenty minutes ago, Dixon complained of some numbness and now they believe
     he’s had a stroke. It all happened so fast.”
    “I was just on the phone with him.”
    Nina folded her arms. “We know. We were in the room with him. As a matter of fact, I was in the room with him every time he
     called you. He’s called you almost every day since the doctor admitted him.”
    Derrek could tell Nina wasn’t too happy with him, and now he felt worse. He also still worried about what was going on in
     Dixon’s room because while he could hear voices, he couldn’t make out any of what they were saying. He wished someone would
     come and tell them something. Anything.
    After about another five minutes of all of them standing around in total silence, the door opened, and the attending physician
     walked out, looking at Sam and Nina. “Let’s walk down to one of the conference rooms, so I can give you an update.”
    “This is Dixon’s twin brother, sister-in-law, and niece,” Sam told him.
    “I’m Dr. Freemont,” he said, shaking their hands. “Very nice to meet all of you.”
    They followed the doctor and after entering the room, they sat around the table.
    Dr. Freemont closed the door and sighed. “I wish I had better news, but Dixon has definitely had a stroke. He’s completely
     paralyzed on his left side, and he can no longer speak. He mumbled a couple of times, but that’s about as much as he can do.”
    Tears seeped from Nina’s eyes, and Denise and Mackenzie wiped their faces, too.
    “I’m truly very sorry,” Dr. Freemont continued. “But based on the noticeable decrease in his