Antonio's POV
Six months.
Six months of growth. Expansion. Progress.
The projects across Africa were thriving. North. East. South. Our team in West Africa handled operations seamlessly.
But business success was not what filled Antonio's chest with pride.
It was her.
Sofia Gabrielle Parker.
I often watched her during meetings - the way she spoke with quiet authority, how she listened more than she spoke, how she corrected engineers without humiliating them.
Her parents had failed to see her worth.
But I saw it daily.
I had learned something in life:
Sometimes people mistake gold for stone.
But gold becomes gold only after enduring fire - heat, pressure, shaping, carving, cutting.
Sofia had endured all of it.
And she had not broken.
When work allowed, we explored whichever country they were in. Markets in Morocco. Rooftops in Nairobi. Quiet coffee shops in Cape Town.
I fell deeper in love each day.
Her presence calmed him in ways therapy never could.
She was not loud. Not demanding.
But she was grounding.
I had never known peace like this.
I wanted to propose.
But I feared rushing her.
After Beatrice... after Ivy... I had learned not to move recklessly in matters of the heart.
Yet something in him knew:
When God is at the center, there is no "perfect timing." There is only obedience.
Third Person's POV
Morocco - The Beach
They were standing by the ocean when he asked.
"What do you think about having children someday?"
She didn't answer immediately.
The wind carried her hair across her face.
"I want children," she said softly. "Very much."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"But I'm afraid."
He turned toward her fully.
"I'm afraid my child might be born like me."
There was no shame in her voice.
Only fear.
"I would love that child regardless. I would protect them. They would be seen. Heard. Chosen."
Her breathing became uneven.
"But I am not the only person in the world. What if society makes them hate themselves? What if they experience the loneliness I did?"
She paused.
"I don't even know if I can carry a pregnancy safely. If I have to use surrogacy, I will."
Then quieter-
"I've thought about adoption for years."
His chest tightened.
"But two months ago, my doctor warned me... my condition could shift unexpectedly. I didn't want to bring a child into uncertainty."
He reached for her hand.
"You're not going anywhere," he said firmly.
But something flickered in her eyes.
Not fear.
Acceptance.
He kissed her.
Their first real kiss since dating.
It was not rushed.
Not desperate.
It was slow.
Intentional.
He felt warmth spread through him - not lust, not fire - but something steadier.
Belonging.
She hid her face in his chest afterward, shy, smiling.
He thought it was the beginning of forever.
He did not know it was the beginning of goodbye.
---
Sofia's POV
The pain began subtly.
A stiffness in her back. Fatigue. A sharp ache in her legs.
At first, I blamed exhaustion.
Travel. Work. Stress.
But within days, the pain intensified.
I woke up at night crying quietly.
Not wanting to alarm him.
But he always woke.
"I'm fine," I would whisper.
I wasn't.
Walking became difficult.
Eating hurt.
Even breathing felt heavy some nights.
Antonio called my specialist in Singapore.
After reviewing scans and test results, the doctor's voice had grown serious.
"It appears the growth has progressed."
The word growth hung in the air.
There was no dramatic screaming. No television-style panic.
Just silence.
They flew to Singapore immediately.
Third Person's POV
Hospital - Months Later
The hospital room became their world.
Days blurred into weeks.
Weeks into months.
Three months.
Some days she was lucid.
Other days she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Pain medication dulled her body but not the exhaustion.
Antonio barely slept.
He sat beside her bed, answering emails quietly, taking calls outside, returning immediately.
He stopped shaving.
Stopped caring about appearances.
He prayed.
Not theatrically.
But constantly.
At small Mother Mary statues in the hospital chapel. In hallways. In silence beside her bed.
"Lord, take anything from me. Just leave her."
One afternoon, the doctor sat him down.
"We are running out of options."
Antonio stared at him.
"I need honesty," he said.
The doctor hesitated.
"I'm not certain she will survive this progression."
Antonio did not shout.
He did not collapse.
He simply went very still.
Then he returned to her room.
She was awake.
Barely.
But awake.
And something in him knew.
There was no more time to wait.
---
The Proposal
He knelt beside her hospital bed.
His voice did not shake.
"Sofia Gabrielle Parker... will you marry me?"
She looked at him as if she had been expecting it.
Tears slid down her temples into her hair.
"Yes," she whispered.
"I already ordered a dress months ago."
He blinked.
Even now... she had prepared.
The nurses helped her dress.
Not elaborately.
But gently.
There was no grand ballroom. No decorations.
Just hospital lights.
Machines humming quietly.
A priest. A few nurses. Her doctor.
He barely saw the dress.
All he saw were her eyes.
Still beautiful.
Still dual-colored.
But tired.
They exchanged vows softly.
She cried through hers.
He did not.
He needed to stay steady.
When he said, "I do," he felt both joy and terror.
She became his wife in a hospital room.
It was not luxurious.
But it was sacred.
---
Three Days Later
The machines began alarming.
He had stepped out for coffee.
When he returned, doctors were surrounding her bed.
"Clear."
Her body jolted.
He froze at the doorway.
"Clear."
Nothing.
The room felt distant.
Muted.
"October 19, 2020," the doctor said quietly. "3:30 a.m. Sofia Gabrielle Parker Haywood has passed."
Passed.
Such a gentle word.
For something so violent.
Antonio's knees gave out.
He did not scream.
He did not curse.
He sat on the hospital floor.
And stared at nothing.
A nurse touched his shoulder gently.
Later, the doctor returned.
"She signed organ donation consent months ago."
Of course she did.
Even in death...
She chose to give.
He nodded silently.
He could not speak.
They wheeled her away.
And for the second time in his life...
He watched someone he loved leave a room and never return.
---
Author's Note:
Writing this chapter was hard.
I cried internally.
It hurt.
I have never truly been in love in real life. Funny right?
I have fallen in love with movies male leads, books males but I haven't found my royal highness yet or my knight in a dark armor.
I could imagine Antonio's pain.
I can't imagine a life without my soulmate.
For some reason I asked why give love when it will only be taken away?
I feel like if that was written in God forbidden in fate I prefer to be a nun then to be hurt that way.
I have gotten angry with writers who ended books like this.
I never thought this would have happened to me.
I never thought I would write such.
Usually when I read or watch movies with such an ending I cry. I get mad. Then I say out of anger it's better to live without romantic love then for you to be hurt.
But that's life.
Don't go away yet.
Let's read the last chapter together okay.
I promise it will be worth it.
Xoxo
Bella Angel Douglas