“I don’t understand, why you didn’t come see me when you came back to visit your mom?We could have talked it all through and…”
Colton let out a sigh.“It was a mistake, Emma.I should have, but I was so stressed dealing with hockey practice, and then my dad, that when I had time away from him, I just wanted to decompress.”
“I’d have understood.”
“No, you wouldn’t of.I would never have expected that from you anyway.I guess at the time I didn’t understand things myself.My dad turned into an abusive monster, and there would have been no way I’d have allowed you to be around that.Just when I was getting ready to move out on my own because I couldn’t take things anymore, that was when he gave me the last letter you ever wrote, with your goodbye attached.”
“Oh, Colton, had I have known, I never would have written that letter.”
“Maybe in some strange way it was supposed to be this way.I mean, maybe, had we of gotten together when we were younger, perhaps we wouldn’t have survived.”
“Maybe.”
“So you read all my letters?”
Colton nodded, and then looked at me, a heaviness in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Yes, I read them.It was only six years ago or so that I found them.My dad had just died, and my mom was going through cancer treatment.”
“How is your mom now?”I questioned, drawing circles on his chest.
“Sadly, Mom died eight months later.Guess they can’t cure stage-4 cancer, no matter how much money you throw at it.”
“Oh, Colton, I’m so terribly sorry.God, I loved your mom.”
“Thanks, but you should know, it was your letters that helped me get through that time.”
“Really?”
“Yes.You were the only other person I let into my life long enough to mean anything to me.All your letters, the stories, even though I read them long after they were supposed to get to me pulled me away from the pain of losing my mom.I will say they did remind me of the pain of losing you and that was far different than the pain of losing my mom.”
I pressed a tender kiss to his lips.“Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome.”
The room grew quiet as I rested my head back on his chest.We’d been through so much because someone else rewrote our story-, it was hard to be angry now.Now I just needed to accept what had happened to be able to move forward.
“Is that why you got so upset about the cancer foundation?”I asked almost afraid to ask him after his outbreak the last time.
I felt him tighten his hold on me, pulling me against him, like he was afraid I’d leave him once he told me his reasoning.
“I started the cancer foundation.It’s named after her.When my mom was diagnosed, she couldn’t afford her treatment, so I took it upon myself to pay for it.I’d seen so many people at her treatments, crying because the treatment they were on was no longer working and needed to be changed, but the person couldn’t afford the cost.What got me was watching the parents of a three-year-old suffer while their child died because their benefits didn’t cover the cost of the drugs he needed.So, after my mom passed, I donated almost eight million dollars and opened up the foundation.I donate half my salary per year to the foundation, and I go there each month to spend time with young kids who are dying.”
I lay there listening, not wanting to interrupt, but at the same time wanting to shake the man who’d given me the greatest orgasms of my life only a few short hours ago.He didn’t want recognition for what he was doing; he simply wanted to do it and be left alone about it.
“Wow, Colton, that is amazing.You should be so proud of this.”
“I know, you are probably wondering why I won’t allow you to share this right?”He sighed.
“Yes, I am, but you obviously have your reasons.”
“Yes.When Mom died, she asked me to promise her that I’d do something good with the money I earned.She also asked me not to boast about it, to do something that only I knew about so I could feel like I was making a difference, just like I’d done for her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, my mom, she never wanted my help.She told me that if this was the way it was supposed to be, this was her calling, but I did what I did anyway.I wanted to save her, to have her with me forever.She was the only one who truly cared about me anyway.When she went to thank me, I told her I didn’t want the thanks.So, since this was her dying wish, for me to help others without receiving accolades for it, that is what I do.Pamela knows, as do most of the guys, and they respect what I wanted.”
