Bobby shook his head quickly and resumed his position in to corner of the room nearest to Isobel. "No I will stay until she wakes." he said stubbornly.
                          
"Whatever you want is fine with me. Someone will be here to check in in about 15 minutes." She smiled again and exited the room.
                          
I stood there uncertainly for a minute before turning to Bobby. I cleared my throat. "Uh, I have to go somewhere. I will be back soon, please call me if she wakes before I get back." Bobby nodded his head and I rambled off my cell phone number before walking out of the room. I needed to talk to my wife.
                          
***
                          
I had been here hundreds of times over the years. Whenever Isobel accomplished something that I was proud of, my Gracie was always the first person I wanted to tell. Whenever I was lost or confused or just not confident in my parenting skills, I would come and talk it out with my wife and somehow, every time I got in my car to head back home, I always felt comforted and self-assured. I needed Grace now more than ever.
                          
I stumbled through the Oakridge Cemetary through a haze of tears and fell to my knees directly in front of my wife's headstone. Grace Elizabeth Davis: Devoted Wife, Loving Mother, Cherished Friend. October 2, 1972 - June 18, 1996.
                          
"G--Gr--Gracie!" I sobbed as I lay my head against the cool stone. "I failed you, baby. I told you that I would take care of our little girl, and I failed you! You must really hate me right now, and I wouldn't blame you. Our daughter hates me." I said miserably. "I hate me..." I whispered.
                          
"How did I let this happen?" I asked the question for what must have been the dozenth time today. "What can I do to fix it? Grace I'm lost here. I n--I need you!" I cried, all my pride had went out the window this morning around the time that I heard the words, 'Your daughter was attacked and raped....'
                          
"I broke my promise." I told her, and my mind went back to the day that that promise had been made.
                          
***
                          
15 Years Ago 1996
                          
I had no tears left. When I tried to cry now, it was just dry, painful, heaving sobs with no tears. My wife had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia just a year after Isobel was born and had been battling it ever since. The doctors hinted that it was a losing battle since the cancer had been left untreated for so long before diagnosis, but neither me nor Gracie was willing to accept that. Gracie seemed to have wrapped her head around it and accepted it before I did.
                          
Two years. Two years we had been fighting this together, and now she has given up. My dry eyes burned as I sagged against the side of her bed, defeated, and watched her hold our baby girl. She was barely strong enough to actually hold her, so Isobel rested most of her weight on the mattress beside her mother while Grace rubbed her back.
                          
"Bel?" she said weakly.
                          
"Huh?" Isobel didn't look up at her mother. Tears were rolling down her face, and I envied her for that ability. She seemed to have sensed the morbid atmosphere of the room the second that she had entered and had been bawling ever since.
                          
"Not 'huh'. You don't say 'huh' to answer someone. You say 'yes'." Grace scolded her, but ruined the affect by laughing.
                          
"Yes?" Isobel responded seriously, sitting up in bed and looking into her mother's eyes. "Bel, mommy's got to go, okay? I need you to take care of daddy while I'm gone. Can you do that for me?"
                          
Isobel nodded her head vehemently. "But where are you going mommy? Can I come, too? I'll be good. Daddy say I a big girl now 'cause I ated all my veggibles at lunch."
                          
I almost fell off the bed as my emotions threatened to rip my heart from my chest.
                          
Grace smiled at that, but shook her head sadly. "And you are a big girl! That's why I need you to stay with daddy and take care of him, because he's gonna be just lost without me. Imagine if you left him too?" Her words were more true than anyone would ever know. "There would be no one to take care of him, and we can't have that can we?" Isobel frowned, but shook her head at the same time. "Big girl! Now go on over and play with your toys. I need to talk to daddy about some grown up stuff."
                          
'Toys' was the magic word with Isobel. She jumped down off the bed and was across the room playing 'princess' in five seconds flat. Grace and I watched her for a minute before she cleared her throat and shifted on the bed, moaning as the pain rang through her body.
                          
"Johnathan?" she said as tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes and fell to the pillow beneath her head. "I have to go."
                          
I didn't want to hear those words. I knew it was time. I knew that she was so miserable and in so much pain, but I honestly couldn't imagine myself living in a world where she didn't exist, and I selfishly wanted to hold on to her for as long as possible. I shook my head. "No." I said shortly. "Gracie--you can't!"
                          
She sobbed quietly as she nodded. "Baby, it hurts! I c--I can't do it anymore. I tried--I'm trying. I just-I can't..."
                          
I felt like the lowest, most selfish form of life in that moment. What kind of man would be selfish enough to allow the woman that he loved to suffer in pain for any longer than was necessary just so that he could have one more day? One more hour. One more minute. I put my head down until my chin touched my chest, and the tears finally came. I trembled as the sobs took control.
                          
"Johnathan..."
                          
I looked at her and she smiled. "I love you, baby."
                          
"I love you more!" I told her.
                          
She looked over at Isobel, who was oblivious to the emotional turmoil that her parents were going through just across the room. "Promise me you'll take care of her."
                          
"I promise!!!" I said immediately. "I promise you that I will take care of our daughter!!"
                          
Right after the words escaped my lips, the brightest smile that I had ever seen on my wife's face lit up the room, and then she slipped away.
                          
***
                          
Present
                          
And I had failed her. I thought again. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry...." I said the words over and over again as my head remained resting against her headstone. How could I have allowed this to happen?
                          
　
                          
------------------------So what did you guys think? Feeling pretty bad for Johnathan huh? I honestly cried while writing this, but it had to be written. I'm not giving any update promises except that I will do so as soon as I can. :)
                          
PLEASE VOTE AND FAN AND VOTE AND COMMENT AND VOTE AND LIKE AND VOTE AND TWEET. I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL LIKE ________LOVES_________(FILL IN THE BLANKS AND I WILL USE IT NEXT CHAPTER)