Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

They were quiet for a moment. "I know what you're thinking."
Jade's eyes were brighter than they'd been since the surgery,
and Tanner was flooded with relief. Maybe Hannah was right.
Maybe Jade was only tired because of the delivery, like any other
woman.
"What?" "You want to know how I'm feeling, right?" Tanner grew serious. "Always."
"I feel good, Tanner. I was half-asleep but I heard Dr. Layton.
The tumor isn't going to double overnight... it isn't going to grow
tentacles into my brain. God wouldn't bring us this far only to let
that happen."
"But you said yourself sometimes God's plans aren't ours."
"I know. But right now, right here, I don't feel like a cancer patient. I feel like a new mother, alive and
awake and anxious to hold her baby. Thrilled beyond words to be married to the man of
270
y dreams and certain I'll be around..." Jade paused as tears glistened in her eyes. "Long enough to see that
man walk our little girl down the aisle someday."
Tanner's throat was so thick he couldn't speak. Instead, he lifted jade's hand to his mouth and kissed it, soft
and tender, as though it might break.
"But just in case ...I have a favor to ask."
He looked up and coughed, still struggling to speak. "Favor?" "Yes. Remember? I told you I needed the
video camera for something today?"
Tanner nodded. "Vaguely." He cast her a silly smile. "I was a little distracted yesterday."
"Well, it's time. Now. Before dinner."
He had no idea what she was leading to, but he reached for the camera and took off the lens cover. "Okay,
what am I shooting?" "Me." She pointed to the closet. "I had the nurse set a bag in
there. Inside is a pink journal. Could you get it for me?" She cast him a sweet but tired smile. "Please."
Tanner knit his eyebrows together. He had no idea where this was going but he did as she asked. The
journal was where she said it would be, and he gave it to her without pausing to see what it contained.
Then he returned to his seat, positioned the video camera, and saluted her. "Tanner, the cameraman, at
your service 11
Jade sat up a bit straighter, wincing. "They don't tell you how sore your stomach'll be." She smiled and
straightened first her bathrobe, then her hair. "Okay, I'm ready."
A strange, uneasy feeling made Tanner lower the camera. His teasing tone was gone. "Wait a minute.
What's going on?"
Jade leveled her gaze at him, her face every bit as peaceful as before. "I have something to tell Maddie,
something I want her to have when she's older."
276 Tanner's heart raced and he shook his head. "You just got done telling me you feel fine, that you know
you're going to make it and everything's going to work out."
"Yes..." "So, I don't get it-" He stopped, aware his voice was louder than before and bordered on angry.
He started again. "Are you saying you want me to tape some... some sort of good-bye message to
Madison?" He paused and glanced about the room, searching for the words. Finally his eyes found jade's
again. "I can't do it, Jade. Ask the nurse, ask Hannah. But I can't sit here and watch you say good-bye
through the lens of a video camera."
She waited until he was finished. "It doesn't have to be a goodbye
video, Tanner. It's simply a message from me to her. And I
want you to tape it." Her eyes grew more intense than before.
"Please."