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on her shoulder.  Startled, she looked up to see Grandma Val.
    “Shh honey,” she said comfortingly. “He loves you too.  You know that.  Never forget that.  Be strong for him,” she said as tears began to fall from her eyes.
    The words resonated in Kathryn’s ears.  Be strong for him .  She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose and out of her mouth and a few minutes later had regained control of herself.
    “I love you Ben.  I will love you for as long as I live,” and with that, Kathryn reached up and tenderly kissed his cheek, allowing her lips to linger, thinking back to last night and the promises they’d made to each other, before moving her lips to the corner of his mouth.  The ventilator was blocking her ability to kiss him like she wanted to, but as her soft, moist lips met the corner of his dry, cold ones, she felt a greater love between them than she ever had.  She knew he loved her and he would always be there for her, looking out for her, watching over her.  What had he said last night?  That he promised to love her every day for the rest of his life and even after that.  She never expected him to have to fulfill that promise so soon.
    “I love you,” she whispered once more into his ear, before releasing herself from him and climbing out of the bed.
    “Come on dear,” Val said placing her arm around Kathryn, trying to lead her out of the hospital room. 
    As she turned her back on him, her heart felt as if it were shattering into a million pieces, and she turned around once more to see the lifeless body of the only man she’d ever loved, the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with, lying alone and helpless.
    “I can’t leave him,” Kathryn cried out, turning to run back to him, but was stopped by a gentle tug from Val.
    “He’s alre ady gone,” she told her, but Kathryn yanked her arm away and ran over to Ben anyway, grabbing his hand, kissing it over and over, needing to feel his touch just one last time.  She felt the warmth she had sensed earlier again wrap around her and she gently laid his hand back down to his side, patting the top of it softly before turning back and walking out of the room where Ben’s family was gathered.
    They all seemed to look at her with pity, knowing she was losing the love of her life, but then her eyes found those of Ben’s mother and the emptiness Kathryn saw in them was unlike anything she’d ever witnessed.  Sharon came over and wrapped Kathryn in her arms before she and Scott along with Allie and Luke went in to say their goodbyes.
    Kathryn sat down across the hall away from Val and Dom, keeping to herself, not wanting to talk to anyone.  The hall seemed unnaturally quiet for a hospital, which only allowed her the ability to focus more on her thoughts and pain, something she didn’t want to do.  She stared at the ring on her finger, twisting it around and around as she waited.
    She wasn’t sure how long the Bradley’s were in with Ben, but after a while she saw three serious looking doctors and two orderlies enter the room and a few minutes later, a primal scream shot out of the room.  Sharon’s scream was gut-wrenching, and could only come from the greatest loss anyone could ever know…the mother’s loss of her child.  The wailing continued and then Sharon was being escorted out of Ben’s room by Scott and Luke.  It looked as if she couldn’t hold herself up and was only able to do so with their support while Ben lay dying only a few feet away.  Sharon was taken into a room a few doors down, followed by Val and Dom, and soon it was quiet.
    Kathryn looked up and down the hallway, painfully aware that she was alone.  Not even doctors or nurses were roaming the halls.  And then she heard some noise that sounded like the creaking of wheels and the collapsing of metal coming from Ben’s room.  As she stared towards the room, she saw the foot of Ben’s bed begin to stick out of the doorway.