"I would do anything to show my brother that I'm a good, honest, decent man." He taps his fingers against his leg. "I would do anything and everything in my power to show you that I'm a good, honest, decent man."
"I know that you are," I say it with no reservation at all. "I don't need to read anything here to know that."
"I want you to read one thing." He pulls the file into his own lap and thumbs through some of the documents. "This is what I want you to read."
I take the piece of paper from him and hold it in front of me. It's a printed document of some sort. I start reading it line-by-line, stopping twice to look up at Ben. "I don't understand what it is."
"I live a simple life." He closes his eyes briefly as if to gather his thoughts. "My mother left me an enormous amount of money. I will never use that money in my lifetime. I already have everything I could possibly need."
I stare at the paper he handed to me. "Are you funding this yourself?"
"I was." His hand runs over the back of my hair. "Noah is funding half of it now with his inheritance. He insisted on it when I saw him yesterday."
"The Foster Foundation," I whisper the words softly as I run my hand over where they are printed at the top of the paper. "You're doing this to help children."
"Children." He points to the paper. "Women, men, anyone who needs medical care and can't afford it."
"You're doing this for your mother?"
"I want to do good things for her. I want her to be proud of who I am today."
I watch as a tear falls from my cheek and onto the paper. "I'm sorry," I mutter as I wipe my hand across the document.
"You didn't read the last line, Kayla." He traces a path over the bottom of the paper with his finger. "Read that to me."
I hold the paper in front of me, trying to decipher the letters through my tears. "It says, director of operations…" I stall to pull my hand over my mouth. "Director of operations is Kayla Monroe."
"It's your job if you want it."
"When did you set this up?" I dart my eyes over the document looking for a date.
He pulls me closer to his side. "I've been meeting colleagues in Boston for months to get the wheels in motion. I was there when you and I met and again when I saw you at… at your old apartment," he stammers. "I had talked about you as a potential candidate for the job that Saturday morning, less than an hour before I saw you. You have so much to give to others and you're smart."
"You trust me to run a foundation in your mother's honor?" I sob through the words.
"I trust you with everything."
I reach up to cradle his cheek in my hand. "Say it now, Ben. Say it and I'll say it back."
He turns his entire body to face me. He takes the paper from my grasp and sets it on the bed as he leans in close and whispers the words I've wanted to hear since he sat down next to me on the airplane. "I love you Kayla Monroe. I really love you."
"I love you too Dr. Ben Foster. I love you."
Epilogue
1 Year Later
"Kayla, what are you doing here? Are you sick?"
I've visited Ben at the hospital enough times this past year to know that he passes by this exact spot in the hallway near the emergency room entrance at least half a dozen times an hour. If I want to talk to him while he's working, this is the place I need to be.
"I'm not sick." I push a breath out between my lips. I can already tell this is going to be much more difficult than I ever imagined. "It's not that."
"Are you already done class for the day?" His eyes dart up to the large clock hanging on the wall of the waiting room. "It's that late already?"
It's after seven. I'd worked half a day at the foundation and then went straight to class. I had wanted to postpone getting my master's degree, but Ben wouldn't hear of it. Once he got Noah and Alexa to take his side, I had little choice but to schedule my classes around my work schedule. I can't complain though. I love pursuing my own dream, knowing that I'm doing something valuable for a living. It's even more fulfilling since I'm paying my own way by using part of the salary I'm earning doing something I truly love. My work at the foundation fuels me in a way that I've never felt before. It's quickly become my passion and next to loving Ben, it's been purpose in life. It has been rather, until today.
"Are you going to come home soon?" I'm here to coax him into leaving the hospital with me. Our time isn't nearly as limited as I feared it would be. We steal moments away for each other every single day and our promise to never keep secrets has only