Several hours later, Daniel sank onto the edge of the bed and stared at the sliver of white light that escaped from beneath the bathroom door. Water hissed from the tap, the muted sound easing his anxiety a fraction as he waited for Cade to finish his bedtime ritual.

“Damn,” he breathed into the quiet bedroom, massaging some of the tension from his neck.

Cade’s diagnosis, his refusal to seek treatment, and his adamant insistence that life go on as usual, had started the clock on a ticking time bomb. He knew it was only a matter of time before it blew, sending a shockwave through the entire family.

Having abandoned dinner, the whole family had paced the house like trapped cattle. The air of celebration had been replaced by whispered worries and sniffles that had drifted in and out of earshot as he’d stood watch by the window with Papa Joe. Cade and Hazel’s raised voices had soon turned to anguished cries, the sound ripping at their hearts as he and Joe watched over the loves of their lives in the inky darkness that encapsulated the McLendons’ front porch.

The hour was late when Hazel had finally cried herself out and Joe, Nate, and Jake gathered her up and took her home. He’d waited until they were gone to go to Cade, hoping to give him time to collect himself, but as he’d stepped onto the porch, Cade had collapsed into his arms.

Now that they were home, Daniel’s ankle throbbed, having twisted it in his efforts to break Cade’s fall. His feet ached to be freed from his boots, but he thought it best not to undress until Cade was tucked into bed. The stubborn man had refused help getting into and out of Cory’s truck, or climbing the stairs, insisting he was just tired. While that may be true, his marked increase in muscle weakness and fatigue was something neither of them could ignore any longer. It was time to consider some changes.

The water turned off and Daniel tensed. He was about to get up and check on him when Cade opened the bathroom door, his eyes red-rimmed and as droopy as an old hound’s.

Daniel shoved to his feet.

“Don’t,” Cade gritted out, his voice nearing a growl.

“I’m worried about you,” Daniel insisted, ignoring Cade’s clipped response. Exhaustion and the side effects of his pain medication had made him understandably irritable.

Cade ignored his presence as he undressed and slipped beneath the covers. The tension between them dragged on, growing thicker with every passing second. Unwilling to allow Cade to shut him out, Daniel remained rooted in place, waiting for Cade to talk to him.

“I was wrong to ask them to ignore this.” The sound of defeat in Cade’s voice when he finally spoke was as heavy as the regret in his eyes.

Daniel crawled into bed beside him, looking up at his longtime lover and friend. The soft glow from the bedside lamp cast dark shadows across his face, highlighting his extreme fatigue, persuading him not to mention the changes he’d wanted to discuss.

“There’s no right or wrong,” he said instead, tangling his fingers with Cade’s.

Cade dropped his head back against the headboard. “I saw the looks in their eyes,” he continued as if Daniel hadn’t spoken. “They all feel like Hazel does, don’t they?” Avoiding the question, Daniel brought Cade’s hand to his lips. When he peered back up, Cade was staring at him. “I’ll take your silence as my answer.”

Daniel hesitated, searching for the gentle words that would give Cade the peace he sought, but in all the decades they’d spent together he’d never lied to Cade, and he wasn’t about to start now.

“You already know they do,” he answered.

Cade turned away, shaking his head in denial.

“You knew they would want you to fight this. You knew I would want you to.”

“I didn’t—”

“Yes, you did.” Daniel’s eyes stung as he met Cade’s glassy stare. “You knew if we asked you to fight this, you’d have done it, despite the odds, or the pain and suffering you’d have had to endure.” Cade tried to argue again, but Daniel held up a staying hand. “Which is why I’m glad you never gave us a chance to ask,” he finished.

In his head, he’d pleaded with Cade a million times to fight the cancer that was eating him alive. In his heart, he knew it wouldn’t have made a difference. The type of cancer that had invaded Cade’s pancreas had a near one-hundred-percent mortality rate. Seeing him suffer, losing a piece of himself day after day… As hard as it was to admit, he was thankful for Cade’s courage to make the hard choices he’d made.

Faced with Cade’s silence, Daniel let go of his hand and slid off the mattress. He walked around to Cade’s side of the bed and pulled up the blankets, tucking him in before he turned off the light. Breathing through the knot lodged in his throat, he leaned down and touched his lips to Cade’s, savoring the saltiness of a tear that fell between them.

In the darkness, he could pretend. For the next few heartbeats, there was no cancer. No pain, grief, or regret. No more goodbyes left to be said. In the darkness, there was only them, and a legacy of a love that bound them together forever.

“I love you,” he whispered when Cade drifted off to sleep.

His feet and ankle still throbbing, he stepped as lightly as he could from the room, careful not to make a sound as he closed the door behind him. A low hum of familiar voices met him at the base of the stairs, reminding him it would still be a while before he would find the quiet he craved.

“Is he okay?” Gabby’s whispered question alerted the others who’d followed them home, all of whom appeared from the kitchen with worried, tired expressions.

Daniel nodded. “He’s exhausted but okay.”

“You look like you can use some rest yourself,” Grey suggested.

“Yeah,” he sighed, catching Breezy’s attentive gaze. “I think it’s time to talk about that full-time help option you told us about.”

“Anything you need, just ask,” Breezy said, taking his hand. Too tired to fight the tears that threatened, he gave her a silent nod. “I’ll make some calls in the morning,” she continued, “and then come by with lunch to go over all the options and details.” She wrapped her arms around his middle, and he hugged her back until he was sure he could speak without losing the thread of control he’d managed to muster.

“That would be great,” he managed when she let him go. “Thank you.”

As soon as she stepped away, his granddaughter took her place and pulled him down for a hug. “Call me when you wake up, and I’ll bring over breakfast.” The tears in her eyes beckoned his own again, so he gave her a silent jerky nod. “You don’t need to worry about anything.”

“Thanks, Ace,” he said, using Cade’s pet name for her.

“We’ll head home and let you get some sleep.” Matt herded the family toward the front of the hall, a cool night breeze whisking inside when he opened the door.

“I love you, Papa.” Dani gave him one more hug.

“Love you, too.” He let her go and followed them to the door, graciously accepting more hugs and kisses, but ultimately, thankful they weren’t going to linger.

“Night, Papa,” Jonah said with a somber frown.

Daniel stopped him in the doorway. “Sorry about ruining your big night.”

“Nobody ruined anything,” his grandson assured him, and pulled him into a gentle hug. “Get some rest, and call us if you need anything,” he insisted.

When the last of the taillights disappeared at the end of their driveway, he closed and locked the front door. Halfway across the kitchen, he noticed the freshly washed dishes sitting on the drain board, courtesy of Gabby, no doubt.

Exhaustion held him in a relentless grip as he paced to the sink, snatched up a glass, and filled it with water. As he brought it to his lips, a bottle on the counter caught his attention. He’d always been more of a beer kind of guy, but the amber liquid Cade preferred proved too tempting to ignore. He dumped the water and grabbed the bottle of whiskey on the way to the den, kicking off his boots the second his ass hit the sofa.

Surrounded by the shadows of the past, he poured himself a double and settled into the quiet room. Even in the darkness, he could see the faces in the pictures that lined the hearth and decorated the walls. One in particular caught his attention, and he abandoned his comfortable seat to retrieve it from the mantle. Tucked behind several other dusty frames, he accidentally bumped the one beside it, which tumbled to the floor.

“Clumsy old goat,” he groaned as he dipped to pick it up, his knees creaking with the effort.

Moonlight sliced through the curtains, illuminating the long-forgotten image. Smiling, he walked over to the window and set his glass of whiskey on the sill.

The tension in his shoulders eased as he stared at Connor and Carson’s youthful smiles. They were fourteen—no, fifteen. He remembered because it was the summer before they won the talent show. He closed his eyes, recalling every detail of the day he’d taken the photo.

He and Cade had made a tradition of summer camping trips with the boys; a different adventure every year. He snorted. Most of their trips turned into nothing but a compilation of calamities fit for a comedy show. That particular summer, however, couldn’t have been more perfect.

The twins had insisted on taking rock climbing lessons. Neither he nor their mother were thrilled with the idea, but Cade had never been one to shy away from a challenge.

Daniel stared at the image of Cade sitting on the tailgate of their pickup truck between Connor and Carson, his arms stretched across their shoulders like a proud, protective uncle. The high sun reflected off his sunglasses, hiding his playful eyes. His thick hair was spiked with sweat and dirt. His sexy smile stretched from ear to ear, compelling Daniel to grin back at him.

They’d just reached the top of their climb, where Daniel had waited with the other half of their instructor’s team. He’d never liked heights. Voluntarily dangling from the end of a rope over the edge of a hundred-and-fifty-foot cliff face didn’t quite qualify as fun, in his opinion, but Cade had been fearless.

High on adrenaline, Cade had roared like a beastly conqueror. Connor and Carson pulled themselves over the crest moments later, high-fiving and shouting their victory across the mountaintops. Daniel stroked the glass picture frame, hearing the echo of their victorious celebration as if it were yesterday.

He’d seemed so invincible.

Despite his sadness, a smile pulled at his lips. Cade had also been insatiable after that trip. After dropping the twins off at their parents’ house, they’d raced home, barely making it through the front door before Cade tackled him, fucking him senseless on the entryway floor. Daniel’s gaze drifted across the room to the hallway, his heartbeat fluttering wildly as he remembered every touch, every kiss, the feel of Cade’s fervent possession.

As the moon rose higher in the clear night sky, Daniel picked up his glass of whiskey and sank down into the oversized leather chair beside the window, staring at the picture as he took another sip.

“That was a good day.”