The Man Who Donated a Kidney to Me Proposed a Month Later, Claiming He Was Terminally Ill and Didn't Want to Pass Alone – But Right After We Said 'I Do,' He Took My Hand and Whispered, 'Now I Can Finally Tell You the Truth'

I stared at it.

"Nathan."

    "This is insane."

"I know it's fast."

"Fast?" My voice cracked. "This is insane."

"Probably."

    "You could be dying."

"Exactly."

He opened the box.

The ring was simple, silver, almost painfully ordinary.

    "I know I love you."

"Marry me."

I stood and paced to the sink.

    "You cannot drop cancer on me and propose in the same conversation."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"I know I love you."

I turned. "Do you want a wife, or are you terrified?"

    That answer scared me because it sounded honest.

Nathan flinched.

    "Both can be true."

That answer scared me because it sounded honest.

I looked at the man who had stepped into my life before he knew me. I thought about his hospital room, his ridiculous pudding, his hand in mine. But illness had taught me how little time cared about what was reasonable.