It was still burning, down at the bottom, when I reached her.

And my whole life since has been, in one way or another, an effort to feed that small stubborn flame back up into the steady fire it was always meant to be — to make certain that the woman who kept one ember of hope alive through five months of hell will never again have a single reason to doubt that someone is coming, because I am already here, and I am not going anywhere, ever again.

Chapter 18 — The Best in the State

I leaned into the car, and I kissed the bare crown of my wife’s head, gently, and I smiled at her — really smiled, for the first time since I had walked around the back of that house — and I told her where we were going.

“We are going,” I said, “to the best cancer research hospital in the state.

I’ve already spoken with them this morning.