Chapter 3
The first person to suggest postponing the wedding was Emily's mother.
She didn't do it out of cruelty.
She did it out of love.
"Sweetheart..."
She reached across the dining table and covered Emily's hand.
"You don't have to make this decision now."
Emily looked up from her untouched cup of tea.
"What decision?"
"Marrying Daniel."
Emily's expression hardened.
"I'm already marrying Daniel."
Her mother sighed.
"I'm talking about the timing."
"You could wait."
"For what?"
"For a miracle."
Emily almost smiled.
"There isn't one."
Silence settled over the room.
Her father finally spoke.
"We're not telling you to leave him."
"We're asking you to think."
"You'll become his wife..."
"...and eventually his caregiver."
"You'll spend your thirties watching him disappear."
Emily swallowed the lump in her throat.
"I know."
"You might never have children."
"I know."
"You might spend decades with a man who no longer remembers your name."
"I know."
Every answer came without hesitation.
Because she had already spent countless nights asking herself those exact questions.
Her father leaned forward.
"Then why?"
Emily looked through the kitchen window.
The autumn leaves danced across the backyard.
"When Daniel proposed..."
"He asked if I'd spend the rest of my life with him."
She smiled faintly.
"My answer wasn't 'yes, unless life becomes difficult.'"
"It was simply..."
"'Yes.'"
The wedding planner called two days later.
"We've had a cancellation next spring."
"If you'd like more time—"
Emily interrupted her.
"I'd actually like an earlier date."
"...Earlier?"
"As early as possible."
The woman sounded confused.
"Most couples postpone."
Emily looked toward the living room.
Daniel had fallen asleep on the couch with a book open across his chest.
"I don't know how many memories he'll still have next year."
"I'd rather marry the man who still remembers proposing."
Daniel wasn't happy about it.
"Emily..."
"They're right."
She looked up from arranging invitation cards.
"Who?"
"Everyone."
"We can cancel."
She laughed.
"You've forgotten something."
"What?"
"You don't get to cancel my wedding."
"Our wedding."
He smiled weakly.
"I don't want to ruin your life."
She stood.
Walked across the room.
Placed both hands on his face.
"You are not ruining my life."
"What if I already have?"
"You haven't."
"What if I will?"
Emily kissed his forehead.
"You keep talking about the future..."
"...as if you've already lost."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I know how this story ends."
"No."
She whispered.
"You know how the disease ends."
"You don't know how our love ends."
The invitations went out.
Most guests responded immediately.
Some cried over the phone.
Others quietly asked if the diagnosis was true.
Within weeks, nearly everyone knew.
The wedding no longer felt like a celebration.
It became something else.
A promise.
A goodbye to the future they had imagined.
And the beginning of one they never wanted.
One evening, Emily came home carrying three large boxes.
Daniel looked up.
"What are those?"
"Our memories."
He laughed.
"Our memories fit inside cardboard boxes?"
She grinned.
"Not for long."
They spent the entire night searching through old photographs.
Concert tickets.
Movie stubs.
Restaurant receipts.
Birthday cards.
Vacation postcards.
Daniel found a faded receipt from a tiny diner.
"You kept this?"
Emily nodded.
"Our first date."
He laughed.
"I spilled coffee all over myself."
"You also tried to impress me by ordering in French."
"I don't speak French."
"Exactly."
They both laughed until tears filled their eyes.
Then Emily carefully placed the receipt inside a leather scrapbook.
"What are you making?"
"Our love story."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"A scrapbook?"
"A survival guide."
She continued adding photographs.
"Our first apartment."
"Our road trip."
"Our engagement."
"Our terrible attempt at baking."
"Our dog."
"Our first Christmas."
Daniel quietly watched her.
"You really think this will help?"
"I don't know."
"But if one day you open this book..."
"...maybe something inside you will remember."
Weeks later, the scrapbook had grown into something extraordinary.
It wasn't just pictures.
Each page contained handwritten notes.
"This is the day you taught me to drive stick shift."
"You laughed for ten minutes after I burned Thanksgiving dinner."
"You cried when we adopted Oliver."
"You kissed me under this lighthouse."
"You told me I'd always be your home."
Daniel flipped through the pages slowly.
Then he stopped.
There was an empty page.
At the top Emily had written:
Future Memories.
"What goes here?"
Emily smiled.
"The ones we haven't made yet."
Daniel stared at the blank paper.
His eyes slowly filled with tears.
"I don't know if I'll remember making them."
Emily gently placed the pen into his hand.
"Then write anyway."
He hesitated.
Finally he wrote one sentence.
I hope I never stop falling in love with you.
Emily couldn't speak.
She simply hugged him.
December arrived.
The disease continued quietly.
Most days Daniel seemed perfectly normal.
Which almost made it worse.
Because every good day reminded them that bad days were coming.
Then...
One Sunday morning...
Emily stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel.
Daniel was standing in the hallway staring at a framed photograph.
It showed the two of them hiking in Yosemite.
He looked confused.
"Daniel?"
He didn't answer.
She walked closer.
"What are you looking at?"
He pointed to the woman in the picture.
"She's beautiful."
Emily smiled.
"She is."
Daniel frowned.
"Who is she?"
Time stopped.
Emily felt the air disappear from her lungs.
"It's..."
"My fiancée."
Daniel blinked.
Then suddenly laughed.
"Oh God."
"I was joking."
Emily forced a smile.
"You scared me."
"I'm sorry."
He kissed her forehead.
"I'd never forget you."
But Emily noticed something.
For just one second...
Before he'd laughed...
His confusion had been real.
Three nights before the wedding...
Daniel couldn't sleep.
Emily found him sitting outside beneath the stars.
He held the engagement ring box in his hand.
"You should be asleep."
"I was thinking."
She sat beside him.
"About?"
He looked at the ring.
"What if..."
"...I'm selfish?"
"You?"
"I asked you to marry me."
"Yes."
"I promised forever."
"You did."
"But forever suddenly looks different."
Emily leaned against his shoulder.
"It still looks beautiful."
He shook his head.
"I keep imagining ten years from now."
"You'll walk into our house."
"I'll ask who you are."
"You'll answer..."
"'I'm your wife.'"
"And I'll smile politely..."
"...like we're meeting for the first time."
Emily closed her eyes.
"You know what I'll say?"
"What?"
"'Hi.'"
"'I'm Emily.'"
"'I've been waiting to meet you.'"
Daniel laughed through tears.
"You'll really introduce yourself every day?"
"Every day."
"And if I ask you out?"
"I'll say yes."
"And if I fall in love again?"
"I'll let you."
"And if I propose?"
Emily smiled.
"I'll keep saying yes."
For several minutes neither of them spoke.
Then Daniel whispered,
"I wish everyone could love the way you do."
Emily shook her head.
"No."
"I just love you."
The next afternoon...
As Emily finished hanging her wedding dress, her phone buzzed.
It was the hospital.
Dr. Morrison.
Her heart immediately sank.
She answered.
"Emily..."
"I wanted to discuss Daniel's latest test results."
"Is something wrong?"
There was a pause.
"We've noticed the progression is moving slightly faster than we expected."
Emily slowly sat down on the edge of the bed.
"What does that mean?"
"It means..."
The doctor's voice softened.
"If there are important moments you want him to remember..."
"I wouldn't wait too long."
Emily looked toward the bedroom.
Daniel was laughing as he tried—and failed—to tie his bow tie in the mirror.
She quietly wiped away a tear.
Then smiled.
"Don't worry."
May you like
"The most important moment of our lives..."
"...is in three days."
