Chapter Nine.

Michelle is now eight and a half months pregnant. Anyway, it’s Christmas Eve and Shane and Michelle are at Shane’s parents house: “ Ow.” Michelle says. “Are you Ok?” Shane asks concerned. “Yeah, I fine. It’s just the baby kicking. There’s no need to worry.” Michelle replies. “Yeah, well, you would tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn’t you?” “Yes, of course I would.” “Shane, stop bothering her. Michelle will tell you if there is anything wrong. Now stop worrying and eat your dinner.” Mae answers. “ Yes mum.” Shane answers sarcastically. “ Good. And don’t be sarcastic.” “All right.” Shane says, laughing.

At 10.30pm…

“ Shane, Shane wake up!” “ What? What is it?” Shane says as he sits up. “ The contractions have started.” “ What? Are you sure? I mean the baby isn’t due for two weeks.” “Yes, I know that and you know that but the baby sure doesn’t.” “ Right, well, I’ll get dressed and get the car ready. You go downstairs and wait.” “ Yeah, alright. Argh!!” “ On second thoughts, wait for me here.” Shane says getting really concerned. “ I’ll go and get mum.” Shane leaves the room and gets Mae. Mae comes in and says “Michelle, its alright, I’m here now. Shane?” “ Yes mum?” “ Call an ambulance.” “ An ambulance?” “Yes Shane, an ambulance. And hurry up.” Shane leaves the room to call an ambulance. “Michelle, keep breathing as you learned in the anti natal classes.” “Mae?” “ Yes Michelle?” “ I’ve never seen Shane so scared in the entire time I’ve known him.” “Well, you mean the world to him.” Michelle smiles back at Mae as if to say ‘I know’. “Aaaarrrrgggghhhh.” Michelle screams, waking the whole house in the process. “ The ambulance is on its way.” Shane says as he rushes into the room. “Its alright Michelle, everything is going to be fine.” He says as he sits down beside her and holds her hand.

10 minutes later…

“Ok Michelle, can you stand up and get onto the stretcher for me?” One of the paramedics said. Michelle gets onto the stretcher and is taken downstairs and into the ambulance.

“Shane,” “Yes Michelle?” “Don’t you ever come near me again, you got that?” “What?”

“Don’t worry Shane, that’s what I said to your father every time.” Mae replies.

At the hospital Michelle has had a baby girl. They call her Kimberly Ann Filan. She was born a one minute past midnight: “Michelle,” “ Yes Shane?” “ I love you. And I love Kimberly as well.” “ I love you both too.” And they kiss.

Chapter ten.

Six years later and Michelle has been diagnosed as having cardio miopathy (Her heart is wasting away). She has yet to tell Shane and is having second thoughts of telling him at all. “ Shane,” “Yes?” “I’m going to have to go away for a while.” “What? What do you mean?” “I… well… this is hard for me but… I’ve got cardio miopathy, a disease which means that my heart is wasting away.” Michelle says sighing. “WHAT?” “Shhhh. You’ll wake Kim.” “Sorry. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” “Because I was afraid of the way that you would react. What I meant by going away was that I’m going to go into hospital for a while.” “ How long for?” “About six weeks. They need to do some tests and that’s why I need to go into hospital for so long.” “What about Kim?” “She can stay with your mum. I’ve already spoken to her and she says its fine.” “Ok, well, I guess I’ll have to cope.” “You cope already, being away with the band.” “Whatever happens, I’ll always love you.” “I know. I love you too.” They say kissing. “What caused it?” Shane asks. “Remember I had a viral infection a couple of months ago? Yeah, well that caused it.” “Oh honey.” Shane says as he hugs her. “ Remember that I’ll be here every step of the way.”

Michelle goes into hospital and has the tests done. She is told that it is much more serious than first thought. She will need to have a heart transplant or she will die. Six weeks after being told, she receives a call that a heart has become available: ‘Beep, beep, beep, beep.’ Michelle looks down and sees that her pager is sounding. “Shane,” “Mmmm?” “ I need to go.” “What do you mean?” “Into hospital. They’ve found a heart donor.” “Have they?” Kian says. “Yep.” “Well, you’d better get going.” Mark adds. “See ya soon.” Michelle answers to all of them as she leaves. In the hospital… “Don’t worry Shane, I’ll be fine.” “It’s not just you I’m worried about. It’s Kim. I don’t want her not to have a mum.” “Don’t worry. See ya soon.” Michelle says as she is wheeled off to the operating theatre.

Several hours later…

“Well Mr. Filan, Michelle has come out of theatre, and is at the moment in intensive care.” “How did it go?” Bryan said as he, along with Kian, Nicky and Mark have joined Shane. “Well at the moment, it’s to early to say. But so far she’s fine.” “Can we see her?” Nicky asks. “Yeah sure.” They go into the room and sit down around Michelle. They all fall asleep and about three hours later; the monitoring systems suddenly start bleeping and wake them all up. They show that something is seriously wrong…

Chapter eleven.

The doctors are all standing around Michelle and speaking in a language that none of the lads can understand. “Mr. Filan, can I have a word?” One of the doctors say. “What is it?” Shane says as he walks over to a corner of the room. “I’m afraid your wife is rejecting the new heart.” “What do you mean?” “There’s no easy way to say this… I’m sorry, but your wife is dying.” “She can’t be. Can’t you do anything?” Shane says getting angry. “No. We can’t do anything at all. We can’t make you wife’s body accept the new heart.” “Is she awake at all?” Yes, she’s awake, she does know about it and you can talk to her.” When will she die?” Shane says holding back the tears. “It’s hard to say. She could die tomorrow or she could die next week. But I’m afraid she will be dead within the month. I’m so sorry.” Shane leaves the doctor and goes and speaks to the rest of the lads. “She’s dying.” “What??” They all say in unison. “Her body is rejecting the new heart and because of that she is dying.” “Oh Shane, I’m so sorry.” Kian says. “Yeah sorry mate.” Bryan and Mark say. “We’ll all be here for you and Kim, remember that won’t you?” “Yeah, yeah I will. Well I had better go and speak to her while I can.” Shane goes over and speaks with Michelle. “Hi. How do you feel?” “Oh, you know, lousy. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine.” “How can you say that?” Shane says getting upset. “I can say that because I’ve accepted it. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m going to die and I’m just going to get on with it. Just one thing.” “Anything.” “Promise me that you’ll get Kim over here to see me before I die.” “Yes, of course I will.” Shane says as he takes hold of Michelle’s hand. “I can’t watch anymore.” Nicky says leaving the room.

Michelle dies on a peaceful Monday afternoon with Shane holding her hand and Kim beside her: “Kim, I want you to look after daddy for me. Make sure he does what he’s told. I love you both and I always will. Remember that won’t you?” “Yes Mummy I will. I promise.” Michelle smiles at them both then closes her eyes, takes one last deep breath and…

Chapter Twelve.

It’s three months since Michelle’s funeral and Shane is still finding it hard to come to terms with it. “Shane,” Kian says. “Mmmm?” “I found this in Michelle’s coat. It’s addressed to you.” Kian says handing Shane an envelope. Shane opens it to find a piece of writing…

‘I don’t wanna feel the way that I do, I just wanna be right here with you, I don’t wanna see, see us apart, I just wanna tell you straight from my heart, I miss you.’ I wrote this the first time you went away after we were married. I missed you so much, and I’ll always love you no matter what happens.

Elle. xxxx.

Shane breaks down in a flood of tears. “Kian,” “Yeah, mate?” “I miss her.” “I know you do. We all do. But you have to be strong for Kim’s sake. She need’s you. Michelle is living on in her. She looks just like Michelle when she was younger from all the photos I’ve seen. If she sees that you can cope with the death of her mum than she’ll cope even better and begin to get on with life with just her dad.” “Thanks mate. I don’t know how I would’ve coped without you all supporting me.” “Come on lets go and pick Kim up from school.”

“Daddy, Uncle Kian,” Kim says as she runs into Shane’s arms. “Hi Kim. How are ya?” Kian says. “Fine.” “Kim,” “Yes Daddy?” “How would you like to go and visit mummy’s grave?” “Yes Daddy I would like to. Then I can tell her what I did at school today.” They go and visit the grave. Standing there Shane says, “Kian, you know what? I think I can get on with my life now. Now that Kim has accepted it and I know Michelle is resting in peace.” And Shane and Kian walk over to Kim and take her home.

The End.