The Best Gift

The Best Gift

This Christmas, Virginie would be surprising her family with the best gift she could ever dream to give them. She had the most successful year yet at the bistro, and, after years of penny-pinching behind the scenes, she finally had enough saved up to purchase the vacation home in France she’d always dreamed of for them. It wasn’t even December, and she hadn’t even told her husband yet, but the excitement that the paperwork was nearly finished filled her with electricity as she awoke each morning, and lasted until she fell asleep next to him each night.

The day before the paperwork cleared, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She woke up and rolled over, smile beaming at her husband, Liam.

“You seem chipper,” he laughed. She picked the phone up from her night stand and with a nod of affirmation. With a single swipe, she had a picture pulled up on her phone of the 3-bedroom house in Versailles that would be theirs the next day. 

“I can’t wait any longer. Can I please tell you your Christmas present now?”

“I’m worried you might have a heart attack if you don’t. Spit it out, woman.”

She laughed. “We won’t have to rent any more when we go to France.” 

He was overjoyed. “Le seul cadeau dont nous avons besoin c’est toi, mais c’est vraiment super aussi, chérie.” (translation: the only present we need is you, but this is really great, too, honey.) She lit a cigarette when she got into her car, and sang along to her French playlist as she drove to restaurant number 1.

Entering the kitchen, she slipped on a puddle, and collapsed so quickly, you would have thought the floor had opened up underneath her. Her head hit the floor with a bang, and blood covered the area that surrounded it. The melancholy tunes that usually played in the restaurant were replaced by the aggressive ring of the ambulance coming to take her away. 

When she awoke, she examined the area of the pain using her hand and felt the felt of a bandage around it. Liam and a doctor stood in front of her, as her eyes finally caught focus. Liam’s face was red as a cherry, and his eyes just as puffy.

“You had a nasty fall. It’s actually probably good luck, though. Thanks to the fall, we were able to catch something worse.” 

He went on to explain that she’d developed a cancer of the lungs, and their only hope of her lasting longer than another 24 hours, would be in trying a new drug that had just been approved for experimentation, but wasn’t covered by insurance and would cost as much as she’d saved for the new house. She looked at Liam to make the decision. “It’s no question. Le seul cadeau dont nous avons besoin c’est toi. Give her the drug.”