Her husband has been sick for some time now. They diagnosed him with cancer last spring. As they ride in the ambulance to the hospital, she can’t help but to wonder if this is the last ride they will have together. She clutches his hand and weaves her fingers in between his. She can’t see much from the back of the ambulance but each time it stops so does her heart. She is frozen with fear.

Fear that if they do not make it to the hospital in time, she will lose him. As they look into each other’s tear-filled eyes no one speaks. But it is the loudest “I love you” they have ever spoken or received. As tears now stream down their faces, she remembers the first time they held hands. At the cinema. The ambulance comes to a stop. They rush him into the hospital as she scurries behind. “I’m sorry ma’am but you must wait here.” The nurse points to the half empty waiting room. The doors swing behind the nurse as she follows the doctors to the back. Jane waits with her purse in her lap. Repeatedly rubbing the leather strap between her thumb and index finger. Full with the woman with an unstopping cough. The single father who was injured at work but must still pick up his daughter from school before 3pm. Full with the boy who fell from the tree he was climbing against his mother’s will. The family waiting silently for their mom to get out of surgery. They all sit together, alone.The hours drag on. Jane looks at the clock and watches the swinging door. She has been in the waiting room for over 3 hours. Hoping for news soon. The doors swing open. Everyone sits at attention. A young man, obviously the doctor, in a soiled white coat and a sad face walks slowly to Jane. Her heart stops once more. He approaches and sits next to her.“I’m sorry, but the cancer spread to both of his lungs. We tried to remove it and save him; but his organs started failing. I wish we could’ve done more.”The doctor grips Jane’s hand. As he releases it, she opens her hand to find her husband’s gold, dented wedding ring. Her husband was always tough on everything he owned. Clothes, tools and whatever else he owned. A gentle, gruff but rough man. The doctor, without looking back, returns through the swinging doors.Jane begins to silently weep. She releases the leather strap of her purse, rotating the ring in her hand. She holds the ring to her heart, a futile search for comfort. Jane hears the clock ticking over the endlessly changing waiting room. She has signed all hospital forms and is ready to leave the hospital. But cannot.She sits in the same seat she sat in when she was first told to “wait here.” This was the spot she sat in when he was still alive. As she focuses on the isolated tick-ticks of the hospital clock, the waiting room doors continue to open and close. Some receive good news and some bad. The young tree-climbing adventurer returned with an electric blue cast on his arm. His family joins him as he leaves. They are going to get ice cream. “We’re pregnant!” The mystery woman with the frequent cough and her husband began to celebrate. They leave together. Happy days ahead. At last the waiting room is near empty. Only Jane left. She continues to sit. Clutching her bag. Her husband’s ring. And their last memories. She walks to the swinging door.