Last Request

Jodie Tillman: Eight years ago, on her 25th birthday, she was cutting a piece of cake when her boyfriend walked into the kitchen. He asked: Will you marry me? She dropped the knife. Will you marry me, he asked again, and she said yes.

Love was a given, but marriage seemed a luxury they could put off to meet other demands: Rent was due. Bills piled up. The car broke down. Rent was due again.

So Cindy Lunsford and Clarence Garvin set their wedding date for the day they got ahead. That day never came. But harder days did.

Lunsford, now 33, developed advanced ovarian cancer in 2005. After multiple surgeries, 12 sessions of chemotherapy and, finally, a decision to forgo additional treatment, she faced this question from her hospice worker: Did she have any last wishes?

She said yes. If only for a short time, she wanted to live as Garvin's wife.