Chapter Forty-Six
Ten hours? What was I supposed to do for ten hours? Pray? I was praying. I was trying not to cry and Gabe was trying to cheer me up by telling me embarrassing stories of Lisa’s childhood — not helpful, but he was trying.
Kiersten
After five hours, I was ready to go crazy. They said the surgery could take anywhere from ten to twelve hours. Randy said that if the doctors came out within the first hour it wasn’t good news. It meant it was inoperable, but he had high hopes, so the minute we were out of the woods after the first two hours had passed, I relaxed a bit.
I looked at the clock again. It was noon. By Five, I should have Wes back in my arms, hurting, but at least alive. I closed my eyes and concentrated on his kisses.
Gabe hit me in the arm. I looked up. A doctor was walking toward us. His head down. It was too soon. No! No! I knew it was too soon for him to be briefing us! My heart faltered and then thundered against my chest as I gripped Gabe’s hand and waited for the news.
The doctor smiled when Randy stood. Smiling was good right? I took a deep breath. I would have felt it if Wes’s heart stopped beating, I would have known in my soul — he was still with us, he had to be.
“It’s the strangest thing…” The doctor shook his head. “The surgery’s finished.”
“Why is that strange?” Randy asked.
“His tumor.” The doctor seemed to be having trouble forming words. “When we looked at it a few days ago, it was the size of the palm of my hand.” He held up his hand. “Somehow over the course of the last few days, it shrunk to the size of a small plum.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Randy blinked a few times. I could tell he was trying not to cry.
“The cancer’s gone,” the doctor said slowly. “It was only in that one location, very near to his heart, but operable. We removed the tumor without any complications. Your son…” The doctor’s voice shook and he drew a tremulous breath. “Your son will live to be a very old man, God willing.”
Gabe held me as I collapsed against his chest in thankful sobs.
“When can we see him?” Randy asked, his voice hoarse.
“He’s still asleep.” The doctor smiled. “I don’t know if it was the drugs finally kicking in, or just a miracle. I’ve worked in the field of oncologic thoracic surgery for fifteen years and never seen anything like it. We’ll be examining all the drugs your son took to see if there’s something to the combination that shrinks tumors in their final stages.”
“Alright.” Randy held out his hand, and the doctor shook it. “Thank you, thank you for everything.”
“It was my pleasure.” The doctor nodded to us and walked off.
I couldn’t see through my tears.
Gabe’s body shook against mine. I thought he was crying and then I looked up. He was laughing so hard I thought he was doing to pass out.
“What’s wrong with you?” I pushed against him.
“That bastard made me promise to be his best man.” Gabe laughed even louder. “He would live—” Gabe wiped his eyes. “—just to see me in a tux.”
I joined in the laughter. Lisa rose from her chair and grabbed my hand in hers. Relief, that’s all I felt, relief that he was going to be okay, that we were going to be together. I had to keep myself from running into that operating room and throwing my body against his.
He was alive.
The love of my life was waiting for me.
Holy crap. I was getting married in a year.
Now it was my turn to laugh.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I dreamt of Kiersten in a wedding dress. I was at the end of the aisle and she was walking toward me. Then my brain fast-forwarded to us holding hands and watching our kids play in the yard. And then, even further, I watched our wrinkled hands touch as we were witness to another great-grandchild being brought into the world. My life — my future. It was all her.
Weston
The first thing I saw when I woke up was my dad. He was hovering over my bed with a look of pure awe on his face. The minute I’d seen my mom’s wedding ring on Angela’s finger, I’d known I was going to be okay. I knew with certainty that I really was just going to take a nap and then wake up and start my life — a new beginning.
Dad’s face faded in and out as well as Kiersten’s. I had no idea how long I slept. One day, my eyes stayed open. I tried focusing on something — anything. Finally, I was able to see another face. My dad’s smile made my chest hurt, either that or my chest just hurt from the surgery, I couldn’t tell if it was physical or emotional — nor did I care. It hurt — pain meant that I was living.
“How do you feel?” my dad asked.
“Like a quarterback.” My voice was still hoarse from having the tube thrust down it, but I didn’t care. I wanted to talk. Talking meant I wasn’t dreaming everything up. Every damn breath hurt like hell, but I kept breathing too. I told myself it would be a privilege to breathe through pain like that for the rest of my life — just knowing each breath was a gift..
Dad laughed. “Good, you think Coach will let you play in that bowl game?”
“When we get that bowl game,” I corrected as I tried to clear my throat and get my voice to sound more normal. “Coach promised me he’d let me play.” I winked. “Where is everyone?”
“I wanted a moment…” Dad cleared his throat. “Just to talk to my son. Alone. To make sure it was real. That you were really here and not still in that operating room. Did the doctors tell you what they discovered?”
I nodded. “The tumor shrank.”
“Son, the tumor shrank to a quarter of its size, all within four days.”
I couldn’t trust myself to speak. One nurse called it a miracle while the doctor gave all the credit to the medicine. I guess I’d never know, and maybe it didn’t matter how I was spared, just that I was.
“Incredible, right?” I said.
“A miracle.” Dad patted my hand, “I love you, Wes.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
He got up, then paused in the doorway. “You really getting married in a year?”
“Yup.” I couldn’t hold back my grin, I could have sworn my heart skipped a beat.
He shook his head and laughed. “Alright then, guess I better get to know that girl’s family.”
Seconds later Kiersten came rushing into the room. She was like a hot blur of red as she bounced onto my bed, careful not to touch my chest, I mean, I did just have major surgery. She pressed her lips against my mouth and kissed me for a few minutes before pulling back.
“Way ta fight, Wes.”
“Some things…” I tucked her red hair behind her ear, “…are worth fighting for.”
A nurse walked in and checked my clipboard.
“Where’s Angela?” I asked.
The nurse gave me a weird look. “Angela?”
“Yeah, the other nurse that was helping me. She had blond hair, pretty face…”
“Hmm.” The nurse put down her clipboard and smiled. “We don’t have a nurse named Angela who works anywhere in this unit, at least that I know of. By the looks of your chart you were on some pretty heavy medication. Hallucinations are completely normal when you have that amount of drugs in your system, Weston. I’ll be sure to notify the doctor of the side effects so he can take note of them.” She gave me a kind smile and walked out of the room.
“Angela? Who is that?” Kiersten asked.