Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(46)

“It was bad,” Owen said grimly. “The first year was touch and go. She got a hell of a lot worse before she got better. She lost her hair, and I could see every bone in her body. Her doctors weren’t exactly blowing smoke up her ass. Andie knew that her chances of dying were pretty high. At first, none of the treatments they tried worked. It wasn’t until year two that she saw a steady improvement. But through it all, she was pretty damn brave. I’m not so sure I could have stayed as upbeat as she did.”

“You never said a word about it when we talked.” My voice was accusatory.

He shrugged. “She asked me not to. Andie isn’t the type to ask for sympathy, and after her parents just basically wrote her off, the last thing she wanted was for anybody else to know. She said most people didn’t know what to say, and it made everything awkward. I think the real truth is, she assumed she’d end up facing rejection because of her illness. I believe it was a protective instinct. Andie had all she could handle. She couldn’t deal with how other people might have reacted to her illness, too.”

“But right now, she’s in remission?” I asked, my tone desperate.

“Andie and I went to Boston so she could get another six-month check. She was treated in an excellent cancer hospital, so she wants to keep her treatment and checkups there. She likes her doctors, and they’ve built trust with her over the years. This was a big hurdle for her. She just celebrated her fifth year of remission. Some doctors would say she’s cured.”

I eyed his serious expression. “Would you say she’s cured?”

“I’m not an oncologist, but I would say so. Every year that passes with her being clear, the possibility of a recurrence drops. Generally, at five years, the possibility is so minuscule that she is basically cured. Don’t get me wrong, it could happen, but her risk factor isn’t nearly what it was during those first years.”

“So why in the hell is she so reluctant to plan her future?” My body relaxed just a little.

“Think about it, Noah. She’s lived five years with the fear that the cancer will come back. The treatment for two years was horrific. How long would it take you to get over that? After suffering for two years like that, and sweating recurrence for several more, would you just get to the five-year mark and blow it off? It’s not going to happen. She’s still scared, and understandably so.”

Owen was right. And Andie had the right to still be terrified. “I wish I could have been there for her,” I said, feeling guilty because I wasn’t there during one of the roughest patches of her life. “What in the fuck is wrong with her parents?”

“They suck,” Owen answered angrily. “They’re selfish assholes, and Andie was probably better off not having them there, but I know how much their behavior hurt her. God forbid that they should have to face anything unpleasant in their lives. They never gave a shit about Andie, so I wasn’t expecting them to move to Boston and hover over her, but they sure as fuck could have been there for some of it. After they abandoned her, she didn’t even want to reach out to other friends, like Layla. Andie didn’t want to burden anyone.”

I slammed my fist against the table. “Goddammit! She could never be a burden to anyone! Why didn’t she just tell me about this when we were coming back from Mexico? She let me just believe that she dropped out of college and traveled around like a gypsy because she wanted to do it. I thought she was the kind of woman who didn’t have a care in the world.”

“Because she lets everyone think that. She prefers that over people feeling sorry for her,” Owen replied. “Once she recovered, she wasn’t sure how much time she had left. She was a mess. So she started mindfulness meditation and tried to live her life day by day. Andie always wanted to travel the world. And since she didn’t know if she was going to live another year, she got busy doing what she wanted to do before it was too late. I can’t blame her for not going back to school. I know she would’ve liked to, but she wanted to experience . . . life.”

I shook my head. “I don’t blame her, either. I just wish she hadn’t had to do it alone.” Why waste precious time in a classroom? If I’d been in that situation, I probably would have done the same. Most people would.

However, most people absolutely wouldn’t have struck out to see and experience the world all alone at the age of twenty-two.

Owen said that Andie was brave. I’d say she was pretty miraculous.

“I wanted to go with her,” Owen said. “I didn’t want her to be alone, especially if her time was limited. But I didn’t have the money or the freedom back then to go. But I worried about her every single trip, and I made her check in with me every day.”

We were quiet for a moment before I admitted, “I fucked up, Owen. I let her walk out of the house after she told me because I couldn’t take everything in. Who in the fuck expects a young woman to drop a bomb on them like that? She was gone before I had a chance to say anything.”

“What would you have said if you’d had the time?” he asked calmly.

I put my head down and stared at the wooden surface of the table as I clenched my fists. “I would have said that she could have told me. It wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference in how I felt about her. Or maybe that’s not quite the truth. I loved the way she was able to appreciate each and every day, but now that I understand why, I’m awed by her resilience, and the way she handled her life after her diagnosis. And I definitely would have told her that I didn’t need forever right now. That I’d be there when and if she was ready. I just need . . . her. Maybe it sounds kind of ridiculous and poetic, and I’m not a poetry type of guy, but I think Andie and I were meant to find each other. But I fucking blew it. I let my ego replace my common sense.”