A Walk Along the Beach(51)

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Echols said. “Is there someone you’d like me to call?”

If he meant a priest or a family member I didn’t know. All I could manage was to stare at him, unable to answer.

Harper was the one who came to her senses first. “Thank you. What should we do next?”

“I’m going to admit you.”

“Now?” I asked. He wouldn’t do that if this wasn’t serious.

“Yes. I’m reaching out to University of Washington Medical Center. That was where your sister was treated earlier, correct?”

    With my throat completely dry, it was impossible to answer.

“Yes, that’s where I was treated the first time,” Harper answered. She was the adult in this. Not me. I was in shock, unable to put together a coherent thought.

I remained in a stupor; it felt as if someone had zapped me with a stun gun. I was frozen, hardly able to function.

We waited until three that morning before a bed was available. Dealing with the shock of it, I knew I was incapable of making the return drive to Oceanside. Once Harper was given a gown and had a bed, the nurse handed me a pillow. Fortunately, the chair could be made into some semblance of a bed, not that I expected to get much sleep. Harper drifted off and I suspected she’d been given a sedative. Frankly, I could use one myself.

As dawn approached, the shadows leaped about the walls in the room like demons sent to torment me. My head was full of all my sister had endured in her first fight against cancer. I remembered how deathly ill the chemotherapy had made her. The loss of her beautiful blond hair. She lost so much weight I barely recognized her. Here we were again.

Round two.

Harper would need to deal with it all one more time. My heart was sick. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Not again. Oh God, please not again.

Knowing Lucas would be up early, I slipped out of Harper’s room and went down the hallway to a waiting area. It wasn’t quite five yet. Sitting in the chair, near the edge of the cushion, I stared down at my phone. My throat clogged. A minute passed before I found the courage to push the button that would connect with him.

“This better be important,” Lucas barked into the receiver.

My brother never had been much of a morning person.

“It’s Willa,” I choked out.

“I know who this is. Is it Dad again?”

Dad? I hadn’t thought to call him. The fear of what this news would do to him felt like someone slammed a hard fist against my chest, knocking me off-center, losing even more of my precarious balance.

    “No. It’s not Dad.”

The silence was heartbreaking.

Finally, Lucas spoke, his voice a husky whisper. “Is it Harper?”

For the life of me, I couldn’t answer. With a sudden surge of uncontrollable emotion, I burst into sobs. Covering my mouth, I tried to stop, to regain control of myself. I knew what we faced.

“Willa, tell me.”

My brother’s words broke through the fog of shock and fear that all but suffocated me. Sucking in a deep, controlling breath, I waited until the shaking stopped and I could breathe normally once again.

“It’s back,” I managed. No need to explain further.

The line went silent.

“Where are you?”

“Aberdeen. I’ll know more when I talk to the doctor. He said something about sending Harper back to Seattle. It’s where she wants to go, as her friend John is an attending physician there.”

“I thought the blood work was good?” His disbelief reflected mine. This couldn’t be happening. We should have had more of a warning. Only a few weeks ago everything had been perfect. Our fears had been vanquished. All was well.

Only it wasn’t.

“She has a cancerous tumor on her lung.”

“I’ll call you later this afternoon.” Lucas was a take-charge kind of man. “You can tell me what you know then.”

How calm and in control he sounded.

I was a wreck.

“We can do this,” he told me.

The confidence in his voice settled over me. I needed that, desperately.

    “Harper can do this,” he added. “We’ll be there with her. She got through this once; she can do it again.”

We ended the call. The nurse, who must have heard my sobs, brought me a cup of coffee and sat with me for a few minutes. Before she returned to her station, she gently squeezed my shoulder. It was almost as if she knew I was going to need all the internal fortitude I could muster.





CHAPTER 20





Willa


We had three days at home. Three days before Harper would check back into the University of Washington Medical Center. Three short days to prepare ourselves for the battle. Harper was strong, far stronger than I was. I did my best to hide my anxiety, without much success. My sister was the one assuring me, the one lifting my spirits. That she would need to go through the entire horrific process of chemo again seemed outrageous and grossly unfair.

I wasn’t sleeping well, barely eating, dreading every minute, but gearing up for the fight. I refused to let Harper go through this alone. Like before, I intended to be at her side, her advocate with the medical team. It went without saying that Lucas would be with us, and Chantelle, too. I was fortunate to have Shirley, who was willing to take over for me at Bean There. Leesa would supplement at the counter after Alice left for college, which was a relief as well.