Rosewood Lane (Cedar Cove #2)(63)

“Well…I suppose,” she said reluctantly.

Dr. Fred chuckled. “I don’t suppose you brought me any of your green tomato mincemeat?”

“You’re shameless.”

“I am!” He peeked inside her knitting bag.

Charlotte slapped his hand and then pulled out a tall Mason jar filled with his favorite pie mixture.

“You’re my sweetheart.”

“As long as I feed you mincemeat,” Charlotte said with a grin.

“I’ll give you a call when the test results are in,” he told her as he walked her to the door.

Although she didn’t have any answers yet, Charlotte felt better during the next few days. For too long she’d ignored her health and now that she’d taken a positive step toward finding out what was wrong, her spirits lifted.

Dr. Fred’s office phoned early the next week; he’d ordered a barrage of tests. One, a colonoscopy, required a trip to HarrisonHospital in Bremerton. Not wanting to alarm Olivia, Charlotte had her friend Laura drive her.

“I’ve had this procedure done myself,” Laura told her when she arrived to pick her up. Bess and Evelyn had come along for moral support.

“We’re going to pamper you,” Bess insisted from the back seat.

“You’re making me feel like an old woman,” Charlotte protested—but not too loudly. Actually, she was grateful for her friends’ presence.

Evelyn snickered. “Charlotte, in case you didn’t notice, we are old women. Now buckle up and stop complaining.”

Although she was given anaesthetic, Charlotte was awake for part of the procedure. She heard the medical staff whispering together, calling over another doctor, pointing to an area on the screen. She wasn’t sure what it all meant and anxiously awaited the verdict.

When Dr. Fred joined his associates, she could see from the look on his face that it was serious. When he did speak, she heard only one word and that was enough to send her world into a tailspin.

Charlotte’s friends chatted on the ride home, but her head was buzzing and she scarcely heard a thing they said. Laura came into the house with her.

“Do you want me to call Olivia?” she asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “No…I don’t want to disturb her. She’s so busy.”

“She needs to know.”

“I’ll tell her soon,” Charlotte promised.

Laura fussed about her for a few moments and then, being the good friend she was, realized that Charlotte wanted to be alone. She hugged Charlotte before she left.

Sitting in her chair, with Harry on her lap, Charlotte reviewed her options. She didn’t expect to live forever, but she felt she had a whole lot of life in her yet. When she was finally ready to talk, it wasn’t Olivia she called but her son, Will, who lived in Atlanta.

“Mother!” Will was clearly surprised to hear from her. “How are you?”

“Just grand,” she lied. “I imagine you’re wondering why I’m phoning you at work in the middle of the day, since this is when the rates are high.”

“The thought did cross my mind,” Will said. How like Clyde he sounded, her son, the nuclear engineer. How proud she was of him and Olivia, too. Suddenly Charlotte found herself trembling.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Will always seemed to know when something was troubling her. “I was in to see Dr. Fred last week.”

A pause followed. “When I spoke to Olivia, she said you’d been tired lately.”

“Yes, well, that’s true. I have been.”

“Tired enough to decide you needed to visit Dr. Fred.”

“Yes. You know how he loves my green tomato mincemeat. Normally I would’ve baked him a pie, but this time I just brought him a jar. I had plenty of green tomatoes this year.”

“Mother, you didn’t call me to talk about your pies, did you?”

“No…”

“What did Dr. Fred have to say?”

“Well, not much. He wanted me to have a few tests.” She pressed the phone hard against her ear.

“Which you did?”

“Oh, yes, he was quite insistent about that. The most intrusive one was this morning. It was at HarrisonHospital.”

“Did Olivia go with you?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t bother her on a Thursday, especially at the end of the month. You know how busy her court schedule can get.”

“In other words, Olivia doesn’t know anything about this?”

“Not yet.”

“Did you get the test results?”

Charlotte felt the tears fill her eyes and was grateful that Harry was lying on her lap. Petting him soothed her and just then, with her fears close to overwhelming her, she needed him.

“Mother?” Will said more loudly this time. “Are you still on the line?”

“I’m here.”

“What did the doctor say?”

She hesitated. “Will, I know it would be a terrible inconvenience to you and Georgia, but I was wondering if you’d mind making a trip to Cedar Cove in the near future.”

“Mother, what did Dr. Fred tell you?”

Charlotte bit down hard on her lower lip. “I’m afraid I have cancer.”

Twelve