by Rachel Hanna
Kate waited for them to finish unloading some of the lumber and then sat on the tailgate of the truck. She would’ve helped them, but she had been having problems with her neck lately, probably from stress. The last thing she wanted to do was really pull a muscle and end up not being able to take care of her bees or cook for the guests.
As she watched them start to work, her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Kate? It’s Sylvia. How are you?”
“I’m good, Sylvia. It’s nice to hear from you. We were hoping that you would come to visit with dad.”
There was a long pause. “That’s why I’m calling you. And I really probably shouldn’t be calling you because Jack would kill me, but I have to tell you girls something. I’ve actually driven into town, but he doesn’t know that I’m here. I hope we can keep this between us until I have a chance to meet with you girls.”
“Meet with us? Is everything okay?”
As Kate continued listening to Sylvia, she noticed Mia walking up the driveway.
“What’s going on?”
Kate held up her hand. “So where would you like to meet us, Sylvia?”
“Sylvia?” Mia mouthed.
“The café? Oh, you mean the one in Blue Falls?”
“She wants us to come two cities over?”
“Okay. We will see you in a bit.”
Kate ended the call and looked at her sister, her mouth hanging open a bit.
“What’s going on?”
“That was Sylvia, and she said that she has something she needs to talk to us about but she doesn’t want Dad to know she’s driven to town to meet with us. We have to meet her away from here, just so we don’t run into him.”
“Well, I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I, and I don’t like keeping anything from him. But we know he’s keeping a secret, and I think we need to meet her.”
“Speaking of secrets…”
“Is everything okay?” Cooper called down. Not wanting to upset her daughter, Kate decided to keep her conversation with Sylvia to herself.
“Everything is fine. But Mia and I have an errand we need to run, so will be back in a couple of hours.”
“Okay. Love you!” Cooper called.
She smiled at him. “Love you too! And don’t fall out of the tree!”
“Y’all are so sweet.”
“So are you and Travis.”
“Don’t even get me started about that…”
“Obviously we need to talk about whatever that is, but right now I think we need to focus on getting to Sylvia and finding out exactly what’s going on with Dad. Wait, were you going to tell me something else?”
Mia paused for a moment. “No. It can wait.”
The two of them jogged down the driveway, climbed into Kate’s car and took off in pursuit of answers about what was going on with their father.
Kate and Mia parked the car and hurried into the cafe. The drive over had done nothing for either of their worried minds. In the car, they’d talked about their dad, Mia’s worries with Travis and Cooper building the treehouse, but Mia had kept Brandon’s overheard conversation a secret for now. She didn’t want to add any more worries to Kate’s already full plate.
“It looks like she’s here,” Kate said, as they pulled up at the café. They could see Sylvia sitting inside, and she raised a hand to wave at them.
They walked into the café, the smell of food overwhelming Mia’s senses. She was starving and thankful to get away from the B&B for a while where someone else was cooking for her.
“Sylvia, it’s so good to see you,” Kate said, smiling as she hugged Sylvia tightly. Mia hugged her as well before they both sat down. Sylvia looked tired, worried.
“I’m so thankful that you two agreed to meet me here. And you didn’t tell your father, right?”
“We didn’t. We don’t feel great about it, but we know he’s hiding something and we’ve been worried about it,” Mia said.
“Welcome to Della’s Cafe,” the young female server said as she walked up to the table. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Sweet tea for both of us,” Mia said, forcing a smile. Her mother had always taught her to be kind and mannerly even when things were a mess in her mind.
As the waitress walked away, Sylvia sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out like she was preparing for something really bad. Mia’s stomach tightened.
“You’re right that your father has been keeping something from you.”
“Are you two having marriage trouble?” Kate asked.
Sylvia smiled slightly and shook her head. “No. I mean, the fact that he is keeping this secret from y’all has caused us a few fights recently, but that’s not it.”
“What is it?”
“Your father has a health problem that is very serious. His doctors want him to have a procedure, and he’s refusing. He told me he’s just going to let nature take it’s course, and I think he’s just scared.”
“But he seems fine. What kind of health problem?” Kate asked, confused.
“A few weeks ago, he had a cough. We didn’t really think anything of it because we figured it was a cold or something like that. Then he woke up one morning and he couldn’t breathe well, so I ended up taking him to the emergency room. I wanted to call you girls, but he wouldn’t allow it.”
“He’s a stubborn old goat,” Mia said, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, he is,” Sylvia said, smiling sadly. “Long story short, they found out that he has the beginnings of congestive heart failure.”
“Oh my gosh!” Kate said, putting her hand over her mouth.
“Thankfully, the doctors were able to treat a lot of the issues in the hospital. They released him and he’s been taking medication ever since, but they sent him to see a cardiologist.”
“And what did they say?”
“The doctor said that he has a potentially dangerous heart rhythm. There were two options that they gave us. One would be to have a procedure called an ablation. They would basically burn the part of his heart that is causing the arrhythmia. That might save his heart function and keep the heart failure from progressing.“
“Wow. That sounds really scary and possibly dangerous.” Mia said.
“Actually, it’s apparently a very common procedure. He probably wouldn’t even stay overnight at the hospital.”
“You said there was another option?” Kate asked.
“The other option would be to get a defibrillator implanted in his chest. If his heart goes into a potentially fatal arrhythmia, it would shock his heart.”
Mia’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “That sounds terrible. So he would be walking around like a ticking time bomb?”
“Exactly. And something like that really wouldn’t help add more years to his life. The doctor definitely wants him to have the ablation first. Sometimes they can’t identify the area of the heart that’s causing the problem, and they may have to even repeat the ablation. Sometimes they do the procedure and it causes a worse problem to happen.”
Kate put her head in her hands. “This is all very scary. We just got him in our lives, and now something like this?”
“I know. And I begged him to tell you girls. I begged him over and over, but he just wouldn’t listen. He said he wanted to come spend time with you because he’s convinced maybe he doesn’t have much time left.”
“Is that what the doctor is saying?” Mia asked, her eyes filling with tears.
“Not in so many words, but it’s not a good prognosis if he just doesn’t do anything. His heart function will decrease if he doesn’t address the arrhythmia. I think the ablation is our best chance. It’s the least invasive.”
“So you want us to talk to him?”
“I just thought maybe you girls would be able to talk some sense into him. Doing nothing is just not a reasonable way to go about this.”
“We have
to make him get the procedure. I can’t lose my dad after I just found him,” Kate said, a tear rolling down her cheek. Mia hated to see her strong sister so upset, even though she was feeling the same way.
“We will talk to him, and we will make him understand that he has to do this. I’m sure he’s just really scared, and that’s totally understandable.”
“He told me that he was afraid of having the procedure because what if he died and never saw you two again? At least if he does nothing, he knows he’ll have that time with you, or at least that’s the way he’s thinking about it.”
“We’re going to change his mind,” Kate said, wiping away her tears. “We just have to.”
Chapter Nine
Travis stood at the airport desk and ran his fingers through his hair. The stress was going to kill him. He’d tried calling Mia for hours, and she wasn’t answering. Since it was going straight to voicemail, he could only assume that she was ignoring his calls. What Sam had done was inexcusable, and he could only hope Mia trusted him.
“Please, there’s got to be something,” he said again.
“I’m so sorry, sir, but the next flight is booked solid. Your ticket for tomorrow morning is going to be your best bet,” the ticket agent said.
“What about stand-by?”
“You can wait here and see if anything opens up on the next flight in a couple of hours, but it’s usually pretty booked.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll be waiting right over here. Please let me know.”
He walked back to his seat and sat down, determined to get home as soon as possible. Getting back tomorrow wouldn’t be terrible, but it was killing him to think that Mia called him and Sam answered. And he was in the shower, of all things. What must she be thinking?
Still, she hadn’t said anything when they spoke after that. Why? Had it just not bothered her? Maybe she didn’t think anything of it. But why wasn’t she answering her phone?
Then it dawned on him that something could be wrong. What if she was hurt? He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Kate’s number. It rang several times and went to voicemail. He hung up and called Cooper.
“Hello?”
“Thank God someone around there is answering the dang phone!”
“Who is this?”
Travis could hear birds in the background. “It’s Travis. And why do I hear birds?”
“I’m up in a tree. What’s up?”
“Why are you up in a… You know what, never mind. Do you know where Mia is?”
“She walked up the driveway a little while ago, and she took off with Kate.”
“So she’s okay?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t she be?”
“She hasn’t been answering my calls. I thought something might be wrong.”
“Oh. Well, she seems fine. Although…”
“Although what?”
“I did notice that she and Kate were talking about something, and they both looked worried or upset. Not sure what that was about.”
“Oh no.”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Listen, if you see her, please ask her to call me, okay?”
“Will do.”
Travis ended the call and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. He’d waited most of his life to be with Mia again, and he wasn’t going to let a silly misunderstanding get in the way of their happily ever after.
Kate pulled into the driveway at a rapid clip. “Slow down before you kill the two of us!” Mia said, holding onto the dashboard. Kate had always been a speedy driver, a fact that worried her when it came to teaching Evie to drive. Now, she’d have to teach her on curvy mountain roads which would certainly be an adventure.
“Sorry. I’m just so stressed out. I can’t believe that Dad is going into heart failure and doesn’t want to do anything about it.”
She stopped the car and sat there for a moment, her hands gripping the steering wheel. She took a deep breath and blew it out.
“We need to find Dad and have a talk with him as soon as possible.”
“I agree, but we should think about how we’re going to approach this. I don’t want to stress him out any further,” Kate said.
“You’re right. We have to be careful.”
They got out of the car and walked into the house. Evie was fixing herself a snack, which would probably ruin her dinner later, and Brandon was sitting at the breakfast bar watching her.
“How’d the treehouse building go?” Mia asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Cooper is still up there. I needed a snack.”
“I hope you offered to make him one too,” Kate said, pointing her finger.
“I did but he had something with him. Me and Dad were going to go down and do a little fishing before dinner.”
“Is that okay with you, Kate?” Brandon asked.
The room suddenly fell silent for a moment. “That’s fine. Thank you for asking.”
Inside, Mia seethed. She hadn’t told her sister about the phone call she overheard with Brandon, and now it was very apparent that he was just trying to play nice. What was his end goal?
Right now, she couldn’t think about it. She was so worried about her own father that everything else had to take a back seat, including worrying about Travis. That was such a minor thought at the moment. Her petty relationship worries could be thought about later.
“Have you seen your grandpa around?” Mia asked.
“Not lately. Maybe he’s in his room?”
“Okay, I’ll check there.” Mia trotted up the stairs and looked for her father but didn’t see him anywhere. She peered out the window and noticed he was sitting down on the dock. Talking to him right now wasn’t going to work if Evie and Brandon were going to be down there fishing.
Mia came back down the stairs and pulled Kate aside. “He’s not up there. He’s on the dock.”
“I guess we’re going to have to wait a little while before we talk to him. Maybe we can lure him back to the house with cut up hotdogs?” Kate joked.
Having to wait longer to talk to their dad was going to be anxiety producing, but one way or the another they were going to talk to him before the day was at an end.
Evie sat on the edge of the dock, her fishing line in the water. They weren’t biting today, but she was enjoying the time she was getting to spend with her father.
Surprisingly, he hadn’t mentioned yet when he planned to leave. He’d been there almost a week now, and she assumed he needed to go back home at some point. He seemed to be settling in quite well, and it made her wonder if maybe he wasn’t happy back in Mexico. Maybe he would move there to be closer to her.
Over the last couple of days, she had allowed herself to hope. To dream. To see herself in a future that included her father.
She thought about how wonderful birthdays might be, especially if she got to know her sister and brother. She thought she would make a good older sibling, always protecting and guiding them. She wanted to show them how not to get in trouble like she had when she was back in Rhode Island.
She thought about Thanksgiving and Christmas. If her parents could continue to get along, maybe they could all be one big, happy family, sitting around the table, telling jokes and stories. Sure, it was probably like one of those cheesy holiday movies you see on TV, but maybe it could be real life.
“We sure aren’t having any luck, are we?” Brandon said.
“Nope. Sometimes, that’s how it happens. I guess that’s why grandpa stopped fishing for the day. Maybe he scared them all away,” she said, laughing.
Brandon pulled his line in and set his fishing pole beside him. He seemed a little nervous all of the sudden, but she didn’t know why. They’d been having a nice conversation about his life back in Mexico and how he had tried all kinds of new foods over the years that he wanted Evie to get a chance to try. He regaled her with stories of Carmelita, a local woman who made the best enchiladas he’d ever had.
She brought up the
idea of going there on vacation at some point, and he seemed to be receptive to it, although he didn’t commit.
“I really enjoy going out in the canoe and kayak sometimes. I don’t usually fish that way, but it’s really relaxing when you…”
“Evie, we need to talk.”
“Okay…” She reeled in her line and put her pole behind her. “What’s going on?”
He reached over and held her hand. “You know that I love you, right?”
“Of course. And I love you too.”
“I need to ask you something, and it’s a big deal. In fact, it’s a life or death deal.”
“What are you talking about, Dad?”
“I don’t know quite how to say this. So I’m just going to say it and get it out because I’ve been keeping this in for a long time.”
“You’re scaring me.”
He looked at her in a way she had never seen, his face almost sad, his eyes looking directly into hers. “Honey, I’m dying.”
Evie felt like she couldn’t breathe. She pulled her hand away and put it up to her chest. Her heart rate quickened, and she could feel her face starting to flush. She had never passed out in her life, but she assumed this is what people felt like right before they hit the ground.
“You’re dying? That can’t be right. I don’t understand!”
“Take a breath. Just calm down,” he said, trying to get her to focus.
“But you just reconnected with me. You can’t be dying…”
“I was diagnosed a year ago with a rare blood disorder. If I don’t do the treatment, I won’t make it another year, maybe two.”
She felt the tears stinging her eyes and then overflowing down her face. “Then do the treatment! You have to do the treatment!”
“Honey, it’s not that simple. It’s a special kind of treatment.”
“What do you mean? If there’s a treatment, you have to do it. You can’t just leave me, or my brother and sister!”
“Trust me, I don’t want to leave any of you. But so far, there have been no matches.”
“Matches? What do you mean?”
