by Lee Wardlow
“How’s Alexander?” Her mother asked her.
“I talked to her yesterday. He should be fine soon. She’s been working from home to take care of him since he came down with chicken pox. Roman’s mother isn’t sure he had them though.”
“Oh dear,” Maria responded. “That’s not good.”
“John still sick?”
“He’s still fighting a cough. They didn’t want to risk exposing me to anything.”
“The flu is really bad, this year,” Brad shook his head. “Really hitting the small children hard.”
“I keep hearing that on television,” Josh replied.
The rest of dinner was small talk. The women cleaned up while Sophie held Joshua. He was quiet today, content to sit on his Nana’s lap and she was happy to hold him, sneaking in a kiss or two.
They moved to the living room after the kitchen was done. Hannah had to carry him for Sophie. “When are you leaving for Columbus? Did you hear, Columbus got ice last night and is expecting snow on and off till morning?” Hannah was talking with Ally. She handed Joshua to Sophie when she was settled in the recliner.
“I did. Brian’s parents drove in yesterday and had dinner with him last night and today.” Ally sounded grumpy about that bit of news. “He admitted he hadn’t thought of that but with the bad, weather coming in they decided to come in early. I could have hung out with his parents.”
Sophie gazed at her daughter. Then she looked between her husband and Jagger who seemed uncomfortable with this conversation. Maybe she was reading too much into this. Maybe she wasn’t, and he was developing feelings for Ally?
“I’ll take it slow when I leave tomorrow. Coach won’t allow the boys to have women in their room on Friday night so I’m staying in a hotel and Brian is staying in the dorm.”
Ally didn’t clarify about the remaining nights that she was staying in Columbus. Sophie and Josh exchanged glances. She wanted her daughter to slow down and think these things through before she made a mess of her life.
The grandparents asked more questions about the boy they hadn’t met yet. She and Josh had only met him once. He seemed nice enough. Polite. Brian cared for Ally, but he had priorities right now that might come between them. Sophie was afraid Ally was going to get hurt.
Jagger decided to go home, shortly after dinner. He had to revamp the proposal for the town after their meeting on Wednesday. They were meeting again on Monday to review the changes.
Sophie and Josh walked outside with him. She tucked her arm through his, talking quietly with him. Wanting to reassure herself that he was okay. She could tell he was sad. He felt alone in the world now that both his parents were gone. His grandparents gone a long time ago. He was an only child with an uncle on his dad’s side who lived out of state. A few cousins that he wasn’t that close to. His mom’s sister lived in California. She was divorced. He thought he would visit her at Christmas time if they could afford to let him have time off. The big house he grew up in was empty.
“I’m sorry, Jagger. If you need anything let us know.”
“Thank you, Sophie. Thank you for everything that you’ve done since Mom died. I appreciate all the help from you and Josh with the estate.” They had only had a few conversations with him.
“You’re very welcome.” She tugged him down to her level and kissed his cheek before he got into his truck.
They waved to Jagger as he pulled out of the drive. “Everything is good about that man but his truck,” Josh teased her.
She elbowed him in the ribs. “You concerned about tomorrow?” He asked.
“I’ve gotten over the fear of the treatments now. It’s just become a necessity that I have to do.”
He turned her around and directed Sophie towards the house. “Yes, it is. Four more months to go. Then onto the next step.”
She nodded. “One more month and we’re halfway there, Josh.”
“See, we’re getting good at looking at the bright side.”
She laughed. “Right,” she agreed.
In the house, Hannah was putting on Joshua’s jacket. “You’re leaving so soon?” Sophie asked.
“Joshua seems to be really grumpy and tired. We’re taking him home and putting him to bed.”
She kissed her grandson’s forehead. “He doesn’t seem to be warm. I hope he isn’t coming down with something.”
Hannah gazed at Sophie with concern. “Me too.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought about me.”
“You should. I should have too. I just thought he hadn’t slept well.”
She patted her daughter-in-law’s arm. “Kiddo, I can pick up an illness where I go to get fluids or chemo. I can get something anywhere, I go.”
“I know but I don’t want to be the one to bring something to you.”
Sophie leaned in and kissed Hannah’s cheek. “Quit worrying. Let me know how he is in the morning.”
She told Heath goodbye after Hannah. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She knew then that her son wasn’t looking forward to her chemotherapy treatment.
“See you in the morning. Love you baby.”
After they left, snuggling with Josh in her Dad’s recliner she got comfortable. It had been a long day for Sophie. She was starting to feel like her grandfather who whenever he sat down, he nodded off. Josh’s breathing was soothing to her and soon she was asleep in his arms.
He had to wake her when it was time to go home. She kissed her dad and mom. She and Josh were all that were left. Everyone else had gone home for the night without waking her.
At home, in her bedroom, she changed into a nightgown while Josh let the dogs out. They scrambled into the room happy to see her. She perched on the edge of the bed and rubbed their ears.
“It’s a long day tomorrow, girls. Get in your beds, right now.”
They flopped down on the down filled cushions with a huff. Then Sophie climbed beneath the blankets and waited for Josh. She didn’t make it before he arrived. She mumbled goodnight to him.
“Night Sophie, I love you.”
“Love you too, Josh.”
**
In the morning, she kissed Josh goodbye at the door and kicked him out. Sophie had to force him to go to the office before Heath and her dad picked her up. She thought it would be easier on him not being here when they came to get her.
“Call me or have Heath call me and let me know how you are.” Josh went down the steps of the porch. Sophie leaned against the pole by the stairs.
“I will, babe. Promise.”
She headed back inside when the coolness of the morning was making her bones ache. Her cell phone was ringing on the dining room table. She grabbed it right before it went to voicemail.
“Heath, everything okay?” He was due here in twenty minutes.
“Mom, Joshua is running a one hundred two. He’s been up all night with a fever.”
“Oh no.” She wasn’t concerned for herself when she should be. She was concerned for the baby.
“I think I should avoid you in case I have it too not that we all weren’t exposed yesterday.”
“Honey, you need to be with Hannah helping her with Joshua. What other symptoms does he have?”
“Just a cough.”
“I hope it isn’t the flu.”
“We’re taking him to the doctor this morning. We already have an appointment.”
“Let me know how he is. I better call Dad, so he can come back. Grandpa can’t handle me with his shoulder like it is.”
“We’ve already worked it out.”
“Oh really.” Sophie was running her finger across the smooth surface of her dining room table while she listened to her son explain about today. Her father-in-law was joining her father in taking her to treatment.
“Okay.” This should be interesting.
She told Heath goodbye and went to the bedroom to finish getting dressed. Her dad announced himself when he arrived. She met him in the hall with her warm, blanket draped over her arm.
> “You need a blanket?” He asked frowning at her.
She nodded and handed it to him. “I get the chills when I get chemo.”
Her father had never once seen her after chemotherapy.
“Okay.”
He took it from her and Sophie followed him to the car. Her dad kept looking over his shoulder at her. Brad Russack was sitting in the back seat. A tight spot for a large man of Brad’s size in her dad’s four door sedan. Brad was used to his large Ford truck, like his son’s vehicle.
“Why isn’t Brad sitting in the front?”
“Because he wants you to be comfortable,” her dad explained.
“Right now, I am comfortable, and the back is just fine. I’m much smaller than him for your rinky, dinky car.” She opened the back door and told him to get out.
“What is the matter with you?” He was grumbling at her struggling to get his long legs out of the car.
Snow was falling around them. Pelting her in the face while she waited for Brad to get out. “Get in the front. What is the matter with you,” she teased him. “You’d be so cramped up by the time we got to the cancer center you’d be no good to me.”
He frowned at her and got in the front seat. Sophie climbed in back. Her dad shut the door and flinched because he had used his right arm. Right handed, automatic reaction to use the dominate hand.
“I hope Joshua is okay?” She said to no one in particular.
“I hope you’re okay. You were kissing on that baby, all day yesterday,” Brad replied.
She was. Nothing she could do about it now. “Worth every minute of it too,” she informed Brad.
He laughed glancing in the back seat at her. They were quiet, and she knew why. This was how she and Josh were their first time going to chemo. They were afraid of the unknown. At the center, her dad parked in the closest spot. He was always doing that to her. She rolled her eyes at him.
The two large fathers followed her to the door. Brad held the door while she and her dad walked through it. They were right behind her to the elevator. She pushed the button and glanced over her shoulder at them.
“You two are pretty quiet this morning.”
The two men were good friends. The same age. Both had gone to Cooper schools together. They weren’t disappointed when Josh and Sophie began dating in high school but would have preferred they hadn’t had to struggle so hard. That’s why they made it as easy on them when they got pregnant or as easy as they could.
“Just concerned for you,” her father replied for them both.
She nodded. The elevator doors opened, and nobody said anything else. They leaned against the back wall while Sophie stood in front of them.
Madge greeted Sophie as she always did. “Doctor Roberts wants a weight on you before we start.” She glanced at the two men. “Duke nice to see you and who is your handsome friend?” She asked.
“I’m Brad Russack, Sophie’s father-in-law.”
Madge shook his hand. “I see where Josh gets his good looks,” she flirted with him and Sophie almost laughed at Brad who was flushing to the roots of his salt and pepper hair.
“Yeah, he’s a hottie still,” she teased him. Brad just rolled his eyes at her.
She handed her dad her purse and her multi-colored cape that she had been wearing everywhere because it was warm and comfortable. Brad was holding her blanket. Madge almost squealed when she saw the weight on the scale. “Sophie, you’ve gained four pounds. One hundred twelve pounds. That’s fabulous.”
“Sounds like she’s still pretty scrawny to me,” Brad complained.
Sophie glanced over her shoulder at him. “Watch it, mister or you can wait out there.” Then she looked at Madge. “My mother-in-law has been working on fattening me up.”
“Tell her to keep up the good, work. It’s so easy to lose weight when you’re doing chemotherapy and you didn’t have so much to lose.”
After that, Sophie began her treatment. Brad and her dad sat along the wall in chairs next to a young man. Wherever they went, they struck up a conversation. This time was no different. The young woman sitting next to her still had her hair. She turned and gazed at Sophie.
“That’s my brother, Steve.” She pointed at the man talking to her father and father-in-law.
Sophie laughed. “I’m Sophie Russack,” she told her. “That is my Dad with the white hair and my father-in-law, Brad is the other one. They thought my husband Josh needed a break from this.”
She appeared confused for a moment. “Why? You don’t get a break.”
Sophie smiled at her. “No, I don’t but I need him to remain strong so its fine with me,” she reassured her.
The young woman nodded. “Oh, I’m Amy.”
“Amy so nice to meet you. First treatment?” She guessed because of the hint of bitterness to her tone of voice.
Amy nodded. Sophie knew that after the next treatment her long, dark hair would start to fall out. She wondered if she should tell her what Deandra had told her. Shave it off.
“I’m only twenty-four,” Amy told her, her voice so soft that Sophie had trouble hearing her. She was looking at her brother who was engrossed in some football talk with her dad and Brad. “I froze some eggs to be sure that I could have children someday.”
Sophie reached her hand out to the younger woman. She couldn’t imagine what she felt when they told her she had breast cancer. Amy turned her pretty, hazel eyes towards Sophie and clasped her hand with hers. She squeezed it hard.
“I’m sorry,” Amy whispered.
“For what?”
“For dumping on you.”
“Oh honey, you can dump whenever you want to. I’ll give you my phone number. You can call me anytime.” She would repay Deandra’s kindness to her by helping Amy. “I must warn you that I won’t feel human until at least Monday so call me after that.”
The younger woman’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? The doctor said I might get nauseated, but the meds should control it. I need to work.”
Sophie explained she had a harder time with the chemo than most. Doctor Roberts thought she might be somewhat allergic to chemotherapy. She was hoping she could make it through the next few months of treatments as each one seemed to get a little worse for her. Sophie explained to Amy letting her know that her treatment could be different and probably would be.
She saw the younger woman visibly relax. Sophie was grateful for her situation where she didn’t have to worry about finances. Another thing to put on her list of things she had in her life that was good. If she had a job she had to go to everyday that would be a burden, she didn’t need. A burden Amy didn’t need either.
“How are your parents handling this?” She asked.
“They are kind of detached from this.” She glanced at Sophie. “Once we were grown they kind of started doing their own thing. They’re on a trip to Australia right now.” She sounded so hurt. This lack of feeling Sophie didn’t understand. “They call and check on me,” Amy added. She glanced across the room at her brother. Similar in looks, his hair was short and curly tight to his head. Big, hazel eyes in his dark, handsome face.
“I don’t know what I’d do without Steve.”
“The guy I was seeing broke it off. I could understand.” Amy shrugged her shoulders. “We’d only been together three months. Get out while the getting was good, you know. Who wants to care for somebody with cancer?”
“Somebody who really cares for you,” Sophie replied. “Like my husband Josh. Those two,” she pointed to her dad and Brad. “I’m really sorry kiddo. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
Amy turned her head towards Sophie, tears welled in her eyes. “Nope, not at all. I’m only twenty-four.”
After that, Sophie’s head started her usual ferocious pounding. “Migraine starts pretty quickly,” she explained to Amy. She gave her, the house number and her cell number which she put in her cell phone. Then Amy gave her numbers to Sophie while she could still think clearly.
Amy reached ove
r and tucked the blanket around her shoulders when she closed her eyes against the light that was making her head throb worse. “Thanks,” Sophie whispered to her.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for being so kind to me.”
“No problem. We girls need to stick together. I meant what I said. Call me if you need to talk.”
“I will, Sophie.”
They were quiet after that. Amy realized that Sophie was in a bad way. Her dad went to the empty chair next to her. He caressed her face. “How you are doing, baby girl?”
“Head is feeling like jackhammers are pounding in it,” she replied.
He caressed her cheek. She opened one eye and saw the concern on his face. “Daddy, this is normal for me.”
“Okay,” was all he said.
When Amy left, she touched Sophie’s arm. “Feel better, Sophie.”
“Thanks Amy. I’ll call you when I’m feeling better, if you haven’t called me just to check on you.”
“It was nice meeting you,” she talked softly because she could tell the sounds were even bothering Sophie.
“Nice meeting you too,” she told the young woman.
Sophie closed her eyes again and rested while the chemo continued to course through her making her head hurt worse with each passing minute. Sophie moaned in her sleep. She felt her dad’s hand on her arm. His warmth penetrating the fog that enveloped her.
“Daddy,” she groaned. “It hurts.”
“I know baby. I’m right here.” She heard the emotion in his voice and she couldn’t reassure him. As a parent, she knew how she would feel if this was Heath or Ally going through this.
Madge checked her vitals. “She’s hurting worse this time than last. Doctor Robert’s PA is on her way over to check her,” Sophie heard but couldn’t seem to wake up. The pain of migraines was like a weight that sat on you, where sleep was the only remedy.
Fifteen minutes later, Jodi, the PA checked her vitals. “Her BP is good. Hey, Sophie,” Jodi caressed her arm. “How you are doing, sweetheart?”
“Head is much worse.” She couldn’t open her eyes.
“I understand. We’re almost done for the day about another half hour,” she explained.
