Hourglass Squared (21 page)

We each plopped into the chairs in front of the desk, waiting for the verdict.

Not one to beat around the bush, Dr. Rothchild dove right in. "So, as I suspected, the cancer was in your lymph nodes. The ones we took out all tested positive, so we will need to do a combination of radiation and chemotherapy to finish this fight. I know you are concerned about the baby, Brooke, but doesn't this baby deserve a mother?"

"No. I mean, yes, the baby should have me, but the baby needs to be healthy first and foremost. I only have ten more weeks. My body will just have to be strong enough." I shot to my feet, watching both men's jaws go slack as I walked out the door, leaving them both to stare at my back.

"Brooke!" Josh roared as he chased behind me to catch up. Once I was within his grasp, he snatched my arm, forcing me to spin and face him, the embrace complete contrast to the warm loving hold from before. "You can't do this. This isn't a decision you can just make and expect me to be okay with!" His voice continued to rise as his face turned beet red.

"Yes, it is," I answered softly, not wanting to anger him further.

Each couple passing by watched us with alarm in their eyes, but not wanting to get involved, I presumed, since they kept walking.

"No! That is our baby. You are my wife. Don't you get I need you? Without you I will die. I need you, Brooke."

"Oh, Josh. It's ten weeks. That's no big deal."

"Wrong! If you'd have sat when Dr. Rothchild was speaking and listened, you'd have heard him try to tell you ten weeks can make a huge difference. It can kill you."

"Yeah, well, for all anyone knows, the treatment could hurt or kill our baby!" I yelled back, tears streaming down my face. "Now, are you taking me home, or do I need to call myself a cab?"

CHAPTER THIRTY

Savannah

M
ONICA STEPPED INTO
my office with a mock-up magazine in her hand. She sat down across from me. "How's Brooke?" she asked, concerned.

I smiled. "She had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I haven't heard from her yet, but once I do, I'll let you know."

Her head nodded, and she placed the mock-up onto my desk. "Here it is. Everything is set and ready to go with one exception." Her brow lifted, and she peered at me. "The cover, I want Brooke on the cover. I know she's going to be against it, so I'm trusting you'll convince her?"

Monica worded her last sentence in the form of a question, but both she and I knew it was more of a demand. "I trust you'll have her answer to me by close of business tomorrow?"

"Absolutely!" I exclaimed, giving her my best poker face.

Josh opened the door and let me in. "How is she?" I asked.

He just shook his head. "Stubborn as hell. I'll let her give you the details. She's in the nursery."

I walked through the house and made my way into the baby's room. Brooke was resting in the glider, eyes closed, listening to soft music.

I plopped down onto the loveseat in the corner and kicked my heels off, rubbing my swollen feet over the soft carpet. "How'd the doctor's appointment go?"

Brooke continued to glide back and forth. "Exactly as expected. They weren't able to remove all of the cancer, and they want to try both chemotherapy and radiation."

My head rested back onto the back of the couch. "How will that affect the baby?"

"Doctor Rothchild says it won't, but I've done my research. I know it will. I'm not doing it. Josh thinks he has a say in the matter, but he doesn't. When it all boils down to it, this is my body, and I will decide if I want to go through treatment or not."

Brooke
was
stubborn as hell, and I knew once she made up her mind, there was no going back. Josh, along with the rest of us, was going to have to sit there and watch the person we love deteriorate before our eyes, and there was nothing we were going to be able to do about it. Knowing it was a moot point to argue with her, I decided to change the subject.

"The October Breast Cancer Awareness Edition is complete. Monica brought the mock-up into my office today. You're going to love it."

Brooke nodded. "I can't wait to see it."

Deciding I was going to go in for the kill, I began, "There's just one piece that's missing, and Monica thought you might be able to help out."

Brooke's eyes opened, and she stared over at me. "Oh yeah, and what's that?"

I took in a deep breath. "She wants you on the cover."

I watched my best friend as her eyes bugged, wide open.

"The cover!" she shouted. And like clockwork, I heard Josh's feet pounding against the floors before he burst in.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking from Brooke to me and then back to Brooke.

I couldn't help but grin, thankful that Brooke had someone so concerned in her life, especially during all of this.

"Honey, we're fine. Sav was just telling me that Monica wants me featured on the cover of the October edition of Hourglass."

Josh's face lit up, and he was at Brooke's side in a second. He knelt next to her and took her hand. "Brooke, that's incredible. You've got to do it."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. There is no way. I can't be on the cover of Hourglass boobless."

I glanced down at my watch and knew Jake would be expecting me home shortly, so I slipped my feet back into my stilettos and stood up from the couch. "I've got to run. One thing before I go…"

Brooke and Josh both looked up at me, and I averted my stare to Brooke and only Brooke. "Remember when Monica made us leave town after the auction, how she really didn't give us a choice?"

She nodded her head, and I could tell Josh was confused.

"Well, that is how she presented this to me today, and with the squatters getting closer to arriving, I'd like to ensure that I have a job." I winked at her, and she huffed.

"Fine. But you're taking the pictures. I won't work with anyone else."

Smiling, I winked. "It's like you've been a model your entire life, already laying out all of your demands. I talk badly behind the backs of your kind," I teased.

Brooke let out a laugh, and I left the room, hollering back at them as I made my way to the door. "Love you both!"

The next morning, Jake and I headed to the doctor's office for my monthly check-up. We arrived early, the first appointment of the day, and the nurse took us both straight back to the examination room.

"Savannah, would you mind getting on the scale so we can check your weight."

I huffed and kicked my heels off, followed by my necklace and every other piece of jewelry that was on my body. Jake was standing next to me and I motioned for him to turn around. "No peeking," I said, serious as ever, watching him as he turned to face the opposite direction. I stepped onto the scale and watched the numbers shoot up, higher than they'd ever been in my entire life.

"One hundred and forty six pounds, for a total of forty-one pounds since your first visit."

I glared at the nurse, angry that she'd opened her big mouth, even after I'd made Jake turn around. "Well, so much for keeping my weight from him," I said, stepping back down off the scale and climbing onto the examination table.

Jake came over and sat next to me, a grin on his face, because my plan to keep my weight hidden from him had failed.

The nurse globbed a pile of the clear jelly onto my belly and began sliding the magic wand around until the squatters were up on the screen, and Jake was mesmerized. I loved watching him watch our babies. It was like Christmas each time I had an appointment. His face would light up, and he'd ask the nurse for as many pictures as she was willing to give us, and today was no different.

After we'd seen our babies and had plenty of new pictures in hand, Jake and I were ushered into the doctor's office for the usual five-minute conversation before we could leave. The two of us sat next to each other as the doctor came in.

"Well, Mrs. Worthington, it looks like we will need to begin seeing you once a week."

I felt my brows lift, and Josh's neck twisted toward me then back to the doctor as he lifted his hands up. "This is all routine, especially with multiples. They start getting crowded in there, and we just have to keep an extra eye on them. Nothing to be concerned about. We just want to ensure that when they're ready, we are too."

I felt my anxiety begin to drop, and my breathing calmed, no longer worried about the squatters now that I knew it was just routine. But Jake was another story. He started in on the doctor, asking a million and one questions while I sat back and listened, allowing him to ask everything he needed to make life easier on me.

After the appointment, I talked him into going to one of the local baby boutiques to do some furniture shopping. I'd been eyeballing Brooke's glider and wanted to test them out for our nursery.

Falling down into an overstuffed modern glider, I lifted my feet up and set them on the ottoman in front of me. "This is perfect. Let's buy it." I smiled over at Jake, who was sitting next to me lounging back in another glider, and he laughed.

"That's it? You just want to try one? Shouldn't you test out the others?"

I laced my fingers with his and closed my eyes, leaning back against the plush cushion. "What if I would have tested the others after you? Maybe I wouldn't be so fat right about now. Ever think of that?"

He squeezed my hand. "Oh, there were plenty before me. You just saved the best for last."

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Brooke

A
MONTH HAD PASSED
with me feeling like absolute crap. Each day my body felt more drained, more exhausted, and I knew the cancer was taking hold. The thought terrified me, and I was grateful I was so close to the end of the pregnancy. I'd looked for alternatives to chemo, tried every safe herbal treatment in the book, seen an acupuncture specialist, and had even gone to a hypnotherapist. Desperate times.

Josh and I had barely spoken to each other the last few weeks. Between me sleeping and him pouting, there was a huge wall wedged between us that seemed insurmountable. I wanted to go to him, lean on him, but each time he brought up the treatments I was refusing, instead of acknowledging what I was trying. Dinner most nights was take-out since I'd lost all energy to cook a meal. I was incapable of being a wife. I wouldn't let Josh touch me still, and I felt worthless. My sole goal was to deliver our baby healthily into this world, into Josh's arms.

Feeling especially sick today, I started assembling the what-if plan. No matter how much it broke my heart, I knew it was a possibility. I'd already had the will drawn up, so that gave me some comfort, but I knew there was something else I needed to do. I pulled down a box from the shelf of the closet and dug through it for a good thirty minutes, until finally removing what I was looking for. When I was done, I had a photo of Savannah and me from high school, a photo of the four of us from the night Savannah got engaged, and a wedding photo of Josh and me.

I pushed back up to my feet and shuffled my way to the office, my terrycloth slippers brushing along the wood floor, probably the most cleaning they'd seen in a while. The leather chair hugged me as I sat in it; it always was so comfortable. I let my fingers grasp a piece of heavy paper with my monogram on top and began the most heartbreaking letter of my life.