Shadows - Melody Anne Page 0,54

let me tell you it isn’t hopeless, Joseph. I’m going to use some very scary words, and I’m not going to lie to you, but I want you to understand that there is hope,” Spence said.

Joseph swallowed the lump in his throat. His eyes were burning, and rage was trying to bubble through the absolute grief controlling him. From the second he’d opened his eyes in that chair a few moments ago, he’d known something was terribly wrong. There was a connection between him and his wife that was unexplainable. If she was in trouble, or in pain, he knew. She was the same with him. Their souls truly were connected.

“I can’t live without her,” Joseph said.

“Why don’t we find your family and I can tell all of you what’s happening at the same time,” Spence said.

Joseph didn’t hesitate. “No. I sent them home. I needed some alone time. They fought me, but I won,” he said. “I might want to run from this, but I won’t. I need to be strong for my wife and for my family. And I need you to tell me. I’ll figure out how to tell them.”

“Are you sure?”

Joseph wasn’t normally questioned. But then again, these weren’t normal times. “I’m very sure.”

“Katherine’s tests have come in. First, I’m going to tell you the positive to this situation. Had she not taken the fall . . .” Spence began, being diplomatic by not saying the word attack. Spence stopped and began again. “Had she not been injured, we might not have found this in time to do something.”

Those words processed in Joseph’s muddled brain. “What might not have been found?” He was beginning to realize there was something more than the injury of the night. His dread deepened.

“Katherine needs a team of oncologists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons. The attack might’ve initially knocked her out, but the subsequent issues in the chopper caused us to perform scans not typically associated with a concussion,” Spence said. He took another pause that infuriated Joseph.

“What are you telling me?” Joseph asked, his voice growing louder as rage began taking over his unending sadness.

Spence sighed. “I’ve never had such a difficult time giving a diagnosis to a family member.” He straightened his shoulders and looked Joseph in the eyes. “Katherine has a mass in her brain. We believe this to be a tumor that signals cancer. We need to do a lot more to have a definitive answer. I do know this won’t be an easy journey.” He stopped, and Joseph knew that was to allow the words to seep in.

Joseph couldn’t breathe.

With those few sentences hammering down on him, he felt his soul trying to escape, trying to fly to his wife, trying to unite with her. Those earlier words of reassurance that everything would be okay had been nothing but a wisp of smoke that was now disappearing into the wind, taking them thousands of miles away.

Joseph had gone through something similar many years ago, and though he’d been in a coma, his family praying over him daily, he hadn’t suffered because he’d slept through it. But Katherine had told him how devastated she’d been. He hadn’t fully understood until this very moment.

“How bad?” Joseph asked. He didn’t want to know, but he couldn’t help her if he buried his head in the sand.

“It’s bad, Joseph, but it’s not hopeless.”

Joseph’s world fell out beneath him. He had to fight the shaking trying to overtake his body as the doctor’s words tried to process in his brain. Cancer? What was happening? How could his world be flipped upside down in a matter of seconds? How would any of them survive?

“Joseph, I’ve contacted doctors from around the world, the best of the best. You have a unique advantage many families don’t, you have the ability to do whatever it takes for your wife. Don’t give up. We can beat this. I’m not going to make promises this time, but I’m telling you there’s real hope,” Spence said as his hand rested on Joseph’s shoulder.

Joseph swallowed. He couldn’t take even a few minutes to wallow in his grief. He needed a plan of action set in motion, and he needed to move fast. He blinked back the stinging in his eyes, not allowing himself more tears. He could wallow in pity, or he could be a man of action.

“It’s sad isn’t it, how this world works?” Joseph asked.

“What do you mean?” Spence asked. He was a wise man, and wouldn’t assume Joseph