was sick. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Not again. Oh God, please not again.
Knowing Lucas would be up early, I slipped out of Harper’s room and went down the hallway to a waiting area. It wasn’t quite five yet. Sitting in the chair, near the edge of the cushion, I stared down at my phone. My throat clogged. A minute passed before I found the courage to push the button that would connect with him.
“This better be important,” Lucas barked into the receiver.
My brother never had been much of a morning person.
“It’s Willa,” I choked out.
“I know who this is. Is it Dad again?”
Dad? I hadn’t thought to call him. The fear of what this news would do to him felt like someone slammed a hard fist against my chest, knocking me off-center, losing even more of my precarious balance.
“No. It’s not Dad.”
The silence was heartbreaking.
Finally, Lucas spoke, his voice a husky whisper. “Is it Harper?”
For the life of me, I couldn’t answer. With a sudden surge of uncontrollable emotion, I burst into sobs. Covering my mouth, I tried to stop, to regain control of myself. I knew what we faced.
“Willa, tell me.”
My brother’s words broke through the fog of shock and fear that all but suffocated me. Sucking in a deep, controlling breath, I waited until the shaking stopped and I could breathe normally once again.
“It’s back,” I managed. No need to explain further.
The line went silent.
“Where are you?”
“Aberdeen. I’ll know more when I talk to the doctor. He said something about sending Harper back to Seattle. It’s where she wants to go, as her friend John is an attending physician there.”
“I thought the blood work was good?” His disbelief reflected mine. This couldn’t be happening. We should have had more of a warning. Only a few weeks ago everything had been perfect. Our fears had been vanquished. All was well.
Only it wasn’t.
“She has a cancerous tumor on her lung.”
“I’ll call you later this afternoon.” Lucas was a take-charge kind of man. “You can tell me what you know then.”
How calm and in control he sounded.
I was a wreck.
“We can do this,” he told me.
The confidence in his voice settled over me. I needed that, desperately.
“Harper can do this,” he added. “We’ll be there with her. She got through this once; she can do it again.”
We ended the call. The nurse, who must have heard my sobs, brought me a cup of coffee and sat with me for a few minutes. Before she returned to her station, she gently squeezed my shoulder. It was almost as if she knew I was going to need all the internal fortitude I could muster.
CHAPTER 20
Willa
We had three days at home. Three days before Harper would check back into the University of Washington Medical Center. Three short days to prepare ourselves for the battle. Harper was strong, far stronger than I was. I did my best to hide my anxiety, without much success. My sister was the one assuring me, the one lifting my spirits. That she would need to go through the entire horrific process of chemo again seemed outrageous and grossly unfair.
I wasn’t sleeping well, barely eating, dreading every minute, but gearing up for the fight. I refused to let Harper go through this alone. Like before, I intended to be at her side, her advocate with the medical team. It went without saying that Lucas would be with us, and Chantelle, too. I was fortunate to have Shirley, who was willing to take over for me at Bean There. Leesa would supplement at the counter after Alice left for college, which was a relief as well.
Lucas and Chantelle’s engagement party was coming up. Harper and I were attending, and then Harper would go directly from the party to check in at the hospital. We convinced Lucas not to tell Chantelle about Harper until after the party, for fear it would put a damper on everyone’s mood. This was Lucas’s and our soon-to-be sister’s time, and Harper was determined not to do anything to ruin it. I agreed with her decision.
It was left to me to tell our father the news. At first, I toyed with the idea of keeping Dad in the dark for fear the news would send him spiraling back into the bottle. In the end I decided my father was an adult. Harper was his daughter. His favorite. He was responsible for his own actions. I would do what I could to