A Walk Along the Beach by Debbie Macomber Page 0,69
comfort me, and help me maintain a positive attitude.
“John’s been wonderful,” Harper whispered, already weakened by our short conversation. “I could love a man as caring and gentle as he is.”
I strongly suspected Harper was already in love with the physician. She held her feelings close to her heart and never spoke of her feelings for him to me before now.
“Did you know his mother died from breast cancer when he was in his teens? It was because of her that he chose a career in medicine.”
“He certainly has the heart for it.”
“He does.” Her words were a mere whisper, as she was already tired out from the effort to carry even a short conversation. Squeezing her hand, I left the room, fearing I would make everything worse if I allowed her to witness my tears.
Chantelle joined me a few minutes later. “She’s doing her best to put on a brave face through this.”
Leaning heavily against the wall, I exhaled, trying to forestall the tears. Emotion was close to the surface and had been ever since Harper had entered the hospital.
Wouldn’t you know it, the brief time I was out of the room the physician in charge of Harper’s case along with John came in to discuss the latest round of test results with her. This was how our day went: We hung on the hope that her bone marrow would produce the necessary white blood cells to ignite Harper’s immune system and fight off the leukemia.
Despite our prayers, every day the results were disappointing. It was hard to hold on when it was bad news followed by more bad news. We were left to watch Harper grow weaker and sicker every day.
It shocked me how quickly my sister had declined. She was bald now and wore a cute lilac-colored bow on the side of her hairless head.
“Leesa and Carrie are coming on Saturday,” I remembered. Their visit was sure to raise Harper’s spirits, and mine, too.
“Any more word from Sean?” Chantelle asked.
I shook my head. Although our conversation had been brief, Sean and I were fortunate to have had those few minutes. Remote as he was, I didn’t expect to hear from him again. I kept my phone tucked away on silent at the bottom of my purse, checking intermittently. If Sean had phoned during the day, I would have missed his call. Because it came in the middle of the night, we’d been able to talk.
“Did you hear back from the hotel?” I asked, knowing Chantelle had been waiting to hear about the possibility of changing the wedding date. It would be difficult at this point, seeing that the invitations had already been mailed out. That Lucas and Chantelle were willing to consider rescheduling their wedding said a lot about the kind of people they were.
Chantelle’s eyes immediately skirted away from mine. “The hotel is booked solid. I’ve checked every other venue in Oceanside and there’s not one available. I’ve looked in Seattle, too. Unfortunately, this late in the game, it’s impossible.”
After much discussion in the end it was decided that it would be best to keep the original early-December date.
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t make myself entertain the notion that Harper wouldn’t be alive come December. The words nearly stuck in my throat; nevertheless, they needed to be said. “I don’t know if Harper will be up to participating as a bridesmaid.”
“Are you suggesting I make contingency plans?” Chantelle asked.
I bit into my lip so hard I was afraid I’d drawn blood. “I…think that might be best.” Although Lucas and Chantelle did their part to support Harper, I was the one who’d spent the most time with her. Seeing her decline a little more each day, I feared the worst while doing my utmost to remain positive.
“We need a meeting with Dr. Carroll and John,” Chantelle announced, wanting to hear for herself what we should expect.
My mind was stuck on the fact that the lab results had showed no improvement. Harper seemed to be losing ground, when we’d fully expected her to be gaining. After the first chemotherapy session, we all accepted that Harper was far too weak to endure another round. Everything that could traditionally be done to help had already been tried.
Chantelle walked over to the nurses’ station and spoke to the supervisor. When she returned, she said, “Dr. Carroll has asked to meet with all of us tomorrow afternoon. John will be with him.”