A Second Chance (7 page)

“
Getting married?” The words
croaked from her throat.

Eduardo exchanged glances with
Christian again and then looked back at his mother. “I thought you
knew.”

She shook her head and swallowed the
tears. “I’m happy for them.” She smiled, but it almost hurt to do
so.

Madeline’s salvation came when the
nurse announced that visitation was over.

Once the room was clear, she sobbed
until she fell asleep.

Madeline stood in her own bedroom, in
her own bathrobe, the front gaping open, and stared into the
mirror. There were no tears. There were no words. She simply took
in her mess that was now her chest.

There was nothing pretty left, not
even a nipple. Her full C cups were gone, but she tried to remind
herself that she’d spared her life by removing her breasts. How had
it gotten so bad that she hadn’t even known cancer was living in
her body? How had she believed early detection was for everyone
else? Not examining herself often enough had cost her both of her
breasts.

She lay down on her own bed and pulled
the blanket up to her chin. In the morning, she would welcome a
brand-new year and would start her first round of chemo. Luckily it
came in pill form, but she’d read up on it. The side-effects were
horrible. That seemed to be the way her life was
going—horribly.

She’d need to get back to work the
next week. No matter how much time she wanted to take to recover,
physically ready or not, there were obligations. The thought of the
medical bills that were beginning to add up had Madeline’s head
spinning. Worse, she knew there’d be more.

She turned on her MP3 player to the
relaxing sounds of the ocean and tried to will herself to relax and
get some sleep. There was a lot to think about now that she was
home. Her mother already had informed her that though they’d like
to stay for months, her father, who had refused retirement, would
need to get back to work.

The thought should have saddened her,
but it didn’t. As soon as they were gone, she could take charge of
her life again.

Eduardo said he wanted to come home
and help her, and of course that meant his brother and sister too.
Madeline was seriously considering it. She’d convinced him to wait
out the first week while her parents were there. The truth was, she
wanted to see how the chemo would affect her. She didn’t want to be
sick in front of her kids.

As she lay alone in the dark,
breathing in and out slowly, she thought about her fight with Matt.
Who could have blamed him for what he’d done? They never did love
each other the way she’d loved Carlos. They hadn’t had sex in
almost six months. She didn’t even care. Her marriage to Matt had
been over long before he left. It should have hurt, but hearing
that Carlos and Kathy were engaged hurt even worse. She deserved
that. Had she been totally honest about what was going on, maybe
she wouldn’t have turned away every man in her life.

She crossed her arms over her flat
chest and tried to dull the pain. She didn’t know if it was her
stitches that hurt or her broken heart.

Carlos lay in bed, Kathy wrapped in
his arms, watching her sleep. She was beautiful from the inside
out. He knew he was a lucky man.

Even having her so close, he couldn’t
ease his mind. He wasn’t thinking about the woman who had already
started planning their wedding. He was thinking about
Madeline.

Eduardo had scolded him for not
telling her about marrying Kathy. Truth was, he hadn’t expected to
propose to her. He’d expected… he didn’t know what he’d expected.
From the moment Curtis had called him about Madeline’s surgery, the
life that he’d thought made sense no longer did. He’d finally been
content to move on and love another woman. He realized he’d love
Madeline until the day he died, but somewhere in their bliss,
they’d forgotten what really mattered. They’d both walked away from
their marriage. It wasn’t as if she’d chosen Matt over him, though
he’d accused her doing so. It was simply that she’d accepted their
fate faster than he had.

They’d remained best friends over the
years. His family still thought of her as family. Regan still took
her shopping. Arianna would pay her a visit every time she was in
town. His own mother made sure she had an invitation to dinner
every Sunday night even if she didn’t accept.

Now he was the one moving on
and getting married, and she was divorced, alone, lonely,
and…
dying.
He
unwrapped his arms from Kathy and rolled out of bed.

He didn’t want to fight with Madeline.
Lord knew she didn’t need anything to upset her. But he had to talk
to her. He couldn’t go through life knowing she was resentful to
him for trying to take care of her.

He turned on the bathroom light and
started the shower. He needed to feel the warm water pounding down
on him.

Stripping out of his pajama bottoms,
he looked in the mirror. There were dark circles under his eyes.
His hair needed trimming, and he already needed to shave
again.

He stepped into the shower and let the
hot water burn away the pain wrenching inside of him.

What would have happened had they
thought things through five years ago? Everyone had hard times.
That’s what life was about. He’d been a college student for almost
ten years straight. During that time, his young wife had given
birth to three children and worked two jobs to pay off his student
loans. Once he graduated, he had a hard time finding a school to
hire him. Hadn’t the plan been to get his master’s degree and get
the better job so he could support his growing family and Madeline
could stay home? That was the plan. But it had all fallen
apart.

The first of the big fights had
happened on her birthday. Then the next a week later. He couldn’t
even remember who decided he should move out. All he knew was he
was sleeping on a friend’s couch. Then he’d moved in with his
parents. After Arianna moved to New York and Regan moved back to
Tennessee, they’d both moved into Arianna’s house together. The two
lost souls trying to piece their lives back. Regan pieced hers
together faster than he had.

He turned off the water and stepped
out of the shower. When the cold air hit him, he reached for the
robe that hung on the back of the door and wrapped it around
himself.

He’d wait until her parents left. Then
he’d go to her and offer his support. No matter what came next,
they shared a family. They were a family, even if they weren’t
married.

Kathy poured herself a cup of coffee
and watched as Carlos dragged himself into the kitchen and sat down
at the table. She let out a slow and steady breath. Did he think
she didn’t notice that he’d crawled out of bed, taken a shower in
the middle of the night, and spent the rest of the night on the
couch? She set her mug on the table and sat down next to him. “I
left some pamphlets on your desk. Did you find them?”

“
Pamphlets? No.” He picked
up the newspaper she’d laid there to read and began to thumb
through it.

“
They were wedding packages.
There are some nice places that we can do the ceremony and the
reception. I was also thinking, that maybe, Regan and Zach would
let us have the wedding out at their place. With all the beautiful
land, we could even have a tent put up out back by her rose
gardens.”

“
Sure,” he said looking up
at her finally. “I’m going to go buy Eduardo a phone.”

“
Okay.” Her voice dipped.
Had he not heard her at all?

“
They’ll be going to
Madeline’s tomorrow night, and I thought that this way he could
call me and keep up with me.”

“
He can’t just call from her
phone at the house?”

“
Oh, you know. If she needs
me. If he needs me.” He looked back down at the ad in the newspaper
for a wireless phone store.

Kathy set her jaw. She had to remind
herself that Carlos was the kind of man who would take care of the
mother of his children. He was also the kind of man who would do
that with all of his heart. The only problem was, as the woman he’d
supposedly given his heart to, she was becoming to find it hard to
accept his generosity.

She sipped at her coffee as she
watched him. There was a high road, and she was going to take it.
He’d asked her to marry him and he wouldn’t have done that if he
hadn’t wanted to. Planning for the wedding would continue. She’d
involve him only as much as he wanted to be involved, but she
wanted a nice wedding. Madeline would be welcomed of course, but
she certainly hoped in the few months that it would take them to
plan the event, Madeline’s illness would take a
backseat.

She stood and walked to the sink to
rinse out her mug. The coffee was bitter on her tongue and her
attitude was bitter in her heart. She wasn’t used to being jealous
and she didn’t like it one bit. “I’m heading into the office. When
can I expect you?”

“
I’ll be home right after
school to get the kids. Then I’ll take them over to
Maddie’s.”

Kathy winced at the pet
name.

“
We can go out for dinner,”
he offered, finally looking up at her.

“
Fine.” She left without
kissing him good-bye.

The phone he’d picked out was basic,
but it would be useful. He handed it to Eduardo, whose eyes grew
wide. “The phone isn’t for socializing or texting. It’s just for
you and me to keep in contact. Understand?”

“
Got it.”

“
Before your first class
every day, I want you to call me and tell me how she
is.”

Eduardo looked over the phone he’d
handed him. “Dad, why don’t you just call her yourself?”

“
She doesn’t want me looking
after her.”

“
That’s ridiculous.” Eduardo
looked up at him. “You’ve always taken care of her. Even when Matt
was here.”

“
I know, but she was
specific.” He placed a hand on Eduardo’s shoulder. “She’s willing
to let you be here and take care of her. I think that’s going to
help her out.”

“
I hope so.” His son looked
up at him and gave him a crooked smile.

“
Me too.”

He’d dropped the kids off and stood in
the street in front of the house he and Madeline used to share. She
hadn’t come to the door as she usually would, and that was weighing
on his mind.

Kathy had four more pamphlets for
wedding locations, and before Carlos knew it, Regan, Zach, and
Tyler had joined them for dinner upon invitation from
Kathy.

His head was spinning with wedding
talk and plans. Regan was as bad as Kathy. He sat quietly, too deep
in his own thoughts to care about the conversation around
him.

Zach held little Tyler against his
shoulder and patted his back. “Damn, Monday-night football. How did
I let you convince me to leave the house?” Zach kissed his son and
handed him to his wife. “Carlos, let’s leave these lovely ladies to
discuss bridal bouquets and run into the bar and check out the
game.”

Carlos’s head snapped up at the offer.
Regan patted Tyler on the back and nodded. Kathy kept making notes
in her bridal planner. He wasn’t sure she was aware he was leaving
the table.

Zach slapped him on the shoulder as
they turned the corner into the bar. “You were looking lost, my
friend. I think you could use a beer and a few moments of man
time.”

“
Yeah, thanks.”

Zach ordered them each a beer and then
turned to the big-screen TV. The crowd in the upscale bar hooted
and hollered as the Titans scored another touchdown.

“
That’s what I’m talking
about!” Zach hollered too. “You didn’t even see that.”

“
What? Sorry.”

“
What’s got your head so
full?” Zach took a pull from his beer.

“
I’m waiting to hear from
Ed. I figured he’d call and tell me how Maddie was
doing.”

“
You do know you’re not
married to her anymore, right?”

“
I know. I’m worried about
her. Matt left her. Her folks went back to California. I just don’t
think she should be alone right now.”

“
She’s not. She has her
children.” Zach nudged him. “What are you doing marrying Kathy?”
His voice was hushed, and Carlos looked up at him.

“
I love her.”

Zach shook his head. “I don’t doubt
that. But you love Madeline too.”

“
I’ve always loved Maddie.
I’ve loved her since I was fifteen.”

“
Do you hear yourself?” Zach
saw a table open up and he grabbed their bottles and guided Carlos
toward it. “Matt’s gone. Madeline is sick, and you can’t keep her
off your mind for ten minutes to help your new fiancée plan your
wedding. Don’t you see what’s going on here?”

He rubbed the pain of regret from his
chest. “I care about her.”

“
And you always have. Hell,
I remember the night I met you and she dropped the kids off at your
folks’ house. You were crushed and your father was angry because
you’d been divorced for two years, and yet you still mourned your
marriage. In the three years I’ve known you, I’ve never known you
to even try to move on from Madeline. Now she’s single and you’ve
chosen this time to get married.”