|
Chapter 5
Hawthorne couldn’t
sleep that night. Something was definitely wrong. He kept trying to turn over
and settle down in bed, but there was a nagging feeling in his heart that
Dory was in some sort of danger.
Not sure what to do, Hawthorne began to
pray, and the urgency with which he felt the need to call her shook him. Taking
up his cell phone, he dialed the new number she had provided them on their
date with one hand while with the other he ran his fingers through his hair. Something was definitely not right.
When a nurse picked up the phone rather than Dory, Hawthorne was
overwhelmed by a feeling of dread. He asked about her, but instead, he was
told, “Sir, Dory is right here. You’re lucky she’s awake, though, because she
can talk about it to you herself. Otherwise, privacy laws would have forced
me to keep you in suspense.” Then, with a grin in her voice, she said to Dory
as she handed over the phone, “Is that your father?”
Full of laughter, Dory’s voice came to him and it was a balm to
his soul. He didn’t care that the woman had thought he was her father. He
didn’t mind the age difference a bit. All he cared about was hearing the
sound of her childish giggles and knowing that she was alive and in a
condition to laugh.
“Hi, Daddy,” she said merrily. He could have kissed her! “Hello,
my dear. How are you?” She smiled. “I’m not sure. I passed out and they
brought me here. Luckily, I had gone out to the gas station for a midnight snack.
Otherwise, no one would have seen me fall. As it is, I’m fine. Just waiting
on some routine test results.”
Hawthorne smiled. It
was going to be okay. Relieved, but still wanting to see her, he said, “I’m
coming over. Expect me in 20 minutes.” Then, not waiting for her response, he
dressed and drove to the hospital to be near his darling little girl.
The next morning, Hawthorne was still
in the room with Dory when the doctor came in with some test results. He
asked her whether she wanted Hawthorne present to
hear the news, and that’s when Hawthorne’s
expression first betrayed how worried he felt. His eyes told her that he
would put up a fight to stay, so she agreed to have him hear the results.
“Well,” the doctor said without delay, “as you know, we tested
for a variety of things, stuff we always check for on a routine basis,
because while rare, they could trigger these symptoms. And in this case, it
found something.” Hawthorne felt as if this conversation had already lasted for days and he
longed to cut it short. He stayed quiet, however, because Dory wasn’t
complaining and he didn’t want to remind her that he was in the room. Now
that she knew it was bad news of a serious nature, she might ask him to leave
if he shook her out of her distracted mood.
“Dory, you have cancer.”
Those words weren’t always fatal, but in this case, they were
worse than she could have imagined. Shaken to her core, she reached out her
hands to her sides and felt Hawthorne’s strong
grip. His skin was looser than her father’s, and for the first time, she
wondered what her parents might think about this relationship.
And then, she realized that no matter what else happened, she
had finally found her knight in shining armor. He was here beside her, and
that made everything less burdensome. Sighing, she said, “Inoperable, right?”
The doctor nodded, then added some other words she didn’t hear, finally
ending with, “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me." How
cliché, and yet, how comforting.
“Hawthorne, you may not want to hear this, but I can’t help myself…” He shook his head. “I’m not going
anywhere,” he said, “so don’t even try that one.” She laughed. “That wasn’t
it at all. I was going to say, Will you
walk through this with me? Will you stay by my side through it all?”
Then, with a chuckle at herself, she added, “But I didn’t mean it the way it
sounds. I wasn’t asking you to – I just wanted to add up my positives and I
wondered if I could count you among them.” Hawthorne pulled her
close, smiling. “I’m a positive, am I?” She breathed in deeply and said,
“Yes, most definitely." With a wide smile, she said in a soft voice, "Just imagine: a millionaire!” With a grin, he kissed
her.
|