Page 44 of Full Circle

“Sweetheart, these people are takin’ good care of me,” Daddy assured her. His voice was weak and he squinted his eyes when he spoke. “Can we just keep it down? The noise really hurts my head.”

“D’you hear that?” Desiree fumed. “You’re hurting him!”

Willow gaped at her, at a loss for words.

I glanced at Wesley and found the annoyance clear on his face. He cleared his throat loudly and said, “When is the doctor going to be here? Let’s focus on Mr. Hendricks.”

Right on cue a short man in a white doctor’s coat strolled inside. “Sounds like I am here at the perfect time,” he announced jovially. Most of his head was bald except for a ring of gray, closely cropped hair around his ears, and I had to bite back a laugh from the lights reflecting off his scalp. Poor Daddy wouldn’t be able to look at the man without it hurting his eyes.

“I am Dr. Hassan,” the man continued. “Unfortunately, you will come to hate my name because I come bearing bad news. Mr. Hendricks, you have what is called a glioblastoma, which is very rapidly growing brain tumor. It originated in your prefrontal cortex, based on your scans, and the growth trajectory is unlike anything I have ever seen. If you take a look here…” Dr. Hassan opened his own tablet to a 3D rendering of Daddy’s brain, color coding different parts, but by that point the roar in my ears had returned and rendered my hearing useless.

It couldn’t be real. This was the kind of news you heard on a Grey’s Anatomy episode, not something your family member actually suffered from. Every fiber of my being went numb because the only thought I could form was that my daddy was going to die. Dr. Hassan might be the best doctor on Earth, yet I knew in my bones he couldn’t save him.

“What’s that all mean, Doc?” Nana cut in. Her voice had a hard edge to it.

Dr. Hassan sighed and shook his head sadly. “It means that our goal is to extend the time you have left to be as comfortable as possible.”

Daddy’s face fell. “How long?”

The air was somewhat sucked out of the room as I waited for the doctor’s answer, a response that would determine the course of my life. Unless he predicted Daddy had a lifetime ahead of him, it wouldn’t be nearly long enough.

“As much time as I can buy you, Mr. Hendricks. In a perfect world, as long as a year, if our treatments are successful.”

This was another one of the moments that become a core memory. Time stopped so that the only thing that could be heard was the off-brand Muzak playing in the hallway. I wanted to be anywhere but here. None of it could be real.

“Breathe, Lovebug,” came Wes’ faint voice. “I need you to breathe.”

His face was now all I could see, pressed close enough to mine that if I lifted my head a fraction of an inch, we would kiss. It took me an extra few seconds to register that he was tapping his hand on my cheek to get my attention. I was lost in a haze of confusion and disbelief, but my faithful Wesley was out here trying to be an anchor.

Desiree was wailing, overexaggerated laments that would have been expected from Meryl Streep herself. Nana sank into a chair and let the tears stream down her face. Even Daddy was crying, a sight I didn’t think I’d see again after losing Mama. Somehow, I wound up on the floor, swaying like a drunken sailor, with Wesley kneeling down to check on me.

“I’m going to give you some time to process everything. No doubt you’ll have questions, so I’ll check back after a little while.” Dr. Hassan swept from the room, gesturing for Willow to follow him out and give us privacy.

His footsteps had long since died down the hallway before I was able to whisper, “Daddy?”

“Oh, sugar bee!” Daddy whimpered, holding his arms wide for me. I dove into them like I was still a five year old little girl who needed her father’s presence to scare away the monsters.

Only this monster wasn’t one my daddy could slay.

CHAPTER 18

THE EYE OF THE STORM

WESLEY

This had to be what heartbreak felt like. Mr. Hendricks was going to die and there wasn’t shit I could do about that. All the money in the world couldn’t make him better, nor could it make Celeste hurt any less. It couldn’t make me hurt any less, for that matter. Doug had been more like a father to me in the past two years than my own father had been since conception. He encouraged me to be a better person, guiding me towards good choices, but never once lost faith in me when I lost faith in everyone. I owed him so much that a few hospital bills felt paltry in comparison.

The only brief spark of joy I found in this moment was that he immediately turned to Celeste, not Desiree. His fiancé looked somewhat stunned at this turn of events, no doubt calculating her next step of revenge. It was obvious from a mile away that Desiree viewed Celeste as a threat, not a daughter, and right now it was clear why. At the end of the day, if it really came down to it, Doug would always choose his daughter over her, always put his daughter first, and a woman as jealous and shallow as Desiree couldn’t stand it. She needed attention like fish needed water.

Nana stepped up to the hospital bed and took Mr. Hendricks’ hand in her own. “Let’s hear the doctor out. There’s always hope, like the Good Lord says. This is a time for prayer and faith.”

Celeste turned towards Nana, her back to Desiree, and added her hand over their clasped hold. “We’ll get through this together,” she whispered tearfully. Her poor face was blotchy and tear-stained.

Turning slightly, Nana shot me a look over her shoulder. “C’mon over here, Wesley! You gotta do your part now, too, since you got us into this fancy joint!”

Doug and Celeste both let out a watery chuckle as I joined them, adding my hand to the pile. These people right here. This was my family.

I wrapped my other arm around Celeste and pulled her into the crook of my arm, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll do anything I can,” I promised, looking Mr. Hendricks in the eye. “For all of you.”

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