Page 21 of Beside the Rolling Waves
Rita nodded her head, and she looked him right in the eye. And in that moment, it confirmed that what he had done earlier in the day was the absolute right thing. It might have been the end of his dreams of being a billionaire. But he had plenty of money, plenty of investments to support himself in a lavish, ifnot extravagant, lifestyle for the rest of his life and to raise as many children as he felt like.
“I know you’re right about Becky. She’s fiercely loyal and stubbornly determined, and she’s got grit like no one else I’ve ever met. I pity the person who tries to do anything unkind to either one of your babies. She will fight to the death for them.”
“She’s a tigress, that’s for sure,” Rita said with tender affection. “She tried to raise me right, and I got a little stubborn on her, but if there’s anything good in me, it’s because of Jesus and Becky.”
“You said that in the right order anyway, and I have to agree.”
“I’m not under any illusions about who I owe.” Rita smiled.
“So tell me, what’s really going on with you? What’s going to happen tomorrow? How long do you think Becky and I are truly going to have these children?” It wasn’t that he minded, he just really wanted to know what was going on with Rita. She had such a great attitude and a sense of humor that he admired, but that contrasted sharply with the color of her skin and how unhealthy she looked.
“All right. I’ll level with you. They found something four months ago, but I wouldn’t let them check it out any more, because I wasn’t going to do anything that would harm the babies. They warned me that it could be a fast-growing cancer, because that was their suspicion, but I held firm. You know the treatment for cancer is not good for a person. Can you imagine what it would do to a baby?” She shuddered. “So, when I was close enough to my due date that they could do a C-section safely, I allowed them to do a biopsy.” She forced a smile and tilted her head. “It’s cancer. And I didn’t mention this when we talked on Sunday, but it’s the most aggressive kind. My prognosis is…poor.”
“Poor? What does that mean?” he asked, feeling his leg start to shake up and down underneath the table. This was notlooking good. Becky was going to be devastated. Not that he was happy about it. Becky loved her sister more than life.
“It means that, tomorrow, after they take the babies, they’re going to try to operate on the tumor. They are afraid, though, that they’re not going to be able to get it all, and they’ve given me a less than ten-percent chance, on a good day, when all the stars align and the planets do as well. I’m pretty sure that’s a direct quote from the oncologist.” She grinned, like it was funny.
“Holy smokes. Ten percent? To get all the tumor? Or to survive?”
“Yeah. I think I have like a seventy-percent chance of surviving the operation. But the ten-percent chance is my six-month survival prognosis.” She looked at his shoulder. “The oncologist keeps saying that if I would have terminated the pregnancy, I might have been able to survive. But they don’t understand, if I would have terminated the pregnancy, I wouldn’t have wanted to live with myself after that. Who cares about the survival rates then? If I’m willing to kill defenseless human beings so that I can live? What kind of monster does that make me?” Her eyes were tortured at the thought. “Especially when you consider that those human beings are my own flesh and blood. No way.”
Rodney sat and stared at Rita. He could see Becky so clearly in her. The grit, the determination, the absolute fortitude that it must have taken to make that decision in the face of all of her doctors pressuring her to do something different.
“I admire you. You…stood for something.” Especially considering that they just spent the earlier part of their meal discussing how he had fallen for something stupid.
“Well, I was raised by the best.” She grinned, giving a nod to her sister, Becky, that Rodney did not miss. He supposed Becky loomed large in Rita’s life. She was a pretty strong figure for sure.
The rest of the meal passed in casual conversation, with Rita telling him that at first, she was assuming that they would take the children home to her apartment, and then once they found out whether the doctors could get all the cancer, and whether or not she would even go home, they would make some decisions from there. But everything was so up in the air that she really didn’t know and couldn’t make firm plans.
In the end, she said it was up to Becky and him as to what they wanted to do.
He couldn’t see Becky going against what Rita wanted, but it wasn’t firm, and maybe Becky would insist they separate the babies, and maybe each take one? Or maybe they’d split them by weeks or months or something. He could see Becky doing that. Although, from what Rita was saying, she was expecting them to raise them as a mom and dad, not as divorced parents who co-parented.
Still, unless Rita specifically said that, he was sure that Becky would take charge and make things work the way she wanted them to. Of course, she was going to want the best for the babies, and maybe she would get it in her head that the best thing for the babies would be for the two of them to parent together. He could only hope so.
Rita looked at her watch. “I have to stop eating at eight o’clock, and… I have five minutes to go.” She looked at the last bite of cheesecake on her plate. “I just don’t think I can hold it.”
“I’d say I’d eat it for you, but I’m stuffed as well,” Rodney said honestly. He’d eaten far too much, and all of it was really good.
“I’m a little disappointed though. I guess I can’t say it’s the best food I’ve ever had. But it’s definitely the most interesting experience, luxury, you name it,” Rita said as she looked around the room. Everything was black tie, serious, the food had been presented impeccably, and Rodney was so glad he could give herthis experience. It hadn’t even occurred to him that it might be something she would enjoy.
“I’m sorry you’re disappointed with the food, but I guess I could have told you that you could get better food at the diner in Blueberry Beach.”
“I agree,” she said, laughing. “But the swankiness is unbeatable.”
“Yes. You pay for the swankiness,” he said.
“Hang on a second,” she said as her phone buzzed. She looked at it, seemed to read a text, and then sent a quick reply back. “Becky’s at my apartment. She has the code, and I told her to go ahead on in. She wanted to talk to me tonight too.”
“You shouldn’t be hungry while you’re talking to her.”
“And if I am, I can’t eat. So, I’m glad you were agreeable to talking earlier.” He couldn’t get over how happy, almost bubbly, she was, despite how terrible she looked and the ordeal she was facing tomorrow and the possibility that she might not even survive the operation, let alone be here next year this time.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked.
“I… I know that things aren’t great between you and Becky, and I just ask that you be patient with her. She’s…well, you know, she’s been through a lot. And she loves you. She always has. I don’t know what she’s saying now, but there is not any doubt that she loves you. I know she’s with that jerk-face idiot who doesn’t deserve to lick her feet?—”
“Wait. What?” He blinked. Becky was with someone?
