Page 47 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
The rough waters she’d been riding for so long were smoothing out and she was beginning to feel positive about her future thanks to the people in her life—her friends, her daughter, of course, and especially her mom, who had given her so much more than a place to stay. Without her mother’s encouragement she wasn’t sure she’d have made it through all the trauma and drama of divorcing and putting back together the broken pieces of her life.
The month wasn’t even over before the waters got rough again. On her day off Arianna cleaned the house and made pork chops and baked potatoes for dinner, along with broccoli fritters, a recipe she’d gotten from one of her favorite Instagrammers.
Sophie gobbled up everything, but Mia left her pork chop untouched and chose only to scoop out the inside of her potato and pick at it.
“Mom, you don’t want the pork chop?” Arianna asked. Her mother loved pork chops.
“I’m having a little trouble swallowing,” Mia confessed.
Trouble swallowing. When had that started?
“How long has this been going on?” Arianna cast back in her mind, trying to remember what and when her mother had been eating. They’d had a lot of soup lately, but it was winter. She hadn’t thought anything of it.
“I don’t know,” Mia said evasively. “It’s probably my acid reflux acting up.”
That would be a nice, easy answer, but Arianna wasn’t so sure. “I think we should get this checked out.”
“It’s nothing,” said Mia.
“Nothing can turn into something. Better safe than sorry. I’m sure Doctor Rogers can fit you in.”
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of this,” Mia said.
“Getting checked isn’t a big deal,” Arianna said.
First thing the next morning she called scheduling and got an appointment for the following week for Mia.Mom’s right. It’s nothing, she told herself.Don’t go looking for the worst.
Still, she had trouble sleeping over the next few days, and any fingernail daring to grow was immediately bitten off. What if it was something?
When she sat in the exam room with Mia and Doctor Rogers said, “I think we should do a bronchoscopy,” she knew she hadn’t been worrying for nothing.
“Do we really need to?” asked Mia.
“I think we should,” said Doctor Rogers.
The bronchoscopy was done at the hospital and Arianna was on hand to hover and worry as her mother had a camera fed down her throat and into her airways, looking for something she hoped they wouldn’t find.
“It’ll be okay,” Mia assured her as Arianna drove her home afterward.
Please God, let her be right.
She wasn’t. It was three long days after the procedure before the doctor gave them the bad news. “I’m afraid it’s cancer,” she said to them when they returned to her office. “I’m going to refer you to a specialist.”
“Cancer,” Mia repeated.
Arianna didn’t say anything. Fear had jammed up her vocal cords. Her tear ducts were working fine, though.
Doctor Rogers put a hand on her shoulder. “Yao is really good.”
Arianna nodded. She knew the doctor. She was, indeed, good. But this was cancer. Could they beat it?
“I’m sorry,” Mia said once they were in the car. Tears were streaking down her cheeks, mirroring what was happening with Arianna.
“Oh, Mom,” Arianna said, and reached across to hug her.
The car was cold and the windows began to fog up, but still they sat there, crying and holding on to each other. The whole while Arianna kept asking herself,How long will I be able to hold her like this? Can we beat this?
Mia began to shiver, so Arianna pulled away and started the car, got the heater and defroster going. “We’ll get through this, Mom.”
