The shaft of sunlight slid through the window, but Cael did not feel the warmth. He sat, his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands.

He lifted his head, his eyes red-rimmed, and peered around the room at his brothers. “She gave her hair to Cindy. The same hair that was originally supposed to be for her own wig.” Swallowing hard, he asked, “Who does that? Who makes that kind of sacrifice in the face of their own need?”

“Someone who knows what it’s like to lose,” Miss Ethel replied, capturing the other’s attention. “She lived through this once and knows she can beat it again. And, she knew that for a child, the gift of hair gave her the courage to work on beating it also.”

Wiping his eyes, he said, “I don’t know what to do. I want to make things better but have no idea how.”

Zander spoke, his voice soft and low. “Did she say why her brother can’t be a donor?”

“Something about him having a health risk.”

“So, what can they do?” Jayden asked.

“They’ve got donors and can work to find a close match. Supposedly it’s easier to find a stem cell match than when they used to do bone marrow transplants.”

“And the chemo?”

“High doses before they do the stem cell transplant. She’ll stay in the hospital during it all.” Scrubbing his hand over his face, he said, “I went by this evening but she was asleep.”

Miss Ethel’s knitting lay still at her feet as she leaned forward, her hand outstretched clutching onto his arm. “You’re hurtin’, son, but you’ll power through and come out stronger.”

“What if I don’t?” his broken voice asked. “What if I’m not strong enough?”

“You know, I’ve always said that God doesn’t give us more than we can bear, but Cael, that doesn’t mean He expects us to bear it alone. When it becomes overwhelming, that’s when we hand it back to Him. Let Him carry it and carry us as well.” She held his gaze, adding, “You’ll know what to do. And, when you decide, God’ll carry you through…with the help of all of us, as well. That’s what family is, son. What family does.”

“Fuck, Regina…this sucks,” Robert said, talking to her on the phone. “Robbie’s got a cold and your doctors said that since he had a fever and I’ve been exposed, I can’t come to the hospital right now.”

“It’s okay,” she assured, although her heart was not really agreeing with her statement. “Please tell him I hope he feels better.”

“I should be able to come back to see you within two days, assuming his cold goes away.”

“It’s fine. They’ll start my chemo tomorrow and I’ll have intense dosages for the next week, then they’ll get a match for the stem cell.”

His voice caught, as he said, “Sis, I’m so fuckin’ sorry. Hopefully, Cael will show up and can spend some time with you.”

Blinking back the tears, more at hearing her brother’s agony than her own, she said, “Probably not. I mean, he’s got work to do.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“No, of course not, Robert. I just think that now’s not the right time to focus on anything but my health.”

Silence moved through the airwaves as she twisted a thread in the blanket. Unable to take it any longer, she said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

After goodbyes and disconnecting, she held on to the phone and whispered into the dark room, “I just don’t think that a happily ever after is going to happen for all of us.”

Sitting in her hospital bed the next morning, Regina tried to tamp down the fear over her upcoming chemo treatment. A noise at her door had her looking up, stunned when Cael walked into her room.

“Wh…what are you doing here?”

Shocked, Cael asked, “And why shouldn’t I be here?”

“I just thought that maybe…well, this is a lot…to…uh…deal with.”

“Sweetheart, that’s why I’m here.” Bending, he kissed her lips, noting how cold they were. “Are you warm enough? I can get some more blankets.”

Still stunned, Regina decided she had no time to try to guess Cael’s intentions. “Cael, I thought when you left yesterday, you were saying goodbye.”

Planting his hands on his hips, he shook his head. “Regina, what on earth are you talking about? I thought you were sleeping or I would have stayed longer. Of course I said goodbye when I was leaving.”

“No, I mean I thought it was goodbye…you know, as in forever goodbye.”

Blowing out a breath, he sat on the edge of her bed and said, “Okay, maybe we need to establish some basic ground rules.”

“Ground rules?” Her eyebrows arched upward as she stared.

“Yes, and the number one rule is, don’t assume you know what I’m talking about when you’re half asleep.”

“But—”

“But, nothing,” he asserted, then smiled as he took her hand. “Baby, we just admitted we were in love the other day. Why the hell would I leave now?”

Unable to meet his eyes, she whispered, “Because you’ve just gone through this with Cindy. Because this won’t be pretty…it’ll be ugly, and hard, and scary.”

“Yes, I did just go through this,” he agreed, “and I know how important it is to have people that care about you around. I’ll be here for you and my family’ll be here for both of us. Yes, it won’t be pretty, but you are always beautiful to me. Yes, it’ll be hard, but I’ll be your soft place to land. And yes, it’ll be scary, but that’s when we’ll cling together and make it through to the other side where there’ll be nothing but good.”

Tears flowed freely as Cael’s words soothed deep inside Regina. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his wide chest, enveloping her against his warm body as she sobbed. Finally, she lifted her face and wiped her nose on a tissue from the box.

“Now, baby, let me reiterate…I love you.”

Grinning, she said, “I love you, too.”

Using his thumbs to wipe the last traces of tears, he said, “Okay…so what’s on the agenda for today.”

“Let’s see…infusion room, chemo, getting freezing cold, starting to throw up…how’s that for a full day.”

“All right, funny girl.” Cael sighed, loving Regina’s smile but hating what they were joking about.

“Cael? Can I ask you to do something for me?”

“Anything for you, Red. You know that.”

She slid from the bed and went to her small suitcase that Robert had brought to her. Pulling out the clippers, she said, “It’s time. I want to get rid of the rest of my hair before it falls out in horrid clumps.”

He almost asked if she was sure, but quickly realized that was a stupid question. She knows what she’s doing, so the least I can do, is help her. “Absolutely.” He accompanied her to the bathroom where he stood over her and gently ran the clippers over her short hair, his heart aching at the small reddish cloud that surrounded her as her hair fell to the floor.

When he was finished, she stared into the mirror and ran her hand over her smooth scalp. Sucking in a deep breath, she lifted her gaze and stared at him in the reflection. “Okay,” she stated.

He smiled in return, repeating, “Okay.”

Hours later, he sat in a chair next to her infusion chair and wrapped the third blanket tighter around her. “Warmer?”

She nodded wanly, her eyes closed as she breathed through her nausea. Later, back in her room, she felt too weak to make it to the bathroom, so she threw up in a pan and he took care of it for her. Finally, she tried to wave him away.

“You didn’t sign up for this shit,” she groaned.

Kissing the top of her head, he said, “Nothing you do for someone you love is shit.”

Glaring at him, while sucking on ice chips, she said, “Where did you hear that?”

He chuckled, “Just made it up, Red.” Ducking as she tossed a piece of ice at him, he almost tripped as Miss Ethel walked into the room with Eleanor.

Too exhausted to be embarrassed, Regina mumbled, “Sorry.”

Eleanor came up and offered, “I know we didn’t get to talk much the other night, but I’m a nurse. Miss Ethel and I would love to sit with you for a while.”

She looked at Cael, contrite. “I’m sorry, you haven’t even eaten.”

“I’m not sorry, but I do need to go talk to someone. I’ll leave you in good hands for a little while.” Kissing her cheek, he whispered, “Never forget, I love you.”

“Me too,” she whispered back and watched as he walked out of the room. Turning her gaze back to the two women in the room, she tried to smooth the covers over her legs, but Miss Ethel jumped in.

“Now lean back and I’m going to put on some soft music while Eleanor helps you with some Jello.”

Thinking she would be embarrassed, she quickly found that the two women were efficient and helped tremendously. After a while, she closed her eyes and began to snooze. Vaguely aware they were leaving, she opened her eyes in time to see them exiting just as Cael was walking back into the room. Miss Ethel stopped him with her hand on his arm and he bent down to whisper to her. Miss Ethel smiled and patted his arm before he kissed both women and stepped aside for them to leave.

Barely awake, she whispered, “Hey, Titan.”

“Hey, Red,” he whispered back, kissing her lips. “I wanted to make it back to say goodnight and let you know I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve got a meeting in the morning, but I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

As her eyes closed and sleep took her away, she felt his warm lips on hers once more.