Chapter Thirty-Nine
Xander (One Month Later)
“So, what is this today?” I asked Lila, for what felt like the hundredth time. “What are you here to see the doctor about?”
She glanced at me with half a smile playing on her lips. I could tell she was feeling anxious, but was putting a brave face on it for everyone else. She’d been doing a lot of this recently, and the more it happened, the more I could recognize the signs. She was much better at it than me. I couldn’t hide my feelings no matter hard I tried!
“I’m here to see about the chemo treatment, to see if I need any more.”
“Do you think you will?” I had done my research on this – as much as I possibly could without losing my shit over every potential negative outcome I discovered – and the one thing that I knew for sure was that there were no guarantees. Everyone responded to the treatments differently. “How do you feel? Can you tell?”
“I don’t know; will you just give it up.” She gave me a warning look and glanced down at Sadie. When she was quiet like that, it wasn’t always easy to remember that she was listening in to every single conversation. We were trying to keep any illness talk to a minimum around her because we didn’t want her to worry unnecessarily about anything. “Everything is going to be okay, whatever the doctor says today.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I nodded as hard as I could, but still I wasn’t sure that I was convincing anyone. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Lila Monrose?” The receptionist called out, grabbing our attention. “The doctor is ready for you now.”
I followed behind her, clutching onto Sadie’s hand as we walked. This beautiful little girl might have thought we saved her life by bringing her out of care, but in reality, she’d saved mine.
She centered me, brought my world right down to where it needed to be, altering my priorities in the best way possible. She was my comfort blanket, my purpose behind everything. I felt like she was my child, as much as if Lila and I had conceived her naturally. I loved her, and she was growing to love us in return.
As we stepped into the very clinical doctor’s room, Sadie climbed up onto my lap, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her. Whatever was about to happen now, I needed her to help me through this.
“Okay, Lila.” The doctor smiled... was that a good sign? Did that mean we were about to get positive news or was I just reading too much into it because I needed something nice to happen. “How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad, thank you, much better now than within the first few weeks.”
Sadie curled her fingers around mine as we listened to Lila talk, proving just how perceptive she was. She could tell this was a big day without me needing to express it. I hoped my presence would be a comforting one, but chances were I was too nervous myself to let that shine through properly.
“Well, it’s good to see that you have such a strong support system.” He gestured in our direction, where we both had patchy hair slowly starting to grow back through. Lila smiled serenely at us both. “That must’ve helped you a lot.”
“Oh, it did. I don’t know how I would have coped without them.”
“Well, I’ve been looking through your results, and the tumor has shrunk dramatically. I don’t think you’ll need any more chemotherapy treatments to help with that now. We can do the rest with medication.”
My heart lifted and danced excitedly in my chest. This is good, right? It sounded good, but I didn’t think I could let out the breath lodged in my throat until I knew for sure.
“We caught the disease so early on, which is why you’ve had such a success story. Of course, we’ll need to keep an eye on things to make sure nothing comes back, but for now it looks like you’re in the clear.”
“Oh, my God, that’s amazing news.” Lila clasped her hands tightly together, true joy now overcoming her expression finally. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”
“Can I tell her yet?” Sadie whispered into my ear, almost blowing my surprise completely.
Lila shot me a quick look, but before she could even furrow her eyebrows at me, the doctor grabbed her attention once more by going into more details.
“Not yet.” I pressed my finger to my lips and shook my head. “We just need to wait a little while longer.”
It was hard for Sadie to keep a secret from Lila. She was too young to understand it, and she absolutely worshiped the ground Lila walked on. But as she nodded and pressed her own finger to her lips, I felt like we might just be all right. It would make this celebratory party so much better if Lila was surprised when she got there. It wasn’t going to be a big event, we’d only have a few of us there, but I wanted it to be special all the same.
“Okay, so it’s been good to see you, Lila.”
As Lila stood up and reached over to shake the doctor’s hand, I imitated her by getting up, too. Then I tugged my phone out of my pocket and fired off a quick text to Kyle, just to ensure that everything was in its place.
Yep, all good, he sent back in a second, making me nod with relief.
Lila turned to face me and Sadie the second we stepped outside the hospital. “What’s going on with you two? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you whispering. Now it’s time to tell me before I tickle you both.”
“We want to take you out for dinner,” I jumped in quickly, thinking on the spot to stop Sadie from saying too much. “We thought that you deserved it after the good news you got today.”
“Oh, right.” She didn’t look totally convinced, but she didn’t pursue it further, either. She decided to trust me just for the minute. “Okay.”
“I just need to stop off at the studio first. I have something I need to pick up.”
My heart pounded heavily in my chest as I clicked open the door to the studio. I wasn’t quite sure how well Michael, Xander, and the girls from the rock band that they’d recruited to help them out had done with the decorations, but I had faith in them...
“Surprise!” a chorus of voices shouted.
“Oh, my goodness!” Lila clapped her hand across her mouth as she saw the gold and black decorated room, with stars up on the walls and a buffet across the table. “Are you serious? This is so nice!”
I led Sadie over to the table of food, knowing that she was probably starving, while everyone circled Lila and got the lowdown on how things were going with her treatment.
I already knew about that part, but I had a secret of my own that no one knew about yet. Not even Michael. I couldn’t wait to reveal it. I was so excited to see the look on everyone else’s faces, and I needed to enlist the help of my little girl on this.
“Hey,” I leaned closer and whispered quietly to her. “I need you to help me with something. Is that okay?”
“Sure.” She grinned through a mouth full of food.
“Come with me.” I led her discretely into the other room and showed her the prop that would highlight my point.
“What is it?” Sadie glanced at it curiously.
“It’s Lila’s record,” I told her with a smile. “She was a singer before she got sick and her song sold well.”
“Can I hear it?” Sadie asked me, which gave me a good idea. I could play the song as I made my announcement. The whole album had done well, but in my mind it was her last song that cinched it – the one about me.
“Yes, I’m going to put it on now; hang on a minute.”
I jumped up and hit play on the speakers, allowing it to flow through the building. I didn’t mind Sadie knowing that I listened to this song all the time when I was alone in the studio. I didn’t think she’d care.
“Before you, there was nothing... No one makes me feel this way...”
“Is this Lila?” she asked with wide eyes. “She’s good.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
She clutched the record as we walked back into the party room, and I coughed just loud enough to get everyone’s attention. As all eyes fell on me, I felt that proud smile on my lips once more. “I have something to tell you all.” I grinned brightly. “Sadie’s here to help me.” Sadie held the record above her head, even if she didn’t totally get what she was doing. “Kyle and Lila’s album has sold so well that, last night, it hit platinum status.”
Lila looked stunned, Kyle smiled brighter than I’d ever seen before, and Michael looked as if he couldn’t quite decide if he was more shocked or happy... The news silenced everyone.
Well, for a second. Then a cheer rang through the room and everyone jumped about and celebrated. Everyone was hugging and laughing, and it felt like the most perfect moment ever. I had everyone around me that I cared about, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Life was going to be perfect from here on out.
Then Lila pulled me in for a deep and passionate kiss, her lips crashing against mine like there was no tomorrow. My heart pounded ferociously in my chest as the chemistry swirled deeply between us, even in a room full of people. I thought that even if we spent the rest of our lives together, it would stay at the same level.
“I love you,” she murmured into my mouth. “You have no idea what you’ve done for me. You’ve made my life amazing.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re the one who saved my record label. There’s certainly no money worries now!” I grinned back, wrapping my arms tighter around her back. “And for the record, I love you, too. So does Sadie. You are the best mom she could ask for.”
We both glanced down toward where our little girl was stuffing ice cream into her mouth like she’d never been fed. I wasn’t sure how Lila felt when she saw her, but she made my heart burst happily with love.
“Our family is awesome, isn’t it?” Lila whispered, while resting her forehead against mine. “We are the luckiest people in the world.”
“Yeah, we’re so lucky.” When I thought about where my life once was, when I was alone, a workaholic, scared to commit to anyone, I couldn’t believe I’d gotten to the place I was. I never thought that I’d end up this happy, yet here I was living the dream. I had a girlfriend I adored, a child I loved, and a record label doing well. “The luckiest people in the world.”
“Is there any more Jell-O?” Sadie yelled, the sugar starting to get to her. “Kyle, I need Jell-O! Help me, please.”
As Kyle sorted Sadie out, Michael strolled over to me and patted me on the back with a happy look on his face. “I’m so glad things are working out so well for you.” He smiled. “Lila’s much better, Sadie’s doing great, and now this... It’s all good, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “It is all good.” And I meant it.