Rachel dreaded going back to work, but everyone knew she wasn’t on her honeymoon so it seemed silly to stay home in hiding. The press had been camped out in front of her house since she got back from Las Vegas, but the crowd had thinned and she’d hired a bodyguard to escort her to and from the lot where Vampire Legend was filmed. She’d called the producer, Bud Hendricks, and told him she desperately needed to come back to work. She’d taken a few days off but all she did was sleep, and that just made her more depressed. Going back to work would get her mind off things even though she would have to deal with tons of questions from her co-workers.

She would have preferred to just disappear and had even considered going on the honeymoon by herself but going alone wouldn’t be any fun and there was no one else to go. Ashleigh was pregnant and had to be on set anyway, she didn’t get along with her mother well enough to spend ten days at a resort with her, and most of her other friends were men. She’d gotten to know some of the Sidewinders’ wives, but now that she and Vlad had broken up, she didn’t know if those friendships would continue.

She’d just gotten into the car hired to drive her to work when her phone rang. It was Jamie, and she smiled as she answered. “Hey.” He’d called every day since the day after the wedding and she’d never been more grateful for their amicable break-up than now.

“How’s it going?”

“Ugh. Don’t ask.”

“Going to work today?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be okay. The gang on the show love you.”

“Yeah, but they’ll all want to hear everything, and if I say I don’t want to talk about it, they’ll be cool, but it’ll be hanging over my head because we’re close, so eventually they’ll expect details.”

“Technically, you don’t have any details. Tell them that. Tell them you honestly don’t know what happened, that you and Vlad haven’t talked other than a few meaningless texts.”

“And flowers.”

“What?”

“I got an incredible bouquet yesterday morning. It was delivered to the set, but Ashleigh took a picture of it and brought me home the note.”

“What did it say?”

“I love you. That’s all it said: I love you.”

“I’m telling you, Rach—something is up. This wasn’t because he doesn’t love you.”

“I can’t deal, Jamie. I just can’t.” Her voice broke. “I did nothing but sleep for three days and I’m still exhausted. I miss him so much but can’t afford to fall apart, so I’m going to work and putting on my most calm, relaxed face.”

“You don’t have to,” he pointed out. “Come to Vegas, stay with us…”

“You already have a houseful.” She laughed. “Emilie and Chains, Simone, Viggo and Misty—what would you do with me?” Jamie lived with his husband Viggo, Viggo’s ex-wife Emilie and her boyfriend Chains, Viggo and Emilie’s toddler Simone, and Jamie’s friend Misty, who was their nanny. They had a big house, but Rachel would undoubtedly be in the way.

“We’d make room,” he said gently. “Always.”

She sighed. “Thanks for being here for me, Jamie.”

“You were one of the first people at my side after my attack,” he said quietly. “So I’m always going to be here for you. Always.”

“I know.”

She was greeted by lots of hugs when she got to the set and was surprised when Bud handed her a clipboard.

“Congratulations,” he said dryly. “Marshall has the flu and we can’t afford to lose another day—you’re directing.”

“What?” She gaped at him. “Is this some kind of joke? Because I don’t think I’m ready to—”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve been on the show since day one and you know exactly what needs to happen no matter what’s going on. No one is ready until the first time they do it. Go on and get started, I have a conference call now but then I’ll join you.” He disappeared around the corner and Rachel stared at Ashleigh, who was chuckling.

“Is Marshall really sick?” Rachel demanded.

“He wasn’t here yesterday, either.” One of her co-stars, Ricky Shay, shrugged.

Rachel had to admit, as far as distractions went, this was a good one. It was two thirty before she realized how much time had passed and one of the runners brought her a salad. She took it to her trailer and put it on the table, sinking into a chair and leaning back, exhausted. It had been fun, but she was tired and felt like she was getting her period even though she’d just had one two weeks ago. Her periods had been off all summer, but she’d been so busy planning the wedding she hadn’t given it much thought.

After sleeping late all summer, it had been hard getting up at five thirty in the morning for work. Even after three days of sleep, she still didn’t feel caught up but figured it was due to stress, her crazy periods and hiding just how badly her heart was broken. She’d cried the day of the wedding, and most of the night, but other than getting teary-eyed a few times, she hadn’t cried again. She was angry now, anxious to move on with her life and forget she’d ever met him.

She’d known dating another member of the Sidewinders might be a disaster, but she’d never imagined something like this happening. Breaking her heart had always been possible, but leaving her at the altar with the lamest explanation ever had been above and beyond anything she thought Vlad capable of. It hurt so much she didn’t know how to handle it, so she’d focused on simply pretending it hadn’t happened. If she could avoid it until the pain burned itself out, maybe she’d be able to move on. Until then, she had to hold her head high. She hadn’t done anything wrong and refused to be embarrassed. Whatever was going on with Vlad was his problem and she was done with him.

She hadn’t realized she’d dozed off until she felt someone shaking her shoulder.

“Rach? Hon, you’ve been asleep over an hour and we’ve got to get back to work. You okay?” Ashleigh was leaning over her worriedly.

Rachel blinked and sat up. “Um, yeah, sorry. I guess I’m struggling to get back into the swing of things. Tell everyone I need five minutes to grab a drink and I’ll be out.”

“Okay.” Ashleigh ducked back out and Rachel reluctantly got to her feet. She’d fallen asleep in the middle of the day. Did a broken heart do that? The truth was, she’d been falling asleep a lot lately. Vlad had been teasing her about sleeping until noon on the weekends and in retrospect, it wasn’t normal. She’d passed it off as wedding stress on top of the long hours she put in, but a tiny bit of genuine concern had begun to creep in. Maybe it was time to schedule a physical and talk to her doctor. She had weird periods happening, too, which was mildly worrisome.

I better not be pregnant. They’d had a scare back in July and though Vlad hadn’t been upset, she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Now that they’d broken up, the last thing she wanted was to have to call and tell him she was pregnant.

* * *

“Please tell me I’m not pregnant,” was the first thing she said to her doctor a week later at her follow-up visit.

Dr. Marian Collins shook her head. “No, there’s no elevated HCG. However, your pap smear revealed something we need to talk about.”

“What?” Rachel was caught off-guard.

“Well, there were some abnormal cells. Normally, a pap smear only detects cervical cancer, but sometimes there are endometrial cells as well, which is what was found.”

“Endometrial…” Rachel’s heart started to pound harder as she struggled to wrap her head around what the doctor was saying.

“I want to do an ultrasound and a biopsy. I think we should schedule them right away. If it is cancer, early detection and treatment is key.”

“Are you saying I have cancer?” Rachel’s stomach clenched painfully at the thought.

“They found cancerous cells in the pathology report, so that means there’s probably something there. The good news is, endometrial cancer is highly curable, but we need to move quickly to ensure it doesn’t spread.”

“Is this cervical cancer?”

“No. Endometrial cancer is inside the uterus. When it spreads, it usually gets to the cervix next, which is why I want to schedule you for a biopsy immediately. Tomorrow, in fact, if that works for you.”

“I, uh…” Rachel couldn’t even think. “Um…”

“Do you want to call someone?” Dr. Collins asked gently. “I know you recently called off your wedding, but it might be helpful if you had someone here with you.”

“I don’t… My best friend is at work and my family lives out of state. Just tell me what has to happen.”

“A biopsy, ultrasound, and maybe a CT scan, depending on what we find.”

“And if it’s definitely cancer?”

“A hysterectomy is the best chance of getting rid of everything.”

“What about chemotherapy? Radiation?”

“You’re getting way ahead of yourself,” the doctor responded gently. “If we get to the point of a hysterectomy, the surgeon would probably take some lymph nodes as well, to make sure it hasn’t spread. But we’re still a long way from that. The first thing we need to do is…”

She continued to talk but Rachel was too shocked and terrified to absorb any more information. She was focused on just one word: cancer. She had cancer. And she was more alone than she’d ever been in her life.