Chapter Thirty Six
Michael kept Lizzy medicated for nausea around the clock from the moment she felt the onset. He held the bucket, wiped her face, and handed her water to wash out her mouth. All the while Lizzy reminded herself two treatments down and four to go. Thoughts of Barb and Diana bombarded her. Her friends surrounded her with love from making meals to taking the night shift to give Michael a rest. This time, he accepted the help without question. She didn’t know if he did it to give her piece of mind or if, like her, he knew they remained in the caring hands of their new family.
Lizzy sat up in the recliner, completely exhausted regardless of the nap she’d taken earlier. Michael rested in their room while Kassie washed clothes, Carol scrubbed the kitchen, Victoria tackled the bathrooms, Maddie picked up groceries, Catherine dusted, and Samatha mopped the floors as they finished. Bryanna cleaned the fridge and rotated the meals. The thought of Barb alone sat like a rock in her gut. Lizzy worried no matter how strongly she presented herself, Barb needed help. Concerned over Diana’s situation, she waited until the women congregated in the living room to present her problem. Her tribe contained extremely smart and capable women and together, she knew they’d come up with a solution.
“Thank you for helping me and Michael. We greatly appreciate you. I want to ask for your help with something,” she addressed the women.
They took seats and waited for her to begin.
“I met two women at chemo, and I’m worried about them both. Barb is around Maddie, Victoria, Carol, and Edie’s age. Diana’s around Kassie’s age. She has two kids, around your crew’s age. The other might be about six months old. Her husband left her and doesn’t support her or the kids. Her mom lives with her and helps, but she’s on the older side and struggles with two young children,” Lizzy gave them a run down. “I’m hoping we can put our heads together and come up with a way to help them.”
Kassie crinkled her nose, a clear sign she already considered the problem in her head. Samantha tapped her fingers on the couch arm. Bryanna leaned forward. The older women waited to lend their advice. Catherine thought about the issue while she stuffed a cookie in her mouth and washed it down with a glass of milk.
“Maybe you can invite them for lunch or dinner? We can figure out their needs,” Kassie suggested.
“I tried already. Both declined. It’s not as if we can socialize for long periods of time. Even with the offer of our spare bedrooms, it didn’t tempt them. Granted, I’ve only met them twice. When you sit for six hours at a time with someone you get to know them,” Lizzy explained.
Victoria sat up. “I’m assuming if the young woman’s getting help from the food bank she’s surviving on a very low income. What if someone informed her of a special program for families like hers and brought her a form to fill out? She can check off things she needs help with, and we can handle it from there?”
“It’s kinda underhanded don’t you think? What happens if she found out and felt like you invaded her privacy?” Catherine posed the question to the group.
Kassie turned to Victoria and Lizzy. “I’m of the opinion it’s better to do it and ask for forgiveness later. She needs help. Lizzy, you can take the form to her. As a former administrator at the hospital, you ‘forgot’ about this special program. You can give her Victoria’s number. She’s good at lying.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as Kassie backtracked. “Hey, you taught me how to do it for survival. This time, you’ll use your powers for good.”
Maddie pinned her goddaughter with a motherly stare, “Exactly why and who do you lie to?”
“Ugh… Victoria taught me how to do it in cases of emergencies. For instance, when James took me and Em,” Kassie offered.
Maddie visibly relaxed. “Under those circumstances, lying’s completely acceptable. This makes me think of you on the run with Em. Joe and I felt desperate to find and help you. Lizzy, I agree with Victoria, if this will benefit her and the kids, you stand a good chance of her accepting the help. What can we do for the older woman?”
“She’s very independent. I think she’ll prove the most difficult,” Lizzy pondered.
“Why don’t you start with helping the younger woman and we can work on the older woman. It’ll be awful if we make too much food, and you can’t store it in your fridge. A couple of us got our weeks mixed up and the food will go bad if someone doesn’t take it off of your hands. The bakery throws out the leftovers at the end of the day, you asked if you could take it to the patients. How many people arrive in the infusion room at one time?”
Lizzy counted the chairs in her head. “There’re twelve chairs total. The last two times I’ve gone in for treatment people come and go at different times. Maybe a total of fifteen people at most.”
“I’ll put them in bags and mix each bag with different things to make it less obvious. At least they’ll get a few items right away,” Bryanna volunteered. “You can pass out the bags to everyone.”
“It’s a great idea, Bryanna, thank you.” Lizzy smiled as the women formulated a plan.
Kassie took out a pen and paper and began making a list a young mother and her family might need. When she returned home, she planned to type it out and make it official with a made-up letterhead.
“I can make up gift bags of peppermint tea, and some of the lavender and mint salves to help with nausea. We can add some detox bath salts and lotion too,” Samantha suggested.
The doorbell rang as the women finished their plotting. Maddie stood to answer the door. Joe and Jake entered with Chase, Saint and Shadow following behind them.
Jake scanned the room until his gaze landed on Carol. He tipped his hat to the women as he greeted them. “Carol, I wanted to ask if I can have a word with you on the porch?”
The room fell silent as Carol stood. Jake pulled her jacket from the hall tree and held it out while she slipped her arms through. He led her outside.
“Where’s Leo?” Catherine turned her attention to Shadow and Saint as Chase sat next to Kassie trying to hold back his laughter.
“We left him at the team building,” Shadow answered gruffly.
“Oh no, what did he do now?” Catherine cringed.
“He bought a baby food maker. He wants us to learn how to make baby food because he read it’s better for an infant. He sent us to find organic farmers in the area. We guessed Samantha might know people,” Saint started to explain.
“No. We can’t do this. Catherine you gotta talk to him. We realize he’s excited and we’ve gone along with most of his drills, the CPR, timing us on how long it takes to put in a car seat, learning what to do if a kid chokes, but we didn’t train as SEALs to become baby food makers. He got a package in the mail today and it’s from a company which produces the first man bras for men to feed their infants. He hasn’t shown it to us yet and we hoped you might return with us and talk him back to sanity. I don’t want to see him wearing a boob. Did you know about the class on infant massage? Michael mentioned it to him, and he signed us all up. I’m begging you Catherine, if you don’t help rein him in, we’ll shoot him in the ass.”
The women burst out laughing as Shadow pleaded for a semblance of his manhood to be saved.
The front door swung open as an enraged Carol stomped inside. A flustered Jake followed.
“All I’m saying is dating different men isn’t a good idea. Some of these men might get ideas.”
Carol bristled as she stared menacingly at him. Her hand balled into fists as she placed them on her hip. She stomped toward him, making him walk backwards.
Her finger jabbed at his chest as she enunciated each word. “I can date whomever I please. I’m a big girl and last time I checked, I didn’t have a ring on my finger. You don’t get a say on when or who I date. You made it clear you only care for one woman, and I hope her memory keeps you warm at night, Jake Harper, because I certainly won’t be.”
She stomped out of the house and headed to her own home across the street. Jake held his hat tightly in his hand.
“I’m sorry about all the ruckus, Lizzy, I only meant to have a private word.” His crestfallen face showed his feelings toward Carol.
Victoria stood like a queen holding court and dismissed the group. Everyone began to gather their things.
Chase walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I love you as a second father. You’re a grandfather to my daughter. I’m giving you some advice a wise man told me long ago.”
Jake glanced up at his godson, hoping he shared a bit of wisdom to clean up the mess he’d made.
Chase turned and pulled Kassie closer to him and cupped her cheek. Her hand met his as she stared lovingly into his eyes, “He said, ‘If there’s a pretty lady around and it takes one man too long to make a move, someone else will.” He twisted back to meet his godfather’s eyes. “Thanks Jake, for those words of wisdom because it gave me the love of my life.” He smiled down at his wife and walked out the door as Jake stood speechless.
Victoria took Jake by the arm and led him out the door. One by one the group said their goodbyes. Edie put dinner in the oven and gave Lizzy last-minute instructions in case Michael didn’t wake right away.
“I’m proud of you. I prayed about you every night wondering why it seems like some of the best people get taken way before their time. Sometimes, I think God moves us around to put us on a different path. If something as horrific as a helicopter crash almost claiming my son had never happened, I might never have met my new friends and these young families. Maybe you might be on this path for another reason.”