Page 67 of One More Time

Chuckling while avoiding doggy kisses to his face, he sat up and cuddled the wriggling dog to his chest. ‘Well, aren’t you a bundle of energy this morning, Miss Sophie.’

Sophie yapped an overexcited response, then began chasing her fluffy tail. Amused by her antics, Charlie recalled the very moment Grace had opened the gift he’d asked Ava and the boys to organise for her. He knew his darling Grace was suffering through his cancer with him, if not more than him, and he wanted her to have someone to brighten her days, and to cuddle at night. His plan had worked a treat. Sophie was an absolute blessing in all their lives, her loving nature endearing all their hearts.

Resting back, he thought about his cancer journey thus far, as well as the bumpy path that had led up to his diagnosis. It almost seemed like he was on the end of yet another bout of tough love. Just like being sent to prison, he’d been given an opportunity to overcome deep fears and relearn what kind of man he was when stripped of any control, albeit this time, it was his health rather than steel bars.

Coming to the realisation that at the end of this very day, he’d know if he was going to be granted more precious life or have it cut short, he took a breath and looked out the window to the bright blue sky. His soul yearned to be resting beneath it on soft green grass. His lungs hungered to breathe Mother Nature in deeply. So, climbing from the sheets, he wandered on feeble legs toward the view. Pressing the bay window open, he briefly closed his eyes and inhaled a lungful of salty sea air. If he survived this, which he was determined to, he planned to make one of Grace’s biggest dreams come true. He was going to take her on an adventure to the Mediterranean, and he couldn’t wait to be the one at her side when she embraced every second of it, like she always did with life itself.

An hour later, Grace popped her head through the doorway. ‘Are you ready, Charlie?’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’ He turned from his reflection in the dressing-table mirror and took steps toward her. ‘Let’s go hear how I’ve beaten this darned thing, shall we?’

‘We shall,’ she said enthusiastically, hooking her arm into his.

The waiting room of the oncology ward lived up to its name, filled with people awaiting their fate. Young and old, a mix of ethnicities, male and female – cancer didn’t discriminate. Finding the last two available seats, Charlie allowed Grace to sit before settling himself down beside her. With nerves running amok in his belly, it didn’t take him long to begin fidgeting. Grace didn’t admonish him, simply placing her hand on his bouncing knee to help relax him. Offering her an appreciative sideways glance, he looked at the magazines spread out on the centre coffee table. The tabloid covers seemed futile in such a volatile environment, yet people still chose to read them, or at least pretended to. Sitting among the strangers who were either staring into space, fidgeting in their seats like him, gazing blankly at the mute television with its boxed subtitles or scrolling through their mobile phones, he felt connected to them in a strange way – cancer was a journey only those who’d suffered it really comprehended. It fought dirty, without rules or a referee to pull it into line. The people who battled it deserved medals for their bravery.

As his knee unknowingly bobbed again, Grace placed a gentle hand back on it to settle him, offering him a look filled with strength and compassion. Tears filled the eyes he’d been gazing into for most of his life.

‘It’s all going to be okay,’ he said as quietly as he could.

Biting her bottom lip, she nodded just as his name was called.

‘Charlie Wilson,’ the doctor repeated, louder this time.

Standing, Charlie returned his oncologist’s tight-lipped smile. With Grace close to his side, they followed him down a corridor that felt like it went on forever before being led into a tiny, windowless room and taking a seat at his chaotic desk.

‘Sorry for the long wait, we’re a bit short-staffed at the moment,’ the oncologist offered by way of apology as he sat opposite them, the tell-tale paperwork now held in his hands. ‘How have you been feeling, Charlie?’

Even though he wanted to shout at the white-coated man to hurry the hell up because he’d already been waiting almost an hour to find out if he was going to live or, heaven forbid, die, Charlie just said, ‘Yeah, good, I suppose,’ as calmly as he could.

‘Good to hear.’ The doctor’s response was clipped.

Charlie glanced to where Grace was wringing her hands nervously in her lap, her hanky at the ready. After all the months of trying to remain positive, he braced himself for bad news.

When push came to shove…

‘Right, let’s get to it then, shall we?’ Popping his glasses on, the oncologist lifted his gaze and shone the broadest of smile. ‘Charlie, I’m so very happy to tell you that you are now cancer-free.’

Time seemed suspended for a held breath before he and Grace exhaled with relief and grabbed each other tight. And for the very first time since his cancer diagnosis, Charlie openly wept, but unlike the tears that had quite often accompanied him to sleep throughout his war with the biggest enemy he’d ever confronted, they were now the happiest he’d ever shed.

Shortly after, they strolled out of the oncologist’s hand-in-hand, with broad smiles on their faces.

As soon as they walked through the doors of Grace’s Waterside Estate home, the phone chimed from the hallway table. ‘I’ll get it, if you like, so that you can nip to the loo.’

The smile that had planted on her beautiful face the moment they’d heard the news was still there, just as wide, just as warm. ‘Thanks, Charlie, I’m absolutely busting.’ With an overly eager Sophie at her feet, Grace raced up the stairs.

Moments later, with the phone pressed to his ear, Charlie nodded into it. ‘Thanks for letting us know, Kelvin.’ His smile even wider than before, if that was at all possible, he hung up and dashed to the foot of the staircase. ‘Grace! Kelvin just called to tell us that Hope is in labour.’

‘Oh my goodness! What a wonderful day it’s turning out to be.’ Grace’s singsong voice carried down the staircase right before her head popped over the banister. ‘We’d best get the next flight to Townsville.’

‘Yes.’ Charlie clapped his hands together. ‘I’ll get onto it. You start packing.’

And just like that, they were a team again, with the rest of their lives ahead of them.

And this time around, Charlie was going to make sure that nothing could ever tear them apart.

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