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I stick out my hand to her, and she places her small hand in mine and shakes it.
“My name is Charlotte. But my friends call me Char.”
“Can I call you Char?” Ella asks with the biggest smile on her face. “Then, we’ll be friends too.”
“I would love to be friends with you.” I smile at her.
“Yes!” she cheers and rushes back to her mom, who smiles at her daughter endearingly. “I made a new friend, Mom!”
Her mom cups Ella’s face in her hands and swipes her cheeks with her thumbs. “Good job, baby.”
A nurse walks through a closed door and glances over the room before stopping at my new friend. “Princess Ella, you have been summoned to the throne room.” The nurse’s voice is jolly and sweet.
Ella begins to pull away from her mom, but she stops her and says, “Kisses, El.”
“Mwah, mwah,” Ella, or El, says exuberantly, placing two kisses on her mom’s cheeks before spinning around and taking off toward the nurse, who is beaming ear to ear.
Apparently, meeting Ella is electrifying to everyone, not just me. She is like a living beam of sunshine. She is so strong—and so young. My heart twists.
“Sorry if she came on a bit too aggressively. She doesn’t know any other way.” Her mom chuckles softly and turns my way.
I reciprocate the behavior. “Truthfully, I’m thankful she bounded over here and introduced herself. I was getting a little lost…in my head, and she pulled me out of it.”
Her mom smiles, but her eyes still hold such a dark sadness in them. “Well then, I’m glad she bugged you. You said your name is Charlotte?”
“Yeah.” I stick my hand out to hers like I did with El. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Harper,” she says and takes my hand. “You too.”
“Do you mind if I ask how old she is?”
“Seven. But if she asks, I told you seven and a half,” she says.
Laughing, I respond, “You got it.”
The door that Ella walked through with the nurse opens again, and the same nurse scans the room and says, “Charlotte.”
My heart plummets, and any serenity Ella granted me vanishes.
“Is this your first appointment?” Harper asks me as I rise to my feet shakily.
“Yeah. Is it obvious?” I hauntingly chuckle.
She grabs my hand and pats it soothingly. “You’ll do great. This is the first step in beating it.”
Or the first step toward the casket.
“Thank you,” I tell her and pull my hand out of her soft grasp. I walk toward the nurse waiting for me.
I read her name tag as I get closer, Jackie.
She greets me with a gentle smile and I follow her through the door.
“How are you doing today?” She asks nicely.
“Alright. How about you?” I ask in return.
She turns left and I follow as she says, “Doing great. It’s hard to have a bad day when I get to see all of my favorite patients.”
