Page 34 of Tiffanie

Tiffanie looked between the two men and muttered, “No fair. Two against one.”

“Come on, Princess. Let’s get you into bed,” Phineas announced. He met Ivan’s gaze over her head as he tugged Tiffanie to her feet. He needed to have a frank talk with Ivan about many things, but first, Phineas wanted to hear Tiffanie’s report of how she was doing.

A few minutes later, he stripped off her clothes as she wobbled slightly in the bathroom. This shower wasn’t as large as his, but they could make do. He grabbed an extra towel from the basket next to the shower and tossed the edge of the thick material over the shower curtain.

“You should know what you’re in for,” Tiffanie said quietly.

He didn’t make a joke. Her face signaled him that whatever she wanted to tell him was serious. “Okay. I appreciate that. Talk to me.”

“You’re aware I have cancer, but I haven’t shared any details.”

“I’ll listen to whatever you want me to know,” Phineas said, swallowing hard to rid himself of a lump the size of Texas in his throat. Please let her be okay.

“I was lucky. They did a scan, thinking I had some kind of gastric problem—gallbladder or such. Instead, they found a shadow on my ovary. They discovered that small mass early, improving my chances of survival. I decided to have both my ovaries and my fallopian tubes removed. If genetics had caused this, I would risk having cancer strike the other side.”

“You were so brave. I’m glad you made the best decision for you.”

“Yes. There’s a history of breast cancer in my family, and ovarian cancer can be related as well.”

“Sounds like you did a lot of research and had a good doctor,” Phineas said, sorry that he hadn’t been in her life from the beginning when all this scary stuff was happening. “You’re having chemo now to make sure the cancer is gone?”

“Yes. Just in case a few cells migrated from that spot. There’s no evidence of that, but the risk exists. The blood tests haven’t assured the doctors that I’m in the clear, but the scans show no signs of cancer.”

“Best news ever. So, you keep working on getting everything to be perfect.”

“Yes. But the chemo is hard. My body doesn’t like it. I haven’t lost my hair, but I have trouble with appetite and energy,” she confessed. “Last week, the doctor stopped chemo to give me time to recover. The break is risky, but necessary to keep me….” Tiffanie’s voice broke.

Phineas hesitated, thinking the worst. He didn’t want to say that fear aloud but forced himself to speak for her. “Alive?”

“Yeah, that. I do feel better. I think you’re the reason why.”

“As long as you see an improvement, I’m ecstatic. No matter what the reason is. When do you return to the doctor?”

“Next week. Ivan’s supposed to take me, but would you?”

Jumping at the chance to go with her, Phineas nodded, happy to support his Little girl. “Tell me the date and time to get on the road,” he requested. “I’ll clear my schedule.”

“Tuesday at one-thirty.”

Phineas pulled his phone out of his back pocket and made a note for himself. “When do I need to pick you up? Is the office close?”

“About an hour away,” she said hesitantly.

“I’ll be here at noon unless you want me to leave earlier to have some lunch.”

“Oh, I couldn’t eat. I’ll be too scared,” she said.

“Noon. Text me the address, Little girl, so I’ll be prepared.”

She nodded and looked across the room. “I can’t have kids, Phineas. I mean, that’s the last of my worries, but if having a family is important to you….” Her voice faded away.

“You are important to me. We’ll get you healthy and then we’ll figure out what our future might hold. I’ve never planned on having kids, but if they are essential for you, we have options.”

“It’s that easy?”

“Not really. You’re going to have to fight hard to get better. I’ll be right by your side every step of the way.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.