Don't Remind Me (Book 2)

-18-

All four of us sat silently in the waiting room. Mr.Zvahl leaned over his knees, nervously staring at the tile below him, Cadenza was tapping her full coffee cup, and I held Laurance's hand in support as his knee bounced. I stroked his knuckles with my thumb. We'd been waiting for a few hours with no word, and were beginning to get really getting nervous. I'd offered to pick up food earlier, since we weren't able to eat lunch before we left, but they didn't have an appetite. I leaned over and whispered in Laurance's ear. "Hey, can I do anything?"

He looked at me and gave me a small smile. "I'm good right now. Thank you though. Thanks for being here."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." His smile got a little bigger, then leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. 

The doctor walked into the room and we all stood up. "She'll be fine. She'll need to go on immediate and complete bed rest though." He turned to Mr.Zvahl. "Can I see you for a minute, sir?"

"Of course." They walked off towards the rooms and the three of us sat back down.

I looked over at Cadenza. "Do you need anything Cadenza?"

"Honestly?" She let out a deep breath. "I need to take a walk."

"Do you want company?"

"If Laurance doesn't mind me taking you?"

"Please. Go ahead." He kissed my hand and let go. "I've been hogging her all morning."

I stood up and grabbed ahold of Cadenza's arm as we walked off. We started heading towards the cafeteria. I felt that she was still really nervous. "Hey, the doctor said that she'll be fine."

"I know. But..." She looked down and bit her lip a little. "I can't help but think back to our real mom. Not that we don't love Kelly, but I remember when she died Laurance was young, so he likely doesn't really remember it too well. But I do. All too well."

I paused before asking. "W-what happened to her?"

She took another breath. "She had cancer. She had a good chance of beating it, too. "The only reason that she didn't make it was that she... she was pregnant."

I felt my eyes widen. "I had no idea."

"We don't really talk about it. She decided not to go through with treatment in order to give the baby it's best shot of living. She was late in her pregnancy when she got the news, so it was likely that both would make it. Unfortunately, there was a complication, so she was brought in about a month early for an early delivery." She choked up a little. "B-both of them didn't make it." 

I gave her arm a little squeeze. "I'm so sorry."

She wiped her eyes. "It was a long time ago."

"Still. It's a big deal. Thank you for telling me, though. It means a lot to me that you trusted me enough to tell me that."

"Of course." She patted my hand. "You're one of my best friends."

"and you're one of mine."

She gave me a tear filled smile, then faced the entrance to the cafeteria. "I think I'll get something to eat now."

-

The three of us had just finished our meal when Mr. Zvahl came back into the room. "She'll be discharged soon, but she'll need to be on complete bed rest. Don't let her talk y'all into letting her help with anything. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Laurance nodded seriously.

"No complaints from me!" Cadenza beamed. "I can make dinner tonight and with the meals until the baby comes."

"Me, too." I put my hand on her arm. "I'd be glad to."

Cadenza turned and looked at me. "Are you sure, Leona? You're our guest. You don't have to do that."

"I want to. Really."

"I can make some, too." Laurance added with a cute little smirk. "Afterall, I'm a better cook than the two of you."

I elbowed him in the stomach. "Hey!"

He let out a carefree laugh. "What? We both know it's true."

I decided to just let him have that one.

-

Getting Kelly to rest quickly proved to be a challenge. She kept insisting that she could do things. It got to the point where we almost had to physically hold her down. They started to sit with her in shifts, Mr. Zvahl taking first "watch."

Cadenza was straining the pasta while I was chopping up vegetables when Laurance walked in. "Anything I can do to improve, I mean help with dinner?"

I turned around and put my hand on my hip, giving him a fake angry look. "We're doing just fine, thank you very much!"

He leaned over and "inspected" my veggies, making an unconvinced noise. 

"Look! If anyone needs any help, it's your sister. She's doing the actual cooking!"

"Hey!"

"I love you, hon, but he's not wrong on that one. You struggle with cooking."

She sighed and turned back around. "It's not that hard to make boxed pasta."

He picked up the recipe card. "This won't be too hard. I can get started on the pasta."

"Fine." I playfully rolled my eyes and winked at him.

"Only if you two keep the PDA to a minimum." Cadenza added. "I might have pushed for you two to get back together, but I still don't want to feel too much like the third wheel."

"Sorry, 'Denza." Laurence said. After she turned back around, he quietly kissed my temple then got started on the sauce. I gave a small smile as I continued chopping the veggies.

Their family was always so great to me. They welcomed me in immediately when we had first started dating and this time around proved to be no different. Even when they weren't a well off and it was just them three, they always made sure to be generous and give me more than I needed. Everything about us made sense, even when we didn't see it. No matter what choice we made. Looking back, us, me and Laurence. We always seemed like we were meant to be.

Thanks for reading!