Defying All Odds #Wattys2015

Chapter Nine

"Is she going to be alright, daddy?" A small voice breaks through the darkness. "I...." I feel a hand leave mine. "Sweetie, I don't think....." I open my eyes. "Jem...?" The little girl's eyes are as wide as her smile. "I told you I'd get her to wake up!" I can't help but smile."E-Evelyn?! I..I saw the woman.. You... I thought-" I get a hug from the little girl and wince.

"Charlotte, don't do that." James reaches for the girl, Charlotte, and sits her back in his lap. "But, daddy.. I woke her up! She's okay, now." She turns to look at me with a smile that could melt hearts. Hell, it's already melted mine. "I'm Charlotte!" She sticks her hand out and grabs mine, shaking it in the most absolutely adorable way. "Hi, Charlotte. I'm Evelyn. But, call me Evie since I know it's a mouthful." Her mouth opens even wider. Jeez, if she didn't stop her face would split in half.

I watched as she turned to James. "Daddy-" "Wait a minute!" I hold up my hand. "Daddy? James, why is she calling you daddy?" I question, a small v forming in my forehead out of confusion. He has that look of here goes nothing. "Because... She's my daughter. I know what your going to say! Its not what you think. I... Charlotte can you go play with Kathryn and Izzy for a minute?" She nods and runs off to spread the news.

I cross my arms over my chest, careful of the IV in my hand. "Its not what I think? Because it sure as hell looks exactly like what I think." He frowns slightly then runs his hands over his face. "Evelyn, listen.." "No. I'm not going to listen. You've been spending the past two weeks at my house CONSTANTLY yet come to find out, you have a DAUGHTER that can't be more than 6 years old at home. What's her mother thinking? Oh, God! She probably thinks you're cheating on her with me! How could you do that to your child's mother!?" I hear and feel my heartbeat increase at an alarming rate. "Evelyn! Stop! You need to listen to me before you hurt yourself!" I take slow breaths until my heartbeat has returned to normal. "Go ahead." I mumble, looking down at my lap.

"When I was 14, I met Charlotte's mother. Her name was Taylor McDonnell and she was 13. Her parents were friends with mine and when we first saw each other, we kinda just hit it off. We first started dating when I was 17 and she, 16. Her parents didn't really approve of our dating and I couldn't quite figure out why because no one would tell me. We were together for 6 months when she got pregnant with Charlotte. Neither one of us planned for it to happen, it just kind of did.

"About 5 months into her pregnancy, we got engaged and the wedding was to be two weeks from that day. Neither one of us wanted to wait or to have our daughter born as a bastard child." He pauses for a second and takes a deep breath. "The day we married was one of the happiest days of my life with her, other than Charlotte being born. Three months later, Charlotte decided that it was time she came into the world.

"I felt like everything was going perfectly. I had an amazing wife, a beautiful, 4 month old baby girl, and I was about to start schooling to become a lawyer. Until the day that her family cornered me at my parents' home. Apparently, Taylor had been suffering from breast cancer since she was 16. She would hide the doctors visits from me, because she didn't want me to know. She didn't think we would make it that far. Turns out, she hadn't been getting any treatments for it.

"Her parents explained that the cancer had spread to her lungs and her brain. The doctor gave her less than 3 months to live." Tears started falling down his face, but I made no move to stop them. I was in utter shock. He took a deep breath and continued. "Three months later, she was gone. Charlotte was just 7 months old. I...I was lost for so long. I couldn't finish school, my parents had to take care of Charlotte, and I had turned to drinking and doing drugs." He laughed sarcastically. "Ironic, isn't it? You think you're spending the rest of your life with someone and they decide to hide the most important thing from you." He shook his head and wiped his eyes before looking at me. "And that's the story of my daughter."

I slowly nodded my head and looked down at my lap. "I'm sorry... For assuming that... Ya know... I... I've got to tell you something, James. But before I tell you, please. Please don't hate me for this." I looked up at him as tears filled my eyes. I watched as he nodded his head and reached forward, grabbing my hand tightly in his. "I promise, Evelyn. I promise I won't hate you."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "When I was 15, I started high school, obviously. I got involved in a bad group of people. They drank, smoked weed, among other illegal things. I think it was so I could fit in because I had just started at a new school. At the start of my senior year of high school, I turned 18. To celebrate, that group and I went to the harbor in Boston. They rented a boat and we went really far out. I'm not quite sure what happened, but next thing I know, I'm flying off the boat." I took a deep breath.

"Instead of stopping, they just kept going. I don't know if it was because they were too stoned and drunk to hear me, if they couldn't hear because of the motor, or if they just didn't care anymore. I was in the water for almost 2 days before anyone found me. I think I was fine for the first day but the other half, I kept trying to stay up but I couldn't. I kept going under and I couldn't hold my breath.

"My dad's the one that found me. He knew something was wrong when I didn't show up at home after that first day. I was rushed to the hospital. I guess I forgot to mention that this happened in the winter. I had gotten hypothermia. I almost died. The doctors' needed to do more tests on me to see what else had happened to me. I was released to go home before we found out the results on the tests. It just so happens that the day the doctor called to have me come in, my parents weren't home.

"So, being the rebellious teenager that I was, I went to the doctor by myself. Only, I wish I hadn't. What the doctor told my that day changed my life completely." I looked up at him. His eyes were wide and he shook his head back and forth slowly, whispering a no so quite it was barely audible. "That day, I was diagnosed with stage zero lung cancer. The doctor tried for hours to convince me to take chemotherapy or take trial drugs but my only thoughts were about how I could beat that stupid cancer.

"I never told anyone. For the past three years, I have been living with lung cancer without treatment. I'd told everyone that its just asthma because I didnt want their pity. I didn't want to be treated like people only wanted me around because they felt sorry for me." By now, I was full on sobbing. "Eventually, my lungs are going to completely give out on me. They won't properly function and I'll just slip away after hours of pain."
I stopped, realizing that this isn't what he had signed up for.

I looked down in my lap and pulled my hand out of his. "Its okay if you want to go. I'll understand." I whispered. I was so prepared for him to leave that I was shocked by what he did instead. And let me tell you, it was something amazing.