A Time to Grow

Lean Into It

Addie - Age - 9 Years Old
Clara - Age - 3 Years Old
Cecelia - Age - 3 Months Old

"Hey Sam, how's it going?" Maks said as he saw his brother in law calling.

"Hey umm, I tried to reach P but I...uhh..she didn't answer." Sam's voice shook as he attempted to speak.

"She has the girls in the pool, her phone is probably on the porch. What's wrong?" Maks asked getting nervous. His brother in law had only ever sounded like that one other time. And it was when he found out he was going to be a father and the nerves took over.

"Mom..." His voice trailed off.

"Sam....what happened.....Sam!" Maks repeated as he seemed to disappear from the other end of the line. Maks could hear muffled voices in the background and stood up to pace.

"Maks, it's Lan. Umm, sorry about that. He's not handling this well."

"Handling what well Lan? He didn't get to tell me." Maks repeated. He just wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

"Sorry, I thought he told you. There was an accident this evening. Suzanne was on her way home from work and a semi hit her on the passenger side. She's umm.....they are only giving her two weeks. If that."

"What? 2 weeks to get better?" Maks asked stupidly. He could feel his head spin on Peta and the girls. And just everything.

"No. The accident punctured her lungs and just missed her heart however it hit one of the veins leading from it. The amount of trauma and everything is just too much for her body. She's on a lot of drugs right now and a lot of machines and everything. She can breath right now on her own but they can't take her off the oxygen at the moment."

"Can they take her off ever? I mean people heal from these things. It's possible right Lan? Tell me it's possible. Tell me I don't have to go tell all three of my girls that this is it."

'That's the other thing. Normally it would heal. However they found cancer when they went in for the surgery to repair her lung. Both of her lungs are covered and it's too advanced for them to stop it, especially with the damage that she's already endured."

"Fuck. Okay. I need to tell P. Then we need to make arrangements. I guess I'll call you when we have everything figured out." Maks said softly.

"Alright. You can just call me if you want. Sam's a mess. Barry won't leave the hospital."

"I'm not thinking P is going to take it much better. And the girls. Clara's going to be too little to even understand."

"I'm sorry." She answered softly.

"It's okay...I mean it's not but it's not your fault. You didn't do it. I just...I'm rambling. I'm sorry. Okay. I need to go talk to P & the girls."

"Alright, I'll keep you posted if anything changes. Let me know if you need help with anything."

"Thanks Lan, send our love to everyone. We'll get everything sorted as quickly as we can and I'll let you know."

"Will do. Tell everyone I love them too. Talk to you later."

"Bye Lan." Maks said as he dropped his phone on the desk. He stood there and let it all sink in for a moment. Trying to figure out how to do this. He needed to tell Peta first and then they could figure out how to talk to the girls and get everyone out there. He took his time and then headed out to the patio.

Clara was almost 3 this year and Addie nearly 9, so they decided it was safe at this point that they could put a pool in. The girls were loving having a swimming area in the backyard and begged their parents daily to take them out. That morning Maks had to do some work for the studios so Peta took them out to get some time in and then Maks would join them after lunch. Well that had been the plan.