Coming Home (Over & Over)

chapter seven -:- try to be okay

Tuesday found Normani, Dinah, and Camila sat at their family doctor's office. Camila was bouncing her leg anxiously, her eyes glistening with tears that had been threatening to fall ever since they arrived.

She couldn't help it. When her mama got a call earlier that morning that they had to come in as soon as possible to speak with Dr. Wilks, Camila instantly knew that it was bad.

"Breathe," Normani whispered kindly into her daughter's ear as her hand settled over her jittery knee to stop it's nervous bouncing.

"Can I go to school tomorrow?" Camila asked, deciding that she wanted something to look forward to. She wanted something normal.

"We'll see, baby," Dinah said, giving her girl a quick smile before she continued looking at the door of Dr. Wilks exam room.

Five minutes later, the man exited with a patient, escorting the man to the door before he handed the chart off to his secretary in exchange for a new one.

One glance at the name made the doctor straighten up a bit and look around the waiting room.

When Dr. Wilks noticed the family, when he noticed Camila, his mood seemed to change. There was no loud, excited greeting. No exclamation that he was happy to see his favourite family. Just silence.

And then Normani and Dinah met his gaze and stood up quickly, silently asking him where to go.

"Follow me," Dr. Wilks said, leading the family of three past his usual exam room and towards an office suite. "Please, take a seat," he said, motioning to the three chairs lined along the other side of a dark wood desk.

"So, what were her results?" Dinah asked, not beating around the bush.

Dr. Wilks opened the file in his hand and looked it over one last time before setting it down on the desk and addressing the family.

"Camila, in addition to the lump on your neck, the CT scan showed that you have one here," he said, pressing his fingers against the center of his own chest, "and here," he added, pressing his fingers against his left collarbone.

Camila stared at the doctor, words unable to form in her mouth despite the millions of questions she had.

"What are they?" Normani asked, making the doctor rub the scratchy white hair on his chin.

"I'm sorry. After the radiologists looked them over they decided that it looks like lymphoma. Most likely Hodgkins."

Dinah and Normani couldn't stop the tears that instantly fell from their eyes. They glanced at each other, unsure of what to say as they struggled to form a coherent thought.

"What is that? Mommy, what's wrong?" Camila asked, fear filling her body as she looked between both her moms that were usually so strong.

"It looks like cancer," Dr. Wilks explained in the softest voice he could muster. It hurt him to have to deliver this news to any patient, especially one that he watched grow up.

Camila couldn't think of anything in that moment. Cancer. She knew her Grandma Andrea had cancer once, long before she became apart of the family. But she was alive. She got better.

"Mila, baby?" Dinah said, wiping her cheeks and looking to her daughter, her precious baby, whom she knew was struggling to work this out in her head.

Normani reached out and grasped Camila's hand, also trying hard to catch the girl's unfocused eyes.

"I have cancer... here?" Camila whispered out the question, her voice shaky but not broken by tears like her moms were. She let her hand hover over her chest, right where her heart sat. Right where the cancer was.