Clay quickly recovered from the flu and was able to return to school within a couple of days. The following week, Jo went with Doug to the clinic for his biopsy. He tried to put up a brave front, but she could tell he was nervous.
"It's gonna be all right." She put one hand over his, which felt cold to the touch.
"I know," he said. "I ain't worried." Jo knew otherwise, but she didn't say anything.
While waiting to be called back, he paced back and forth in the waiting room while Jo sat quietly watching him. She found her mind drifting back to memories of her high school friend Gail Gallagher, who'd originally been one of her teachers. She remembered how devastated she'd been when she'd found out that Gail was dying. The last time she'd seen her friend alive, Gail had been lying in bed pale and emaciated, barely even able to hold her head up. A vision of Doug lying there instead of Gail came to her, and she tried desperately to think about something else.
At last Doug was called back for the procedure. Jo gave him a hug and sat down to wait. While listlessly flipping through a magazine, she glanced up and noticed that Earl was sitting directly across from her, reading a newspaper. He didn't seem to notice her, but she felt tremendously better right away.
After a few minutes of anxious waiting, Doug emerged. His eyes were halfway closed, and he walked gingerly. "Everything went fine," the nurse told Jo. "We'll have the results in a few days."
"How do you feel?" Jo asked her husband.
"Like I just had a red hot poker shoved up my butt," Doug said wryly.
"Come on, let's go home," said Jo. "You'll feel better after you rest for awhile." She drover her husband home, where he went right to bed.
Clay arrived home from school several hours later and went to his room without a word, as was his usual habit. Jamie arrived home shortly after her stepbrother. "Is Dad all right?" she asked anxiously.
"The biopsy went fine," Jo told her. "He's resting."
Doug joined the family for dinner, grimacing as he sat down very gingerly. "That must have really hurt," Jamie said sympathetically.
"Nah, it was just a little pin prick." Doug grinned at her. Jo patted his shoulder.
That evening she received an unexpected telephone call. "Is this Jo?" asked a masculine voice. "You don't know me, but I'm your brother-in-law. I'm Randy Norman."
"Randy? Of course! Doug told me about you."
"Yeah, he's still up there freezin' his butt off every winter when he could be nice and warm all year round down here. So how's he doin'?"
"He's all right. He had a biopsy this morning, so he's been resting all day. Do you want me to put him on?"
"Oh, no, that's all right. A biopsy? What's wrong?"
"It was to rule out prostate cancer. We'll know the results in a few days."
"Prostate cancer? Oh, no!" Randy gasped. "I had no idea. I haven't seen him in forever, you know. The last time must have been the funeral. 'Course things have been rocky between us ever since the incident with Patty. That was the main reason I moved away."
"Who's Patty?" asked Jo.
"The only woman I ever loved." Randy sounded bitter. "We were high school sweethearts. We were gonna get married after we graduated, but then I made the mistake of introducing her to Doug. They hid it well. I never suspected anything at all until just a couple of weeks before we were supposed to be married. She told me she was having second thoughts about getting married and wanted to break off the engagement. Not too long after that, I caught her and Doug together making out."
"Oh my gosh!" Jo exclaimed. "That doesn't sound like Doug at all! I can't believe he'd do something like that!"
"Well, he sure did," Randy said gloomily. "He took the only woman I ever loved away from me. For years afterwards, I was so angry I refused to speak to him at all. At the funeral he tried to patch things up with me. By that time, things had ended between him and Patty and he was with Mary Frances. I still refused to speak to him."
"He called me after the bombing and told me about Mary Frances. I really did feel bad for him. I mean, nobody deserves to have to go through that. After that we sort of kept in touch for awhile. He called to tell me when he married you, and I was really happy for him. Over the past few weeks I've been thinking it might be nice to get together with him again soon. I mean, none of us is getting any younger, and before you know it...well, anyway, I had no idea he had health concerns."
"I'll tell him you called," Jo told Randy. "I'm sure he'll be happy to have heard from you."