Thanks everyone for your support and love. Sorry its been so late, having a really hard time deciding who would be at the door. Here goes …
The knock came again, slightly louder this time, the panic started again. "Bella?" I stopped panicking. I quickly opened the door. "Dad?" I asked in complete confusion. He smiled "well, are you gonna let me in?" he asked, the smile was throwing me, dad doesn't smile. I numbly moved away whilst he entered. "What are you doing here?" I asked him as I closed the door.
He shrugged off his jacket and smiled again at me. "Can't a father come to see his daughter?" he said with a chuckle. "Of course, you can, it's just normally you call first and it's never this late" I responded. "I did leave a message on your machine" he said. I looked at my machine and there it was several messages I had ignored. He looked at me knowingly. "Sorry dad, today was my first day off and I've been busy all day". He laughed "same old Bella, come on, it's late and we will talk in the morning" he said as he indicated towards the stairs. I was too tired to argue.
The next day I woke up early and made my way into the kitchen. I started making breakfast as Charlie came into the kitchen. "Smells good" he said as he took a seat at the small kitchen table. I brought over the coffee and his breakfast. We ate in companionable silence until the curiosity got the better of me. "Ok dad, are you gonna tell me why you are here and why you came so late on the night?" I asked. He nodded before picking up his pate and taking it over to the sink. "Well Bella I have two things I need to talk to you about let's go into the garden, it's such a shame to waste such a beautiful day inside" he looked quite sad. I grabbed a couple of beers and followed him outside. I snuck a glance next door, I don't know if I was disappointed or relieved to not see him. Charlie lead me into the middle of the grass area and sat down.
"Ok Bells some time ago I found something, and the doctors said it was a tumour, it could be cancer. They say its benign now, but just to be sure I have had some chemotherapy and in a couple of weeks I am gonna have an operation to remove it." He took hold of my hand. To say I was shocked was an understatement I couldn't wrapped my head around it. "I'm gonna be fine Bella, it was just one tumour and they are removing just to be safe" he explained. I numbly nodded I couldn't think of how to respond.
"That's not Chief Swan is it?" came a voice that made us both jump. Charlie stood up laughing "that's not Paul Lahote is it?" he asked as he clasped hands and gave him a one arm hug. I followed behind Charlie still reeling. "Yep it is chief" he looked at me and the big smile he had dipped a little. "What are you doing here?" Charlie asked. Paul chuckled "well I moved here a couple of days ago, no clue Bella was your daughter". Charlie nodded and looked at me, I tried to put a smile on my face. Charlie must have noticed "well that's an amazing coincidence, what are you doing later Paul?" he asked. "Are you up for coming with me and Bella for a meal?" Paul nodded "yeah sure" he agreed. "Good, we will meet at six ok" he said as he shook Paul's hand. Charlie went inside and left me with Paul. "Are you ok?" he asked me. I shook my head "was it because I came out here?" he asked. I was near tears "no, nothing like that. He's just told me he might have cancer". The idea couldn't gel inside my head. The rest of the day was a blur, all I could focus on was that word 'cancer'.
Short and hopefully sweet. What do you all think?