Chapter 5
Coop came down stairs from his room at Company; he had been up half the night worried about Lizzie. His attention immediately focused on his brother Frank, who at the moment was sitting at the counter reading the newspaper. There was no excuse for the way he acted last night.
Coop walked over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee without speaking to his brother. He was waiting for the apology.
" Morning, Coop" Frank said without looking up from his newspaper.
Coop continued to ignore his brother. Frank finally put his newspaper down and stared at Coop.
" I said, Good Morning Coop" Frank said again a little louder. " Are you still mad about last night?'
" What could I possibly have to be mad about?" Coop said sarcastically, and then started to walk out the front door.
Frank got up and grabbed him by the arm a little too hard and Coop spilled his whole cup of coffee on himself and Frank.
" What the hell was that for?" Frank said, angrily.
" It wasn't my fault," Coop stated. " You jerked my arm, and it wasn't the first time. Gee, I wonder when you did that before? Oh yeah. Last night" Coop finished.
Frank was getting a little irritated with his younger brother. It was obvious the reason he was acting this way. It was because of Lizzie. Lizzie Spaulding. SPAULDING! The mere mention of that word made his skin crawl. And his brother was mesmerized with the youngest generation who was a monster in the making.
" Coop, I hope you understand why I did what I did last. I was only watching out for your best interests." Frank said, calming down a little bit.
" Understand?" Coop questioned. " I understand that you hate the Spualdings, and that is understandable, but you have a beef with Alan and Phillip, not Lizzie. She has no control over what her grandfather does." Coop said, defending the blond heiress.
Frank's blood was boiling. Coop would just never get it. " Are you forgetting everything she has done to us? She stole this restaurant out from under us and now she has evicted us from the boarding house. How can you defend her?" Frank finished.
Coop was starting to get irritated with his brother. " Look, Frank, if you want to hate Lizzie, than fine go ahead, but don't expect me to follow you. I am old enough to make my own decisions and I am not always going to agree with you. Now you need to accept it and move on." Coop said.
" Coop, Lizzie is a carbon copy of her father. Phillip Spaulding was an out of control man when he died. And Harley is on trial for killing him, which she didn't do. I am not convinced that Lizzie is not the killer. Even though she is cleared, she is so clever she could find a way to get away with it. She got away with everything else she ever did." Frank said.
Coop had had just about enough. " Lizzie did not kill her father, Frank. I am one hundred percent positive of that. She loved her father with all of her heart. I have witnessed that. So don't bring that up again." Coop said. " Now I am going to tell you one last time, Frank. I appreciate that you are looking out for me, I really do, but I can take care of myself. I do care what happens to you and Harley because I love both of you. But I want you to lay off of Lizzie. She has already agreed to let us stay in the boarding house. I am going to go find her and try to undo the damage that you have caused. I will see you later." Coop finished as he walked over to the door, grabbed his coat, and walked out the door.
Frank would never let this relationship take flight. He would end it before it even grew wings. That was a promise.
Lizzie was sitting in the hospital bed at the hospital waiting on the results of her multiple tests. Tammy was sitting in one of the chairs along the back of the room, half asleep. They had been sitting there alone for about an hour and a half now. Finally the doctor came in with her clipboard and apparently the results of her tests.
Lizzie tried to sit up, but she felt a little dizzy, so she laid back down. " What do they say, Doctor Harris." Lizzie asked.
" Would you like for me to tell you in private?" Dr. Harris asked, looking back at Tammy.
" Oh, I can leave if you want me to, Lizzie. After all, this isn't any of my business." Tammy declared.
Lizzie looked back at Tammy and said, "Tams, if you don't mind, I could really use a friend right now, and I am hoping that you will stay in here when she reads me the results."
Tammy got up and walked over to her bed and sat down beside her. " Sure. Whatever I can do." Tammy said, supportively.
" Alright Miss Spaulding. I have read your results and I am sorry to inform you that my suspicions were correct. Your Leukemia has made way back to your body." Dr. Harris said.
Lizzie sunk down even further. She felt Tammy squeeze her hand a little bit. It felt good to just have someone there with her. " Oh My God" Lizzie said, in shock.
" I am just going to give you a short lecture about Leukemia. I am sure you don't remember anything about it from the last time you were diagnosed." Dr. Harris said.
" Alright" Lizzie said, nearing tears. How could this be? Last night, when she had made up with Coop, and they had had another one of those breath taking kisses, she didn't think anything could ruin that. She honestly thought that she could be happy. Some joke. God just wasn't that generous. But what could she expect? Her whole life she had been nothing but trouble.
Dr. Harris was sitting on the other side of Lizzie, preparing to tell her about her disease, which should be very familiar to her.
"Lizzie, as you probably already know, Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells. In your case, the organ infected would be your bone marrow." Dr. Harris said. " In the situation of curing, you may need a bone marrow transplant. Most likely a family member would be your closest match, but anyone will do if they are a match. Another option, which we will try first most definitely, is chemotherapy." Dr. Harris finished.
Lizzie was well aware of what chemotherapy was, but she needed to hear everything. " Could you explain to me what chemotherapy is? I mean the type of chemo I will be getting, or the ones that are available?" Lizzie clarified.
" Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Depending on the type of leukemia, patients may receive a single drug or a combination of two or more drugs." Dr. Harris stated. " Most likely we will give you the treatment through an IV, but if the chemo is available by mouth, then we will give it to you that way." she finished.
Tammy was still holding her hand, and looking at her a little scared. " I am just curious, Dr. Harris, what is the plan for chemotherapy? I mean how do you give it, like what time period, and how much room is left for recovery?" Tammy asked, hoping Lizzie didn't mind.
"Chemotherapy is given in cycles: a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period, and so on." Dr. Harris answered. "In some cases, the patient has chemotherapy as an outpatient at the hospital, at the doctor's office, or at home. However, depending on which drugs are given and the patient's general health, a hospital stay may be necessary." Dr. Harris said.
Lizzie was just sort of lying there letting it all soak in. This was so much to take in. But she was determined to be brave. " Am I going to have to have a hospital stay?" Lizzie asked.
" We won't know until we get started with chemotherapy and see how far the cancer has spread," she answered. " If we do a bone marrow transplant than you will be required to stay in the hospital for several weeks," she finished.
Lizzie was speechless and scared.
Dr. Harris continued, "The patient's leukemia-producing bone marrow is destroyed by high doses of drugs and radiation and is then replaced by healthy bone marrow. The healthy bone marrow may come from a donor, or it may be marrow that has been removed from the patient and stored before the high-dose treatment. If the patient's own bone marrow is used, it may first be treated outside the body to remove leukemia cells. Patients who have a bone marrow transplant usually stay in the hospital for several weeks. Until the transplanted bone marrow begins to produce enough white blood cells, patients have to be carefully protected from infection."
Lizzie didn't say anything at all.
Dr. Harris said, " I'm sure you know the down side to chemotherapy. Your hair will fall out, but that is a mere problem compared to Leukemia. I am going to need to contact your parents or guardian."
" No, I have already told you. I am going to tell them on my own terms." Lizzie said, grasping onto her hair, stroking it and trying hard not to cry. Her hair, her beautiful shiny hair she worked so hard on every morning to make pretty.
" Alright, Miss Spaulding. I will let you tell them. But we need to get started on your chemotherapy as soon as possible. I am going to go ahead and make you an appointment for sometime this week." Dr. Harris finished. " I am very sorry," she finished.
Dr. Harris walked out the door, and Lizzie was just laying there so surprised and shocked.
" Lizzie, are you going to tell your mother or grandfather?" Tammy asked.
" Not right now. I don't want to worry them," Lizzie said. " But I am begging you not to say anything. And especially do not tell Coop," she demanded.
" Why?" Tammy asked.
" He will want to stay and help me get through this. I have to make him move on and find someone who deserves him and not someone who is just going to die on him" Lizzie finished.
Alan was still stewing over that telephone call he had received. How dare that guy. If he had to off him as well, he would. He had had no choice but to kill Phillip. He had threatened to take over Spaulding Enterprises and kick him out completely. If Lizzie found out, she would never understand. He needed some help to eliminate this guy.
Alan got on his cell phone and called his ally in this whole scam.
On the other side of the country a man's cell phone rang. He picked it up.
" Hello?" he said.
" Alan- Michael, it's dad. We have a major problem," Alan said.
Coop had finally found Lizzie. She was back working at Company, which was all she ever did. He so wanted to apologize to her for everything Frank had said.
" Lizzie, hey," Coop said.
" Hey" Lizzie said a little coolly.
She did not sound like herself. " Is something wrong?" Coop asked.
" Why would you ask that?" Lizzie said.
" You just aren't acting like yourself." Coop said.
Lizzie knew she had to be cruel to be kind, so she had to say this.
" Coop, look, last night, and what happened, it was a temporary brain freeze. I don't know what I was thinking. I had a major mental lapse. There is no us. There never will be." Lizzie finished, and started to walk away from him.
Coop grabbed her by the arm, and Lizzie swung back around.
" You're not going anywhere, until you tell me what is going on." Coop demanded.
"I already told you. What more of an explanation do you need?" Lizzie asked.
" I am not buying anything that you are saying, so you better tell me now what this is all about!" Coop stated.
Whitney
Spoilers For Chapter 6
Lizzie manages to keep her secret from Coop
Coop decides not to give up on Lizzie and vows to find out her secret
Alan Senior and Alan Jr. come up with an even bigger plan to cover their butts
Lillian comes close to uncovering Lizzie's secret