I thought Annabelle deserved a chapter . How Annabelle's diagnosis affects Zoe. Please review. This story is coming to a close in the next few chapters.

CHAPTER 13 Annabelle

I sat staring at my office wall. The dark maroon walls with old pictures scattered throughout the room. I realized that none of this was mine and it was my office. I wanted some of Harley's belongings because it helped keep me calm in a strange sort of way. I never knew the man, but I sensed a stillness when I thought of him. I wondered how he would handle the situation that would soon be before me. I don't know that Annabelle has cancer but there were indicators.

I found myself doing a little self-talk out loud.

Harley, how do I strike a balance between being positive and the facts? What would you do? Should I go with them to their appointment with the specialist? Harley, I don't want to feel all of this uncertainty. As a surgeon, you have a job to do and you do it. It is very black and white. Dealing with emotions is not what I signed up for.

Addy said, "Dr. Hart, The Harper's are here for their appointment."

"Give me a minute and send them in."

I practiced my breathing techniques, placing my hand on my stomach, breathing in and breathing out. I closed my eyes. I knew that this was the just the beginning. I opened my eyes, a picture of Harley floated through my head.

"Mrs. Harper, Annabelle, come in. How are you doing Annabelle?"

"I'm okay. I got a new turtle."

"You did, What's is your turtle's name?"

"Spinach"

"Wow, that is a great name."

My brother found it on the creek. We fed it spinach and he loved it" I laughed and she started laughing too.

"Annabelle, I am going to look over you again. Say AAHH. Deep breath, again, again" as I moved my stethoscope around." Her breathing was shallow but not terrible. "OK, let's take a look at the bruise and see if that has gotten better. Have you noticed bruises in any other places, Annabelle?"

"No."

"Well, I am going to look over your body so we can have the best information for your appointment on Tuesday. Here is an ipad with a couple of fun games on it. You do that while I am looking you over."

I checked her whole body and found a couple of more bruises in spots that aren't usually bruised on children. On the positive side, her ear infection was gone.

"Annabelle, next week , you are going to meet with another doctor and he will run some more tests. We are going to figure out why you keep getting sick. Don't be scared. Your mom said that you wanted me to come with you. I will come and meet you at the doctor's office. Does that sound good?"

"Thank you Dr. Hart" Her little limbs snapped around me so quick that it took me a minute to embrace her. "You are the best doctor ever."

"OK, Mrs. Harper, if you don't have any questions, I will see you on Tuesday."

XXXXX

The weekend seemed to creep by. All I could think about was Annabelle. Wade was working so there wasn't much to distract me.

I decided to go to the one person, other than Wade, that always seemed to know what to say to me.

I knocked on his door but there was no answer. I walked around to his barn where he liked to do his woodworking, no Earl. I looked to see if his fishing gear was in its spot. It wasn't so I walked down to the small lake. I found Earl sitting in a blue camping chair with his line in the water.

"Earl, Earl, I am sorry to bother you."

"Well, hello pretty doctor. What brings you out here?"

"I have a case and it has me down in the dumps."

"You wanna talk about it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. He sat his rod on a makeshift holder. He walked over and held me at the top of my arms.

"Listen here, whatever it is, you are a great doctor. Your patient is lucky to have you."

"Earl, how many drinks have you had?"

"Just one"

I shook my head, "Earl, Wade needs you to be sober"

"I am"

"I need you to be sober. You can't even have one."

I sat there while he fished. Leaned back on the grass and looked up at the sun, peaking through the clouds. Evidently partly sunny was good for fishing. Earl caught a few fish, so we made the little hike back to the house.

"Thanks for coming Doctor, you have stopped me from going back down the rabbit hole. You are welcome to stay, I will saute' some fish."

"I would love to, let me tell Wade where I am. He was expecting me to eat at the Rammer Jammer tonight."

He cleaned and I think the word is 'gutted' the fish. One thing Wade needs to know, I will never clean fish. I don't care how long I am in Bluebell.

We talked about the state tournament. I showed him the video of Wade's pregame speech. I asked him about a girl named Jennifer. I showed him pictures of Wade and I at the game.

He finally showed me some baby pics of Wade. He was a "toe head" as Earl called it. So, I learned another new term. This particular one means, white, blonde hair. He was adorable in his 6 year old picture wearing his acid washed jeans and his red and white rugby shirt. After seeing this picture, I was sure that he was making all the girls swoon in Sunday School class.

Wade walked into my house. Taking off his clothes before either of us said a word.

"You went to Earl's huh?" I nodded but didn't speak. His body distracts me. It is absolutely miraculous.

"Doc, what did y'all do?"

"Oh, sorry, I was in deep thought. I went fishing with him."

"Really", he walked towards me, slowly one hip at a time. "Did you get those precious surgeon hands dirty? Put on a worm?" Now his hands are sitting on my hips.

"Well what if I did?"

"Well Dr. Hart, for a surgeon, I would think you could do that easily. Does a little worm scare you?"

He had me laughing in no time. Wade, even before we were dating, seemed to know what I needed. We played around for some time. Then I told him about going to his dad's house.

"You better be careful, Ol Earl is gonna start depending on you and it will be you singin' Moon River on the roof of the hardware store."

"I love being with him. Stopped him from drinking tonight."

"That's what I am talking about. Are you gonna go over there every day?"

"Well maybe one of us should. I see how happy you have been."

"Baby, earl is NOT the reason I am happy. My happiness has something to do with a sarcastic, fast talkin doctor."

"Don't lie, I have seen you staring at Earl and me. How you love this side of him, maybe you are remembering some of the good times. It is okay to love him and be happy."

"Doc, I have been let down like fifty times a year for twenty years. It is better not to get your hopes up."

"You are ridiculous, you have to give him every chance he wants to take. You do know that you are a lot like him? He seems to have that same intuition about what I need as you do. That is why I went. I needed someone to understand without having to talk too much."

"Well, I love that you want to spend time with him. I would rather you be with me , but."

"I just spent four solid days with you, everyone praising King Wade. I wanted to get away from your celebrity for a minute, okay."

"You are just jealous, that everyone wasn't praising Dr. Zoe Hart, Queen of Medical Miracles."

"No I am Not."

"Face it Doc, you don't feel like you are measuring up to your classmates. I took that Alumni magazine to the bathroom with me. I can see how the old Zoe Hart would get upset but I thought the new and improved version was more concerned about her patients and not the accolades."

I thought about it and he was sort of right. I did still care about that and as much as I loved seeing Wade through a different lens, the young ambitious one made me a little jealous that I wasn't receiving any kudos. I did pop Greg Taylor's shoulder into place.

"Come on Baby, let's got bed. It has been a long week and working twelve hour shifts at the bar back to back has taken its toll on me"

XXXXXX

Tuesday came and I met the Harpers at the specialist office. Annabelle jumped into my arms. I explained to Dr. Schnell that the little girl wanted me there and that I would come with her anytime she wanted me. He seemed okay with that but I know he was cursing me under his breath.

Dr Schnell, was a hematologist, which is a doctor that specializes in blood disorders and diseases. However, he did not specialize in children so thank God I was there. He was very dry and not personable, he must not have had good hands or he would have been a perfect surgeon.

When I saw that Dr. Schnell wasn't going to walk Annabelle and Mrs. Harper through the bone marrow biopsy, I tried to do so myself.

"OK, Annabelle, Dr. Schnell is going to numb the area where he will stick the needle. Numb means you won't be able to feel it. Once the numbing has taken affect, he will insert the needle. You may feel a stinging or a sort pain as he pulls it out. It is opposite of a shot. A shot shoots something into your system, in this case we are taking something out of your system. Understand?"

Annabelle shook her head yes as she held her mom's hand.

"You being such a big girl. It is almost over."

"Mrs. Harper, We will call you with the results by the end of the week."

"Can you please also send results to Dr. Hart as well. Since she is our family doctor and in Bluebell, we would like you to share all files."

"Yes ma'am, we can do that. Dr. Hart."

"Thank you Dr. Schnell"

"Mrs. Harper, I know a great ice cream place close by. Would you all want to go get ice cream with me?"

XXXXX

I was at Earl's, waiting for Wade to get there for dinner. I had been swamped. Brick took off a couple of days because I had went to the state tournament. I was also averaging 3 new patients a day, most of which I attributed to going to the state tourney and dating King Wade. I had to admit, he was the most humble king that I knew andhe was very good for business.

I received an alert of a new email. I opened it up and it was Annabelle's results. I gasped and fell to a sitting position on the couch.

"What is it Zoe?"

I was speechless and tears began to fill my eyes, so much that I could not see. Everything was blurry. Earl laid his hand on my knee.

"Everything will be alright"

Then I blurted out in a hateful tone, "No, it won't, a six year old girl has cancer." The tears wouldn't stop. Earl's started flowing shortly after.

"How can I handle this Earl? How? It's not fair. She is six."

"Life is definitely not fair. I know that more than anyone, well and my sons.

Wade walked in with a pizza and saw us sitting on the couch.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Neither of us could speak. Wade walked and sat on the other side of me. Earl got up and paced around.

"Shhh, baby it will be okay. She has you in her corner, I know you will do everything that is humanly possible."

He caressed kissed my hair, and cheeks more times than I could count. He kept threading my hair through his hands and laying it softly on my back. It was soothing. Eventually I quit crying. His hands stroking my face and placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

"She has cancer Wade. I am sorry, I am sure you and Earl, of all people don't want to talk about this."

"I'll admit, not my favorite subject. But I am here for you and my mom would want me to be. I need to go check on Dad, is that okay?"

I nodded. Wade came back and said Earl is coming home with him tonight. Wade took care of us both. He knew his dad would start drinking as soon as we left so this was his way of trying to keep him sober. I really needed Wade to stay with me but that was being selfish.

He dropped me off and walked me to the door. "I will be over as soon as he is asleep, alright?"

'Yeah"

He told me later that he and Earl talked for a couple of hours about Jacqueline. Wade asked about her treatment, things he hadn't asked before or that he didn't remember. Wade gave him the bed and stayed on the couch until he faded into his dreams or maybe nightmares.

Wade crawled into my bed about midnight.

"I am here, Zoe"

"Thank you, I feel better when I am with you. I know everyone has problems Wade, but this is a little girl. What has she done to anyone? People want to know why I don't go to church. Well there's the reason. And if someone dares to say, "God has a plan," I swear will hogtie them."

"That's my girl. This is the Dr. Hart that she needs, the compassionate one. The feisty one. The stubborn one. The doctor that plows ahead no matter what obstacles are in front of her."

"She is going to need so much more than me."

XXXXXX

Monday morning, I called Mrs. Harper. She shared the treatment schedule with me and asked if I would come again to the first appointment. We met with Dr. Schnell and the oncologist Dr. Kushna.

Annabelle would be in the hospital for a minimum of 14 days but hopefully her stay wouldn't be longer than 21 days. They would admit her tomorrow morning. We stopped for ice cream again before leaving Mobile. Tomorrow the hard work would begin.

I went to see Annabelle everyday. Wade went with me several days and sat out in the car or waiting room. He was worried because he could tell that I had been crying every day when I left her. Seeing her helpless and getting weaker every day, losing clumps of her silky blonde locks. One day, Wade went by the school and picked up cards that the school had made for Annabelle to read. There must have been two hundred or more cards.

On Annabelle's last day, when we got back from the hospital, I went back to the practice and Wade went to the bar. I thought about how brave and strong was. How she kept a positive attitude, which may have been because she didn't fully understand. I followed up on my other patients, picked up my mail, stuck it in my purse and went to the Rammer Jammer to see Wade and eat dinner.

"Hey Doc, how ya doin?"

"I am okay. Just kiss me already." He pressed his lips against mine and we kissed several times.

"Ummm, thanks Doc, just what I needed."

"I miss you." I whispered

"Same here. But you have a lot going on. I stopped by Dad's and he was drinking, can't quit talking about Mom and cancer."

"After I eat, I will take your car and go over there."

"No baby, he is probably too far gone. We can only do so much."

"Well I am going to tell you like you told me. He needs you, The stubborn you, The loving you. The I can do anything you." I paused. "And I think he needs me as much as I need him."

"Alright, miss fancy pants, go on over there, Text me and then come back to get me. But not until you eat. I had Charlie make you the salmon salad. Oh, and I bought that hard French bread you love so much."

I had to put Earl to bed. He had definitely fallen off the wagon and it was my fault. Why couldn't I keep my mouth closed and handled this professionally like a surgeon. I mean I didn't give away any information, just that I had a young patient with cancer. The mere mention of cancer had sent Earl into the vacuum of booze. It was my responsibility.

"Wade, can we sleep at your house tonight?"

"Yep"

"I am sorry I did this to your dad."

"You didn't do it, the results came while you were there. I am glad he was there for you initially, at least until I got there."

"I might not be able to do anything for Annabelle but I can do something for your father and I am going to dammit. I love him."

He knew there was no arguing with me when I am like that. I had my heels dug in. Tomorrow, I would have it out with Earl Kinsella and he would listen to me. I would go by Annabelle's house and see what I could do for her. I would go see Lavon and find out what was going on with Ruby and AB. I had been in my own world feeling sorry for myself when I wasn't the one sick. Why did all of this have to hurt so bad?

The only thing right in my world right now was Wade Kinsella.