It has been 6 months since we moved the girls into what used to be our guest rooms. Kirsten has her own room. Nevaeh and Piper share a room, as do James and Jesse and Peyton has his own room closest to ours.
The girls are very smart and have excelled in their school work. By next school year, they should be in 8th grade in an actual school.
We hired a tutor to help them and she is home schooling them even though I am currently working from home so I can help them out as much as possible.
They cannot wait to go to school and make new friends their own age.
The DNA test came back that they are definitely my sisters, not that I had questioned it since meeting them. We just needed solid proof to show in case Carla or Morton try anything else once they are released.
Morton was sentenced to 50 years and Carla got a slap on the wrist since she had never been arrested before. She will be free after about 2 more years unfortunately.
The girls love our kids and our kids love them. They help out with the smallest children.
The Greys come to visit with us all. I haven't seen or heard from Christian in 6 months. Ella said she had talked to him on the phone a few times but he seemed preoccupied. I wonder what is going on with him. I hope he is dating someone and that's why we went from regular visits with Ella to none.
I've decided surprise him and show up for lunch with Christian at his work. I take Prescott with me and when I arrive on the 20th floor, I am greeted by Andrea. "Mrs. Sawyer, I didn't know you were coming in today."
"It's a surprise. Is he in?"
"He is. Go on in."
I nod and open the door to his office and walk in quietly. "Christian?" I ask because I'm guessing he is in the bathroom or something. "Mr. Grey!?"
He emerges from his private bathroom. He looks shocked to see me. "Mrs. Sawyer, I wasn't expecting you."
"Of course you weren't. We haven't seen you in 6 months. What is going on?"
He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. About that time I see a woman who looks like me, emerging from the bathroom. "Oh.. OHHHHH! I'm so sorry. I can go."
"Not necessary. This is Angie."
I put my hand out to shake hers. "Pleasure to meet you Angie. I'm Anastasia Sawyer" She shakes my hand.
"Nice to meet you Anastasia. I was just leaving." I nod and she leaves the room and I raise my eyebrows at Christian.
"Is she a submissive? Or are you actually dating finally?"
"She is a submissive. I bent my rules a little and I meet her outside my home since I had my playroom dismantled.
"So is this why your Mother hasn't seen you in 6 months? I can understand cutting me off because of something like this but why her?"
He sighs. "because I'm ashamed Ana. I don't want anyone to know what I do in private."
I shake my head lightly. "okay. Since I'm here, are you Available for lunch?"
"Of course Mrs. Sawyer. Have a seat."
He calls Andrea to get us some lunch and then he comes and sits down beside me.
"Christian, I'm not your boss, obviously, but you shouldn't neglect the rest of the people in your life for something temporary."
He sighs and looks down. "It isn't your business Ana."
"Whoa! It is my business when my stepmother is sad because she hasn't heard from her son."
He sighs again. He looks into my eyes. "Ana, she wasn't a submissive. She is my nurse. I've been sick. She was here to draw blood." I know my brow is furrowed now.
He takes his jacket and shirt off and I know I am frowning at this point. He turns around and shows me his back. "You see the big mole?"
I eye it speculatively. "yes. Is it..?"
"Malignant Melanoma. It is early enough that they said I can beat it. I've been getting Chemo. You may notice my hair is thinning out." He runs his fingers through his hair and has a handful of hair.
I gasp. "Christian. Does your mom know?"
"No. No one but you knows now. And my doctors and nurses obviously. Even Taylor has been questioning me but I haven't told him. I drive myself to my treatments."
"You should tell your family. They would want to fight this with you Christian." I say with tears in my eyes as he puts his shirt back on.
"I don't want to worry them Ana. I want to be able to tell them I HAD cancer after I beat it. I don't want to tell them I have it and disrupt their lives."
"Christian…"
"No Ana. I trust you not to tell them. This isn't yours to share."
"Okay. I will be with you through this then. Is chemo all they're doing or are they going to remove it?"
"They are removing it when it shrinks a little with the help of the chemo."
I start crying. He wraps his arms around me. "I just took in my sisters but I can still be with you through this. You should take some time off work. You kind of look like shit. No offense."
He pulls back and smiles at me and shakes his head. "everyone will get suspicious if I take off work."
"You don't think losing hair and weight before their eyes isn't making them notice something is wrong?"
"Fair enough. I wear a hat in now so no one notices the hair."
"Take off work and I will help you through it. Okay?"
"Fine."
About that time, Andrea comes in with our lunch and sets it on the table in front of us. "Thank you Andrea." He says.
"Your welcome Mr. Grey."
She leaves the room and we eat our meal in relative silence. "did I tell you that Luke and I adopted my 13 year old sisters 6 months ago?"
He raises his eyebrows. "Wow. How's that going?"
"Great actually."
"Good. I'm glad you were able to take them in. Your kindness is admirable Ana. You're a great mother and I'm sure you are also a great sister."
"Thank you. Are you okay with me telling my husband what is going on and swearing him to secrecy? I need him to know why I will be spending time with you."
"Sure. I don't want to cause problems in your marriage."
"Thank you." Once we finish our meal I remind him to take off work and leave someone else in charge while we fight this.
He agrees and then I give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Notify me immediately when you find out about appointments and anything else and I will be there with you. Okay?"
"I will Ana. Thank you."
"Anytime." I leave and head back home. I didn't even ask if they found Leila.
When I get home, I check on all the kids and go to bed to take a nap and think about all this information that I just ran into.
I wake up to kisses on my face. "Wake up baby." I hear from my husband.
I open my eyes and smile at him. "Hi husband."
"What did you do today? You usually come see me for lunch."
"Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you that I went to Christian for lunch because I was trying to solve the mystery of why he hasn't been around in 6 months."
He raises his eyebrows at me. "What did you find out?"
I sit up and scoot over so he can sit next to me. "What I'm about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone. I just need to tell my husband what is going on. No one else is allowed to know."
"Okay. Your secret is safe with me."
"Christian has skin cancer. He has been fighting it alone for 6 months. I offered to go through it with him. Is that okay?"
"Oh baby." He wraps his arms around me. "I'm fine with that as long as he doesn't try anything with you."
"He is a damn mess Luke. He is losing his hair and losing weight. I made him take a leave from work."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No. He told me because I caught him coming out of the bathroom with a woman and he said she was a submissive and I got onto him for neglecting his own family for a sub. He finally broke down and told me she was actually his nurse."
"Wow. You really are an amazing woman Ana."
"Mmm… I try. I couldn't let him keep going through this alone. He informed me that it isn't my place to tell anyone but he relented to let me tell you so you don't think there is something going on if I spend so much time with him."
"I understand baby." He kisses me sweetly. "ready for dinner and then we can spend time with the kids?"
"Okay baby. I love you."
"I love you too Ana."
We eat dinner with our family and spend the rest of the day with our wonderful children, including my sisters.
After we put the kids to bed, we go to bed ourselves and my husband makes love to me and we drift off to sleep in each other's arms.