He inhaled in deeply and closed his eyes. "Claireissick."
"What?" Sophie looked at him with big eyes.
"Claire is sick." He said each word slowly like he wanted to persuade himself it was true.
"No, she is deadly sick."
Sophie looked at him with shocked eyes before her tears came and Charlie took her in his arms. He was whispering soft words in her ears and rocked like she used to do with the boys when they were sad. He understood her pain and some tears came to his eyes when he remembered the moment when he had got the phone call from Lorenzo. Charlie could hear the pain in his voice and the gravity of the situation. He had finished the call calmly, had looked at the frame on his desk where Claire and Lorenzo were smiling from a picture taken two years before. Charlie had searched in one of his drawers where he found the "emergency whisky" and swallowed an entire glass without thinking. He refused to take a second, thinking of his wife and boys at home. He would not want them to see him drunk and desperate.
Sophie calmed herself and dried off some tears with her hand.
"Charlie, what does she have?"
"Cancer. A tumour has formed in her brain and when they discovered it, it was too late for any operation. It is just to wait and…" His voice broke and he looked away. Sophie caressed his cheeks and lowered her lips to his. He reacted immediately and kissed her back, with extreme softness. The kiss was a message of sorrow, love and comfort. When they finally parted from each other, she put her forehead on his and looked him deep in the eyes.
"We are going to get through this. You can ask a few days off and we will return to Tuscany to be at her side. The boys need to see their great-grandma and you need to see your grandma."
"Yes, I will have no problem to liberate myself from work. The problem is what we will tell the boys. They must know the truth. They love her as much as I do."
"We'll found out. Come, let's walk. I want to be at home right now. What's the time?"
"Twelve o' clock. They finish in three hours. So we have time."
They walked fast to the apartment, eager to be home and prepare lunch. Well at home, Sophie warmed some soup and cut bread. They ate lunch in silence, both thinking the same thing. Claire's sickness. Claire with her strength and energy could not possibly be sick. They finished lunch quickly and Sophie went for a nap. Charlie washed the dishes and went into the bedroom. He found Sophie deep asleep. He took off his shoes and lied down next to her. She had her back turned at him. He rested one arm across her waist and buried his face in her hair. She mumbled something and took his hand and laid it under her cheek. With the assurance that he had put the alarm, he fell into sleep.
Sophie woke up from the beeping sound of the alarm. She looked at the radio on her night table and sighed of relief. It was one hour until the boys ended and she didn't have to hurry. She looked back at the sleeping mass that was her husband. When he was asleep, his boy features came back and she could recognize her sons in him. He must have been adorable as a boy and then she remembered his stubbornness and thought, okay maybe not always adorable. She fell back in the cushions and rested her head a few inches from his. She travelled her hand in his hair, the thickness and the curliness of his blond hair that her sons had inherited; the strong jaw line and the tasty lips. She woke him up with a kiss. He opened his eyes and looked at her. A tired smile grew on his lips and caressed her cheek.
"Hello sweetheart. Could you sleep?"
"Yes, it was wonderful. I really needed it," replied Sophie. "We need to pick up the boys. We left the car at the parking space. Let's go now and buy something to them. I really feel the need to give them something. It is the first day at school after all. I only got an orange when I came back to school because my mother didn't want me to get wrong ideas by giving me candy. That was what my mother told me. But of course, I got chocolate from my father when I was going to bed. "Our little secret" said he. "What did you got?"
"My mother had prepared my favourite dessert in the all wide world: blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. All home made of course. I was the luckiest boy in the world, thought I then. My mother was expert at baking, she could cook as well but she didn't like it. That was my father's area. At that occasion, he had made coca cola chicken with roasted potatoes, also my favourite dish."
Charlie sighed happily and licked his lips, like he tasted the food right now. This grew an idea in Sophie and she smiled inwards, aware of the big surprise that awaited her "guys".