After telling Mary Ann the news, Ginger knew that there was no putting it off any longer. It was time to tell Igor of the cancer diagnosis. What would he do? Several of her friends had been deserted by their husbands after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Would things be different with Igor?

She went into the living room, where her husband sat on the sofa chatting with the family's maid, Claudia. He became alarmed at the sight of her pale face. Claudia, sensing that the couple wanted a moment alone, quietly excused herself.

"It's cancer," Ginger sobbed. Unable to hold the tears in any longer, she felt them course down her cheeks as her chest heaved with sobs.

"Darling!" Igor went to her and held her as she wept. When she could cry no more, he picked her up and carried her to the sofa and sat down. Tenderly he swept her damp red locks back from her face. "Surely there is something they can do?"

"They're...they're going to take my uterus out, Igor. I won't really be a woman anymore."

"But of course you will be! Why will you not?"

"Why, without my uterus, I'll be barren! A barren woman isn't a real woman!"

"That is not true, Ginger. You know that I have vasectomy many years ago. Do you think that I am not real man because of that?"

"Of course not, but that's different! You didn't have to have the vasectomy because of cancer!"

"It does not matter, sweetheart. They have to do surgery to save your life. I would much rather see you have surgery and live than not have it and die."

"I'm s-scared, Igor." Her bottom lip had begun to quiver again.

"I know you are, Ginger. But everything is going to be all right." Tenderly he began to place kisses all over her face, and she felt the fear slowly start to dissipate.

"So what's it like to have a movie star for a mother?" asked Audrey's roommate, Cheryl.

"All right, I guess. I never really thought much about it." To Audrey, her mother's profession had always simply been what she did for a living, nothing more.

Cheryl's eyes went wide. "What was it like growing up on that island with only seven other people who were all adults?" That was what she was really curious about.

Audrey shrugged. "To me it just seemed normal at the time. The first time I met someone my own age after we'd been rescued was really special. That was something I'd always wanted, to meet another kid like myself."

"And what was it like to meet your father for the first time?"

"That was even more special. I'd never even seen a picture of him before, so I didn't really know what he looked like, but my Mom had always told me that he had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes like me, so when I finally met him and saw that it was true, I was really happy. It was like a great mystery from my past had been solved."

Just then the telephone rang. Audrey grabbed the receiver. "Oh, hi, Dad!" she exclaimed when she heard her father's voice.

"Audrey, you must come home as soon as you can," Igor told his daughter. "Your mother have cancer and need operation soon."

"Oh, no!" Audrey felt all the blood drain from her face. "Is she there? Can I speak to her?"

"She is resting. I will get her." A few minutes later, Ginger greeted her daughter.

"Mom! Are you all right? I'm so worried about you!"

"I have uterine cancer, Audrey. They're going to do a hysterectomy."

Ginger sounded so sad that Audrey became even more worried about her. "I'm so sorry, Mom. Do they think that will take care of it, or are you gonna have to have chemotherapy too?"

"They think that they can get all of it, and I won't have to have chemotherapy or radiation."

"Thank goodness for that! At least you'll get to keep your hair. I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, sweetie."

"That was my Dad," Audrey told Cheryl. "I have to go back home. My Mom has cancer."

Audrey was back home within hours. Igor met her on the front porch.

"Dad!" She ran to him, and they embraced tightly. "How is she?"

"She is all right for now. She is resting." Audrey could tell that her father was near tears. Silently she followed him into the house, where she saw that her mother was reclining on the sofa.

"Mom!" she cried, rushing to hug Ginger.

"Hello, sweetheart. I'm so glad you're here." Mother and daughter shared a tearful embrace. Igor watched from the doorway with tears in his eyes.