Niles set the tray with the pitcher of water down on the coffee table, and then began going around pouring it for everyone. Val and the girls sat on the edge of their seats on the couch, Brighton sank back on one end with his elbow resting on the arm. Sylvia sat on the far end chair with her purse in her lap and concerned look on her face. Normally chatty, she couldn't seem to find any words even for small talk.
Max peeked around the corner to see that they were all sitting, and then gently led Fran out into the room. They walked slowly over to the chair they would sit at and everyone turned to look at them, then sheepishly looked away to not scare Fran, but then glanced back at her again. Fran attempted a smile.
"It's okay, you guys, you aren't going to scare me off." Max smiled at her, then they stepped in front of the chair. Max sat down and then helped Fran squeeze in next to him. He sat the bag beside the chair and Fran took a deep breath and exhaled. Niles sat a glass of water on a coaster on the table between Fran and Sylvia, and then sat another one on the end table next to Max.
"Thank you Niles," Max said softly.
"Yes, thank you, Niles. For everything," she smiled at him and he smiled back, then he sat down in his own chair. Grace clutched Maggie's hand and they both watched Fran, nervously. Fran cleared her throat. "First, I need to apologize to you girls for bailing out on you this weekend. I guess you could say I hit a rough patch, and well-" she looked at Max, "Well, when your daddy sent Val over to check on me, I guess it just really dawned on me that I needed to come home. And I didn't want to mess up your night away."
"It's okay, Fran," the girls said in unison. Brighton looked a little confused, he had been left out of the loop about this part of the story.
"I also want to thank all of you for being so patient and kind for a good while now. I know I haven't been myself, and you guys haven't pried. And I guess I did everything I could to keep anyone from asking questions." She paused a moment to look at each person and acknowledge them. "But most of all, I need to thank your father," she looked into Max's eyes and grasped his hand. He put a hand around her waist. She whispered to him, "Can I tell them?" He nodded, smiling. "Well, the best part of all this is that your father and I are together now," she paused for dramatic affect to let it sink in. There were happy gasps around the room, except for Niles who already knew. "Um, he also surprised me yesterday with this ring- Val, you'll know what it is, and Maggie, you probably do, too." Fran reached out her hand and everyone leaned over to look at it. Val and Maggie gasped, and Val clutched her chest.
"Oh, Fran! Mr. Sheffield!"
"Did you see which way it's turned?" Maggie and Val looked at each other.
"Oh, daddy! That's so wonderful!"
"Oh!" Val exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you two!"
"What is it, what is it?!" Sylvia squealed, reaching for Fran's hand.
"Ma, it's called a claddagh ring. It's a sort of an Irish Catholic tradition, the direction it's turned tells a potential suitor whether or not the woman is available to be courted," Sylvia looked confused. "The point of the heart is pointing towards my heart. That means I'm not available, because my heart is already spoken for. By Max." She smiled, looking lovingly at the ring. Now Sylvia clutched her chest.
"Oh! Such wonderful news! My baby's not single anymore!" Everyone laughed, toning down the overall level of tension that was previously in the room.
"Max surprised me with it yesterday. And this morning we went on our first date. It was wonderful!" More ohs and how wonderful's and that's awesome's and then things quieted again. "Well, the place he got it at was this wonderful store we found yesterday when we went for a walk. You all really need to go there sometime to see it, I just don't think we could do it justice trying to tell you everything we saw there. It's a jewelry store, but not your typical jewelry store. Well, we ended up picking out gifts for you all as a way of saying thank you for being patient and helpful, and to let you all know how important you are to us. To me. Max, can you get the bag?"
"Yes, darling," he reached for the bag beside him and set it on his lap. Fran began taking out the boxes and started handing them out, starting with Niles and ending with her mother.
"Ma, there's one in there for daddy and Grandma Yetta, too. I was hoping that you could give them to them personally."
"Of course, sweetheart, of course."
"Well- go ahead. You can open them now." They all looked at each other, then down at their gifts and opened them. More open-mouthed gasps. "Niles, Max picked that out for you, now you have your own nice watch that looks nothing like any of his," she teased.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" He smiled.
"And Niles," Max said. "It's a limited edition, so it may have a lot higher value in the future. And it says it's scratch resistant, so you should be able to wear it every day if you want, without worrying that you might damage it."
"Oh, you two! It's perfect! I love it! Thank you so much!"
Brighton's mouth hung open, looking at the watch he was given. He looked up at Fran and his father.
"B- your dad picked that one for you. It's your first real watch. So don't wear it to bed, or to gym class or anything. Take care of it so it will last you forever." They watched him slowly take it out of the box and put it on.
"I've never seen a watch like this! It's so cool!"
"It's self-winding, also limited edition. So you should probably only wear it when you are wearing a shirt that has buttons down the front, all right?" Max said.
"Yes, sir!" Brighton held it to his ear to listen to the tick tick, then stretched his arm out in front of him to get a look at it from a distance. "Thank you guys so much, I really love it," he looked at his father, smiling at him, then at Fran, who looked like she was about to gush over him. He gave her a thankful look, and then looked down at the papers in the box from the watch.
"Maggie, Gracie, I picked yours both out for you. Maggie, I decided on a bracelet for you because you have more necklaces and earrings and rings. I'd never seen a bracelet like that before, and it looked like some of your favorite colors. There are semi-precious stones in it, but if you look at it- there's also a diamond in there, too." Maggie turned the bracelet around on her wrist and found the diamond. She held her wrist out and admired her new piece of jewelry.
"Thank you so much Fran! And Daddy! It's beautiful! I love it! And I promise I won't wear it to bed or to gym class," they all giggled.
Grace opened her box. "Oh!" She squealed. "Maggie, look!" She held the box towards Maggie.
"Oh Gracie! That's so pretty! Do you want me to put it on you?"
"Yes!" Maggie reached over to take out the necklace and carefully placed it around Gracie's neck, fastening it in back. Gracie reached for the necklace and held it in front of her face to see it up close. "It's a hummingbird! I love hummingbirds! Oh, Fran it's so pretty! Thank you! And thank you too, daddy!"
"You're welcome, Gracie," they said in unison.
"Gracie, you know what?" Fran asked.
Grace looked up from the necklace. "What?"
"That's your first grown-up piece of jewelry. It's adjustable so you can make it longer as you get bigger. And it's made by an artist. It's called an 'art glass' piece, and the eye of the hummingbird is a diamond. So make sure you take good care of it too, just like your brother and sister. Make sure it doesn't get tangled up. Things like that." Fran smiled at her.
"Gracie, I have an old box from one of my necklaces- it's lined with velvet. You can have it if you want, since I have a big jewelry box to keep my things in. It will keep it safe so it doesn't get tangled up on anything when you aren't wearing it," Maggie said.
"You do? Oh, yes, please! I don't want to mess it up."
"That's very nice of you, Maggie," Max said. "Gracie, maybe for your next birthday we can start looking for a real jewelry box for you. Something you can keep all your things in like Maggie." Grace smiled and nodded her head.
"Okay," she looked back over her new necklace and smiled from ear to ear. Fran looked at Max and they smiled at each other.
"Val, Ma, I picked out sets for you, so you have pieces that match if you go out somewhere nice. I hope you like them," Val and Sylvia took their cue and opened their boxes simultaneously, then they both clutched their chests and oh!ed in unison. They both got art glass necklaces with matching earrings.
"Oh Fran! Mr. Sheffield! They're gorgeous!" Val said, running her fingers over the pieces. "Oh, Sylvia, now I have to go back to Loehman's to see if they have something that matches these colors! Look!" She showed Sylvia her new jewelry.
"Oh Val! That's beautiful! And Val, do you remember the outfit I picked up yesterday at Loehman's when were there? Do you remember the colors?"
"Yeah, it was gorgeous on you!"
"Look! Just look!" She turned her box of jewelry towards Val so she could see.
"Oh…my…god! I'm droppin' dead!" Val exclaimed. She looked over at Fran, wide-eyed. "Fran! There's no way you could have known! Those match the outfit your mother just bought yesterday! My god, what are the odds!"
Fran and Max both turned towards Sylvia, who was nodding her head up and down, with a hand on the side of her face.
"We kid you not! This is so perfect and so beautiful, Fran! I love it! Oh, I'm gonna put it on with that outfit tonight and make your father take a picture of me!"
Fran and Max chuckled and smiled at everyone, all grinning to themselves and admiring their gifts.
"Ma, it's okay if you look at Yetta's and daddy's. See if you think they will like them. Here, why don't you put all of that in this bag so you can get it home safely." Sylvia took the bag and opened the other two boxes to peek at the contents. Another art glass set of earrings and a necklace for Yetta. A pocket watch for Morty. "Max picked out daddy's. Do you think he will like it?"
"Oh! Frannie! Mr. Sheffield! How did you know he's always wanted a pocket watch? It's so lovely! Frannie, do you remember the one daddy had when you were little? It was his grandfather's. He only wore it to fancy occasions. But it quit working and was going to cost too much to get fixed, and he never wanted to leave it someplace to try to get it fixed. Oh! Now he has his own! It's perfect, you two! Thank you! And thank you for Yetta, too. She'll be showing this off at the home every day, just you watch!" Sylvia clutched the bag to her chest and reached for Fran's hand, squeezing it. Everyone took gulps of their water to stop themselves from getting choked up.
"Oh, there's one other thing," Max said, looking at Fran.
"One other- did I forget something?" Fran looked worried.
"No darling." He reached into his jacket pocket behind Fran and pulled out the box he stashed there earlier, then brought it around her waist to hand it to her. "I got something for Fran as well," he smiled. Everyone looked over to see what it was.
Fran swatted him on the shoulder. "Max, did you sneak something else past me yesterday?! How do you do that! What did you get?" She took the box, then caressed his cheek before she opened it. The second she saw what was inside, she started to feel the tears come. "Maxwell Sheffield, you little so-and-so…" she whispered. Everyone leaned over in their seats to try to see what it was.
It was a charm bracelet. Attached to it were separate charms, each representing one of the children, Max and Fran herself, and even Val, Niles, and Sylvia and Morty. Fran took it out of the box and went through each charm, one at a time, easily guessing who it represented. There were diamonds scattered throughout it and the whole thing sparkled. Max helped her put it on. "I love it, Max," she gave him a kiss. The kids elbowed each other, the other adults clutched their chests- happy to see the two lovebirds.
"What is it, Fran?" Gracie piped up.
Fran held out her wrist. "It's a charm bracelet, with charms representing everybody. This is one of the things I was looking at at the jewelry store, but I didn't say anything because we were looking for gifts for you all. Maggie, you've got to go there and look at all the things they have like this! You'll spend all day there!"
"Okay!" Maggie agreed.
Max wrapped both his arms around Fran's waist and kissed the back of her shoulder. Niles reached for the box of tissues and set it in Fran's reach.
"Thank you Niles, I'm getting close, huh?" Fran swiped a knuckle across the corner of her eye to stop the tears from kicking in.
Everyone shifted around in their seats to get comfortable again and try to come down off the gift-high.
Fran reached for her glass of water and took a sip, so Max reached for his as well.
"But, all this isn't what we've gotten all of you here for. Even though that's the best part," she squeezed Max's hand again, took another deep breath. "So, what I wanted to say- needed to say- to all of you, is that I know I haven't been my usual self for quite a while now. I know you've probably thought I was acting weird," the children glanced back and forth at each other. They did. Fran unrolled the bundle of papers just enough to peek at some of what she had written on the yellow legal paper, then rolled it back up. "Um," Max stroked the side of her hand with his thumb. "So, a couple of months ago or so, I guess, I started feeling a little off once in a while." Max took another sip of water, which made Fran take another sip from hers, which seemed to subconsciously make everyone else need one, too. Fran continued.
"I was getting tired a lot more than usual, but it would go away. Then it would come back, go away. Then I was kind of losing my appetite sometimes. Then off and on I started getting this weird feeling in my side…" Maggie, Brighton, and Niles noticeably clenched their bodies and gulped. They couldn't move.
"It was sometimes like a pulling feeling, sometimes I would get a little pain, but then it would go away. I thought maybe I needed to change my diet some, you know- avoid certain foods. I mean I'm not getting any younger, sometimes you can't eat the way you did when you were a kid…" Maggie, Brighton and Niles took a breath and relaxed momentarily, but Sylvia scooted up to the edge of her chair.
"So all of that was kind of on and off for maybe a month, then started to get stronger. So, like a few weeks back…" Fran paused. "Like a few weeks back, I got this fever in the middle of the night." Everyone now had a concerned look on their faces, except for Max, who stared through the coffee table as he listened to her words tell the story again.
"I thought I was maybe getting a virus or a cold or something, even though I didn't really feel like it. I was already making up excuses by this point, mostly to Niles about not eating here because supposedly I ate too much somewhere else and wasn't so hungry." She glanced over at Niles, who looked a bit shocked. "Let's just say, I hadn't eaten too much somewhere else. Even if I had, I would have still eaten here. So, anyway, I didn't have anything to take for the fever, so I had to sneak down in the middle of the night to the kitchen and see if Niles had anything stashed in the cabinets.
"But then, it went away and didn't come back for a few days. But then it did come back. I had to sneak down again to get something in the kitchen. So the next day I just went out and got my own medicine. I was afraid one of you would find out and would worry. I know I usually complain a lot if I'm not feeling well, but for whatever reason, I didn't want to make a big deal out of this. I didn't tell anyone. I just made up excuses. I'd have a hard time sleeping at night because of a fever, then I would say I had to go to my parents' to help with daddy because Ma was helping the neighbor lady so much. But I went over there to sleep. Sure I'd make sure daddy had lunch, but he could do that himself if he had to. But I'd sleep in my old room if I could, then I'd come back here and sneak in. I'd act like I was fine for you kids, try to make sure you were getting your homework done. But I'd avoid Max, and sometimes Niles, too. I was sure they would figure things out if I was around them too long.
"So, then I had gotten the fever maybe five or six times, sometimes with a stomach ache, mostly at night, but one time during the day. That was so hard to not let anyone find out about. Then one night it was bad and wouldn't go away, and I couldn't sleep. Maggie, that was the time I asked you to cover for me. Maybe a week and a half ago. Remember?" Maggie nodded. "So that morning, your father had left the house early for a meeting or something, so when you all left for school, I snuck out before Niles could come check on me and went-" Fran paused again. "I walked down the street to get a cab and went to the emergency room. I was feeling pretty awful. My pain was on the right side, so all I could think of was that time your father had appendicitis. I didn't want to be stupid and risk something bad happening. But then I was still thinking it was probably going to be nothing. Maybe I'd have to go to a GI doctor and go on a diet.
"Well, I got to the hospital and told them how I felt, that I thought it was appendicitis. They checked my temperature, I still had a fever, and I told them where the pain was. And it turned out I was dehydrated too so they admitted me, drew some blood, and put in an IV to give me fluids.
"You didn't call anyone?" Maggie almost whispered.
"No. And I'm very sorry I didn't. I don't know why I didn't tell anyone. I just felt- weird. Really weird. I can't explain it. Sort of like I was underwater. So I was there on the bed, with the IV, and all I wanted to do was sleep. The fluids helped a little, but they wouldn't give me anything for the pain and fever until they figured out what was going on. A nurse came in with a wheelchair, and took me and my IV over to get an ultrasound done. The ultrasound technician guy had to help me on the bed. Then the nurse brought me back. Then they had me put on a hospital gown so they could stick the monitor things all over me, monitor my temperature and blood pressure and all that. I still had a fever. I just wanted to sleep, but all the beeping, and the noises from all the other patients. I just wanted all the discomfort to stop." Fran took another sip of water and looked back at her notes.
"So, after a while, a nurse came in and gave me something for the fever and pain and said the doctor just had to consult with the radiologist and then he would be in to talk to me. I don't really know how long it took for the doctor to come in, but it felt like forever. So he finally comes in, and he brings this stool with wheels on it and sits down and rolls over to me, looking kind of serious. He had me shift the bed to sit me up more, I think to make sure I was fully awake and paying attention.
The children glanced at each other, and at the other adults. Fran waved the papers in her hand.
"I have all the papers they gave me here." She cleared her throat. "First, the doctor talked about the bloodwork. There are several things on there that the lab flagged, that were out of range. The doctor said I was right to come in to the hospital and not take chances, that just from the bloodwork they could see there was a reason for my fevers, that it was obvious I was fighting something. But then he said, he said it wasn't my appendix. He said the ultrasound made sure of that. So I asked what it was, what was causing those feelings I was having in my insides, and the pain and fatigue. He said he consulted with the radiologist, and he went back and looked at the ultrasound images." She cleared her throat again, took a sip of water. Max didn't realize he was clenching his hands tighter.
"Um, I guess I'll get right to the point. The ultrasound showed that I have a mass- a tumor, they're calling it- in my abdomen on the right side, It doesn't appear to be inside any organs or anything, it looks like it's outside of my intestines, but however it's attached to things, that's why I'm feeling the weird feeling, and sometimes the pain. It may be pulling on things. There is a small chance at some point it could affect how things pass through my intestines, which may be why I would lose my appetite. Not eating, and the bloodwork, that would make me fatigued. Right now it's getting close to the size of a golf ball. They don't know what kind of tumor it could be, but with my symptoms and from what they saw on the ultrasound, they are fairly certain it's a kind that can grow really fast. If I wait too long to do something about it, it could invade other tissues. But right now, it seems to be self contained, which is good. But I am probably facing surgery. They scheduled a surgical consultation tomorrow, Max is going with me. I have to have more tests done, and an MRI. Then once they have all of that, we go talk to the doctors. They'll tell us more then."
The entire room was silent, no one knowing what to say or do. Everyone was letting her words slowly sink in. No one looked at anyone else. They all stared off vacantly. Until Brighton spoke up.
"Can't they do a biopsy?" He almost whispered.
Fran shook her head. "Since they don't know right now if it could be cancer, they can't risk potentially spreading cancer cells through my abdomen, even with a really fine needle there's still a chance that could happen. My immune system has apparently been going to town on it, sort of trying to wall it off from everything else, to protect me. It's completely encapsulated as far as they can tell, and they want to keep it that way. But-" she stopped herself, had to consider her words. She looked at Max, then back at Brighton.
"The reason we have to deal with all this right away, this tumor- if it keeps growing, and growing fast, it can possibly- rupture. Rupture through that wall. Obviously, we don't want that happening." Gracie started crying, and pressed her face up against Maggie's arm. Maggie put an arm around her and Val rubbed her back gently, trying to comfort her.
"Aw, Gracie, angel, come here…" Fran held her arms out for Grace, and Grace got up from the couch, covering her face, and hurried over to Fran. Fran clutched her tightly and kissed her on the forehead. Max did too.
"Sweetheart," Max said, "Everything will be okay, everything will be okay. We will just have a lot to deal with very quickly, and there are a lot of things we just can't know right now. This appointment tomorrow should tell us a lot more, and then we can start making plans. Alright, sweetie?" Max stroked Gracie's hair.
"It's not fair!" Gracie cried.
"Come here, sweetie, on my lap. Max-" Max helped Fran lift Gracie to let her sit on Fran's lap. Fran cradled her in her arms to settle her down. Brighton started to bite one of his fingernails.
"Is it okay if I look at the papers?" Brighton asked. Fran nodded to Max, and Max took the yellow legal papers Fran had written on out of the stack of papers, then handed the hospital papers over to Brighton.
"We need to take those with us tomorrow, though, so make sure we get them back tonight, alright?" Max said to him.
"Sure." Brighton took the papers and sat back on the couch to read them. Maggie leaned over slightly to read through them as well.
Sylvia was crying silently. Tears ran down her cheeks. Val got up from the couch and went to her, taking her hand.
"Sylvia, it's gonna be okay. Fran's gonna be okay, you gotta believe that!"
"Oh, Ma!" Fran said, seeing her mother in tears."
"Gracie, darling, come to me a minute. Let Fran go to Sylvia." Grace got off of Fran's lap, wiping her eyes and looking over at Sylvia. Max took Grace and sat her on his own lap to try to comfort her. Fran got up and went to her mother, making her stand so she could hug her.
"Ma, come here. It's okay!" Sylvia hugged Fran hard, then got nervous she would hurt her.
"Oh, Frannie, I'm sorry!" She said, looking down at Fran's abdomen.
"Ma, I'm fine, you can hug me. You won't hurt me. I've been feeling okay this weekend. I just had a rough night Friday night, but Max took care of me. And I have a prescription, too, that helps a lot with the fevers and pain. But I'm okay right now. I just can't take the prescription today, it might interfere with the tests they have to do tomorrow. But I feel okay right now." She calmed Sylvia down enough to get her to sit back down in the chair. Then she looked over at Niles who looked like he might be about to do the same thing. She walked over to him. "Aw, Niles!" She made Niles get up and hug her too. His shoulders slumped over in sadness.
"So all of that is why-" He couldn't finish his sentence.
"Yeah. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, I get it. It makes perfect sense. You were trying to protect us."
"Aw," Fran hugged him again. "I just froze I guess. I couldn't figure out what was the right thing to do. But I'm really glad Max took over. It made all the difference." They both looked over at Max, still cuddling Grace. He smiled up at Fran.
"Can I ask something else?" Brighton said.
"Sure, B, what is it?"
"What in the world happened Friday? Remember, I've been gone all weekend. I wasn't with Maggie and Grace."
"Oh! Poor B! Well-" Fran turned to go back to sit in the chair with Max, and Max gestured for Gracie to go sit with Val on the couch. Val put an arm around her to reassure her some more. "So," Fran tried to gather her thoughts, "So, I guess I had this impending stress that was building up about this appointment tomorrow, and trying to keep up the charade that everything was fine with me. I forgot to mention that the doctor had told me that he wanted me to bring someone to the appointment tomorrow, especially since I hadn't brought anyone to the trip to the emergency room, and since I didn't call anyone then. I guess that's a big deal- if somebody's facing something serious, they don't want them dealing with it alone.
"So I'm having all this stress, not eating, not doing well at all. And then, B, you tell me that Tommy invited you over for the weekend. It was sort of like, okay, I can send one kid away and not feel so guilty about it. But how do I reduce the number of people I have to feel guilty about? So then I figured, maybe I can take the girls somewhere, that way I can avoid Niles and Max. No offense," she turned to look at them apologetically. Max gave her a squeeze. "So I called Ma to set up a sleepover, and then after school I asked the girls if they would be up for that. They said yes, so we all packed, I just mentioned it to Niles right before we ran out the door. You went to Tommy's right after school, so I didn't have to worry about that.
"The girls and I went out to a restaurant, but I couldn't eat much. I told them I pigged out on a pizza at lunch so I was making myself take it easy at dinner. I don't know if they bought it. But we get to my mother's, and I was already having a hard time trying to keep a smile on my face. A really hard time. So I got the girls to get ready for bed and I put on a movie in my old room. I told them I was going to go visit Ma for a bit and I'd be right back. But I spent some time sitting in the bathroom. I was trying not to start crying. Really trying. I heard Ma go in their bedroom and figured she was going to bed, so I tiptoed to the kitchen and sat in there a while. I got some water. I tried to figure out what in the world I was going to do, even just worrying that one of the girls was going to come look for me.
"Then I hear this knocking, really quiet. And I realize it's coming from the front door. I went over to see who it was, and I see Val there through the peephole, crouched up like she was cold. She'd just knock a little and would stop. I was worried something was wrong with her, and was pretty sure she didn't know I was there that night. So I opened the door and let her in. And she tells me that Max had called her. That he was really worried about what was going on with me. And Niles was worried. And that she thought maybe I was mad at her or something, but of course I wasn't. She said to tell her what was going, on, but I couldn't. She was really trying to get it out of me. I wasn't sure if the girls could hear what was going on. Then Ma came out, and she wanted to know what was going on. She didn't know about all the stuff before, since she had been gone helping the neighbor. So I just clammed up. I got really panicky. I didn't want to tell anyone else before I told your father. I mean, for him to find all this out from someone else, I just couldn't do that. And he was the one I wanted to come with me to the appointment, so I was going to have to tell him pretty quick. When Val said she would call him and tell him to come get me, that she and Ma could take care of the girls- I just said okay. Okay.
"So she called him. And he came and got me and took me home. He didn't push, just said he was there for me and he wasn't going anywhere, and if I was ready to talk, he would listen. So I started to talk. It was incredibly hard. I had to show him the papers, because I couldn't say what the doctor told me. I just had him read it, then we talked about it. He stayed with me. But then later that night, I did end up getting a fever again. Max got to see what that was like. He got me cold water to drink, and a cold compress. Took my temperature. He got me my pills so I could take one and get my fever to come down. He stayed up with me until I fell back to sleep." She smiled at Max and put her arm over his shoulders.
"You stayed in Daddy's room?" Gracie suddenly said.
"Yes," Fran said to her.
"Yes, and about that-" Max interrupted. "Since Fran and I are together now, and all of this is going on, too, I need you children to know that there are a lot of things that will be different here. Part of that is that Fran will be staying with me at night. I love her and I don't want to be away from her anymore. Especially now. It's hard for me to even let go of her, because I want to look after her. So that bedroom is now our room, and we'll be moving her things in there a bit at a time. There will be a lot of rearranging going on. If anyone is having difficulty with Fran and I staying together, well, we can talk about it. Even go to a therapist if necessary. But I'm not going to be away from her at night. And she might have to beat me off with a stick during the day, because I'm going to be clingy for a while."
Fran grinned at him. "Yeah, me too." Then she looked at the kids. "And I need you kids to know, and everyone else, that I love your father more than anything, and I don't want to be away from him either. He's helped me so much. We aren't going to play the cat and mouse thing anymore and run from our feelings. Sometimes the universe has a way of making people deal with their stuff. Life is short, and if you love somebody, that's a good thing. Don't run from it. If the feelings are mutual, well, then, make a move." Everyone in the room smiled. Gracie wiped away what was left of her tears.
"Daddy? You love Fran?" She asked.
"I do. Very much," He hugged Fran and they smiled at each other.
"Fran? You love Daddy?"
"I do, Gracie. I love him more than anything. He's my best friend." Grace was smiling very big.
"Then that's good. You should be together. Because we love you too." Brighton and Maggie looked at each other, smiling.
"What about you two? Maggie? B?"
"We do love you Fran," Maggie said. "We've always thought you guys should be together. Everybody knows how much you guys like each other." Maggie smiled.
"Yeah, we were about to kick Dad's butt if he didn't make a move soon. A real move." Now Brighton was smiling. "We'll all take care of you Fran, whatever needs to be done around here, we can do it. Just get better, okay? Fast."
Fran got tears in her eyes. "Oh, B, you have no idea how much you're like your father! A couple of big softies!" She shook Max a little. Fran glanced back over at Sylvia to make sure she was alright. She still had tears in her eyes, but now they were happy tears. Ecstatic tears. She was so happy for Fran.
"Well," Max said, "You can see why we had such an intense weekend. This was the next big thing Fran needed to get through. That we all needed to get through. If anyone has any questions at any time, please ask. And Fran and I made promises to each other that we'd never hold back again. If things aren't okay, we won't pretend that they are. We'll talk about what's bothering us, no matter what it is. I want you children to do the same thing. If we don't know how to handle it, we'll get counseling. Okay?" The children nodded. "And that goes for you others, too," Max looked at Sylvia, Val and Niles.
"Yeah, Ma, that goes for Daddy, too. And even Yetta, but I think she'll handle things better than daddy. Daddy keeps too much in, so if this is really hard on him, we have to find a way to get him to deal with it. If he doesn't want to talk, maybe we just talk to him. Whatever we have to do to help each other, okay?" Sylvia nodded.
"I'll talk to him tonight, a little bit at a time. I'll try to get him to come see you. Will that be okay?"
"Yes, of course. Maybe if he won't, then I'll go over there and make him see me." Fran looked tough. Sylvia chuckled.
"At least you know if there's a game on TV, you know exactly where he'll be."
Everyone reached for their water again, and Niles poured some more out for everyone until the pitcher was empty.
"I'll go refill this. Is there anything I can get for anyone? We talked about ordering food if anyone happens to get hungry. If not now, then later. Just let me know and I'll take care of it."
"I'm sure I will be after I calm down from all this. Do you happen to have any Tums?" Sylvia asked. Niles chuckled and pointed to Max. Max pulled the roll of Tums out of his pocket and handed it to Sylvia.
"Aw, my poor baby!" Fran took Max's face in her hands and kissed him.
"Is it okay if I grab one of those too? My stomach's a bit-" Brighton said.
"Like you're Dad's?" Fran asked.
"I guess so…" Brighton said bashfully.
"Here, Brighton, catch!" Sylvia tossed the roll of Tums to him and he took one out and popped it into his mouth.
Fran wrapped her arms around Max's neck and admired her bracelet. She rested her head on his shoulder and he cuddled her, letting her rest. It felt like all of this had taken a bit of a toll on her. Niles went to the kitchen to refill the pitcher.
"If you want, you children can take your things upstairs and unpack. Make sure you're ready for school tomorrow. We have to be up pretty early for the appointment, so we'll need you to get yourselves up and be ready to leave for school on time, alright? Don't put too much on Niles, try to help him out as much as you can, like with cleaning up after yourselves."
"We will," Maggie said. "Grace, let's take our things upstairs, and I'll get you that box to keep your new necklace in." Grace suddenly remembered her necklace and put her hand over the hummingbird, and smiled. She walked back over to Fran.
"Thank you for my necklace," she hugged Fran gently, and then her father, and then ran upstairs after Maggie.
Brighton set the hospital papers down on the coffee table. "Dad, I want to write down some of this stuff so I can look it up on the internet, is that okay? I mean, just so I can understand it better." Max and Fran looked at each other and she nodded her head.
"That might help us, too." She said to Max.
"Okay, go ahead. As long as we remember to take those papers with us tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll be back in a little bit." Brighton ran to grab his bag and ran up the stairs to put everything away.
Niles came back from the kitchen with the pitcher of water and set it on the table, then sat down in his chair.
Max squeezed Fran again, who was still resting her head on his shoulder.
"Do any of you have any questions about all this?" Max asked Sylvia, Val and Niles. The three looked back and forth at each other.
Val spoke up. "Will you keep us posted on what they tell you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely," Fran said. "I'm not gonna hide anything from anyone."
"Where exactly is the- the tumor?" Sylvia asked. Fran placed a hand over where it was, then pointed to the area where she was pretty sure it was.
"It's a bit deeper in, kind of hard to feel. If I lie down I can kind of find it, but it's still hard to feel."
"Does it hurt if you press on it?" Niles asked.
"No- I think the pain comes from that pulling thing, like maybe when I'm digesting something, it adds to the pressure, like maybe a nerve gets pinched or something. That's why I have to be careful what I eat. Softer foods, that kind of thing. The doctor mentioned some things to avoid, like not having much in the way of baked things like breads, or even pasta. And Niles got me some nutrition shakes, which I think has been helping."
Everyone got quiet again, until Brighton came bounding down the stairs with a notebook and pencil in hand. He picked up the hospital papers and sat next to Val on the couch.
"Oh, you guys," Brighton said to Fran and his father. "Make sure you get copies of everything, not just like this stuff with lab work and radiology reports, but you can get them to make a copy of all the imaging onto a CD. Like the ultrasound she had- see if you can get a copy of that. You might have to go to the records department, unless you can tell them tomorrow that you want it, with copies of whatever else they do tomorrow. Oh yeah, dad did you know that Tommy's dad is a surgeon? I've seen him use his computer at home to look at images to prepare for a surgery he has to do. I was thinking maybe I can talk to him and see if I can get a copy of that software he uses. Maybe if we can do that, you guys can look at the images, see what the doctors are looking at. Even if they show you at the appointment what it looks like, you might want to go through it again at home. Or be able to show other people. I mean, if you're okay with that, Fran?"
"So, you think we might be able to get software to look at the images? That might be worthwhile. I mean, if we need to buy it or something, I don't want to be making illegal copies of software or anything- I don't want anyone getting in trouble. What do you think, Max?"
Max thought a moment. "Well, if you can talk to his father about it. Find out what software it is and if it will work on your computer. If we're able to buy a copy somewhere. I guess as long as we don't get too obsessed. And with all consideration for Fran's privacy as well," Max told him.
"Yeah, okay- I'll call Tommy later and see if his dad's still home and get the details," Brighton was biting on a fingernail again, thinking everything through that he wanted to do. He looked back at the hospital papers and started writing down different bits of info as fast as he could.
"Oh, you guys- if you can keep this information under wraps until we find out more. If we get some more certainty tomorrow, and some kind of a plan. I don't want to worry anyone else, since we don't have specifics on what kind of tumor it is. But after tomorrow, if it comes up in conversation- it might be necessary to tell other people something so they understand if we have to cancel plans or make new ones, you know?"
"Absolutely," they all chimed in. They got quiet again. They were still processing everything, but feeling a little better. The only sound was the scratching of Brighton's pencil and the sound of him flipping papers.
"How are you feeling?" Max whispered to Fran. She thought a moment.
"Better, I mean, not teeming with anxiety anymore. I guess a little drained. But happy. Happy that I got it all out. Happy that we're all here, back home." She smiled at Max. He caressed her face.
"I think maybe you should have a little bit of a shake now. It's been a while since we ate. If you're out of energy, that might help." He looked into her eyes. She knew he was right.
"Okay, I'll have a shake, Max."
"Way ahead of you, sir! I'll be right back!" Niles jumped up and ran to the kitchen to get her a shake.
"Are you feeling alright, Fran?" Sylvia asked, concerned.
"Yes, Ma. I think I'm just coming down from getting all of that out. It's like when I told Max everything, it wiped me out. I'll see if the shake helps. I don't think I want to eat anything the rest of the day- just have the shake and make sure I don't overdo it."
"Fran?" Val asked. "Is there anything I can do?"
"I don't know Val. Um," she thought a moment. "Well, one thing…" Fran patted Max and got up from the chair and walked towards Val. "Just a hug, for now." Val jumped up and hugged her.
"Oh, Fran, I'm sorry things were so hard for you. But I'm glad you're working on it now. And that you and Mr. Sheffield are together. I'm really happy about that!"
"Me too, Val!" Fran looked over at Max and they both smiled. They hugged each other some more. "Oh, Val, when do you have to be at work tomorrow? What time do you need to be back home?"
"Oh, I have to be in at 5am, so I have to be ready to go around 4am. I guess as long as I leave here by 7 that should be fine."
"Ma, is that okay with you? If you go back with Val before 7?"
"Oh, sure, sweetie, then that gives me time to talk to your father."
"Oh, Ma- what about dinner for Daddy? You want to bring him some takeout? We can order extra for him."
"Are you sure? That would be really wonderful. He would really appreciate that."
"Okay, just let Niles know what to get him." Just then Niles came back in with a frosty cold tall glass mug with Fran's shake and a straw in it. "Oh, Niles! Thank you!" Val let go of Fran and Fran walked over to get the mug from Niles, then took a sip. She sat back down with Max, who put his arms around her. The girls came back down the stairs and everyone sat in their places again.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Niles said. "I brought delivery menus so everyone can have a look and see what they might want. Then we can write it all down and I'll call it in, whenever everyone's ready to eat."
"Thank you, Niles," Max said. The girls picked up the menus and leafed through them, deciding that Chinese was what they wanted. They passed the menus around, and Val and Sylvia agreed on Chinese. Brighton was still preoccupied, Max wasn't feeling hungry yet, but said Chinese was fine.
"Hey, B?" Fran said, trying to break through Brighton's trance.
"Huh?" He looked up from the papers.
"Is Chinese okay with you for dinner?"
"Uh, sure. Fried rice and two egg rolls, please." He stuck his face back in the papers.
"Brighton? If you've been eating a lot of pizza all weekend, how about some vegetables? Niles has some greens in the fridge, already cut up. Would you eat some of that, too?" Max asked.
Brighton lifted his head up and thought a moment. "Uh, okay."
"I'll go grab a notepad to write down what everyone wants," Niles said, then left the room again.
"You guys want to turn on the TV or anything?" Fran asked, taking another sip of her shake. "I think I'm all talked out for a while." Everyone chuckled.
"Sure," Val said, reaching for the remote on the coffee table. "Any requests?"
"I Love Lucy, The Munsters, or any old movie with Cary Grant in it," Brighton leaned over the papers to say. He looked over at Fran and grinned.
"Oh, B!" Fran made kissy sounds to him and he blushed, then put the papers back in front of his face to finish going through them.
Val flipped through the TV channels as everyone watched, in silence. Max raised Fran's hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. She pecked him lightly on the lips.
"What time should we leave in the morning?" Max asked quietly.
Fran thought a moment. "Well, we need to be there by 8 at the latest. How long do you think it will take to get there? In rush hour?"
"Oh yeah," now Max needed to think. "I guess by 7:30. But maybe we should have the car here by 7:15. It might be too difficult to get a cab when we need it."
"Okay, so we'll be ready to go by 7:15. Oof!"
"You've been up at that hour before, Fran," he teased.
"Sure, but usually I'm still in my bathrobe!" They both laughed.
"Dad?" Brighton sat up.
"Yes?"
"Is it okay if I go up to work on the computer? And call Tommy?"
"Sure, Brighton. I guess that would be okay. Just don't forget to eat dinner, alright?" Max said.
"Okay. I'll be in my room. Oh, here's your papers, Fran," he handed them across to Fran as he got up from the couch.
"Thank you, B. Thank you for looking into all that, too."
"No problem. I want to do it. Oh, thank you guys again for the watch. I really like it."
"You're welcome, take good care of it,"
"You're welcome, Brighton," Max added.
Fran watched Brighton bound up the stairs with his notebook and smiled. "Just like his daddy," she whispered, and looked at Max and smiled.
"Yeah, devoted to you," he squeezed her and kissed her shoulder. She set down the papers beside her and picked up her shake. Sylvia looked over.
"Frannie? Would you mind if I looked at those papers?" Sylvia asked.
"No, Ma, go ahead," Fran handed her the bundle of papers. Sylvia took them and began to read through each one.
Val had settled on TVLand, which was showing a marathon of That Girl. She used to watch that show all the time with Fran when they were kids. Max and Fran cuddled in the chair together and Fran slowly worked on her shake. Niles came back in and sat down in his chair, notepad in hand. He reached for the Chinese menu and began jotting a few things down.
"Girls? Did you decide what you would like?" Niles asked.
"Number 4!" Grace burst out.
"Number 17," Maggie said. "Oh, Niles? They have that Thai tea, is it okay if we get some of that?"
Niles looked over at Max and Fran.
"Sure, Niles can you get enough for everyone? We'll save anything extra," Max said.
"Aw, Thai tea…" Fran closed her eyes, remembering how it tasted.
"We'll save some for you, and we'll ask tomorrow if it's okay for you to have things like that."
"Okay, good! Maybe tomorrow, then," she had a happy look on her face again.
"Val?" Niles asked. "What would you like?"
"Oh! Can I get the teriyaki chicken and pork fried rice? I've had such a craving for that…"
"Absolutely," he wrote that on the notepad. "And Sylvia? For you, and what do you think Morty would like?"
Sylvia was startled to attention. "Oh! Um, can you get the sweet and sour chicken with white rice for Morty? He loves that. And for me, I guess I'll have the teriyaki chicken, too, with the vegetable fried rice. Oh- can we get wontons too?"
"Sure, Sylvia. Anything else?"
"No, thank you Niles."
"Okay, Now Mr. Sheffield, did you get a chance to look at the menu?" Niles held it out for Max to take.
"Thank you, Niles. Let's see here…" Fran turned to look at the menu too, and it was making her hungry.
"Can I get something to save for maybe tomorrow, or later in the week? God, I would love so much of this, but I know it's probably not a good idea to have it. But that croissant was totally worth it!" Fran grinned.
"Yes, pick whatever you want. Maybe you can have some tomorrow, but a little bit at a time. Hopefully they will say you can eat more things. Do you know what you want?"
"Mmm… some chicken fried rice, an egg roll. Wait, two egg rolls. And General Tso's chicken with white rice."
Max looked at her, wide eyed.
"I'm not eating it all at once, sweetie. I promise. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! Can we get more egg drop soup? Maybe not just for me, but if anyone else wants some."
"Absolutely," Niles said, writing fast.
"Did you get all of that, Niles?" Max smiled.
"I sure did. Now- how about you, sir?"
"I think another Number 17 sounds good. And an order of crab rangoon."
"Mmm, that sounds good too. I forgot about crab rangoon," Fran sighed.
"Maybe I'll let you have a bite," Max said.
"Thank you! That would make me very happy!" Niles finished writing everything down, but made two orders of crab Rangoon instead of one. Then he finished up with his order and went into the kitchen to call it in.
"I guess that was good timing, I'm starting to feel hungry now," Max said.
They turned back to watch TV for a little while, and occasionally Fran would reminisce with Val over the outfits and the mischief That Girl got into. Max liked some of the outfits and hairstyles too, they were just like a lot of styles Fran had dressed in before. And sort of how she was dressed right then. He found himself unconsciously stroking the back of her free hand with his thumb. She didn't move her hand- it seemed like she was enjoying the caress. It felt to him that she was much more relaxed and mellow, more than she had been in months. Maybe he was too. He wanted to enjoy this quiet time with her, because by morning they might find themselves right back in the middle of intense anxiety.
Niles walked back in to the living room. "Well, it's all ordered and they said it's too big of an order for them to deliver, so I'll need to take the car over to pick it all up. Would you girls like to go with me to help? I could really use some extra hands to load up the car and hold on to things," he said.
Maggie sat up and nodded to Gracie. "Sure Niles, we can help out with that. When do we need to go?"
"Pick up in 30 minutes, but I need to get some kind of crates or boxes to set things down in, to make sure things like the drinks and the soup don't get knocked over. Can you both help me with that right now?"
"Sure," Maggie said. She helped Gracie get up from the couch and they both headed off with Niles to go through the kitchen and out back to the car.
Max smiled at seeing the girls being helpful. He squeezed Fran again and watched her sip more of the shake. She was nearly done with it.
"Speaking of the car, I was kind of wondering- what if we drove there ourselves instead of having a car get us and take us? I mean, we'd probably have to find parking there."
"Well, you know, they do have a valet there. That might be an option if you want to take a car. But are you good at getting through rush hour traffic?" Fran asked.
"Well, about as good as anyone else, I suppose."
"Well, think about it a little bit. Remember, we'd have to drive back too. And we don't know how we'll be feeling then. Would you want to drive if, you know, if things get rough…?"
Max got quiet. "Yeah, maybe we should have someone else drive." He looked her in the eyes and then kissed her. She took the last sip of her shake and set down her glass, then draped an arm over his shoulders. She wrapped her other arm around him and rested her head against his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. Val glanced over and smiled, and caught Sylvia's eye and motioned for her to look over at Fran and Max, which she did. Sylvia smiled at Val and they turned back to watch the TV. Sylvia still clutched Fran's papers in her hands.