Chapter 85

Jon was still grumbling about the traffic and his ticket when they walked into Cilla’s room. Panic raced through him when he saw her bed was empty. His eyes darted around the room, relief edging out the panic when he saw her standing looking out the window.

“Hey baby.”

She didn’t turn around. It was as if he hadn’t even spoken.

Leaving Richie at the door he crossed the room and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Sweets?”

She jumped, twisted to see who was there and yelped when her staples protested. “Jesus Jon.” She pulled the buds from her ears and crossed an arm over her stomach. “God, don’t do that!”

He pulled her close, rubbing his hand up and down her back. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t realize you had your iPod on.” He could feel her heart pounding against his chest. “Are you okay?”

She nodded her head against his shoulder and took a deep breath trying to calm her breathing. “Yeah. Just don’t sneak up on me like that. You could kill a person that way.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m sorry. What are you doing out of bed?”

“Help me back into it and I’ll tell you abo--“. She stopped when she saw Richie standing in the door way. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

Jon helped her get settled back into her bed. “I brought him with me.”

She looked back at Jon, wanting to be upset with him but she couldn’t. She had done a lot of thinking about everything. She decided that Sid and Jon had been right. She couldn’t focus on what might happen, no matter how afraid she was. And make no mistake, she was terrified, but she was going to do her best to stay positive. She had to deal with the here and now and just take things one day at a time. In the days ahead she would be leaning on Jon more than she had ever leaned on anyone. And if Jon needed Richie to lean on, then who was she to deny him that?

Richie moved closer to the bed, holding out the bag he had in his hand. “I brought you a little something.”

She grasped his hand around the handles of the bag. “I don’t know how much he told you, but I do know how hard it must be for you to be here. Thank you. If it’s too much and you feel like you need to leave, I won’t hold it against you.”

He smiled and sat in the chair next to the bed. “I’m all right. Go ahead and open your present.”

Pulling out the tissue she reached in, pulling out something hard and flat. It was a picture frame. Turning it over she smiled brightly. It was a picture of her and Jon from the last night of their tour at MSG. He must have snapped it right after she had the cake together. She remembered her and Jon talking, then turning when someone had called their name. “It’s wonderful Richie, thank you.” She turned it and showed Jon. “What do you think?”

“I think my friend needs to make a copy of it for me too.”

“I’ll e-mail it to you man.” Richie made a face at Jon. “You can print it and frame it yourself.”

Cilla set the picture next to the pink box that was on the tray in front of her. “So,” she looked at Jon “how was Philadelphia? How was the parade? I didn’t get to see any of it. I wasn’t back from my MRI until just a little bit ago.”

Richie snickered. “Yeah man, tell her all about your day.”

Jon flipped him off. “Don’t pay any attention to him Sweets. My day was fine.”

“Sure it was.”

If looks could kill, Richie would have been dead with the one that Jon sent him across her bed. While it was true he had been anxious about getting back to her, feeling guilty about having to be away, she didn’t need to know that. “Seriously, the parade was great. Everything went as expected.” He wanted to hear about her, not talk about his day.

Richie tried to cover the laugh with a cough but he just couldn’t do it. “It went so well little darlin’ that he got pulled over on his way back here.”

Cilla’s eyes widened and she looked from Richie to Jon. “You got a speeding ticket?”

Jon shook his head in resignation. “You’re lucky I like you man.” He turned his attention to Cilla. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just send it in and pay the fine. It’s no big deal.”

She folded her arms across her chest, “you shouldn’t have been speeding.”

He pouted, “but I was on my way back here to you.”

She traced his lower lip with her thumb, “and what if you had had an accident? I’m not going anywhere, not for at least two more days. You didn’t need to rush.”

He took her hand in his and kissed her fingertips. “Well, it’s too late now. What happened today? Obviously they got you up. How did the MRI go?”

She told Jon and Richie that the doctor had come that morning and took her catheter out and got her up and moving around. She had taken a short walk up and down the hall then needed to take a nap. The lunch they had brought her had been less than appealing. Sid had left earlier when they came to take her for her MRI. “And that’s about it. Oh, wait” she picked up the pink box and handed it to Richie. “Sid brought this. I think you might want what’s left in there.” It had taken her most of the afternoon, but she had managed to eat the croissant that he had brought. The sweets that were in the box held no appeal for her right now.

He grinned and his eyes danced. “A cannoli? Is there a cannoli in there?”

Jon pouted again. “What about me? Doesn’t Sid love me anymore?”

Cilla laughed. “Ow, don’t make me laugh” she held her hand over her incision. “I’m sure he still loves you baby. Don’t pout. There’s enough in there for the two of you to share.”

They were talking quietly when the doctor strolled in. “How is the patient feeling this evening?”

Richie moved from the chair to the far side of the bed so the doctor could check Cilla’s incision and her chart. “Everything looks good Cilla. Any pain?”

Cilla shook her head, “no, not right now.”

“Good.” Dr. Shortle marked something on her chart. “I heard from the lab today.” Her glance flitted from Cilla’s face to Richie then back again.

“You can talk in front of the guys Doctor. It’s fine.”

The doctor nodded and continued. “The staging results are back. You have stage two c ovarian cancer Cilla. It doesn’t appear to have spread, but until I see the MRI I won’t know for sure.”

Cilla felt Jon's hand close over hers and give a reassuring squeeze. "Okay, so what happens now?"