Thrill of Love

by Melissa Foster

  Maisy laughed. “I want a copy of that video.”

  “You and me both,” Aiyla said.

  Phillip whipped his head toward the camera, bonking Ty in the cheek, and yelled, “Watch, Mom! Watch, Dad!”

  Ty didn’t know if he should laugh or redirect the little guy’s attention toward the water. He didn’t have to decide, because his father stepped up beside them and his presence was enough to redirect Phillip’s attention.

  “Okay, son. It’s time to focus on catching that fish,” his father said in the authoritative voice that had carried over from his military days.

  “Okay, Papa.”

  As Phillip followed Ace’s directions, lifting the tip of the rod and reeling in the fish, Ty draped an arm around Aiyla and kissed her cheek. “I love you,” he said for the millionth time that day. He hadn’t been able to stop saying it since he’d told her about the house. Knowing they were really going to build a life together gave him hope and brought his love to unexpected heights.

  She turned with her lips puckered, and he kissed her at the same second Phillip lifted the fish from the water, and they all cheered.

  Phillip took one look at the fish and screamed, “He’s hurt! Papa Ace! Save him! He needs stitched up!”

  Aiyla turned off the video as Ace and Ty tried to console him. “Hasn’t he fished before?” she asked Maisy.

  “Many times. But he has a big heart, and every time he sees the hook in the fish’s mouth, he cries.” She put a hand on Ty’s shoulder and said, “At Phillip’s age, this one was fine when we caught the fish, but he’d tear up when he saw us cleaning them.”

  “Aw,” Aiyla said. “That’s so sad.”

  “I never saw it that way,” Maisy said. “They’re big-hearted boys. That’s a good thing. There are enough people in the world who don’t give a lick about nature. I bet your mother had a few secrets about you like that, too.”

  Aiyla blushed and said, “I used to cry when I saw butterflies because I knew it meant the caterpillar was gone.”

  “See? Big-hearted people always find each other.” Maisy winked and reached a hand out to Phillip, who had stopped crying, and said, “Ready to go build that castle, little man?”

  Phillip nodded, took her hand, and then reached for Aiyla’s. “You come, too?”

  “I’d love to.”

  Ty watched them walk toward the rocks and made a mental note about caterpillars and butterflies. “Is that true?” he asked his father. “What Mom said?”

  “Your mother has never told a lie a day in her life,” Ace said.

  “I don’t remember getting upset over cleaning fish.”

  “You don’t need to. That’s what mothers are for.” He handed Ty the plastic rod. “Let’s catch some dinner and see if we can bring rise to a few more tears.”

  Ty laughed. “You’re cruel.”

  His father arched a brow and said, “I meant yours, not Phillip’s.”

  A phone sounded, and Ty’s stomach lurched as Aiyla’s voice landed in his ears. “Hi, Jon. Yes. Just give me a second, please.”

  Their eyes locked, and the fear in hers sent Ty across the rocks. He guided her away from his mother and Phillip, feeling the weight of his parents’ worried gaze following them. “It’s okay, baby. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”

  Her eyes were already teary as she lifted the phone to her ear and said, “I’m back, sorry.”

  Aiyla paused, listening to Jon, the seconds ticking by like time bombs. She grabbed Ty’s arm, trembling from head to toe, a flood of tears pouring down her cheeks. He hugged her to him, silently cursing the universe and trying his damnedest to hold back his own tears as she croaked out, “Yes. I understand. Thank you.”

  Her hand fell to her side and she collapsed to her knees. He dropped down to his, holding her against him, both of them crying. “It’s okay,” he reassured her, even as his heart shattered into a million pieces. “We’ll get through this.”

  Aiyla lifted her face, her smile confusing him. “It didn’t spread.” She sobbed. “It’s only in my leg, Ty.”

  It took a few seconds for him to process what she’d said, and when she added, “We caught it early,” her sobs were drowned out by a rush of relief.

  “Baby!” he said between grateful kisses. “Oh, baby.”

  They cried and kissed, hugging and laughing and crying harder.

  “You did this,” she said through her tears. “You made me get checked. You saved me.”

  “No, baby. Fate saved us both.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  LATER THAT NIGHT, after sharing their news with Ty’s parents and explaining to Phillip that their tears were happy tears, Aiyla called the oncologist Jon recommended, Dr. Whiskey, and scheduled an appointment. Jon had already called ahead, and they fit her into next week’s schedule. She was thankful for Jon’s connections, because knowing the cancer hadn’t spread made every minute until she began treatments feel like Russian roulette. The hours seemed to move by in a cloud of relief, but the darkness never lifted completely. Aiyla still had cancer, and they had a long road ahead of them to figure out how to deal with it, and then, of course, to actually deal with it. Aiyla paced Ty’s parents’ backyard, talking—and crying—with her sister as she brought her up to speed. As horrible as it was to share the details with Cherise, after shedding tears to the point of not being able to speak, Aiyla felt oddly better. She’d never been a secret keeper, and now she remembered why. Secrets were harder to deal with than the truth. They dragged her down like quicksand.

  Once they pulled themselves back together and Aiyla was able to talk without breaking down, she said, “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but there was no reason to until after the biopsy, and then I couldn’t do it without knowing the extent of the disease.”

  “I hate you a little for that,” Cherise said with an anxious laugh. “I’m your sister. You should let me suffer through waiting with you. I get it, and I love you for protecting me. But if you do anything like that ever again, I’ll…”

  Aiyla felt herself smiling. She knew her sister would never say she’d kill her, and Cherise couldn’t pummel her, which she’d probably like to sometimes.

  “Withhold your famous coconut cookies?” Aiyla suggested.

  “Yes!” Cherise sighed. “I love you, Aiyla, and I should be there with you. I don’t know how you’re functioning.”

  “As you can tell from how I just bawled my eyes out, I’m pretty much a mess. But Ty has been wonderful, Cherise. You’ll love him. He’s been with me every step of the way, and it’s because of him that we found it so early.”

  “I am definitely sending him a boatload of cookies—”

  Her voice cut off, and Aiyla knew her sister was crying again. She wanted to put her mind at ease, so she focused on moving forward. “I think we made the right decision to have the treatments here. I don’t want your boys to worry about me, and you don’t need the stress of running back and forth to medical appointments. We’ve been there. Remember how awful it was? We know the toll it’ll take on you and your kids. You need to be in a good mental space for them.”

  “But you’re my sister,” she said softly. “I also need to be there for you.”

  “I know, and I appreciate that you want to. But you’re my sister, too, and you were my rock when Mom was sick and when we lost her. You’ve been there for me more than I could have ever hoped for. Now it’s time for you to be there for your boys. We’ll fly you guys out once we know more and we have a plan.” She had no idea how she was pulling off speaking so matter-of-factly all of a sudden. Maybe it was because she knew she needed to be strong for Cherise, or because the relief of today’s news was still giving her the strength she needed. Whatever the reason, she was glad, because she didn’t want to upset Cherise any more than she already had.

  “I have an appointment next week with an oncologist, and then my doctor will have a meeting with the oncologist and radiologist to talk about treatment options. After
that we’ll meet with him again. Once we’re past that, it’ll be easier. We’ll know what we have ahead of us.”

  Another teary sound came through the phone.

  “Cher, I’m going to be okay.”

  “You know we don’t know that for sure,” Cherise said. “We hope, and pray, and—”

  Ty’s comforting words sailed through Aiyla’s mind and came out for her sister. “We’re not going to think like that, okay? We can’t. We have to believe that we can beat it. I’m not Mom, sis. They caught it early. It’s not anywhere else in my body.”

  Cherise sighed. “I wish it were me instead of you.”

  “No, Cherise. Don’t ever say that. My nephews need you. Caleb needs you.”

  “And we need you.”

  They talked until they had no more tears to spill. Then Aiyla caught up on her nephews, and she told Cherise about Ty’s family and the night Ty had proposed at the wedding. They talked about the house Ty was buying, which still felt too surreal to believe, and as she gazed at her beautiful ring, she told her about that, too. After several I love yous and promises to share information right when Aiyla learned of it, they ended the call.

  Aiyla walked back toward the house, feeling better having cleared the air and sad because she knew Cherise would now share that information with Caleb and cry all over again.

  She found Ty and his parents talking on the deck. Phillip had been tuckered out from their adventurous day and had fallen asleep right after his bath. As Aiyla headed up the lawn, she thought about how the last couple of weeks had felt like months. Two weeks ago her biggest worry had been trying to place in the charity event. Now she had a disease that events like that raised money for. She had never asked why me, and she wasn’t now. She knew from losing her mother that those types of questions were wasted energy. Ty pushed to his feet and opened his arms, and she walked right in knowing the whys didn’t matter as much as the future did.

  “Is Cherise okay?” Ty asked.

  “As okay as she can be. She wants to come out, but I told her maybe in a few weeks, once we know what we’re dealing with.” Ty had offered to fly Cherise and her family out tomorrow, but Aiyla had meant what she’d said to her sister. She had Ty by her side. She didn’t need to turn Cherise’s life upside down, too.

  He sank to a chair and brought her down on his lap. “And how’s my girl?”

  She glanced at his parents, lying beside each other on the lounge chair, and then she brought her attention back to him. “As okay as she can be,” she answered honestly. “I’m so thankful for all of you.”

  Ty kissed her softly, and Maisy said, “And we’re thankful for you, sweetheart.”

  “I bet you never thought when you were meeting Ty’s girlfriend that I had all of this baggage.”

  Ty gave her a stern look.

  “This isn’t baggage,” Maisy said. “This is life. When I married Ace, we thought he’d be in the military forever. We had our whole lives planned out, moving wherever the military sent us and raising kids who knew what it meant to make new friends and travel the world.”

  Ace kissed Maisy’s temple the way Ty did so often to Aiyla, and he said, “When I lost my leg, I didn’t know what I’d do, where we’d live. It was a scary time for us. I had a new wife, a baby on the way, and suddenly I was starting over without so much as a backup plan. I thought I was going to be Maisy’s hero, but it turned out, she was mine.”

  Aiyla had forgotten that he had a prosthesis. She couldn’t imagine what had gone through his head the moment he’d realized his jump was going treacherously wrong. “You both must have been terrified.”

  “We learned a lot in those first few months,” Ace said. “I had months of grueling rehab, and during that time my wonderful wife was making plans I had no idea about.”

  Maisy smiled and patted his chest. “You knew what I was up to. You were just too busy to process it. Ace’s brother, Clint—you met him at the wedding. Beau and Ty’s other cousins’ father—had settled down in Pleasant Hill, the next town over, and I knew Ace needed to be near family.”

  “She also knew I’d go crazy without something to put my mind to,” Ace said. “Once we saw Peaceful Harbor, with the ocean and mountains at our fingertips, and family around the corner, we knew this was home for us. It was the perfect situation made even more so by Maisy’s innate ability to feel her way into the future.”

  “What does that mean?” Ty asked.

  “It means it was your mother’s idea to open the microbrewery,” Ace said with pride.

  Ty blinked several times and said, “How did I not know this?”

  “Because your mother isn’t the type to toot her own horn. It was the early eighties, and for the first time since prohibition, a brewery was allowed to not only sell its beer at its own bar on premises, but also serve food. Within a year, more than eighty breweries were operating, and the top companies—Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, and the other big players—controlled more than ninety percent of US beer production. The idea of going up against them scared the bejeezus out of me. I had a family to provide for, after all.” He sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat. “But just as Maisy had been there and believed in me during my rehabilitation, she had faith in our ability to create a successful, community-oriented business. It was her strength and conviction, and her unrelenting support, that allowed us to make a go of it.”

  Being surrounded by so much love made Aiyla less focused on what she and Ty were going through and more aware of what they had to look forward to.

  Love rose in Maisy’s eyes, and she said, “First, you always were, and will always be, my hero. And second, I had ideas, but carrying them out took both of us. And often you had to redirect my overenthusiastic notions. We’re a team, Ace, and a damn good one.” She looked at Ty and Aiyla and said, “The thing about tragedies is that they can drag you under, or they can make you stronger. I have adored this man since the day we met. And yes, there are days I want to kick his heinie into the ocean, but those days are few and far between, and they make the others even better.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  OVER THE NEXT twelve days, Aiyla’s emotions were all over the place. Most of the time she held it together, but there were times when sadness or anger consumed her. She and Ty cried a lot, and talked even more. They’d picked up their marriage license, met with the oncologist, who was also a family friend of the Bradens, which made the appointment as comfortable as she could hope for, and they’d broken the news to Ty’s family one couple at a time, crying alongside each one. They’d told Shannon over FaceTime, and they decided to wait and tell Tempest and Nash when they returned from their honeymoon. The outpouring of support from Ty’s family was endless. Faith, Leesa, Jewel, and Maisy were godsends, inviting her to lunch, going shopping, and treating her like she was no different from them. Ty’s brothers were as protective as Ty was over her, but Ty assured her that even if she didn’t have cancer, they’d be doing the same things. After spending two weeks with his family, she knew it was the truth. Trixie had texted Aiyla to touch base a few times, and finally Aiyla called and told her what she was going through. They cried rivers, and Aiyla asked Trixie to come up when she began treatments and take Ty out to get his mind off of what they were going through. She knew Ty wouldn’t want to leave her even for a minute, but she also knew he’d need a break. And finally, she’d called Ms. F, which had opened the floodgates once again.

  Now she and Ty sat across from Jon as he told them about his meeting with Dr. Whiskey and the radiologist and explained that she had Stage II-A, the cancer was intermediate grade and confined within the cortex of the bone.

  “Chondrosarcoma does not respond well to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The best treatment is surgical,” Jon explained. “Limb-sparing surgery is very effective. We remove the tumor while preserving as much of the tendons, nerves, and blood vessels as we can, so you can maintain function of your leg.”

  “You want to cut out part of my bone
?” Aiyla’s chest constricted. “What if you don’t get all the cancer?”

  “I’m confident that we can remove the entire tumor. With this surgery, we not only remove the affected area of the bone and replace it with a prosthetic,” Jon explained. “We also remove a wide margin around the tumor to get rid of any cancerous cells. Done right, you should be cancer free after the surgery.”

  “So no chemotherapy? No radiation?” she asked, unsure if she should be relieved or concerned.

  “No,” Jon said.

  Ty squeezed her hand and asked, “And recovery? What is that like?”

  As Jon talked about healing time and physical therapy, she mentally dissected what he’d just said. We also remove a wide margin around the tumor to get rid of any cancerous cells. Done right, you should be cancer free after the surgery. What if the surgery wasn’t done right? What if they missed something? Would the cancer come back? The term she thought she’d never hear again after her mother passed away slammed into her—quality of life. How stable would her leg be? Would she be able to ski? To climb? To run? Should any of that matter as long as she was alive?

  “Wait,” she blurted out, panic mounting inside her. “I’m sorry, but I have questions.”

  “Of course,” Jon said.

  “What if the margins you leave aren’t enough? Will it come back? How stable will my leg be? Can I do the things I do now? Ski? Run? Climb? And what about complications? Infections? How do you secure a prosthetic bone inside my leg? And will a prosthetic bone wear out if I continue doing all the activities I do now?” She spat her questions rapid-fire, and didn’t stop until Ty’s arm came around her.

  “Take a breath, baby. Let Jon answer these questions, and then we’ll ask the rest, okay?”

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “Aiyla, those are all very good questions, and some are going to be difficult to answer, because every case is different. Assuming you heal well, without complications, your leg should be very stable. As far as your activity level goes, that is very individualized. Daily activities should be fine, and many people who have this surgery go on to have very active lifestyles. You’re young, athletic, and in good physical condition. You have a lot going for you, and it’ll all help with your recovery.”