A Second Chance

by Bernadette Marie

  Carlos nodded.

  “We’d better get back out there. Tyler is going to be getting hungry soon, and she’ll want to head home to feed him.”

  Kathy was just closing her bridal planner when Zach and Carlos returned. Tyler slept peacefully in his carrier. Carlos watched as his sister’s eyes rose toward her husband and he smiled at her. She returned the smile, and he knew in that silent moment they’d had an entire conversation.

  Kathy looked up at Carlos. “I think I’ve decided on the outdoor wedding at Regan and Zach’s. What do you think?”

  “I think that sounds beautiful.” He smiled. How could he not? She was absolutely glowing.

  He sat back down next to her, and she scooted closer to him. “Do you like purple?”

  “Purple is a fine color.”

  “Great. I think that Clara would look best in it. She’s so beautiful.” That warmed his heart. “I’ve asked my sisters to be bridesmaids, and your sisters too.”

  “Okay.” He picked up the glass of water that he’d left there when he and Zach had vacated the table and sipped. “Well, Zach, I guess I’d better ask. Will you stand up on my side?”

  Zach gave him a slow nod. “You know I would.”

  Carlos nodded. He’d ask Curtis and his boys too.

  In that one moment he could see himself moving on.

  Carlos held Kathy’s hand as he navigated the dark roads single-handed as he’d done thousands of times. She was full of wildly excited chatter.

  “Regan found a picture of the most beautiful dresses for the bridesmaids. I think we’ll get one for Clara that will match. I think it would be nice to have her be a junior bridesmaid instead of a flower girl. Isn’t she too old to be a flower girl?” Carlos only shrugged with a grunt, and Kathy continued. “Regan said Audrey would be a wealth of knowledge when it comes to caterers. She uses them for everything.”

  “It sounds like you know exactly what you want.” He glanced her way and gave her a smile.

  “Every girl dreams of what she wants from the time she’s little. Of course, I don’t expect you to dress in a white suit with braided ropes over the shoulders.”

  “Prince Charming, eh?”

  “Of course.”

  He certainly couldn’t imagine being someone’s Prince Charming, but he found it refreshing that perhaps Kathy thought he was. “What else did you always want?”

  “Well…” She sighed, obviously giving it some thought. “When I was about twenty, one of my friends from college got married. They set free white doves.”

  “Doves? What ever happened to rice?”

  “So you’re more old-fashioned? Shoe polish on car windows and tin cans strung to the back of the car?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He laughed. “When I was little, though, I do remember going to a wedding with my parents in Puerto Rico.” He focused on the road as Kathy gave his hand a squeeze. It wasn’t often that he thought of his birth parents or their family home in Puerto Rico.

  They’d brought him to the States when he was nearly six. They’d become part of the community they lived in quickly, thanks to the church they’d belonged to. That was where he met the Keller family for the first time. Regan was his age. The Kellers had adopted her and Arianna, her older sister, after having been their foster parents for years. He could still see Regan with ponytails in a white dress for church the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her. Mrs. Keller had a little boy in her arms, and he was sleeping. It was so vivid in his mind.

  Emily Keller owned a small bakery with her parents. She’d given his mother work there. Alan Keller had helped to employ his father as a handyman. On that snowy December night, when his parents were killed, it was Emily Keller they called to the hospital to sit with him. By then, he was seven. The Kellers immediately took him in. Like Regan and Arianna, he never left.

  The Kellers had only one child that they’d given birth to, and that was Curtis. But he was not favored or loved more than the three children that God had given them through other means.

  Carlos gave Kathy’s hand a squeeze back. He hadn’t had to explain what he was thinking, she knew.

  “What do you remember about that wedding?” she asked softly.

  “I remember a plate of money. The priest would bless it and give it to the husband to give to the wife. Or something like that. And there was a doll.” He shook his head. “I don’t really remember why they had a doll dressed like the bride. First of all, it was a girl thing. Second, it was a little freaky.” He laughed. “But it had charms on it, and they gave me one.”

  “Tradition?”

  “I guess so. I was probably five, so I don’t really remember it very well.”

  “Are most of your memories of you living with your mom and dad? I mean the Kellers?”

  “Yeah. I had a grandmother in Puerto Rico, but I only remember her being old. She was too old to take care of me. So, when my parents died there wasn’t the option of her taking me. She’d write to me, and my mom—Emily—would read them to me. But my grandmother died by the time I was nine.”

  She scooted closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. “I love your parents. I’m very lucky to have them for future in-laws.”

  “I couldn’t have gotten any luckier under the circumstances.”

  “What about Regan and Arianna. What about their birth parents?”

  He gave a shrug of his other shoulder. “A young couple is all I know. The state took them away from them when Arianna was two and Regan was only a few months old. So Mom is really the only mom Regan has ever known, and Arianna doesn’t remember her birth parents at all.”

  “Do you think Zach and Regan will have more kids?”

  “Oh, yeah. At least one more. Regan knows the joy of having siblings.” He shook his head with a laugh. “Okay, maybe not the joys, but we’re a team. When one of us needs anything, the other ones are there. We all support Arianna’s acting dreams. We all helped get Curtis though med school. When Regan lived in Hawaii with that guy”—he couldn’t even say his name—”we supported her. And when she came back and needed support physically, mentally, and financially, we were there for her.”

  “So she would want Tyler to have that.”

  “I think so. And Zach sees the importance in it, having been an only child. He was shipped off to a boarding school in France.”

  Kathy lifted her head. “Zach speaks French?”

  “Yup. It’s funny too. You don’t expect it, but when his friend Simone calls, it spews from his lips like it’s his only language.”

  “Hmmm, I still have so much to learn about my new family.”

  Carlos gave a nod as she rested her head on his shoulder again. Family pulled together in times of trouble. There hadn’t been a day since he was fifteen he didn’t think of Madeline as family. Marrying Kathy wouldn’t change that. He didn’t expect it to. But how could he feel so far from Madeline now, and need her so much?

  Chapter Four

  Eduardo stood in the hallway and listened to the sounds of his mother getting sick in the bathroom. “Mom, are you okay?” he asked as she threw up for the third time since he’d awakened.

  “I’m fine, baby,” she said as he heard her again.

  “I’m worried about you. Let me call Dad.”

  “Just get ready for school. You can’t be late.”

  He stood there for a few more minutes with his ear pressed against the door and a pain in his chest that he didn’t like. His mother was never sick, and he didn’t know what he could do to help her. So he did as she’d asked and went about getting his shower and making sure everyone else was ready for school.

  He made breakfast for Christian and Clara and made his mother a piece of dry toast. When she turned the corner into the kitchen, he went to her and helped her to a chair.

  “Eat this.” He set the plate down in front of her.

  She gave it a look of consideration and then pushed it away. “I don’t think I can.”

  “You’ve lost
ten pounds already. You don’t have a lot to lose. Eat it.”

  Madeline nodded as he went back to packing lunch for Clara. “Thank you guys for being here with me. It really helps me.” She reached her hand out and covered Christian’s. He only nodded his head. “So when is your choir concert?”

  “In two weeks. I have extra practices next week. I have a note.”

  She smiled. “Okay. We’ll make sure you get there.”

  Eduardo handed Clara her lunch. “Okay, Mom. I made you some soup and it’s in the fridge. You just have to warm it up. Don’t forget your medicine and get in lots of fluids today. I’m going to call you between classes, and you’d better answer.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll be home by four.” He bent down to kiss her cheek. “You’re burning up.” He put his hand to her head. “Mom, how long have you been like this?”

  “Just since this morning.”

  “But you’ve been throwing up for three days.”

  “It’s normal.”

  “I’m calling Dad.” He pulled out the cell phone and she grabbed it from his hands.

  “You will do no such thing.”

  His mother made eye contact with each of them. “This is normal. I’m okay. I have an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow. We’ll see what they say. Maybe they can give me something. But I don’t want you calling your father. Do you hear me?” She looked directly at Eduardo, who hesitantly nodded. “Okay.”

  “Why don’t I just stay with you?” he offered. It was killing him to see her look so weak.

  “I’d rather you get an education. And you’d better get to the bus.”

  Carlos missed the kids. The mornings were fuss free, but quiet wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed. For five years, he’d had the children at his house every other week. It had only been a few days, but he knew they’d be gone for weeks. However, with parent-teacher conferences coming up, it was giving him time to get his reports for each student in order.

  Kathy laid her cell phone on the counter and pulled her travel mug from the cupboard. “I’m going to be late getting home. I have a meeting and then I’m going to run over to Regan’s house. Audrey is going to meet us and discuss catering options.”

  “Sounds like a lovely time.”

  “Smart-ass.” She bent to kiss him. “Be nice or I’ll make you go.”

  “I have to get everything ready for conferences next week.”

  “Then this will work out great,” she said just as his cell phone rang.

  “Hey, Ed. Good morning.” Carlos stacked the papers he’d scattered on the table and put them into his commuter bag. “How’s everyone this morning?” He watched Kathy fill her coffee mug. “Good. I think it’s good for you to be there. Do you need a ride home from school today?” He stood and walked to the sink to dump out his own mug. “Okay, I’ll call you all tonight. I love you,” he said and slid the phone into his shirt pocket.

  “Everything okay?” Kathy asked as she buttered a bagel.

  “Yep. He says everyone is doing great. Madeline is feeling good and they’re glad they’re staying with her.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid a kiss on her neck. “You know, if you don’t spend all night at my sister’s house, we could get to bed early tonight.”

  She squirmed beneath his lips and laughed. “Mr. Keller…”

  “Yes?”

  She turned into his arms and pressed a soft, warm, and inviting kiss to his lips. “I promise I won’t stay too long.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  Kathy glanced at her watch. “Oh, I’m going to be late.” She kissed him again. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he said as she pushed past him, grabbed her bag, and headed out the back door.

  He turned off the coffeepot and threw the newspaper into the recycle bin.

  His phone rang again and he pulled it from his pocket. The ID was from Christian’s school.

  “Hello,” he said quickly. He’d never gotten a call from Christian’s school. He hoped he wasn’t sick or hurt.

  “Dad?”

  “Chris, what’s wrong?” He pulled his bag over his shoulder and headed toward the back door.

  “Did you talk to Ed this morning?”

  “Yeah. He called when he got to school.”

  “Okay. So you know?” Carlos heard his son’s voice calm.

  Carlos clenched his teeth and felt the heat rise under his collar. “Well, why don’t you tell me what I should know.”

  “That Mom is really sick.”

  Carlos was reaching for the car door, but he stopped. “Your mom is sick?”

  “Yeah, I thought you said he told you.”

  “How sick, Chris?” He threw his bag into the passenger seat with a huff as he climbed into his car and began backing out of the driveway.

  “She’s been throwing up for the past four days. She’s lost like ten pounds, Dad.”

  He shook his head. Damnit! What good was it to have Eduardo lying to him when he was supposed to be there to help?

  Carlos looked down the road, checking for traffic. He turned sharply onto the street, narrowly evading the mailbox and the six-foot ditch on the side of the road. He swerved back and sucked in a breath. He needed to get a grip or he’d get himself killed, and then where would his children be?

  “She’s taking her medicine, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s what’s making her sick.” He sounded so young and frightened. “Dad, she’s really, really sick.”

  He came to an abrupt stop at the stop sign at the end of the street. “Okay. You get to class. I’ll check on her.” Turning left would have taken him to work, but instead he turned right and headed toward Madeline.

  He had the foresight to call Curtis and ask what he should do.

  “Antinausea medicine will help and so will ginger. You can get both of them at the drugstore or grocery store.”

  Carlos headed toward the drugstore just around the corner from Madeline’s house. “And what do I do to make her eat?”

  “If she can start keeping things down, she’ll eat. But you’d better keep an eye on her too. Anorexia is very common when patients can’t keep food down.”

  “So they fixed her just so everything else would kill her?” He gripped the steering wheel as if bending it into a different shape would cure Madeline. “It seems like cutting off half of her should have been enough.”

  “Carlos, it isn’t going to help her if you’re upset.”

  “I know, I know. But damnit, she should have told me she was sick. I bought Ed a damn phone just for this reason, and he lies to me.”

  “She doesn’t want to upset you.”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem to be working, does it?” He pulled into the parking lot of the drugstore. “She can’t die,” he said on a sigh.

  “Carlos, she’s already past the hardest part. What did they say about the results?”

  “They got all of the tumor. They said it looks good for her and she’ll finish her round of chemo.”

  “The chemo is keeping everything at bay and killing off anything that might have lingered. Soon she’ll be able to have the reconstruction done and she’ll feel and look more normal. That will help her recovery. When she looks normal, her attitude will brighten. But for now she needs you and the kids to just be pillars of strength.”

  “You’re right. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Hey, why don’t you see if she’ll come to Mom and Dad’s on Sunday for dinner. Maybe mom can get her to eat.”

  “Yeah, maybe I will.”

  “I love you, Bro. Take care of yourself too.”

  “I will,” he promised before hanging up and walking into the store.

  He was directed to the medicines and herbs. He wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing, but he gathered every bottle he thought would help her. Then he took it to the pharmacy, explained what he wanted, and the pharmacist handed him back only two bottles.

  “This sho
uld be all she needs, and it won’t interfere with her treatment.”

  After thanking the pharmacist, he found a book for Madeline to read. If he remembered correctly, Nora Roberts was her favorite, so he picked up the two books that were on the shelf. She’d like three or four of the gossip magazines, so he grabbed them. A Hershey’s bar, it was her favorite too. After finding her a puzzle book and her favorite lip balm, he headed toward the checkout.

  Eighty-seven dollars later, he was back on the road toward her house.

  Carlos gathered the bags of items he’d purchased and walked to the front door. He looked around the yard. No one had cleaned up the leaves from the fall, and he wondered if that bastard ex-husband of hers had even bothered to turn off the sprinklers before he abandoned her. A branch was breaking on the tree near the bedroom window. That would need to be cut down before it broke a window. He’d make a list, and he and the boys would take care of it.

  He rang the doorbell, stood, and waited. There had never been a day since he’d moved out of the house that it didn’t feel odd to stand there and wait for someone to answer.

  She didn’t come to the door.

  Carlos rang the bell and then pounded on the screen door. Still there was no answer. He walked to the garage and peered in the window. Her car was there. She must be inside.

  He set the bags on the porch and again rang the bell. When she didn’t come, he took out his keys. It was a long shot, but he’d never taken the house key off his ring. Surely Matt had changed the locks. He slid the key into the lock and turned.

  The door opened.

  “Maddie! Maddie! Where are you?”

  He stood for a moment and then he could hear her. She was in the bathroom and she was getting sick, again.

  He dropped the bags at the door and went to her.

  He kept calling her name so he wouldn’t frighten her. When he found her, she was sprawled on the floor of the bathroom in her robe. Her arms and head rested on the side of the bathtub.

  “Maddie.”

  “Carlos, go home.” She crawled toward the toilet. The movements were there, the noise was there, but she had nothing to throw up. Carlos gathered her in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. She was so weak she didn’t argue with him.