by Shandi Boyes
“What are the chances of being diagnosed with ALL for a third time?” I question quietly. I know Kylie is well now, but I am terrified that she is going to get sick again. My mom is a chairman on the Serena Scott Foundation board and she is very knowledgeable about this type of stuff.
“Kylie had it twice?” my mom questions, her scared eyes quickly turning to look at Kylie.
“You knew?” I respond unbelievably.
“I had an inkling just from looking in her eyes. She has that same fighting spirit in her eyes that Serena had, I just didn’t know what caused it. Then when you said you met her riding your bike on the anniversary of Serena’s death, I knew she was brought into your life for a reason.” Her eyes turn back to mine and they are full to the brim with tears.
“How old was she the second time?” my mom questions softly.
“Twenty-one,” I reply, exhaling a large deep breath. “It was why she vanished,” I continue, my gaze turning to look at Kylie. She must feel me watching her as she lifts her head and smiles, before returning her gaze back to Jacob and Lola.
“I don’t know what the odds are of her getting it again, but the fact she survived it a second time shows how truly strong she is,” my mom informs painfully, triggering my eyes to return to hers.
“Normally, adult patients who relapse with ALL only have a ten percent survival rate of longer than five years,” she continues quietly, her voice barely a whisper.
The instant the words escapes her lips it feels like I have been punched in the stomach and all the cake I have just eaten threatens to resurface.
“She is strong Slater, just look at her,” my mom instructs softly when she notices the concerned look on my face. I turn to look at Kylie. She is smiling largely and laughing with my friends. Her happiness is practically beaming out of her.
“Serena wouldn’t have brought her into your life to have her taken away. You have to believe that. Don’t treat her like a porcelain doll that might break. She will never forgive you if you do,” my mom instructs firmly.
She gently squeezes my arm in support before she walks over to Kylie and hands her a large piece of birthday cake. Kylie smiles brightly as she lifts a forkful of the cake into her mouth. Her pleasant moans echo around the interior of my loft the instant the frosting touches her tongue. She uses the fork to summon me into the living room. Her happiness sparkling from her eyes.
I place my best fake grin on my face before making my way towards her. Kylie is a fighter and the fact that she has made it this far shows me how truly strong she is. I will never stop worrying, but for now I am going to enjoy having her back in my life and take every day as a fucking blessing.
Once I reach her, I lean over and take a huge bite out of her cake.
“Hey, get your own!” she says cheekily. I chuckle loudly when she elbows me hard in the ribs.
Suddenly, the side of my face becomes covered with something sticky and wet. I lift my hand and run it down my right cheek before pulling it in front of my eyes. Chocolate frosting is smeared all over my hand. Lifting my gaze, I spot Kylie sprinting towards our bedroom with a huge smile plastered across her adorable face. Her loud giggles are echoing around the room. When I take off after her, the grin on my face is no longer fake. It takes me all of five seconds to catch up with her. I rub my cheek along her face, effectively covering half of her face with the frosting that was smeared on mine. Once her giggles die down, she places each of her tiny hands on my cheeks. Her excited and happy eyes dart between mine before she lowers down her mouth and gives me a scorching hot kiss.
Not that I would ever tell my mom this, but Kylie’s mouth tastes even better than my mom’s famous triple layered chocolate cake.
Chapter 32
Kylie
Three months later….
Jenni and Emily both gasp loudly in sync the instant I step out of the bathroom. Emily’s eyes fill with tears and Jenni rushes towards me as fast as her seven-month pregnant belly will allow. Her hands run down the purple satin dress, making sure the material all sits in the right spot. I slowly turn to face the full length mirror in my hotel room and I can’t help the excited squeal that escapes my lips. The full length ball gown Jenni designed and sewn personally for me gathers in all the right places, giving me the allure of a perfect hourglass figure. When you first look at my face you would assume I am not wearing any make up. The only reason I know that I am is because all of my freckles have been blended in the background. My hair is back to the original length it was when I first met Slater two and a half years ago. No, it didn’t grow that much the past few months. It is all the work of hair extensions meretriciously placed throughout my hair. The hairdresser Jenni hired to do my extension is very talented. I can’t even tell what is and is not my real hair.
“You look perfect,” Jenni whispers softly next to me.
I throw my arms around her shoulders, startling her. It has taken me a few months to get use to all the affection Jenni and Emily lavish me with every day. Dominic and his two brothers were pretty much my best friends growing up. I had a small handful of female friends at school, but the distance between our ranches meant we didn’t see much of each other outside of school. Once I left for college, all of my female friends ceased to exist, until I stumbled upon Melanie.
“Can you please take a photo so I can send it to Melanie?” I request, quickly making my way to my bag hanging over the hotel room chair in my master suite to collect my phone.
“I could,” Emily replies, shrugging her shoulders like she is considering the idea. “Or you could just go and show her yourself,” she continues cheekily, forcing my excited eyes to dart down to hers. My tall height already gains me three inches on Emily, but with the high heels I am wearing, I tower over her.
When Emily fails to extinguish my confusion, my eyes turn to Jenni. Her cheeks are flushed and she has a huge smile on her face. “She is in the living room,” she informs. I am halfway out of the master suite before Jenni even gets the whole sentence out of her mouth.
“Melanie!” I squeal loudly the instant I spot the back of her in the middle of the living room.
I rush towards her. My heart is racing so fast my body has to perspire in an attempt to lower my pulse. I haven’t seen her in nearly five months and text messages and phone calls can’t compete with seeing her in real life. She spins around with a large smile on her face, squeals at the top of her lungs and runs towards me. Her black short ball gown swishes around her white thighs as she quickly closes the distance between us.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh my god, where did you get your dress?”
“Your hair, I love it”
“Your hair, I love it!”
We continue to throw a range of questions at each other until we both become breathless. Emily and Jenni watch us from the doorway of the master suite with an amused look on their faces. They are probably just realising that this is exactly what they look like every time they greet each other.
“You look beautiful,” I inform Melanie. She looks the most dazzling I have ever seen her. Her platinum blonde bob has been change to a very short pixie style haircut, making her blue eyes dazzle even more. She is wearing a black strapless dress that has a fitted bodice and the skirt fans out just below her navel. Her killer high shoes add a few extra inches to her tiny five-foot-four height. She appears to have lost a bit of weight the last few months or maybe she just looks smaller since I have gained a couple of pounds the past few months.
“Thank you,” she replies graciously, doing a little twirl to allow me to see the entire dress.
“You look smoking hot,” she says, walking over towards me. “What have you got under there, because I swear I don’t remember them being that big before,” she continues cheekily, pulling down the front of my dress to expose one of my naked breasts that are being held perfectly in place with Hollywood tape. I slap her hand away from my chest, causing her to chuckle loudly. Yep, she is Slater to a tee!
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“What are you doing here?” I question excitedly, quickly peering down to make sure my boobs are once again covered.
“Slater brought me here,” she quotes, using the exact same tone she used months ago. “He thought I would be a good influence on you,” she continues cheekily, trying her hardest to hide her smile.
“He picked the wrong friend!” we both scream in sync. Our joint laughter echoes around the room.
Oh my goodness, I have missed her so much! Our giggles only die down when a loud knock hits the main door of my suite. I flick my excited eyes to Melanie, who is smiling brightly and waggling her eyebrows. I rush to the door, eagerly anticipating seeing Slater again since he had left over four hours ago so I could get ready.
“I love you!” I emphasize dramatically, swinging the door open wide. He has been spoiling me rotten every day the past two months, but seeing Melanie again tops any of the lavish gifts he has given me.
Marcus smiles brightly, his eyes slowly roam over my face before he replies. “I love you too?” hesitantly like it was more a question then a statement. I pull Marcus into my room by his black tuxedo covered wrist and pop my head out in the hall, seeking Slater.
“Slater is going to meet us in the ballroom,” Marcus informs when he notices my shocked expression. “He had some loose ends he needed to tie up,” he continues with a small grin forming on his face. “His time got cut short,” he adds on, his small grin turning into a large smile.
Melanie and I both stare at Marcus who is chuckling and murmuring to himself, seemingly entertained by an insider joke we are not privileged too. When my curious eyes turn to Jenni and Emily they both shrug their shoulders and join us in staring at Marcus curiously. His chuckles only die down when Melanie walks straight up to him and kisses him hard on his lips. My mouth pops open in shock over her tenacity, Marcus freezes in surprise and Emily and Jenni both gasp loudly. My eyes don’t know where to look, so they dart between Emily and Jenni, the empty hallway and occasionally to Melanie and Marcus.
After what feels like minutes, Melanie slowly pulls away from their embrace. She runs her hands down the front of her dress and turns to face the mirror in the entranceway. Her index finger wipes away her smeared lipstick and she grabs our masks off the entranceway table.
“Now that that has been taken care of, let’s go and party,” she says casually, like she kisses a world famous bassists every day. She clasps her clammy hand around mine and quickly makes her way out the front door of the suite with a shocked and smiling Marcus following closely behind us.
“Have fun!” Emily and Jenni call out in sync.
Melanie remains quiet the entire time we ride the elevator, her eyes occasionally glancing over to Marcus who is standing in the corner smiling. Once the elevator dashboard signals that we are about to arrive at the second floor, we place our masks onto our faces. The Serena Scott Annual Gala Fundraiser is being held in the ballroom of our hotel. It is a masquerade ball, so all attendees are expected to be dressed in formal attire with a mask covering their face. The ticket sales alone will raise millions of dollars for people suffering with ALL. Slater has explained to me that Serena’s foundation was set up to assist people like me with no medical insurance. It pays for all their medical bills and assists paying for accommodation and living arrangements for the family members that are supporting their child or partner going through such a horrendous illness.
I am so proud of Slater and his family for starting this organisation. Anything that helps lessen the burden for these families is the greatest gift you could possibly give them. My treatment was aggressive and painful, not just physically, but emotionally. Because I was so young when I was first diagnosed, I did not have the option of storing any of my eggs before treatment needed to be commenced. When you are thirteen, you are not worrying about not being able to have children, you just want to live. But when I saw how much happiness Maddie and Jasper bring to Emily and Jenni’s lives my heart felt torn. I was angry and heart broken when I crossed number three of my list. Not just from not being able to have children, but because I knew I would never be able to finish my list with it on there. The chances of conceiving naturally after chemotherapy is low in general. So my chances of ever falling pregnant naturally are basically non-existent since I have suffered from ALL twice. When Slater said we would find a way to add it back onto my list, my heart nearly burst. He has never been shy in admitting that having kids scares the living shit out of him, so the fact that he was fully encouraging me to add it back on my list really proved to me how much he loves me.
Melanie and I follow Marcus to the auction registration table to sign up to become bidders for tonight’s auction. Several exclusive items supplied by ‘Rise Up’ will be auctioned along with other elaborate items. All the profits raised from the auction will go directly to researching if there are any links between ALL sufferers and certain chemical pesticides. With an increase of ALL patients coming from rural and remote areas, they believe there may be a link that some patients may have been overexposed to certain chemicals and that those chemicals may have contributed to their diagnosis.
“You need to show your paddle when you bid on any item,” the lady behind the desk explains sternly.
I giggle softly when she advises that my auction paddle number is sixty-nine. When she narrows her eyes angrily, I giggle even louder. You would think since I am twenty-four years old I should be more mature, but I’m not. When you have been through what I have been through, you never want grow up. I missed a large majority of my teens years as I was in hospital, so I figure I still have a lot of teenage rebellion that needs to be unleashed. Lucky for me, Slater is one of the biggest kids I know.
“Are you ready?” Marcus asks, his entrancing green eyes staring directly at Melanie. She smiles largely as she accepts the nook of his arm he is offering her.
I follow them down the magnificent wooden and wrought iron stairwell. The ballroom below is full to the brim with people. All the ladies are dressed in beautiful ball gowns. Some are full length like mine and others are short and sexy like Melanie’s. All the men are wearing tuxedos. Most are black in color, but a few more extravagant gentlemen are decked out in bright yellow, red and blue colors. My eyes eagerly dart around the space seeking Slater. We have been inseparable for the past six months and the four hours we spent apart today has been the longest we haven’t seen each other that whole time. There are hundreds of people milling around the floor that I take my time slowly running my eyes over them, while carefully walking down the stairwell, wanting to ensure I don’t trip on my long dress.
Once I finalize the last step, my heart leaps in my chest. The smile plastered across my face is so large my cheeks instantly hurt. The quartet that is assembled on the stage has just started performing ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift. My eyes water as they scan the area surrounding the stage seeking Slater. I know he has to be here somewhere.
“You get more beautiful every time I see you,” whispers his deliciously sexy voice behind me.
I turn around so fast I get a rush of dizziness and a few of my tears drop down my face. My eyes leisurely and appreciatively roam over his body starting at his black polished dress shoes. I slowly raise my eyes to inspect his perfectly tailored black tuxedo pants and black fitted jacket that is worn over a white dress shirt. A smile forms on my face when I notice his wonky black bow tie. He chuckles softly at my reaction. When my eyes finally settle on his beautiful face, I notice that he is wearing a black silk mask, making his piercing brown eyes appear darker than normal. My god he is gorgeous.
When I continue with my perusal, I suddenly intake a sharp inhale of breath that gets caught in my throat. My heart rapidly beats and my confused eyes seeks his gaze.
“Oh my god Slater, what happened?” I question shocked, before rushing towards him.
Chapter 33
Slater
I recognize Kylie the instant she starts her descend down the stairwell, even though her beautifu
l face is covered in a mask and her hair is several inches longer then it was when I had left her a few hours ago. I have memorized every single detail of her beautiful face and body, so I would easily be able to recognize her, whether she was wearing a fancy ball gown or a sack of potato’s. Her eyes slowly scan the crowd, no doubt seeking me. We have been inseparable the past six months and today is the longest we have been apart. You would think that I would hate being tied down, but I have loved every fucking minute of it. Being tied to Kylie is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m not just talking about those times in the bedroom.
I had originally planned on meeting her back at our hotel room, but decided to surprise her here instead. I silently stalk her as she slowly makes her way down the stairwell. Once she reaches the second last step, I signal to the quartet to start their performance. They are playing one of the corniest songs I have ever fucking heard in my life, but it is our song. Kylie told me she was singing it that morning as she was so deliriously happy, and for some reason unbeknown to me, it was me that made her that happy. She believes meeting me saved her, even though I know without a doubt that she is the one that is doing the saving. So even though I hate country music with a passion and you would never catch me dead listening to it on a standard day, I will happily play this song on repeat just to see the smile it forces on Kylie’s face every time she hears it.