Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Good morning, Ms. James. What brings you in?”
“Dr. Hilda Rock is expecting us.”
“Dr. Rock doesn’t open her clinic until nine a.m.,” the guard says.
“She’s meeting us at six. We’re scheduled for surgery at eight,” I tell him.
He nods, returns to his booth, looks at his clipboard, and returns. “Mr. James is behind you?”
“Yes,” I say, not surprised Quinn arranged to come through this entrance. The guard reaches into his booth and presses the button to raise the bar to let us through to the private garage used mostly by doctors.
“Used your name for this, I see.”
“Shut the fuck up, Brad.” Ben barks out. “You and mom just need to keep your mouths shut when it comes to Elle and who she is, who her dad is, or how much money she has. Just shut up.” I squeeze his hand. He doesn’t need this kind of stress ahead of his surgery.
The driver puts the car in park and comes around to Ben’s side to open the door. He gets out and keeps ahold of my hand. We wait a few minutes for Quinn to catch up, and as soon as my brother and Ben see each other, they hug. The magnitude of what’s about to happen isn’t lost on any of us. While Ben’s surgery seems routine, surgery is unpredictable.
Quinn says hi to Brenda and Brad, and then pulls me into a hug. “I’m beyond thankful you’re here. I don’t know if I can handle them by myself,” I whisper.
“No worries. Dad is coming later.”
I step back and apprise my brother. “Um . . . what about Plum?”
“First stop is Vegas. He’ll fly in and fly out. He wants to see Ben.” Quinn places his hand on Ben’s shoulder.
I nod and motion toward the door. I know we’d all rather shoot the shit in the parking lot, but that won’t do Ben any good. He needs to get that tumor out of his body before it does any more damage.
Upstairs, the nurse gets Ben into a room right away, and once he’s changed, she tells me I can go in. Except, his mom and brother come with me. I’m annoyed. I also know there isn’t anything I can do about it. Only Ben can.
Brenda fluffs Ben’s pillows and tucks the blankets in around his legs. Ben absolutely hates having the blankets tucked around him. When she’s done, Ben kicks the covers out and I chuckle.
“Good morning,” Dr. Rock comes in with a beaming smile.
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this, Dr. Rock,” I say as she stands at the end of Ben’s bed.
“Of course. It’s my pleasure to help. I am going to ask everyone to leave the room. This is for Ben’s comfort. The procedure itself will only take about ten minutes once we start.”
I tell Ben we’ll be in the waiting room and leave him with Dr. Rock. In the waiting room, Quinn sits and reads a magazine. When I come in, he puts it down and asks what’s wrong. “Nothing, he’s in with the fertility specialists.”
“For what?” Quinn asks.
“To harvest his sperm,” I look at my brother and shrug. “For Ben’s future.” Ben’s, not mine. Not ours.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Yeah. Ben wasn’t going to do it, but I insisted. He may get married someday and she might want to have kids. Now they can.” Quinn pulls me to his shoulder for comfort. I’m supposed to be the one Ben marries.
It’s an hour later when the nurse lets us know Dr. Rock has left Ben’s room and he’s asking for me. I go in there, with Brenda left pouting in the waiting room. I knock before entering. Ben’s in bed with the covers askew.
“Hey.”
“Do you want to know how it went?”
I laugh. “No, I think I have a clear picture of what happens.”
“I think I should’ve read the pamphlet or something. The stuff she showed me . . .”
“The natural way, huh?”
“It was hard to perform, like that,” he says, completely mortified.
“Well, it’s done.”
“Yeah. Listen, I know we didn’t talk about this, but I had to sign some papers about what happens to my junk if I die. I gave it all to you and said you or whoever can have kids with it if I die.”
I smile softly and run my hand through his hair. “You’re not going to die.”
“I might.”
I shake my head. “Not on my watch,” I tell him.
The nurse returns and gives Ben a cap to put on. My heart starts to race, knowing it’s almost time for him to go into surgery. When the orderly comes and starts releasing the brakes on Ben’s bed, I have to fight back the tears.
“Don’t cry,” Ben says, quietly.
Nodding. “I love you, Ben.”
“Love you, Elle.”
Thankfully, I’m allowed to hold Ben’s hand until we reach the doors for surgery. He cracks some joke and tells us when we see him again, he’ll be ballless. Brad laughs, but Brenda, Quinn and I don’t find the humor in it.