Christian pushed around the cereal in his bowl. “You really have to go for three weeks?”

Madeline watched him as he tried to act uninterested, but that wasn’t Christian. His heart was always on his sleeve. “You’ll be with your dad and Kathy. You’ll be fine.”

He only nodded his head.

Clara smeared jelly on her toast. “He said I can hold Tyler on Saturday. Aunt Regan and Uncle Zach are going out to dinner, and we’re watching him.”

“You be careful with him,” Madeline warned.

“I will be.”

Eduardo shuffled through the kitchen. “Well, sunshine. Glad you could join us.” She turned to kiss his cheek.

His eyes shot open, and he took a step back. “Wow, Mom! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’re burning up.” He put the back of his hand to her head as if she were a child. “Maybe you’d better go back to bed.”

“I’ll lie down when you all get on the bus.” She forced a smile through the sickness that was taking over her body. “Do you have your presents for your teachers? It’s the last day before break. There isn’t a second chance to get them to them before Christmas.”

“Yeah, Mom.” Eduardo nodded and continued with his worrying. “Why don’t you call Matt and see if he can come over and take care of you while I’m at school. He could at least do that much for you.”

She was sure that if a breaking heart could make a sound, they’d have heard it. She forced a smile to her lips to ward off his worry. “I’ll be fine. I have the day off. I can rest. Sit down and eat your breakfast.”

Cancer had turned her into a liar. Every day she waited for her nose to start growing like Pinocchio’s. She’d even called her parents and asked them to fly to Nashville so she could have a routine surgery. When her mother had asked what routine meant, Madeline told her she was having a growth removed. The lie had some merit—she didn’t want to upset her parents. Her mother had agreed, but then had gone on talking about the vacation they wanted to take. She’d never even asked what kind of surgery. Madeline only hoped they’d get there in time.

Christmas was a blur. She and Carlos had shared their time with the kids between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

The morning after Christmas, she took the kids to Carlos’s house and waited in the driveway for them to get all of their things from the car.

Carlos appeared at the back door and waved. She plastered on another fake smile and waved back. “I think they brought the whole house.”

“We’ll try to keep track of it all,” he laughed as Clara walked toward him. “Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”

That was so Carlos. He was her best friend in the world, and she couldn’t tell him what she was going through. Her skin chilled under her heavy coat. “No. I have to finish packing.”

“Send us a postcard.”

She nodded, kissed her kids good-bye, and drove away in tears.

Her parents hadn’t made their flight, and she’d been forced to call her boss and ask for the biggest favor any employee could request. She needed a ride to the hospital at four the next morning and would have to have her there until she was wheeled into surgery. By then her parents should be there and everything would work out.

Sylvia, her boss, was an expert with all the paperwork and helped her understand what it was she was signing. She was also an expert on the process and she did everything she could to keep Madeline calm, but it wasn’t working very well.

The check-in process took an hour, then they escorted her to a room. As the sun came up the nurses prepped Madeline for surgery. In a few hours they would go in and remove the cancer along with her breasts. Swallowing hard, she tried to relax. As long as she was able to remain on the Earth and have her children, she didn’t care what she looked like.

Dr. Curtis Keller slung his commuter bag over his shoulder and rubbed his eyes. He’d been at the hospital for thirty-six hours. It was time to go home and crawl into bed for the next three days. He stepped back from the elevator to let the nurses push the gurney toward surgery and then he stepped into the elevator, only to step back off.

He watched as they pushed the gurney through the doors to surgery and he turned back toward the desk. There on the wall was the surgery schedule for the day. M. CARSON was written under Dr. Martin.

“Samantha.” He leaned on the desk and gave a slow wink to the nurse who sat in front of a computer. “Hey, what’s Martin got going on this morning?”

Knowing she could get in trouble, she rolled her chair closer to and leaned in. “Mastectomy.”

“Shit,” he whispered. “Mr. Carson? Is he in the waiting room?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anyone here. A woman was with her when they checked in and said that Ms. Carson’s parents should arrive before she’s out of surgery.” She held up a finger and rolled back to the computer. With a few keystrokes, she opened the file and quickly closed it. “Mr. Carson is not listed on her paperwork. Next of kin is listed as Carlos Keller.” She knit her brows together. “Relative of yours?”

“You certainly could say that.” He reached out and touched her arm. “Hey, I owe you one. Dinner this week?”

“Can’t. Catch me next week.”

“Deal.” He turned toward the waiting room.

Matt Carson wasn’t anywhere. Curtis shook his head and pulled out his cell phone. The family waiting area was one of the only places his cell phone was allowed.

The phone rang in his ear and before his brother could even mutter the word hello, he was firing off questions. “Carlos, hey, where’s Madeline?”

“What? She’s out of town for a few weeks. The kids are staying with me.”

He gave a cluck with his tongue and shook his head. He’d known Madeline as long as Carlos had, and he knew what she was doing. She didn’t want anyone worrying about her, but she’d once married into the wrong family for that. “Can you get down here to the hospital?”

“Okay, bro, you’re freaking me out. What the hell is going on?”

Curtis rubbed the tension out of his neck then scrubbed his hand over his face. “Listen, I don’t want to freak you out, but…” He blew out a breath. “Madeline was just wheeled into surgery.”