“Is that cause for concern? Is it because maybe she is going through a growth spurt and losing her baby fat?” Colin leaned forward, keeping his voice low.
“God, I hope that is all it is.” Jacob shifted in his seat. “We are due to see the pediatrician on Monday and he is going to run some tests on her.”
Colin’s eyes searched his and his mouth turned down, looking now just as grim as he felt.
Jacob tried to keep his composure. The last time he felt this type of fear was when he was sitting at the hospital beside athree-and-a-half-year-old Kaitlyn, willing her to live. “Don’t say anything yet to the rest of the family, I don’t want them worried and pestering me until I know what is happening. Besides, it is probably nothing, exactly what you said, she will be five soon and becoming a big girl.” Despite the sharp warning look he’d given Colin, he also showed his brother a weak smile. Hoping to convince them both that everything was okay.
Colin nodded, his expression dark. If anyone understood what he meant, it was Colin; he would get no peace if the Norris clan found out. Every uncle and aunty and their brothers would be on his doorstep trying to help him out.
“Why are the two of you looking so serious over there?”
Jacob froze and then gave Colin another silent look of warning. Rafe’s voice hung in the air, the loud conversation from the rest of the couch absent. He glanced at his brothers and saw the speculation shining in their eyes.
Colin eyed him and then shrugged, nonchalant. “Noth—”
“Good, you are all here.” The booming voice of their grandfather announced his arrival. Grandpa Norris was going deaf but refused to admit it; he had resorted to shouting, thinking no one could hear him.
His cane tap-tapped along the dark, rustic linoleum floor in his office. He was a tall, burly man, with white hair and beard that used to be the red he inherited from his Scottish mom. He too bore the iconic Norris blue eyes.
He sat behind his desk as all eyes turned to him. He nodded and smiled at the Norris men in the room, his eyes alight with love for all his grandchildren.
But it was clear his robust features looked tired and his ruddy color seemed pale. Jacob stiffened as a chill went up hisspine and he could tell by the set of Colin’s shoulders that he saw it too. Jacob swept his gaze over his brothers; all of them looked serious for once.
His grandfather was so full of life that it seemed like he would live a long time, but he was getting up there in age, celebrating his ninetieth birthday next year.
Jacob ran a hand through the back of his hair near his neck. Seeing Kaitlyn weaker lately and now this—there was a sense of foreboding, especially now he had a feeling his grandfather was about a drop a bomb.
Grandpa Norris took in a deep breath. “If you all want to inherit the Norris fortune, then you all have a year to get married and will get bonuses if you give me great grandbabies within the following year or even before. If not, you all will get nothing.”
All the air got sucked out of the room.
Chapter 2
Jacob felt like he was submerged in water. He could see the doctor’s mouth moving but his voice sounded muffled. At some point, the obscure noises stopped and the doctor stared at him, assessing.
His body flushed hot, then ran cold, his heart racing with fear.
The doctor cleared his throat loudly and leaned forward, almost resting his chest on the desk in his office. “Mr. Norris, did you hear anything I said?”
“Yes.” He responded abruptly, shooting the doctor an icy look.
The man just threw him into a black hole and expected him to respond. He was already a man of few words and when he did speak to his siblings or his staff; he expected his orders to be carried out without question and made no time for small talk.
But this news knocked the air from his lungs. The one thing a parent didn’t want to see was their child suffering, yet once again his daughter’s life was in jeopardy. This wasn’t like fighting the boogeyman in her closet; this was a disease, a monster he couldn’t scare away with nightlights and under-the-bed checks.
“I’m sorry, but—”
“Run the test again.” He cut the doctor off rudely, refusing to believe his findings. He set his mouth as he stared down Dr. Van, trying to intimidate the doctor into giving him the answers that he wanted.
Dr. Van stared back solemnly, his hands steepled on the desk. “I have. Results are still the same. And before you say you want a second opinion; I reached out to another specialist in this field. They reached the same conclusion.”
The doctor opened a file, pointing at several documents, the words merging together, making it impossible for Jacob decipher with fear taking over every part of his body and mind.
The doctor looked at him sympathetically and pulled the folder closer to himself. “Your daughter, Kaitlyn, has Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).” The doctor repeated the diagnosis when he’d settled into the chair, as if he hadn’t heard him the first time. His body felt like stone, but he somehow managed to nod. His bluster earlier, now gone.
“Her bone marrow is producing abnormal blood cells. The course of action for this type of cancer is chemotherapy.”
“But she is so young.” He blurted out in distress.
