“This isn’t going to work if you hide your feelings from me. You hold me when I cry, let me hold you.”
Lincoln didn’t bother to deny it. He crawled onto the bed, wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her just belowher breasts and let the tears flow. All the while Addison ran her finger through his hair and talked soothing words. He ended up falling asleep, and when he woke, he felt a whole lot better.
“Better?”
“Yes. I should apologize, but I have a feeling there’s going to be a whole lot of that before we reach the end.”
“As long as you share it with me, I don’t mind,” Addison said, then sighed. “Who do we call to let them know?”
“How do you want to do it? I can call Burt and have him tell everyone, you could call Brian.”
“Or can we have the surgery tomorrow and when I’m released to go home, we go to the clubhouse together and tell everyone together. Invite Brian and my employees to the clubhouse.”
“How we going to do that? That will be past the forty-eight hours.”
“Call Greaser and ask him to come in. We’ll tell him our plan and have him set it up.”
“We could do that. He’s supposed to stop by here after work today.” They looked up at a knock on the door and Greaser stood there.
“Hey,” they all said at once. He walked across the room and kissed her on the forehead. “Hey, Ad. Want some wings?” He grinned as he picked up a white plastic bag. “Or fingers?” He took out two white boxes and opened them. The men laughed when she reached for a chicken finger. As she ate, Lincoln told him the results and their plans. He agreed to do as they wished and asked questions of Addison about her employees. When he finally left, he reassured her that he would take care of everything. He only asked that if she didn’t get out on the day they planned, to let him know.
*****
Three days later, Lincoln shut off his truck and looked over at his wife. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She sighed. She was so sore she could barely move, but needed to do this. It made her happy when she learned that Dr. Knight was able to keep her breasts, but she still had stitches and couldn’t wear a bra. She had opted to wear one of Lincoln’s button-up shirts that was loose and non-restricting. Lincoln got out and hurried around to help her down. He ended up lifting her and carrying her all the way to the door. He set her down gently and took her face in his hands and gently kissed her.
“How we going to do this when people want to hug you?” Lincoln asked.
“Greaser called when you went out for coffee and asked that very question. He said he’d tell everyone that I was still sore from the biopsy, and I was to be hands off.”
“Good. I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more of him in the months to come.”
“Me too,” Addison said, and took his offered hand. They both took deep breaths as they walked into the clubhouse. They weren’t noticed right away, but when they were the music suddenly shut off, and everyone turned to stare at them.
“Hi,” Addy said to break the silence. She gripped Lincoln’s hand and when he looked at her she nodded, and he gingerly helped her over to the bar and onto a bar stool. Thank goodness there was a back on it and she could relax. She looked at Lincoln and he nodded. They had decided that she would start.
Addy looked around and saw that all the club members, their wives and girlfriends and her employees were there. Her lawyer was even there with Brian.
“I’m sure you’re all waiting for the results of the tests.” Addy began. “I got the results three days ago, we’re sorry we didn’t tell you earlier, but we wanted everyone together to say this once. Burt, Mary, thank you for allowing my employees to be here.”
“No problem, Addy, I’m speaking for everyone here to let you know that we’re here for whatever you need.”
“Thank you. Four days ago, the results came in. It is cancer, stage two, in both breasts. Three days ago, the tumors were removed. They were able to save my breasts, but as of now, I’m still all stitched up. When I gain more weight, I’ll start chemotherapy. Dr. Knight said that it’s going to be a powerful regime. At this time, he doesn’t see the need for radiation. That will come later, depending on the results of the chemo. I know what I’m about to face. My mother went through this when I was younger and I was her primary caregiver.” She paused to look at her husband and reached out to grip his hand in hers.
“Lincoln’s going to need all of you to help him stay sane as we go through this. There will be days that I will be miserable and yell at him for no reason other than I’m in pain. So, if something happens that he calls you and wanting to talk, please let him vent.”
“Jesus, Addison.” Lincoln sighed. “This is about you, and your needs. Not mine.”
“You’re going to have days where you don’t think you can handle it, you’ll want to rant and rave and scream at the world. But you won’t want me to know that you’re not handling it very well. Remember, we are in this together. This isn’t just my journey, it’s also yours. You’re going to need your brothers and sisters. I’m just asking them to be there for you.”
“For you too, Addy.” Mary stepped forward and took her hand in hers. “If Abe calls one of the guys, we’ll come and relieve him. We’re all in this together.”
“Thank you.” Addy said, and saw that she really meant it.
It was starting to get tense in the room, and it was Brian that made everyone laugh to break the mounting tension. “Girlfriend, I’ll be there for you for anything you want, but I refuse to shave my head to match yours. I like my hair.”
Addy snorted a laugh because Brian was actually shaved bald. Everyone looked at him and burst out laughing and it broke the tension. She and Lincoln answered all the questions as best they could and Addy answered work questions.
