Page 26 of Choosing Happily Ever After

Which was exactly what they did until once more, Hope felt her orgasm build deep inside her. This time, she cried out as the sensations washed over her, and Levi joined her in his own pleasure.

Afterward, exhausted and completely satisfied, Hope drifted off to sleep tucked up tight against Levi’s chest, his arm wrapped around her, keeping her safe.

Safe from everything except the phone call from the doctor the next morning that she’d somehow had managed to convince herself the evening before would never actually come.

ChapterEight

Hope

The call camein the next morning. But not right away. A detail that was both good and bad.

On the plus side, Hope got to wake up in Levi’s arms, pulled tight up against his body. A body that had spent the entire night loving her, and judging by what was pressed up against her back, was ready to love again. Morning sex was leisurely and lazy and oh so good, before Levi finally slipped away from her and left her to get ready for her day.

That was definitely the plus side.

The downside of not getting the call until she was sipping her coffee and flipping through notes about a bride who couldn’t decide on the music for her ceremony and wanted Hope to help her decide was that, by that time, Hope had completely forgotten about the impending phone call at all.

That changed the second the ring of her cell phone jarred through her internal debate on a popular country song for the walk down the aisle, or a less known instrumental accompaniment. In that instant, in vivid detail, she remembered.

For a moment, Hope stared at her phone and the flash of the incoming call and froze.

It could be good news.

She let it ring.

Maybe it could just go to voicemail.

The table vibrated under the phone.

Dammit.

Hope snatched up her cell and pushed the button to answer the call. “Hope Turner, Ever After Ranch.”

“Hope? This is Doctor Friesen.”

She knewthat.

“Hi, Doctor Friesen.” She forced a cheerfulness into her voice despite the pit of dread that had settled into the pit of her stomach. “What can I help you with this morning?”Maybe if she denied it to herself a little bit longer, it would all go away.

But of course it wouldn’t.

“I wanted to call you myself, Hope.” The doctor got right to the point. “The test results have come back.” He paused and that’s when she knew with certainty. She wasn’t going to like what he was about to tell her. “It’s cancer. I’m sorry, Hope.”

Cancer.

She didn’t hear anything else the doctor had to say because the only thing she could hear was that word. Cancer.Cancer.CANCER.

It roared in her head, bouncing around her brain until finally—silence.

It took her a second to remember she was on the phone with Doctor Friesen and he had clearly just said something. “I’m sorry,” she muttered before she realized how ridiculous it was for her to be apologizing given the circumstances.

“I understand,” he said kindly. “There’s no good way to get that news, Hope. I really am sorry. But I don’t believe in calling you in to meet with me to get the results when you need to know as soon as possible.”

She nodded despite the fact that he couldn’t see her. “That makes sense.”

“Okay. Now if you’re sitting down, we can go over a few things, okay?”

Once more, she nodded.

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