Page 20 of Love Under Review

He picked Cari up, and they walked home, admiring the scenery along the way. They had at least around an hour before they’d have to be at the reception, mostly to let everyone get down from the pond and make sure the food was situated. Cari had been talking about nothing else for the past day than watching the bride and groom “cut a cake bigger than their faces.”

“How was Tasha? Did you like playing with her?” Liam bent down to see her reaction and grinned as the girl took on a look that was much older than her six years. Her hand on her hip and her lips puckered out gave off a sassy impression, and Liam had to bite his upper lip to keep from laughing.

“She was really fun, and I think she gets me. We played with some of her old dolls, setting up a tea party, and when you came, the dolls were waiting for someone to rescue them from the crazy lady holding them hostage.”

Liam’s head jerked to look at his niece, hoping she was joking. “What do you mean? Was that something Tasha came up with?”

Cari shook her head. “No, I did.”

Realization dawned as he remembered a section of a movie he’d been watching, a thriller, and he hadn’t known she’d hidden by the side of the couch. He grimaced at what Tasha might think about what he exposed his niece to. “Cari, that’s probably not the best thing to do. Next time, just play regular tea party, got it?” He stuck his thumb in the air.

She smiled, mimicking the action. “Okay. Did you have fun at the wedding?”

Liam’s thoughts turned to the encounter with Danielle, and he nodded with a smile. “Yeah, it was good to see Colton get married.”

“When are you going to get married, Uncle Liam? Wouldn’t that make you happier?” Her comments made Liam stop and turn. Kneeling on the cement sidewalk, he placed his hands on her shoulders, drawing her attention to how serious he looked at the moment.

Searching her face, he asked, “What makes you think I’m not happy?”

“Abbey at school says people are only happy if they’re married. I told her that’s not true, that my mom is always happy with me. But maybe that’s because she has someone. You don’t. I just wondered if you wanted to be happy.” She gave him a shy smile, watching his face for a reaction.

Pulling her into a hug, Liam held her for several seconds, realizing he probably needed it more than she did at that moment. When he pulled back, he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “Oh, Cari. I’m happy because I get to spend a lot of time with you.”

“But you don’t look happy when we’re visiting my mom.” Her tone of voice was sad, the sound whinier than he’d heard in a while.

Rubbing both hands over his face, Liam glanced at the sky, wishing he had the words to tell her everything that was going on inside him. “Your mom is very sick, and I have so many good memories with her that I hope she’s here long enough to make great ones with you.” He pointed to her chest, and Liam’s throat closed up as his eyes filled with tears.

“Why won’t she be around? I thought the doctors were going to do surgery and then she would just need to rest for a while. Where would she go if she’s not around?”

Pulling her back against his chest, Liam wasn’t sure how to answer those kinds of questions. “I’m not sure, Cari. We’ll just see where we’re at for the next few months.”

She seemed to be okay with that because she moved out of his grasp and started skipping down the road. Liam watched as she walked so similarly to his sister that she could have passed for Kara thirty years ago.

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. Seeing the number of the hospital made his heart skip a beat. “Hello, this is Liam Pearson.”

“Liam, this is Dr. Marcy. We got some tests back on your sister, and this is worse than we thought it would be. The cancer metastasized into several other organs, including her liver and one kidney. Can you come right away? We need to go over a game plan of how we want to take this on.” She paused on the line. “I apologize that we didn’t give you this news sooner. The specialist has been out until today and just looked at the exam results.”

Liam’s brain had to process all of that before he said, “Yes. I’ll be right there.”

After hanging up, he picked up Cari and threw her over his shoulder, jogging the last few houses to home.

“Why are you running? What’s wrong with my mom?” Cari giggled and looked up at him with curious eyes as he finally put her down.

Shaking his head, Liam said, “The doctors just need to talk to us about some things they found on your mom’s tests. I need to change, and then we’ll drive over and see your mommy. How does that sound?”

Cari nodded, mumbling something about what she could take to her mother. As Liam thought about the conversation, he realized how important it was to keep the panic he felt inside him, not wanting to distress his niece. He could only imagine the outcomes now. They would be doing surgery on the tumors in her leg, but how had they not caught the ones in her kidney and liver until now? How could things change so quickly?

Liam raced downstairs after pulling on a comfortable pair of jeans and a maroon t-shirt, already feeling more comfortable than he had in the black suit he’d been wearing. He took the stairs two at a time and grabbed a small bag of cheese crackers for Cari to munch on during the drive. She’d need food since it was nearing dinner time, but Liam wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible, hoping to get rid of the anxiety packing itself together tighter and tighter like a snowball.

Before putting the car into drive, Liam sent a text to Colton, knowing he probably wouldn’t get it until later that evening.

It’s Kara. I’m sorry about the speech.

He pulled out, trying to go a normal speed, when a text sounded. Pressing the button on his screen, the car read him the text as he weaved down the road leading down to the highway.

No worries. I’ll make sure it gets taken care of.

In his mind, Liam said a prayer that everything would turn out. He just hoped it wasn’t too late for his sister to recover from this.

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