“I-I was in a taxi,” she sputtered, gaping at the two men leaning back against the wall next to Annabelle’s apartment door. They were two gorgeous men, so masculine they made her heart ache.
Lord, she’d missed them. She loved them so much.
“That so?” Dan said quietly as he pulled the bag from her hand and reaching in grabbed the keys. Damn man managed to find them straight away of course. He opened the door and walked inside, without waiting for an invitation.
“You wouldn’t have to take a taxi if you hadn’t left your car at the train station, now would you?” Jake drawled, straightening and with a gentle hand against her back, pushed her inside the apartment after Dan.
“It’s not my car,” she said numbly, not thinking.
“Not yours?” Jake’s voice went icy, quiet, and she swallowed heavily, knowing she was in trouble. Dan knew it too. He raised his eyebrow as he took her hand and led her to the couch. “Not yours? Everything we own is yours. You. Are. Our. Wife.”
When she was seated, Dan pulled over the foot stool and placed her feet on top of it, his gesture so caring and loving, she felt tears rise.
“Why are you being nice to me?” she asked him.
“Because I love you. And because I know you have a real good reason for what you did.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Jake growled. “Because I don’t expect you’ll be wanting to sit on that butt for the next month.”
She gulped again, knowing the threat was very real.
“Right, baby girl. I suggest you get talking. I want to know exactly why you left and what is wrong with you,” Dan said firmly.
“How did you find me?”
“Doesn't matter,” Jake growled. “Now tell your husbands, the men you're not supposed to lie to or leave, what is wrong with you. You're ill, aren't you? We want to know what the hell is going on, Mari.”
Mari winced at the anger in his voice, knowing it was entirely justified. She’d left them, hurt them. She could see it in their faces. Jake was pale, exhausted. Dan had new lines on his face, as though the stress of worrying about her had given him wrinkles.
What had she been thinking? Leaving them? Had she really thought they’d just let her go?
Mari sighed, she supposed she hadn’t been thinking things through at all; she’d been too full of panic. And now it was time to pay the price of her foolishness.
She shifted a little in her seat, as if she was already feeling the discomfit of a sore bottom.
“I-I have breast cancer.”
“What?” Dan went pale. Jake stopped pacing and just stared at her.
“Breast cancer?” Jake repeated. She nodded, blinking back tears.
“Y-yes. I found a lump and they did an ultrasound and a biopsy. It’s cancer.”
“Have they done an MRI?” Jake asked tensely.
She nodded. “Yes, it was caught early on and it’s very localized. I’m lucky.”
“When's the operation?” Dan asked. “Did they suggest a mastectomy?”
“Please say you’re having one,” Jake near begged her.
“Because it was caught so early the doctor thinks a lumpectomy would be sufficient. That way we could save my breast. It would mean weeks of radiation therapy, though.”
“Shit.”
Jake ran his hand through his hair. “I want to talk to this doctor. I want to know exactly what his reasoning is. What if it comes back?”
Mari could feel his panic, his fear. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid.