A Second Chance Read Online Free PDF Page B

he
opened the door and walked into the house. The kids were putting
away the last of the condiments and wiping down the table. Kathy
stood at the counter, a cup of coffee in her hand, and watched him
walk through the door.
    “ Hey guys.” He forced a
smile.
    “ Hey, Dad. Where have you
been?” Eduardo, the most observant, was the first to
ask.
    Carlos took a deep breath and set his
keys on the counter. He kissed Kathy gently on the lips and gave
her a look to say thank you and then he turned to his children. All
eyes were now on him. All movement had stopped. He pulled a chair
out from under the table and sat down. He nodded to Kathy to do the
same, and the kids followed suit.
    “ Before I even begin this
conversation with you, I want to start by saying everything is
okay.” He made eye contact with all of them. “Do you understand?”
Three sets of dark eyes kept on him as they nodded.
    “ Your mom isn’t on vacation.
She had surgery today and she didn’t want you to worry about
her.”
    “ She’s sick, isn’t she?”
Eduardo slapped his hands down on the table. “She’s run-down and
the other day she had a fever. She’s really, really sick,
huh?”
    Carlos placed his hand atop Eduardo’s
and nodded. “She’s very, very sick.” He saw Clara’s eyes begin to
pool and soon the tears had fallen. He reached for her and she
climbed up on his lap. “She doesn’t want you to worry about her,
and she’d be sad if she knew you were.”
    “ What’s wrong with her?” The
question came from Christian, who usually sat quietly.
    Again, Carlos took a deep breath.
“Your mom has breast cancer.”
    “ Oh, God!” Eduardo’s eyes
filled with tears.
    Christian pushed from the table and
went to his room.
    “ Listen, that’s why she had
surgery. Hopefully, they got all of the cancer and she’ll be fine.
She’ll have another procedure in a few days to take out some tubes
they had to leave in there. She’ll have to go through chemo, and
then she’ll have some reconstruction done.” Kathy lifted her hand
to her chest and batted away tears he saw lingering in her eyes. He
looked at Clara. Her face was creased with confusion. Eduardo’s
face, on the other hand, was set in anger. He understood that. He
was angry with Madeline for not telling him the truth. He was mad
at Matt for leaving her. And he was pissed off at the cancer for
attacking the woman he loved. “But for now she’s in the hospital
and they’re keeping a close eye on her.”
    “ Why wouldn’t she tell us?
That’s not fair. She can’t do this to us.” Eduardo shook his head
squeezed his hands into fists, popping his knuckles as he did
so.
    “ She’s scared. She found out
she had cancer the day after Matt left. She feels that if you know
she’s sick you’ll treat her differently. All she wants to do is
take care of you. But now she needs us to take care of her. We’re
all going to help her through this.”
    “ Your dad is right. We’re
all going to help her,” Kathy added.
    Carlos smiled through his pain. “Thank
you. You sure are amazing.”
    “ I want to see her,” Clara
whispered against his chest.
    “ You will. We’re going down
there to see her tomorrow. She’s going to be mad as hell at me for
it, but I don’t really care. She needs you, and once you’re there,
she’ll understand. I’m going to go call Grandma and Grandpa too.
They wanted to be here, but their flight was delayed until
tomorrow.” He kissed the top of Clara’s head. “Now I have to find
Matt. He really should know what’s going on.” Even if Matt didn’t
come to be with her—and that thought had Carlos’s blood
boiling.
    “ Mommy’s really lucky you
still love her so much,” Clara said. Carlos knew she didn’t mean
any harm in her comment, but his eyes darted toward Kathy’s and he
saw the flash of pain.
     

Chapter Three
     
    Carlos peeked around the door and
watched Madeline as she shifted to see him. He’d expected her to
look better,