Read Online Cocoon by Emily Sue Harvey - Free Book Online Page A

conniption fit. I won’t have another. This ol’ girl’s gonna beat the stuffing out of the Big C. He don’t know who he’s tangling with.” She let out a victory woo-hoo.
    â€œHere’s to Billie Jean’s victory.” Barth raised his frosty glass.
    Two more lifted to clink in agreement.
    â€œTo victory,” they chorused.
    â€¢ • •
    True to her word, Billie Jean faced the following weeks and months like a trooper.
    She came ambling up the stairs on a frigid December morning, following her morning run. Her nose was still red and she was briskly rubbing her hands together to warm them.
    â€œGot any coffee?” she bellowed.
    â€œCome on in. There’s plenty.” Seana hustled to pour a cup and slide the cream toward her.
    â€œI know,” Billie Jean raised her hand to Barth. “No sugar.”
    â€œRight. Sugar feeds disease.” Barth sipped his coffee, watching her in a concerned way.
    â€œYou getting plenty of rest?” Seana asked, nibbling a veggie omelet.
    â€œHeck. I sleep like the dead,” she assured Seana. “What’s that rash on your cheek?”
    Seana reached up to touch it and shrugged. “I didn’t know it was still there. It usually comes and goes. It doesn’t hurt. Or itch that much actually. Maybe it’ll go away again. Some kind of allergy, probably.”
    â€œTry some calamine lotion,” Barth suggested, closely examining the rash.
    â€œI will.”
    â€œDang, but it’s cold outside.” Billie Jean shook her head of unruly chestnut curls. “I’d be surprised if we don’t see ice before the week’s over.” She sniffled and cast Brutus a look of scorn.
    â€œWimp,” she snarled at him across the den.
    Brutus licked his chops and burrowed even deeper into his warm, pillowed bed. He’d foregone his morning romp with Billie Jean. Smart dog, thought Seana, and smiled to herself.
    â€œHow’s the chemo going?” asked Barth.
    â€œOkay,” Billie Jean replied and took a huge slurp of hot coffee. “Thalidomide twice a day. Along with my 375 milligrams of aspirin to keep down blood clots.” She shrugged elaborately. “So far, so good.”
    â€œYou’re blessed having been diagnosed so early with the multiple myeloma.” Barth got up to refill cups.
    â€œYup.” Billie nodded in agreement. “No holes or cracks in my bones. At least not at that time.”
    â€œYour walking is going well, too,” Seana added. “I’m proud of you, Billie Jean, for your upbeat attitude.”
    â€œWell, the doc said that whatever I do, just don’t stop exercising.” Then she laughed heartily. “Last time I saw ’im, I said ‘doc, don’t ever use that F word again.’”
    Seana peered at her, a little shocked. “What?”
    Billie Jean chortled. “Doc asked if he’d said something dirty. I said , yeh, you did. You used ‘FALL.’ You told me that whatever I did, to not fall.”
    They all burst into laughter because one day after that medical warning, Billie Jean had tripped and fallen on the stairs, fracturing her ankle. “I’m just now getting back to brisk walking each morning. But I’m comin’ along just fine.”
    Seana warmed to the camaraderie in her kitchen.
    Yet, she wished her children would visit. Neither had visited in the past weeks and months.
    Barth caught her eye and smiled, bringing his dimples into play. She wondered again that he could read her so easily. He knew her heart. Silently, he pointed to himself then to her and winked. She got it.
    She smiled back.
    Together, they would make it.
    â€¢ • •
    Seana heard the doorbell ring that Saturday morning and rushed to answer it.
    She spied Zoe’s automobile through the window and her heart sped up as she flung the door open.
    â€œPeyton!” she squealed and hauled him into her