One In A Million (Book 3 of 4) (Justin Bieber Love Story) ✔️

Chapter 3: Cancer

- 37 Weeks Pregnant -

I held Justin's hand the entire way to my moms house. My gut was telling me that this wasn't just a happy visit but I was doing my best to put that thought behind me.

When we finally got there I noticed the shiny new car parked. And by 'shiny new' I meant old but not yet rusting.

Cody's new ride I assume.

Great... If the wedding hadn't gone the way it had I would almost be scared to have Justin in the same room as him.

But Justin had no hesitation when he practically jumped out of the car and ran to my side to open the door for me before I had the chance to do it myself.

I rolled my eyes as he held his arm out and bent in a small bow, "You're a dork."

He laughed and closed the door behind me, pressing the button on his key to set the car alarm then taking my hand to walk up to the front door. He got there just before me and knocked. Although it used to be my house, it didn't feel right to walk right in. Who knows if Darcy, or even Cody and Ben, walked around nude.

When the door opened and I was suddenly met face to face by Cody I almost jumped.

He smiled at me, "Hey," he began then looked at Justin and his smile faded a little, "Come in."

I slipped my hand out of Justin's and we followed Cody into the door. Justin kicked off his shoes quickly then let me hold onto him for balance so I could slip off my flats. As I did I stumbled back and both the boys reached out to grab me. I reached for Justin and steadied myself and Cody sheepishly took his hand back.

Then my mom poked her head around the kitchen arch and grinned, "Baby!"

I laughed and stumbled past the boys, throwing myself into my moms extended arms. She laughed and rubbed my back.

"I've missed you," She gushed, "It's been way too long."

"I know," I replied, burying my face into her neck, "I'm sorry it's been so long."

She laughed and then let out a long, wet cough, "That's okay. Just come visit me more often." Then she pulled back and I turned to see Justin and Cody both watching us, "Come in."

As we walked through the room and past Darcy, I could feel the tension between all of us. Everybody was staring at me and Justin like they were waiting for us to explode or something.

Maybe they were waiting for me to explode.

"Help me with dinner?" Mom asked.

I quickly nodded and followed her into the kitchen.

******

As we sat down to eat my mom sighed and let out another deep cough that practically knocked her off her feet. Darcy was there to hold her up but that was when I noticed he hadn't gone far from her.

It also made me realize that nobody was acting like themselves. They all looked sad and depressed.

"What's going on?" I mumbled to the family as Darcy helped my mom into her seat.

She looked up at me and for the first time I noticed the deep purple bags under her eyes and her dry, cracking lips. Darcy had dark circles too, but not quite as bad as my moms.

"I guess you figured out that we didn't ask you to come for nothing,"

I stared at Darcy as he spoke, one hand on my moms shoulder an she took long deep breaths, trying unsuccessfully to regain a regular breathing pattern.

"I've got cancer."

My breath caught in my chest and my heart started racing.

That's not possible.

"It's in my lung and inoperable."

I slowly began shaking my head, "That's impossible." Breathing was hard enough already, now I was barely managing to get enough air in my lungs to speak, "You've never smoked a day in your life. How can you have lung cancer?"

I watched her as she slowly shook her head, "I'm not sure."

I felt Justin reach over and take my hand and I realized that he was losing my mom too. I gave his hand a small squeeze and sighed, along a second to take a breath before asking the question that was hanging in the air between us all, "Is it bad?"

She wheezed a little but eventually spoke, "It's not good." She glanced up at Darcy then sighed, "I'm a stage 3. The cancer is still localized in my lungs but the treatment is expensive and we don't have the money."

"We do," Justin squeezed my hand back and looked at my mom, "We'll pay."

I saw my moms expression shift from depressed to shocked. She began to shake her head, "I'm not taking your money, Justin."

"You're my family now, Stephanie." I could tell by the slight quiver in his tone that he was getting emotional, "And that's what I do for family."

She sighed and then dropped her gaze, turning her head to look at Darcy and shrugging, "I don't know."

"Take it," Darcy whispered, placing his hand on her leg, "He's right. You're his mother in law." Then in an attempt to make the mood lighter he added, "And Serrina would never let him live it down if he didn't offer."

I smiled and nodded, "He's very right." I looked at Justin and gave his palm a little squeeze, reassuring him, "Don't turn this down. Please."

I saw her hesitation but then Darcy gave her leg a quick squeeze and she nodded, "Okay. But if it isn't helping we stop."

I smiled, "It'll help."

The table was surrounded with happy faces as we all talked more about it and what the treatment would be like. As with most chemo, she'd probably loose her hair and be sick a lot, but her doctor had mentioned that he was hopeful with her that it would improve her chances.

We agreed to start the treatments soon so Darcy had promised to make sure she would call in the morning.

And although my main thoughts were that she had cancer and was going to get better, in the back of my head, I was thinking of the worse possible scenario.

My mom had cancer. Stage 3 lung cancer at 32 years old.

What a joke.