When Two Rivers Meet

Chapter Twenty

Carrie stared out of the window of her Mercedes, avoiding eye contact with Mike, who was driving.

"Carrie," Mike said through a huff, "we're going to have to start saving money."

"Money, Mike?" She turned to face him, her red eyes stared intently at him and fury arose in her. "Are you seriously worried about MONEY?"

"No!" He raised his voice a little bit, the married couple hadn't fought like this in quite some time and they were both releasing their emotions into this conversation. "What I'm saying is that we need money for the bills and food and we have to put money aside for Isaiah! We have to budget." Mike pulled into their driveway and angrily took the keys out of the ignition. "Life isn't fair!" He shouted, hitting his steering wheel and beginning to cry.

Carrie unlocked her seat belt and got out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut. She stormed into the house with tears rolling down her face.

"What have I done?" He cried harder, knowing everything was slowly falling apart and fighting with his wife wasn't the solution to any problem.

He let himself cool down before entering the home, finding Carrie with her head in her hands on the couch, crying uncontrollably.
"Baby, I'm so sorry," Mike walked over to Carrie and wrapped his arms around her, trying his best to comfort her. "I didn't mean to yell it was the heat of the moment and-"

"Mike." Carrie softly said through her sniffles. "That's not why I'm crying. I'm sorry too but... This is really hitting me now." Her body ached as she stared into Mike's blue eyes. "Isaiah has a tumor in his brain.. Cancer, Mike. He's going to have to go through chemo... He's going to lose his hair... He's going to pass away, like the doctor said. There's nothing we can do except pray that the chemo works. I never thought his would happen to him!" Her last sentence was followed by more tears. Hearing that from Carrie opened Mike's eyes. Soon, his little boy would be gone if the chemo failed. He hugged his wife again, but this time crying with her, perhaps harder.

"We can get through this together," he told her as he moved her hair out of her face and wiping the chunks of mascara away. "No more fighting, just love, between us and our son."