6:42 A.M. | Completed |

Part 19

She looked at us, just staring at us both, at a loss of words. My mom looked back and forth between the 2 of us, with nothing but an emotionless look spread across her whole body. Positioned straight up, looking forward, arms down by her sides, and her lips were neither frowning, nor smiling. Just standing there, as if we didn't even tell her yet. Then, she smiled.

"Listen up, I'm happy for you two. I really am. I just, I just thought Mary was lying and debating when she said she wasn't moving here. I guess I was just really excited for her to be here. You guys can go, run off wherever. I'll come by and visit sometime. Maybe not in 2 days or 2 months, but I'll be there soon. I'm glad you wanna be there. My little girl is growing up." she says and takes us both in for a big hug. 

"Yeah, I'm glad too." Nathan said and pet my moms hair.

Nathan's pov

Lori pulled away after about 10 seconds of embracing us both in one big hug. She seemed upset, unless she was crying tears of joy. I'm not so sure why she would be crying though, and she's not the one moving in. Why would she be crying happily? 

Supper time came, and I had a seat beside Mary who was sitting by Lori. Everything was going good. We decided we would stay here tonight since Lori was that upset that Mary was going with me to Colorado to be together. Later when supper was finished, Mary took me to her bedroom. We just lied down on her bed going through our social media, and I decided I was going to get a glass of water. As I was walking down the hall to the kitchen, I heard sniffling coming from the cracked bathroom door. It sounded like it was Lori, so I knocked.

Knock, knock, knock. Each of the little beats was soft, because I tried not to startle her. Of course, she didn't answer for a little while. So I spoke up. "Lori? Is that you?"

"Yes, dear. Do you need in here?" she asked me.

I lied and said yes, because I had to get her to come out somehow. As she was on her way out, she was looking down, probably trying to hide the lines of mascara that had fallen down her cheeks, and were very noticeable, staining her cheeks black.

"Hey," I stopped her, placing my arm in front of her so she couldn't walk any further. "Why are you so upset all of a sudden. I feel like we really shouldn't have told you about this whole moving in together thing." 

"No no, don't be sorry. It's not that you are moving in together. It's something else that I really am not ready to tell Marilyn yet." she said looking up at me.

As I predicted, the mascara from her eyes streaked down her face, and it made me feel a bit better knowing she wasn't crying because I had asked Mary to move in with me. "What is it? You can tell me. I'm not Marilyn." I tried convincing her.

"You can't tell her, though." she begged.

"I won't." I agreed.

"Okay. Well, last month I, uhh, I went to the doctor," oh no. No good can come from a sentence that begins with someone going to the doctor. "and they told me I was diagnosed with cancer. I have lung cancer, which runs in our family. And Nathan, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't think I'm gonna make it. And Marilyn has a possibility of getting it at an older age, which means you better protect her and spoil her as much as you can because if she doesn't get through it, you're... you'll be sorry."

Immediately, I started crying. Not just because Mary has a chance of developing this, but because her mom has it too, and I care a great deal about her. The sad part is that I can't tell Mary, because I told Lori I wouldn't. Mary is going to go through her mother having cancer when she finds out, and then she's going to go through herself having cancer. Most likely, she's going to get it if it runs in her family. I took Lori into a hug and said "It'll be okay, we are here to make sure you survive this horrible experience you're about to go through. But, I have to tell Mary. Either I will or you."

"I'm not ready yet. You can't tell her. You just can't." she pleaded and pulled away from the hug.

"I'll tell her we are staying here. I'll do it, but you have to tell her. You have to tell her tonight. We'll stay in that house you bought for her, and you can come over and visit anytime, and when you get in a condition, if you get in a condition where you can't travel or anything, we'll be right over. Just give us a call." I mentioned.

I went to the bathroom because I told Lori that I had to, and she would probably become suspicious if I didn't, and went to the kitchen to grab that glass of water that I came out to get. When I got back to the bedroom, Mary said "That took an awfully long time to get some water."

"Well, I ran into your mother, and she has something she needs to talk to you about." This was about to be a whole crying fiesta.