This story is about breast cancer. I know for some it might be difficult if not impossible to read. I understand. I’m not one who likes to give or get spoilers but there are times when they are appropriate. Should you need to know any details before you make the decision to read this please contact me.

Chapter Sixteen

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Honey was just finishing up the job description for the new investigator their agency wanted to hire. Time was precious right now with Trixie’s chemotherapy beginning next week. Earlier in the week they decided it would be a wise investment to hire a headhunter to find appropriate applicants for the position. It would save them time weeding through applicants. The headhunter would also have contacts that Honey and Trixie wouldn’t.

Honey had been in contact with Trixie all week developing both job descriptions. She had picked Trixie and Jenny up yesterday morning and after dropping Jenny and Stella at the day care, they had worked hard on the job description and presentation they would make to Jim later in the day. Trixie had managed to work about six hours before finally having to take a break. She even managed to make some headway in organizing her files so that someone other than she could find things.

Honey was going to fax the job description to the placement agency this morning. Hopefully, by the end of the day she would have a contract ready to be signed by the agency. She knew that next week would be very hectic and unpredictable and hoped that by the end of next week they would have at least a couple of potential candidates for the position.

She and Trixie had made an appointment with Brenda to meet with Jim at 1:00 today. Trixie was going to spend the morning at home resting. After eating take out at Trixie’s, they’d head over to the Academy.

Trixie’s morning was not going as smoothly as she had hoped. Lizzie did not want to get going this morning and it was all Trixie could do to not lose her temper. By the time Matt and Lizzie left for the bus, Trixie was ready to pull each and every one of her curls out of her head. Jim, sensing that Trixie needed some time to herself, quietly got Jenny ready to go to the daycare.

When Jim had Jenny bundled in her snowsuit, he brought her into Trixie so she could kiss her good-bye before he left for the morning. Trixie then wrapped her arms around both Jim and Jenny and placed a kiss on Jim’s lips. “I’ll see you early this afternoon for our appointment. Honey is coming over here for lunch and then we’ll head up to the school.”

“Are you going to give me any hint as to what you want to see me about?”

“Nope, Honey and I want to make sure we do this right when we present our idea.”

Jim reached down and tugged on an errant curl that hung over Trixie’s forehead. Suddenly tears filled Trixie’s eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong? I’m a patient man. I can wait until this afternoon to find out what you and Honey have up your sleeves.”

All of a sudden the waterworks began and Trixie couldn’t stop crying. Over the past few weeks Jim had seen Trixie give in to her tears more times than he would have ever imagined. For the most part he knew it was good for her not to bottle up her feelings and he never got impatient with them.

By now Jenny was getting heavy and starting fuss. She really didn’t like having her snowsuit on and was now getting very hot. Jim knew that he needed to tend to Trixie and having Jenny around as a distraction was not the most desirable alternative. Jim quickly called Moms, who dropped everything and came over to pick up Jenny. Glad for an excuse for a grandmoms’ day, Moms decided to take Jenny back to Crabapple Farm instead of to daycare.

Once Moms had left, Jim led Trixie to the den. They sat down in one of the sofas that looked out over the game preserve. He put his arm around her and held her for a few moments. Finally he asked, “Can you tell me what brought that on?”

Trixie sniffed and began, “When you pulled on my curls, I suddenly realized that by this time next week you may not have any of my curls to pull. What happens if my hair isn’t the same as it is and it’s stick straight?”

Jim reassured her. “As much I love your curls, I would trade all of them for you to be cured of cancer.”

Trixie tried to smile but had a hard time mustering one. “But as much as they have been my nemesis, all my life these curls kind of define who I am, wild and difficult to tame.”

Jim just held Trixie for a few more minutes. Up until now he hadn’t even thought about Trixie losing her hair when she started her chemotherapy. Tugging on her curls had become an intimate and uplifting act that had become an important part of his life. “I don’t know what to say, Trixie. I can’t imagine what it will be like, but I’d be willing to shave my head to try to see.”

“Don’t you dare shave that red hair of yours!” Trixie cried. “I would die if you did that. One billiard ball in the family is enough.”

Suddenly a thought occurred to Jim. “Speaking of that, do you want to go and get fitted for a wig tomorrow before the chemotherapy starts?”

Trixie didn’t reply right away. Slowly she turned and looked into Jim’s eyes. “I’ve given this a lot of thought and decided that I’m just going to go bald. If Melissa Ethridge can go bald then so can I. I just don’t want to be hassled with a wig and anyway, anything I pick out will look fake to those who love me. I’ll just wear hats when appropriate.”

The two of them sat for several minutes without saying anything. It seemed like they were doing a lot of that lately. The silence was comfortable. They knew each other so well that they had become masters of communicating without words.

Finally, Trixie spoke, “Hey, it’s getting late. Don’t you think you’d better get up to the Academy? I hear you have a very important meeting this afternoon and if I know Brenda there’s a stack of papers that need to be reviewed before lunch.”

Reluctantly, Jim stood up, pulling Trixie with him. Together they walked into the kitchen and then the hallway where Jim pulled on his coat and hat. “Take it easy this morning. I’ll be anxiously waiting to hear what you and Honey are up to.”

“You’ll know soon enough,” she replied. “Would you mind taking your car up to the Academy today? I really want to walk up there but I’m not sure how I’ll feel after we’re done with our meeting.”

Jim bent down and placed a tender kiss onto Trixie’s lips and then tenderly embraced her. “Anything for you, Shamus.”

Trixie hadn’t been fooled by Jim’s attempt to brush off the importance of her curls to him. She headed back to the den and sat down pondering what she could do. She decided she needed to preserve Jim’s favorite curl until a new one grew back. After much contemplation, she knew that she wanted to place it in something that Jim could carry in his pocket but wouldn’t be too bulky. Something that Jim could pull out and touch when the need arose. She wanted something that would be sturdy enough to protect the curl so a fabric pouch wouldn’t work.

Trixie glanced at her watch and realized that Honey would be here within a half an hour, and she hadn’t even showered yet. She’d have to think about it later; now she had to get ready. She wanted to look her most professional and not let Honey or Jim down.

Honey arrived loaded down with sub sandwiches and their proposal. While they ate, they went over the final details and discussed how they would present it. When all of the details had been worked out they headed up to the Academy.

“Do you mind walking?” Trixie asked. “I just really want to get some fresh air. By the time the kids get home at night, I’m usually beat.”

“It’s a good thing I brought my snow boots. Do you have an extra backpack I can put my shoes in?”

Honey and Trixie made their way up to the Academy. The sun was out and the walk wasn’t too difficult. Jim always made sure the path from their home to the Academy was cleared of snow. Most days he walked up to the school and many days Matt and Lizzie would join him after they got off the bus. The two friends walked in silence enjoying the beauty surrounding them.

“I’m getting old,” said Trixie slightly out of breath from climbing up the hill. “I keep remembering how we used to go between Crabapple Farm and the Manor House several times a day usually running at full speed and not even breaking a sweat, much less breathing hard.”

Honey, too, was a little out of breath. “Yeah, but that was almost twenty years ago. We’ve both had kids and you just went through major surgery. I still think you could take on just about any student at the Academy and give him or her a run for their money.”

Soon they were entering the main building of the school. Trixie hadn’t been up to the school since the day they had told the students about her cancer. As they entered the school Diana was leading a group of first graders to her art room. When the students saw Trixie they ran over and embraced her in a group hug.

“Mrs. Trixie, Mrs. Trixie we missed you!!!”

Trixie tossed her curls and laughed as tears formed in her eyes as well. “I missed you, too.” She bent down and hugged each child individually. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Jim walking down the hall to check out the commotion. Honey walked over to Jim and gave her brother a big hug.

“I don’t know who missed who more,” Honey said.

Jim returned Honey’s hug. “I didn’t tell anyone you were coming up here today. I wanted to surprise the kids.”

Trixie eventually was able to break away from the kids. “I’ll try and stop by all of the classes after I’m done with my meeting with Dr. Jim. I’m not making any promises though because if I get tired Dr. Jim is really strict about me taking a nap.” She winked at the kids before walking down the hall with Jim and Honey.

Once they were in Jim’s office, Trixie and Honey went about their presentation. As excited as she was about the idea, Trixie demonstrated extreme patience and controlled her enthusiasm. Honey explained how much of a benefit it would be to have someone come in for a couple of hours a day to take care of the clerical side of the business. That would leave her more time to work directly on cases. As no one was sure how much work Trixie would feel like doing over the next few months, they also explained about hiring another investigator.

Trixie had done some preliminary research regarding the legalities of students from the Academy earning money. It appeared that as long as they were paid a fair wage and did not work over 20 hours a week when school was in session that they wouldn’t run into any child labor problems.

Honey took over and discussed the effects one student earning money might have on the other students. The students’ basic needs were taken care of as far as clothing and books. While all of the students had toys and games to keep them occupied in their free time, hand-held video games, MP3 Players and other electronics were not among them. Honey offered suggestions on balancing saving money with allowing the worker the opportunity to spend part of their wages on whatever they wanted.

Finally, Trixie explained that this would be an excellent pilot program. If the student was successful then the Academy could approach other local businesses about hiring some of the Academy students.

When the two detectives finished their presentation Jim sat back and said nothing for a few minutes. The two friends were getting rather nervous as neither one them could read his expression. Finally he stood up and embraced both of them.

“This is an answer to one of my prayers,” Jim praised. “I’ve had ‘looking into after school work for the seniors’ on my to-do list since the beginning of the school year and haven’t found the time to really flesh it out. I can see a lot of potential with this that can tie back into their school work.”

Jim was getting almost as excited as Trixie did when she was hot in pursuit on a tough case. He released Trixie and Honey and then walked back around his desk and sat down. Trixie and Honey pulled chairs up to the other side of the desk. For the next hour, they brainstormed ideas on how this one position could benefit the entire Senior Class.

Within an hour, the three of them had come up with an outline on how to get their plan accomplished. They would involve Mart, who would work with the students to develop a resume and cover letter in English class. Mr. Hicks, the guidance counselor would work with the students conducting mock interviews so the students would be better prepared. Jim would contact Peter Belden to start laying the groundwork for additional positions the students could apply for.

Trixie looked up at the clock and gasped when she realized it was almost three o’clock. “Where did the time go? I promised the kids I’d stop by before I left but Lizzie and Matt will be home any minute.”

“I think all this work calls for some sort of celebration,” said Jim. “How does homemade pizza sound? If we all work together, we can get all the Bob-Whites and their kids over to our house. I know it’s a school night but I think we can make an exception.

“Why don’t I call Brian and have him pick up Stella and meet us at your house? Then he can get Mickey, Matt and Lizzie off the bus and started on their homework. I’ll find Mart and Diana and call Dan and Hallie as well as Helen and Peter. Mother and Dad are out of town or I’d invite them as well,” volunteered Honey. “That will give you and Trixie some time to visit with the kids.”

“It sounds like a wonderful plan but what about the groceries?” Trixie asked.

Jim picked up the phone and made a quick call to Hallie. After inviting her and Dan for the celebration, he troubled her with picking up the ingredients for pizza. Hallie was more than happy to help out. Dan was just finishing up a double shift and didn’t have to work again until Saturday evening.

“Just promise me this much, Trixie. Don’t overdo yourself. The kids will understand.” Jim cautioned.

“I promise, but I’d better get going if I’m going to catch any of the kids before they head back to their bungalows.” Trixie said.

Trixie couldn’t wait any longer and started to head toward the office door. Jim quickly followed her while Honey stayed back and made a few more phone calls before heading over to Jim and Trixie’s.

Jim and Trixie walked down the hall hand in hand. Word had traveled fast that Mrs. Trixie was up at the school. As they got closer to the elementary classrooms, they noticed students poking their heads out of the classroom on the lookout for them.

They spent the next hour visiting with the students. The younger students were just excited to see Mrs. Trixie. They had missed her visits. Mrs. Trixie was their friend. She served no other role in their lives. She wasn’t a teacher, a counselor, medical professional or house parent.

The older students were really interested in Mrs. Trixie’s health. They asked questions about her surgery and when she was scheduled for chemotherapy. In addition, they asked what they could do to help in the next few weeks. Some volunteered to spend time with Matt, Lizzie and Jenny. Others asked if there was anything that needed to be done around the house. By the time they finally left, Trixie and Jim were overwhelmed by the students’ enthusiasm.

Chapter Seventeen

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Trixie and Jim were spending a quiet afternoon with the kids. They had attended church earlier in the day. Although they had seen most of the Bob-Whites and their families at church, Jim and Trixie had elected to spend the day before Trixie began her chemotherapy with her immediate family. The previous few days had been hectic.

The pizza party on Thursday night had been a huge success. Dan and Hallie had seemed more at ease with each other than they had been since before Dan had been deployed to Iraq. They each were attentive to the other’s needs and listened to what each other had to say.

Brian seemed to have relaxed as well. He was able to figuratively leave his medical bag in the car and just enjoy everyone’s company. The men had decided that pizza making would rank right up there with grilling as a manly activity and banned the women from the kitchen. They enlisted the older children to help set the table, make drinks and assemble the pizzas.

Trixie, Honey, Di, Hallie and Moms retreated to the den where they discussed everything from Jill and Jodi’s latest attempts to solve mysteries like their aunts, Trixie and Honey, to whether Stella was ready to begin potty training. When the pizza was ready everyone gathered in the kitchen. It was a free-for-all as the adults competed with the kids to get a piece of their favorite kind.

After the last piece of pizza had been consumed and all the dishes were washed and put away, the entire group retired to the den where Peter Belden led the group in his latest game. He explained the game ABTwinklehaveyouanywool? The game was based on the fact that the Alphabet Song, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Baa, Baa Black Sheep Have You Any Wool shared the same melody. The first person began singing one of the songs. When that person stopped singing the next person had to pick up the melody with words from a different song. The adults had a much harder time keeping up with the game than the kids did. The Bob-Whites all burst into laughter when Trixie started a round by singing “Baa, Baa, Midnight, Have you any wool?” The children couldn’t understand what was so funny. Diana explained about the time the Bob-Whites had spent spring break out in Iowa at Uncle Andrew’s farm and they had bottle fed a black lamb that the group had christened Midnight.

The Bob-Whites couldn’t help reminiscing about that trip. Mart and Dan had to give Jim a hard time about Dot Murray. Diana and Honey commented about Trixie being Jim’s “special girl”.

Later that evening as she was getting ready for bed Trixie went to her jewelry box and pulled out the silver I.D. bracelet Jim had given her on the plane trip from Iowa to New York. Although she hadn’t worn it recently it still remained one of Trixie’s most prized possessions. She decided that she would wear the bracelet as she went through her chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The bracelet had also sparked an idea for storing Jim’s favorite curl. A call to Diana arranging to have her run Trixie to White Plains took care of the problem.

Trixie had spent part of the Sunday afternoon explaining to Matt and Lizzie what would be happening over the next few weeks. She answered, as best she could, all of the questions they had. Their mother would be having her chemotherapy treatment in the morning while they were in school. After school they would come home. Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler would stop by and see how things were going. They would take the kids up to Manor House for the evening if it were necessary.

After a simple dinner, the entire family sat down to watch Finding Nemo. It was one of Lizzie’s favorites because it showed how you could overcome adversity. Trixie tried to pay attention to the movie but her mind kept wandering. She kept worrying about how her body would react to the treatments. No matter how hard she tried to not consider it, she kept wondering how Jim could possibly find her attractive with no hair and scarred breasts. She was able to keep her composure through the movie and until the children were asleep in bed.

After she had checked one last time on Jenny she walked into the master bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. Her curls were in their typical disarray. She grabbed a brush and, just as she had been doing since was little, she tried to tame them. Only this time, instead of fighting the curls, all she could think about is how in a couple of days she wouldn’t have any curls to fight with. Within a couple of minutes the tears were running down her cheeks as she silently cried tears for what she was about to lose.

Jim had been locking up the house and putting the popcorn dishes in the sink before coming upstairs. By the time he entered the master bedroom Trixie had changed into her nightgown and was sitting on the chaise lounge with her knees drawn up to her chest, her head resting on them. As he entered Trixie lifted her head and smiled a tentative smile. Jim tried to conceal his shock. Where his favorite curl had resided for as long as he could remember there was a chunk of stubble. He knew that eventually the curl would have fallen out, but he hadn’t been ready to see it gone. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the obvious.

Trixie stood up and walked into Jim’s arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist. Tonight it seemed like the scars on his back, which had faded somewhat since Trixie had first met him, stood up more, echoing the pain she saw in Jim’s eyes.

Silently, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small gift. No words were exchanged. Slowly, Jim opened the gift. As he lifted the top of the box he was surprised to see a silver business card holder. On top of the holder was a note that he opened up and read.

Slowly he set the note down and examined the holder. On the top it was engraved using the same font as the bracelet he had given Trixie so many years ago. Trixie Belden Frayne it read. Jim slowly opened the holder and reverently fingered the golden curl that he had been tugging for over half of his life. Slowly he raised his head. Emerald eyes met crystal blue eyes. Tears brimmed over both of them. Jim was speechless. He hoped his eyes conveyed the deep love and appreciation for a gift he would have never considered, but next to his wife and children, would become one of his most cherished possessions.

It wasn’t the curl that was important, it was what it symbolized. That curl represented the hope and confidence Trixie had exuded. It was that confidence that had gotten him through leaving Ten Acres and away from his stepfather, Jonesy, when he was fifteen. It was her encouragement and faith that had seen him through college and had given him the courage to finally pursue his lifelong dream of opening his school.

Gently, he wiped away first Trixie’s tears and then his own. Wrapping his arm around her, he led her to their bed where they tenderly made love.

In the middle of the night, Jim woke up to find Trixie snuggled up spoon-like behind him. His back felt wet and he realized that Trixie was crying. He knew that she didn’t want him to know she was crying. He sighed and gently grabbed the hand that had made its way around his waist. He lay that way until his arm fell asleep. Carefully, he rolled onto his back and wrapped Trixie in his arms and watched as the sun came up and began to stream into his bedroom.

 

 

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