The following week was Homestead and there was no way Dale would catch Stewart or Johnson for the championship but a third place finish wasn’t too bad. Mandy was home and recovering from her surgery and with this being the last week of racing, Dale would be home full time and the life could return to some normalcy.
On Monday morning Keith took a call from the kids doctor. "Oh ok, yeah I will tell them and we will be in this afternoon. Thanks." Keith hung up the phone and went to talk with Mandy.
"Did they say what was wrong?"
"No, just said some test results came back weird and they wanted to see her again, today."
Mandy was worried. "Test results? Today? This can’t be good." She picked up the phone and called Dale at the shop.
A few hours later Dale, Mandy and Belle sat in the doctor’s office wondering what was going on. "We would like to run blood tests."
Mandy looked at Dale who had Belle on his lap. "Why?"
The doctor looked to Belle. "The blood tests they ran at the hospital after the crash came back odd."
"Odd? I thought they ran tests on her head." Dale asked trying not to allow his worry to show.
"They did but they also took blood and her white blood cell count was unstable. We just want to make sure." The doctor stood and opened a door to an exam room. "Dale you can stay with her, the nurse is going to take a blood sample, it should only take a minute or two."
Dale nodded and carried Belle into the other room. Mandy stood and looked at the doctor. "Ok, so now that she is out of here, be sure of what?"
The doctor looked at her hearing the worry in her voice. "Honestly, we are testing for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia."
Mandy’s breath caught in her throat. "Leukemia? Cancer?" She looked at the closed door. "Oh God."
The doctor knew Mandy was scared. He had been in the operating room the day the quads were born and had grown to know this family well. "Mandy, listen to me, we don’t know anything for sure yet. Let’s wait and see what the tests say and then we’ll go from there."
"So what if this test is bad?"
"If this test gives us the results that her white blood count is low then we will do either a bone marrow test or a spinal tap, it depends on these results."
It was suddenly more than Mandy could take and a realization hit her that scared her. "What about the others?"
"I have already thought of that and yes siblings have a 1 in 500 chance of having the same problems. Because she is a quad the chances are slightly greater. Of course, we will test them to make sure but chances are slim that any of them will have any problems."
The door opened and Mandy heard Belles cries as Dale carried her back into the room. "She still hates needles." He stopped seeing Mandy in tears, he didn’t say a word just stared at his wife, his heart sinking to his stomach, something was wrong, horribly wrong.
"We’ll call when the results come in." The doctor said as he lead them to the door.
As they walked to their car Dale finally spoke with a waver in his voice. "Mandy?"
"Just get us home." She watched as he buckled Belle into the back then turned ready to say something after shutting the door. "Please Dale, let’s go home."
Dale drove them home in silence and Keith met them at the door. Belle ran into the kitchen where Keith had snacks laid out for all the kids. "Now, what the hell is going on?" Dale asked turning to Mandy once the kids were out of earshot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day the phone call that they had been dreading all day finally came late that afternoon. Mandy picked it up and was barely able to answer. "Hello? Yes this is her. Ok. We‘ll be there." The tears rolled down her cheeks as she hung up the phone and no one spoke.
Suddenly life seemed to move in slow motion. "Oh God no." Keith said as he watched Dale half sit half fall on the couch. He buried his face in his hands and Mandy knelt in front of him on the floor. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his legs. Dale bent over her and Keith could hear the sobs from both of them. "I’m going to go pick up the kids from school." He said quietly wiping at his own tears and walking out the door before anyone could answer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Mandy and Dale found themselves in a place they were going to have to get use to being, the hospital waiting room. Belle’s screams could be heard out in the lobby. "My God what are they doing to her?" Lexie said through tears as she looked to Mandy.
"Spinal tap." She looked to Dale who sat cradling Belle’s favorite doll on the floor outside the exam room. "They said they didn’t want us in there because that way she won’t associate the pain with us. We will be a comfort to her but I can’t take this." Lexie sat next to her best friend and held her as she cried as Steve tried to talk to Dale.
"Come on buddy, let’s go for a walk." Dale just shook his head and griped the doll tighter. "Dale?"
"I want my baby." Dale cried. Kelly and Brenda walked into the waiting room and Mandy watched as Brenda sat on the floor and took her son in her arms. "Mamma why?"
Mandy felt Kelly sit next to her and she couldn’t help but feel lost, she didn’t know what to do to help her family this time, through all the years they had faced numerous obstacles and for the first time, Mandy wasn’t so sure they would all make it.
Belle was kept in the hospital that day and no one could for certain tell Dale and Mandy what would happen over the next few days. The days passed slowly for Dale, Mandy and the kids. They found a level of preliminary drugs that they hoped would start fighting the cancer and gave Mandy and Dale all the details on what they could expect over the next few months to years. The doctors suggested they hire a home nurse so that during the times when Belle was home it would be easier on everyone. It was Keith who spoke up and reminded them all that he could do the job. He had been with them so long and was such a part of the family that they forget he use to be a pediatric nurse. He would be a great help with her treatments and helping Dale and Mandy learn and understand what they needed to do.
The next order of business to be taken care of was telling Belle then the other kids. Mandy and Dale weren’t sure how to tell Belle that she had cancer but decided the sooner the better, she knew she was sick, too much had been going on, they just hoped a 6 year old could handle the truth.
Keith took the other kids outside to play along with Brenda, who had moved into the spare room to help Keith with the kids when Mandy and Dale were gone, while Dale and Mandy sat Belle down in her room to talk.
"We know you have a lot of questions about why you have been at the doctor so much lately and we finally have all the tests they did on you back and…" Dale paused, how do you tell your daughter she has cancer.
Mandy stepped in. "Belle do you remember last year when you and Taylor went with daddy to the hospital to see all those sick kids?" She nodded. "You remember us talking about the kids that didn’t have hair, that they had cancer?" Again she nodded and eyed both her parents. Mandy took a deep breath but she didn’t have a chance to say it.
"Am I sick, like those kids?"
Mandy nodded. "Yes baby you are, that's why you had to stay in the hospital for those couple of days."
"Will I lose my hair too?"
"Yes, eventually, it won’t happen right away but you will start losing it a little at a time."
She sat staring at her small racetrack and the cars laying around it. "Can we just cut it off?"
Mandy and Dale looked at each other. "What? Your hair?"
"Yes, I remember some of the kids had little bits of hair on their head and they looked funny, I would rather it just be gone."
Mandy fought back the tears. "We can, if that’s what you want."
"Will I have to stay in the hospital?"
"Off and on, we will have to see what the doctor’s say is the best."
Belle looked back down at the floor and went over and picked up the red 8 car off the floor. She stared at it as if in deep thought then looked up to her daddy. "Am I going to die?"
Dale stopped fighting the tears and let them roll down his cheeks as he pulled Belle into his arms as she still gripped the small car in her hand. "Not today baby. We are going to do everything we can to make sure you get better."
She wrapped her tiny arms around Dale’s neck. "It’s ok daddy, I’ll be strong, I’ll be ok." Mandy put her head on Dale’s shoulder and the three of them sat there for the longest time.
*****************
The stress level was at an unusual high in the house over the next couple of weeks and everyone was on their last nerve. The other quads didn’t understand what was happening to their sister but they felt her pain, knew she was sick, and didn’t like it at all. Taylor was old enough to understand the seriousness and urgency of the situation, while Dale and Mandy understood what was happening it was the why that had them baffled. All the kids were doing poorly in school and Dale and Mandy were at each other’s throats over the littlest of things.
"No I don’t know where it is." Mandy rolled her eyes and threw the pillow back on the bed.
"Well fuck, can’t anyone put anything back where it belongs."
"Yeah, cause you are so fucking perfect." Mandy said swinging around to meet his stare.
Dale picked up a vase off the dresser and slammed it against the wall. Glass flew everywhere and as Dale turned to yell back at her he stopped. He looked at the shattered glass on the floor and realized that was his life. Everything had been shattered and he wasn’t sure it could all be put back together. He looked at his wife whom looked more disappointed than pissed or scared. He sat on the floor leaning against the foot of the bed. "I don’t know what to do anymore Mandy."
She let out the breath she was holding and sank down next to her husband taking his hand in hers. " I know and it’s only going to get worse when we have to move her to Memphis."
Dale didn’t want to think about it, he knew it was the best thing for Belle. St Jude’s hospital was the best place for her to get treatment. There wasn’t much of a choice, they would do what they had to do to help her but it could very well tear his family apart. "I don’t know if I can do this."
"Yes you can, we can, together. We’ll get her through this, we’ll get all of us through this. We don‘t have any other choice." They wrapped their arms around each other and sat.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take all this out on you."
"I know, it doesn’t matter, none of this matters."
"Mommy, daddy, Belle is sick."
They heard Taylor yell and heard Belle throwing up. They were on their feet and headed to the bathroom when they found Belle in the hallway. "I’m sorry, I tried to make it to the bathroom." She said through tears.
Dale bent over and picked up his daughter carrying her to the bathroom. "Shh, it’s ok baby, it’s not your fault."
Keith came up the stairs hearing the ruckus. "Here." He had paper towels and carpet cleaner in his hand. "She ok?"
"You still feel sick?" Dale asked as he ran a wet towel over her tiny face. She just shook her head and leaned against Dale’s chest. He moved them to the floor near the toilet and sat holding her.
Taylor took the paper towels from Mandy. "Go help dad, I’ll help Keith." She bent down and helped Keith start cleaning up the mess as the other kids came out of the toy room.
Mandy put on her best fake smile and went to get a Sprite for Belle to help calm her stomach. The drugs had started kicking in and the doctor said it would get a lot worse before it got better. Once they really started heavy chemo, her tiny body wouldn’t know how to react and it would fight it.
Mandy got the soda to Belle and checked on them before turning back to Taylor who was growing up before their very eyes. "Thank you baby. I love you." They stood in the doorway watching Dale and Belle as Keith ushered the other kids downstairs to divert their attention elsewhere.