Revelations

The knock came again, slightly louder this time, and the panic started again. I could feel my limbs tensing and locking up as well as my lungs.

"Bella?"

With a gasp, I stopped panicking. Quickly, I rushed to open the door.

"Dad?" I asked in complete confusion.

"Yep, the one and only. Now, are you gonna let me in?" he asked with a smile.

The smile was confusing me, normally dad doesn't smile. Numbly, I moved away whilst he entered.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as I closed the door.

He shrugged off his jacket and smiled again at me.

"Can't a father come to see his daughter?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Of course, you can, it's just normally you'd call first and you never come this late," I responded still feeling confused and slightly worried.

"I did leave a message on your machine," he told me.

I looked at my machine and saw several messages blinking at me. He looked at me knowingly.

"Sorry dad, today was my first day off and I've been busy all day. I didn't get a chance to take a look."

"Same old Bella! Come on, it's late, we will talk in the morning," he laughed before indicating towards the stairs.

The next day, I woke up early and made my way into the kitchen. I started making breakfast as my Dad came into the kitchen.

"Smells good," he said as he took a seat at the small kitchen table I had.

Once finished, I brought over the coffee and his breakfast. We ate in companionable silence until my curiosity got the better of me.

"Ok dad, are you gonna tell me why you are here and why you came so late last night?" I asked.

He nodded before picking up his plate and taking it over to the sink.

"Well, Bella I have two things I need to talk to you about. How about we go into the garden, it's such a shame to waste such a beautiful day inside," he looked quite sad.

With a sigh, I grabbed a couple of beers and followed him outside. As I walked out, I snuck a glance next door. I didn't know if I was disappointed or relieved to not see him out. Charlie took a seat on one of my lawn chairs and sighed contentedly.

"Ok Bells, there's no easy way to say this so I'm just gonna say it. Some time ago I found something, and the doctors said it was a tumour, it could be cancer. They told me it's benign now, but just to be sure I have had some chemotherapy and in a couple of weeks I'm gonna have an operation to remove it."

He took hold of my hand. To say I was shocked was an understatement I couldn't wrap my head around it.

"I'm gonna be fine Bella, it's just one tumour and they are removing it just to be safe," he explained and I numbly nodded I couldn't think of how to respond.

"That's not Chief Swan is it?" came a voice that made us both jump.

Dad turned and stood up laughing.

"That's never Paul Lahote?" he asked as he clasped hands and gave him a one-arm hug.

I followed behind Charlie still reeling. They smiled happily at each other and I couldn't focus on anything other than the word 'tumour'.

"I'm afraid so Chief!"

Paul looked at me and his smile dipped a little.

"What are you doing here?" Dad asked and Paul chuckled.

"Well, I moved here a couple of days ago, no clue that Bella was your daughter."

Dad nodded and looked at me, I tried to put a smile on my face but it felt forced and fake. He must have noticed.

"That's an amazing coincidence. What are you doing later Paul?" he asked. "Are you up for coming with me and Bella for a meal?"

Paul nodded eagerly, "Yeah sure!"

"Good, we will meet at six, ok?" he said as he shook Paul's hand.

Dad went inside and left me with Paul. I must have still looked stunned because Paul came up and gently touched my arm.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

I shook my head. A lump was caught in my throat preventing me from speaking.

"Was it because I came out here? Did I interrupt your time with your dad?" he asked.

"No, nothing like that," I rushed to say, tears prickling the corners of my eyes. "He's just told me he might have cancer."

Paul gave me a quick hug and whispered 'Everything will be ok'. I wanted to believe him, desperately. The idea couldn't gel inside my head. Paul gave me one more squeeze before I went back inside. The rest of the day was a blur, all I could focus on was that word.

'Cancer!'