Dr. Helm sat close to me, his knee touching mine in a comforting way. He took my hand between his and looked at me with an expression of sympathy."I'm afraid I have some bad news," he began. My heart leapt into my throat and I could hear it beating in my ears. "Unfortunately the mass we removed last January was in fact cancerous. You have what is called a differentiated thyroid cancer of the papillary carcinoma variety. The good news is that the tumor was completely encapsulated, which means it most likely didn’t spread. But because we took half of the thyroid out, we need to make sure we didn’t disturb another encapsulation and increase the risk of the cancer spreading. It's unlikely, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, right?" He gave me a small smile as I nodded, unable to say anything. "Honestly, if you were to choose cancer this is the one you would want to choose. The five year survival rate is excellent and most people only need minimal

After being cared for by Gabriel for two weeks, the two of us became a little stir crazy. He suggested we start going for walks every night, and drove me around to various little hikes that were suited for my level of activity. The walks we took probably helped increase my activity tolerance but that nagging voice at the back of my head made me dwell on the breathlessness I was feeling. I worried incessantly that my thyroid hormones were below normal levels and I obsessed about whether the cancer had spread elsewhere.Finally, Gabriel brought me to see his family doctor who ran a series of blood work on me and checked to see my levels of thyroid stimulating hormone. Everything was normal but she prescribed some medication to help with my anxiety. Gabriel had a few questions he wanted to ask the doctor and the two of them dismissed me into the waiting room.I picked up an old Canadian Living magazine from the coffee table that was set up in a corner

Gabriel was already gone when I woke up and I cursed him out for running away from the discussion he had promised. I got ready to go to work and as I was calling a cab, Gabriel pulled up in the driveway. Grumpy, I hopped in his truck and did not look at him when he handed me a coffee. We didn’t speak on the way to the diner but he pulled me in for a kiss before I hoped out. I was in a sour mood all day and snapped at the waiters a few times when they tried to cheer me up. I was officially going to be known as the bitchy chef. I didn’t bother calling Gabriel at the end of my shift but walked to the room I was renting, slumped down on my bed and burst out crying. My landlady was gone for the week so I wasn’t expecting to hear anyone knocking gently at my bedroom door. Before I could answer, the door slowly swung open, revealing a puffy eyed Gabriel. “Harper, I’m sorry” he started, avoiding my eyes, “I can’t… I don’t want kids”

At the beginning of August, shareholders came to the campsite to meet with the higher up staff to go over financial details with Gabriel and Matteo. I was asked to plan an outdoor barbeque and set my team to work with specific tasks. There was a lot to do and although I should have requested more staff to help, I figured we could pull it all off if we worked a little bit harder. Gabriel had gone all out with the budget for this important meeting that would either make or break next year’s contract. It was important to him that I impressed our guests with my culinary skills. I woke up extra early that morning to get things started and hardly saw Jenna, Ria or Leanne, but I trusted that they had gotten to their tasks as assigned. I spent hours wrapping potatoes in foil, making salad dressings, and marinating meats. While I was doing that the girls were meant to be making salads, trimming and cleaning green beans and setting up the outdoor tables. I was pleased to see t

I had blood work and an ultrasound booked in October.  My endocrinologist called to announce that everything looked good and that so far it appeared I would not be needing radiation, however he wanted to run more tests in 6 months to concretely rule out the possibility. It was just the news I needed as we headed into the cold winter months.Sally left me in charge of her diner while she headed down south for the winter. The place felt like home and I looked forward to going to work each day. The staff was friendly and the customers were a delight.  I liked to take time to talk with them when it wasn’t too busy and soon enough I developed a regular crowd that would come in for late breakfast and insisted that I eat with them once their orders were ready. Gabriel was still very busy during the off season with paperwork, meetings with account