The Substitute

THE SUBSTITUTE

By

Lindsay Delagair

Copyright 2011 by Lindsay Delagair

This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Disclaimer: This ebook is erotic fiction. It contains graphic sexual content. It is intended only for those over the age of eighteen.

THE SUBSTITUTE

Jen waited impatiently for Doctor Horner to bring her into the exam room. “Damn it’s cold in here,” she muttered, wringing her hands in an attempt to warm them as she paced the floor.

The nurse gave a sympathetic glance.

The door opened and Doctor Horner silently motioned her to follow him.

God, she’d never been so scared; this couldn’t really be happening to her 24 year old husband. She’d had really good intuition all her life; she never felt like she deserved Andy, but this wasn’t how she pictured losing him. He was one of those ‘too good to be true,’ kind of guys. When he’d asked her to marry him, she’d almost passed out.

Two years of wedded bliss and now this. Her stomach churned and she was afraid that she’d lose her tiny breakfast before she made it down the clinically scented hallway. Her stomach bottomed-out when she saw Andy’s ash white face as he perched on the edge of the exam table in the ill-fitting gown.

“Have a seat,” Doctor Horner told her.

She was so numb with fear that she just stood there staring at her husband. She felt the doctor’s hands guiding her to the chair and then giving her that slight downward pressure on her shoulders that caused her to obey.

“The test came back as testicular cancer. We’ve got to operate as soon as possible.”

The tears washed down her cheeks before the emotions could catch up to them. The doctor had prepared them beforehand that the test would most likely indicate cancer, but to hear it with such certainty was like a knife to her gut.

“Listen, I know you and Andy wanted children, and normally I’d say we’d do some semen storage so that when you two were ready, you could get pregnant, but I’m going to have to advise against it. Understand me now,” he tacked on. “This decision isn’t up to me. I’ll do whatever you two want. If this had been an isolated incident then I doubt there would be any genetic predisposition for cancer, but his dad died from testicular cancer and so did his grandfather. The chance of the two of you having a son that might develop this cancer is greatly increased.”

She nodded, but she didn’t know why the hell she did. She didn’t want to agree with any of this. They had planned for a family before they even got married. Andy talked about coaching little league, boy scouts and camp-outs; he wanted children as much as she did.

“But we might have a girl,” she said quietly. “Would she be okay?”

The doctor lowered himself to the chair beside her and took her hands in his. For a doctor he had a uniquely warm touch. “That’s right, but it’s a 50/50 shot unless you want to do in vitro and abort any male fetuses in the early stage.”

God that sounded so hideous: throw away any little boys so she could be a mother. “No,” she whispered as she looked up into Andy’s teary eyes. “We can’t afford in vitro, and I could never be okay with ending the life of our son. It’s okay—we’ll be okay as long as we have each other. When do you want to operate? I thought you said we’d have a little time.”

“This is a slow developing cancer, but it’s in both testicles. I don’t want to wait and have it spread to the prostate gland. I’d like to schedule him for a bi-lateral orchiectomy this week, tomorrow if we can manage it. Jen,” he stated getting her to look at him, “he’s got a great chance for survival
if
we don’t let it spread. If we wait….”

“No,” she said, reaching her hand out to her husband.

Andy slipped off the exam table and pulled her into his arms, kissing her temple.

She stared deeply into Andy’s beautiful azure eyes. “No,” she repeated. “If you’re ready, Babe, I don’t want to wait. I—I—can’t lose—you.” She barely finished the words before they were cut off by her emotions. This was final; they wouldn’t have any children.

That night they held each other close as a summer thunderstorm pelted their bedroom window. Rain drops, like tear drops, poured from heaven.

“We
are
going to have a family someday.”

“
We
can’t, but
you
can.”

“If you’re talking about a sperm bank, I don’t….”

“No,” he said with a small laugh. “All I want you to say to me right now is that you believe me and you trust me—no matter what happens. I’ve got to know that you trust me enough to understand that it’s all going to work out. Do you believe me, Jen; do you trust me to be right?”

She sighed. This riddle was more than she could comprehend in her exhaustion. “I believe you and trust you. But you’ve got to believe something for me.”

“What’s that?” He whispered, pulling her in tighter.

“They say belief is 90% of the cure. You’ve got to believe you’re going to be cancer-free after this.”

This time he was the one to pull away, but then he rolled his body over hers and softly brushed her hair back with his fingertips. “Baby, I’m going to be fine. We’re going to have a long and happy life together—with a family. But, on the bright side, you can get off the pill now.” Then he gave a weak smile. “You know tonight is probably going to be the last night I’m going to feel like doing this for a while. I want to love you tonight, Jen. Actually, I take that back, I
need
to make love to you tonight.”

The kiss was as soft and tender as the first time their lips had ever touched. The storm outside had simmered to a lullaby as they enjoyed their night together.

~~~<>~~~

It had been six months since the surgery and subsequent radiation treatments. Doctor Horner happily informed them that Andy was in complete remission.

“I know in my profession it’s frowned upon to make this kind of statement, but as far as I can tell, Andy, you’re cured. This doesn’t mean you can start skipping appointments or anything, but take a breath and relax.”

“That is exactly what we’re planning on doing, Doc,” Andy stated with a smile. “We’re going tubing this weekend with some friends on the Itchetucknee River.” Then he paused and put his hand out. “Thank you for everything.”

The next morning, Jen donned her bikini and slathered on her suntan oil as Andy gathered the big tubes and tied them to the roof of their little green Soul.

“So,” she asked as she carried their packed cooler out to the car. “Who is this new girl that Gabriel found?”

“If you promise not to get judgmental, I’ll tell you,” he said with a little snicker.

She put the cooler in the back hatch and then put her hands on her hips. “Please don’t tell me she’s a hooker.” She had known Gabe as long as she had known Andy. They’d all attended the same high school and Gabe, although a stunning specimen of manhood, had a penchant for wild women. That was the only thing that saved her from making the wrong choice when it came down between the two of them. Andy was sweet, handsome and totally interested in her. Gabe (although he was interested in her, too) chased after every girl that would smile at him (and practically
every
girl smiled at Gabe).

“No, she’s not a hooker,” he said with a little mock indignation. “She’s a stripper.”

“Ah crap! You’re kidding, right? He isn’t really bringing a stripper to go tubing with us, is he?”

“It isn’t really that bad, Honey. She works for one of those services that you call when you want to embarrass the hell out of someone for their birthday or bachelor’s party. You know what kind of stripper I’m talking about; she doesn’t work like at Club Risqué or anything.” He was laughing harder. “She’s a—a—clean stripper.”

Jen was grumbling about not believing there was such a thing as a ‘clean stripper’ when they took off for highway 441, taking them from Gainesville to Fort White.

Her fears about Gabe’s ‘clean stripper’ were immediately realized when they pulled up and this bouncy, bubbly, curly headed, platinum blonde in a bikini that was barely bigger than a pair of pasties with sewing thread for strings stood glued to Superman’s arm. Superman had been Gabe’s nickname when he got into the marines. If it was dangerous, physically challenging, or just plain crazy, Gabe did it.

“Oh, yeah,” Jen stated sarcastically before the couple reached their car. “She looks freaking clean—and I know those boobs aren’t real. My god she isn’t going to need an inner tube to float down the river with those balloons!”

Andy only laughed and told her to ‘be nice.’

Jen went to open the hatch as Andy greeted their tubing buddies.

The blonde untangled herself from Gabe and bounced over with a huge chemically whitened smile. “Hi, you must be Jen,” she said putting out her slender hand with excessively long nails. “I’m Candy.”

Jen tried not to laugh as she accepted her hand. “Of course you are,” she said with a little too much sarcasm behind the words. “I mean, Andy told me that Gabe had a new girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” She stated with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t I wish. We’re just good friends; Gabe said he doesn’t like to get serious. You’re lucky to have someone like Andy,” she added, looking to where the guys were getting the gear ready. “Gabe’s told me all about you two.” The bubbly simmered to simple kindness. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but Gabe said Andy has cancer. I lost my dad a year ago to lung cancer. I was just wondering how are Andy’s treatments working?”

“No, I don’t mind. He’s wonderful. The doctor just told us yesterday he’s in complete remission.”

“Wow,” she stated, her brown eyes growing larger. “That is fabulous! Does Gabe know yet? I don’t want to blow this if it’s going to be a surprise to him.”

Unconsciously, she found herself warming to Candy. She smiled. “Actually, I don’t think he’s told him the latest report, so if you don’t mind….”

“No, absolutely not. I’ll keep my big mouth shut,” she giggled, giving a little bounce on her heels that caused her boobs to jiggle.

Candy nodded. “When my dad found out he had cancer it was advanced. The treatments were expensive. Starting teacher pay in Florida sucks. I got an offer to work as a stripper that paid three times what I could have made teaching. So, after I cried my eyes out about it and picked up my courage, I did it.”

Now Jen felt like a total ass for judging this young woman in front of her. Had Andy’s insurance been unable to cover so much, she knew that she too would have done just about anything to pay for his treatments. “Well, you’re beautiful,” she stated to help repair her damaged conscience. “Gabe would have to be an idiot not to get serious with you. Oh god, who am I kidding? Gabe is an idiot!”

Both women burst into laughter.

The sizzling 92 degree afternoon was spent in comfort as they floated down the river, stopping to picnic on a grassy bank near the end of their journey. Candy proved herself to be an intelligent conversationalist, but she caused Andy to blush more than a few times when her bikini top ‘slipped’ on several occasions. It didn’t bother Jen. She liked Candy and was considering how funny it would be to hire her for Andy’s birthday in a couple months.

When they reached their destination, Gabe’s truck sat waiting. Candy had driven him earlier that morning to drop it off, and then drove him in her car back to where they launched. They loaded the gear and headed for the other end of the river.

The whole time they’d been tubing, Andy purposely avoided telling Gabe the good news. It was starting to get under Jen’s skin. Gabriel was Andy’s best friend, he’d been the best man at their wedding, he deserved to know what the doctor told them, but for some unknown reason Andy was staying tight lipped about the whole thing. And it was obvious that Gabe didn’t want to pry if Andy was unwilling to talk about it.