Part One:
Five Months Before – April 2006:
I’m in my happy place. I’m in my happy place. I’m in my...Oh...GOD! Oh...GOD!
“I’m sorry Etienne. Just hold on. We’re almost done.”
Almost done. Almost done. I’m...in...my...happy...place. Oh God! In...happy....She grunted and caught her breath, nearly crying out at the pain and moaning “Oh...Oh God” despite swearing she would not say anything. Happy...Happy...place.
“There...we’re done. You did just fine.”
Fine? Oh GOD! This is why I haven’t had an exam in forever. She glanced up to where the woman stood beside her, holding out a hand so as to help her to sit up on the table. Sniffing, Tina whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You did good. You did better than a lot of my patients.”
Tina was finally catching her breath and returning to some semblance of normalcy. “I have to ask you...” she managed, watching as the doctor placed the samples in their assigned sections, then removed the rubber gloves before washing her hands. “Has anyone ever tried to create something less...painful to do the collections?”
The other woman laughed. “Honestly they have tried, but nothing works quite as well...”
“As something created out of Medieval times?” Tina chuckled.
“They really do work, but no, I know what you mean. I wish there was something not as painful....Just be glad this is only once a year.”
“Yeah. Once a year....”
Or in her case perhaps once in the last five years or longer. She had been so negligent, which was quite unlike her usual attention to detail, but going to see Dr. Anthony when she needed to had always sufficed. Until now....
“So the results should be back...?”
“One week to ten days. If I don’t contact you, then someone else from the office will.”
“Okay…Okay…great.”
“And...I’ll ask you again and forgive me if I do but...you said you had never been diagnosed with fibroids before?”
Tina shook her head. “I’m pleading ignorance. Like I said before...I had never even heard of them until you told me. I guess I’ve probably heard the word before, but it just never…stuck.”
The other woman smiled. “Well…that’s not unusual. Most don’t until they actually learn that they have them, or they meet a friend or relative that does, so you’re not the first. But…from my preliminary exam, they are most definitely there, so if you have time today...”
“Sure.”
“When you go next door to Radiology for your mammogram, I would very much like it if you would go ahead and have an ultrasound done as well.”
Tina raised an eyebrow for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. “Ultrasound? But I’m not...I mean...”
“Oh! Oh no! This is a different type of ultrasound, but it will give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with, and it will definitely indicate the development of the fibroids. Then I can better determine how large they are; their placement; give me some hint of what we might have to do in the future. That way we can start considering all our options.”
“Sure, sure...okay….Options…yeah…good.” There was confusion in Tina’s eyes, even as she bowed her head as if comprehending everything the specialist was saying. Too much, too fast. “I don’t have anything else planned…just this.”
“Great. When you get dressed, just stop at the front desk. I’ll leave your records there and they can write up the order for the ultrasound prior to you going down the hall. Your mammogram won’t take but a few minutes and we have your past ones to make a proper comparison.”
Tina nodded. It had taken her forever to remember all the hospitals and clinics that had conducted her mammograms over the last ten years, but all the X-rays had been tracked down.
The OB-GYN was writing a few more notations in Tina’s file. “So...mammogram, ultrasound for fibroids. That should cover it for now. Do you have any other questions?”
The former crime scene technician glanced down at her hands, feeling that the morning had been overwhelming enough. “I...No...no not really. Not now anyway. I’ll probably have more once we’re sure about these fibroids.” Fibroids…fiber…fibrous. Fibroids for fibrous. What the heck does that mean? What did she say at first? I know what she said….I just don’t want to think about that word. I don’t like that word. That’s why they say fibroid….
And a short time later, as she sat in the small waiting area after checking in at the office’s Radiology department, one eye on a television news bulletin about a possible gunman in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington DC, and another on the pages of a magazine she held, Tina found the questions shifting through her mind, no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the news or on...and she suddenly realized the material was on child rearing! Shows you how much attention I was paying when I picked that one up, she laughed to herself as she put it aside and attempted to find another publication that might be more suitable for her, flipping through one issue after another.
Let’s see....Good after-school activities. Uh...no....Potty training. No....Sex during pregnancy....Your last trimester – what to expect....Hmm...Recipes for little boys and girls....I remember when Grandmother first taught me how to cook. She smiled softly. An Easy-Bake oven....Boy...they sure do have a lot of child care magazines, but they are obstetricians and gynecologists too...Ah...here we go. Sex after menopause....Well, at least there was some, she laughed...or there could be...and at least this publication was geared more towards adult women.
Not that she honestly read the material. She was still glancing at the TV and wondering what was happening, realizing that living at the Point tended to shelter them all from the Real World...and then she caught herself. Okay...now I know they’d better hurry up and call me ‘cause now I’m counting pregnant women. She suddenly realized that there was not only her and an older woman who had arrived behind her, but now three younger women, all in various stages of pregnancy, seemed to have appeared out of nowhere! Tina casually smiled at all of them – it was the Louisville way, smiling at even strangers you passed on the street in that welcoming manner that made them pride themselves on being the gateway to the South. But she caught herself from asking – from the lady sitting two chairs down from her – how far along she was, even if that did seem so natural in a room filled with women.
So here I am...surrounded by pregnant women and women having mammograms and women in menopause and entering menopause...and here I am. Here I am: I’m not in menopause, I’m not pregnant...I have fibroids and I don’t know a darn thing about them. What causes them...where they come from? Who gets them? Why do I have them? Why did they say tumor and then remember to add benign? Oh God...She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face, and attempted once again to concentrate on the article regarding sex and menopause. I know I’ve heard of them before...but where....Where? And if they’re tumors, why not just call them that? What did I do to get a tumor?.
“Ms. Biebe?”
Thank God! Tina jumped up at the sound of her name, smiling as she followed the technician back into the main Radiology facility, the other woman chit-chatting in that casual way one did when passing the few seconds during a short walk to an examination room.
The mammogram was first and not as uncomfortable – and cold – as she once remembered them. More updated equipment to reveal even more detail than before the technician explained, which was fine with Tina, uncontrollably giggling as her memories returned to tests past.
But as they moved into an adjacent room, this one with low light and containing an exam table, monitors and other medical machinery...well, if they had taken her blood pressure at that moment, she knew it had immediately gone sky high, and she nearly felt her heart drop into her stomach as she realized she was now stepping into something very unknown.
Fibroids, fibroids....I should have known something; should have felt something she chided herself, hurriedly removing her lower clothing for what seemed the umpteenth time that day. I did something wrong – I know it. Oh Lord...I knew I should have gone to a doctor before now. Why did I wait? I shouldn’t have waited. I wonder how long they’ve been there? I guess not even Anthony realized it; he does my physicals every year, but he kept telling me to come Outside, see a gynecologist ‘cause it was just something I ought to do...but I didn’t...and now....
She neatly folded her jeans and underwear, placed them on a nearby chair, then climbed (How many times have I done THIS today?) onto the paper-covered table, timidly pulling the tissue gown over her now bare lower body, her heart palpitating so intensely that the beat was ripping through her ears. I feel really dumb....I’m supposed to be so up on this stuff....I should have known when my periods weren’t right. Too much blood. I’ve been bleeding way too heavily every month.. I didn’t even know why….Just thought it was weird….Now I find out….
There was a tapping at the door and the technician peeped in. “You ready, Ms. Biebe?” she kindly asked.
“Oh yeah...all ready....” Tina was glad to stop thinking for a bit. “Sorry – I’ve never had an ultrasound before,” she admitted as she watched the tech walk to the equipment immediately beside the table and begin to make preparations. “I...uh...I was with my sister when she was pregnant and I saw her have one – my nephew and then later on my niece...but not one on myself.”
“Well...this is a tad different from the ultrasound performed on your sister or any other expectant mother. It won’t hurt....I mean...it’s not painful. It may be a little uncomfortable, but it won’t hurt I promise.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I just had my Pap Smear done earlier and...” Tina tried to laugh, also thinking that it was also more painful than any she had known in the past due to the doctor taking biopsy samples simultaneously. “I was saying that I didn’t know why – after all these years – there wasn’t another, less painful way of doing those.”
“Oh believe me, you’re not the first one to ask that....Now Ms. Biebe...let’s get you to lay down flat; just slide your head onto the pillow there, slide down a bit more…a bit more….That’s good… and now, place your feet in the stirrups....Thank you.”
The stirrups again.
“Now just relax as much as you can....The gel at least is warm...”
But I just saw that probe....
“Just relax....”
Easy for you to say. You’re not the one with something the size of a 747 being rammed up your vagina.
“We just want to get in there and find exactly what Doctor Stutenbecker needs so it’s going to take a little bit, okay? Now...
Now....Tina closed her eyes, trying to breathe normally as the gel was applied – and not to her abdomen (Nope...not like when you’re pregnant....She was right about that). Then came the probe...and out of curiosity, she turned her head to the right, raising a little in the hopes of seeing the monitor the technician was carefully studying. If the machine had not been turned at a slight angle, she might have been able to see the source of what was causing her problems.
“There...they...are,” the technician finally announced after a few moments.
“You see them?” Tina craned her neck again.
“Yep...they’re showing up real clearly. They are definitely there, Ms. Biebe....That’s why Doctor Stutenbecker wanted the ultrasound. Now...if you can be patient with me for a few minutes more...I just need...”
“Take all the time you need,” Tina told her, wincing slightly. No...No...definitely...definitely not…definitely not… as painful.
“Just...a little more. She needs to see them as clearly as possible when I print out the results.”
Ten minutes later, she was back in the waiting room again, waiting this time with one woman who appeared to be in the very early stages of her pregnancy, and as she had done before, Tina smiled her way before burying her face in the pages of a magazine written for women over thirty-five. Okay...so this is going way beyond what I thought when I came here today....One stop shopping. There you go. Get it all done at once, get it over with....Figure out what I’m going to do next; what options I....
“Ms. Biebe?”
“Yes?” She followed the technician to a more secluded corner, wondering what battery of tests she would be put through next or whether her OB-GYN would need to see her again to make some final pronouncement, only to find a brochure being thrust into her hands.
“Okay....I’ve shown the scans to Doctor Stutenbecker and she asked me to give you this....And...someone from the office will get in touch with you about the results of all your other tests today.”
Tina could not help but appear bewildered. “So...uh...that’s uh...that’s it then?”
“That’s it. You take care now.” The friendly woman gave her a gentle pat on the arm.
“Uh...yes, yes...you too....Thank you. Thank you so much,” the former Louisvillian replied, glancing down at the cover on the pamphlet and realizing that it was about fibroids and alternative solutions. It felt odd now, as if she had been summarily dismissed following over two hours of spending her life in these enormous but very personal offices.
She headed towards the Exit just off Radiology, glancing aside at another set of oaken doors and thinking that at some point, she would like a tour of the facilities where they also did therapeutic massages, thinking how nice it might be to pamper herself that way, and then reminding herself of some things she needed to touch base with Savannah and Kath about regarding Scents, Swords and More.
It was only when she was out in the wide hallway, it was only as she approached the elevator, walking slowly as she glimpsed the pages of the material given to her, that she paused and swallowed hard, the truth of the entire afternoon suddenly colliding with what she was trying so hard to not think about.
Oh my God....I have fibroids....They called them tumors. And they did a biopsy. They did a biopsy….
******************************************************************************
“So...do you want to cancel it?”
Tina started, looking up from the material resting in her lap, not only the fibroid brochure but one of her planning notebooks, already filled with her carefully jotted printing and handwriting. She was concentrating so much on what she was reading – concentrating on one thing and then another as she multi-tasked – that the sound of her husband’s voice returned her to actual reality. “I’m sorry....What was that?”
John Biebe chuckled, sitting down at the side of the wicker chaise longue on which his wife relaxed, reaching over to gently pat one of her hands.
She had arrived home several hours earlier, finding him working out on his frozen pond, and at first, on seeing her soft, familiar smile, he believed everything just fine...until that inner sense of her reached out as it habitually did, and he realized that something was wrong, something was hidden behind her smile. There was something she needed to tell him, and immediately he inattentively dropped his stick and the puck he held and skated quickly to where she stood. In the calmest of terms, with a snow-filled wintry breeze stirring about them and neither paying it much attention, Tina laid out the visit to the OB-GYN, and on seeing how calm she was with the news, he simply took her in his arms and whispered that they should head home.
Unable to talk since they were driving in separate vehicles, John was eager to hear more details the second they walked in the front door, but he waited until Tina changed clothes and freshened up, while he showered, prepped the entree for dinner and made drinks. Now they were on the terrace and had been for a while, the stark differences in the weather around the frozen pond and the spring temperatures at the Biebe house very obvious, but at least now they could relax and take it all in.
Once again he carefully listened, asked questions, flipped through the pamphlet and heard her initial confusion, fetched her laptop so they could start researching online, but after ninety minutes of talk, he noticed she was ready to set it aside for a bit. (I think I’ve learned more about fibroids in the last hour than I ever knew in my life, she confessed, laughing). He knew for certain when she ran inside for a moment, returning with her newest notebook...but every now and then he would catch her – despite her current conversation – flipping the brochure’s pages, tugging at her lower lip in that habit she had when in deep thought. That was why he asked her the question which had surprised her.
“I was just saying...do you want to cancel it?”
“Cancel what?”
He motioned towards her notebook. “All that Derby stuff. Do you want to just cancel it? We’ve got time.”
Tina shook her head. “Oh no, no, I don’t...I don’t really...I don’t really want to do that.”
“You’re sure? I mean...it’s not that important. Everybody would understand.”
“No I...” She sighed and sat back, her eyes momentarily leaving his face and looking out, beyond the enormous expanse of the back yard and the gardens, beyond the cliffs and beach and out towards the ocean. Thankfully, on leaving the doctor’s office and almost without thought, taking I-64 Eastbound out of Louisville, she only drove about nineteen miles beyond the city limits when she instinctively knew to take Exit 32A towards Finchville, Kentucky and in seconds found herself immediately on the edge of the town adjacent the Point. She was then home within minutes...and thinking that she never wanted to step outside its’ boundaries again. Now that she was back at the Point, she was safe, protected…until she looked at that information sheet and the reality of her morning smacked her across the senses once more.
But she concentrated on her husband again. “I really, really want to do this, John...and not just an ‘Oh it’s Derby – let’s make a few mint juleps and sing My Old Kentucky Home’ party like we’ve done in past years. No...I want a real honest-to-goodness full-blown Derby week!”
“We didn’t used to always have Derby parties, darlin’.”
“Ahhhhhhhh...but that was before a couple of Kentuckians arrived and started knocking this place into shape.” John laughed as Tina continued: “You had Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Canadian Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Guy Fawkes Day, New Year’s Eve....You even had Boxing Day.”
“With all the Aussies, Brits and Canadians around here we weren’t going to lose Boxing Day.”
“And I forgot ANZAC Day...and...well...let’s see, American and Canadian Labor Day...oh and Halloween....How could I forget Halloween?”
“Fine, I get your point....So we have plenty of parties and celebrations and religious observances to go around...”
“Yeah,” she grinned.
“...and...I just...” He shrugged, wondering if he was making sense. “I just wonder...do you really need Derby planning on top of everything else?”
“It’s not that bad, John, and Stephanie and I have been organizing it forever anyway. ”
“I know, I know. Stephanie’s always a big help, bless her heart.”
“We Kentuckians have to stick together.” But she giggled, recalling a few – including her sorority sister’s former husband – which she would just as soon forget or put in a wood grinder. “Well...most of us do anyway.”
John knew what she meant. “You’re bad.”
“It Steph’s fault. She rubbed off on me. And you know how I feel about that ex of hers.”
“And you’re changing the subject, Mrs. Biebe.”
“No I’m not,” she insisted.
“Yeah, yeah you are....Sweetheart...are you sure this isn’t going to be too damn much on you? I mean, on top of you being a Keeper, you’re managing here at the Point, you still have the store and...and you try to be the best wife a man could ever have.”
Tina pretended as though she was writing in the notebook. “Note to self: Work on being the absolutely best wife a man could ever have. Trying isn’t good enough.” She laughed on seeing John rolling his eyes. “I’m sorry....I’m sorry, John...it’s just...it’s just you’re so serious.”
The humored expression on his handsome features faded. “Because I’m worried. I’m...I’m worried about you, Sunny.” He could hear his soul collapse just a little when she used the term ‘benign tumor,’ the very one used with her.
Tina touched a hand to his cheek. “I know. I’m sort of worried too.”
“Just…Just sort of?” He nearly laughed.
“I...Well...” She sighed again. “This is what I figured and I was thinking about this all the way home….The tech came and got me and gave me the brochure and told me somebody would be in touch about my tests results. I guess if they didn’t come running at me screaming ‘Oh my God!’ at the top of their lungs and rushing me next door to the hospital for emergency surgery then...well...I’m guessing the fibroids aren’t the size of grapefruits.” She rubbed one finger over the pamphlet. “I mean...I can’t...I can’t even imagine that! Can you believe we read that? The size of a grapefruit? I don’t even know how it would...” She moved her hands below her abdomen. “How would it even get...?” She shook her head, lowering it, trying to force away the tears burning behind her eyes, praying that her voice would not be as choked as she feared. “I…I just…I just figured they couldn’t be that big since nobody flipped out. I...I hope they weren’t anyway. I couldn’t see the ultrasound....I wish I had thought to ask the tech if she could turn the monitor so I...”
“Okay...so we’ll be optimistic and figure they’re more like...”
“Clusters of grapes.”
John smiled. “That works. Okay...so I may not be able to eat grapes again for a while after some of those pictures we saw online but...” Tina laughed and he smiled more broadly. It was good to hear her laugh. “No darlin’...what I’m trying to tell you is that...don’t feel that out of...I don’t know...some kind of tradition or obligation or whatever that you need to do these Derby things. It’s not that important. We can have a party anytime and...I...I just have a feeling that once everyone hears what’s happening with you...”
“I’m...I’m not going to tell everyone yet.”
“Tina?”
“I...I’ve told you. I’ve told you....I even called my mother and talked to her before I left...” In the last few years, Tina and her mother were on much better relations, and although none of her family knew the details behind the Point, they were very aware that she had finally found happiness and were leaving it at that. “I...I think I might tell a couple of my friends but...I don’t know. I don’t know yet.”
The Alaskan nodded slowly as he took it all in. It was peculiar to hear Tina admit that she would purposefully keep something so close to the cuff, considering how normally open she was, but hearing her actually say it was unexpected.
“I think...I...I just don’t want to get everyone excited and upset and...well...we really don’t know anything yet.”
“No...”
“I mean the only thing we know definitely is I have fibroids...and no noticeable lumps in my breasts, and I’m full-figured...”
John leaned in to kiss her mouth. “Beautifully full-figured.” No matter what he did throughout the day, thoughts of her soft curves against him always came to him, causing him to realize over and over again how fortunate he was. How empty the world would be without her….
“Well, Doctor Stutenbecker didn’t put it that way...but she said that overall I’m healthy, she’s glad I workout, I’m a nice size 16...and I have these benign tumors…these…fibroids and...” She paused, causing John to realize that there was more she had yet to tell him. “And uh...I’m...I’m pre-menopausal, which is the main reason why I went to her in the first place....I just...I had a feeling.” She could see the surprise on John’s face and knew that in a matter of less than three hours, two bombshells had been dropped in his lap...and the latter announcement seemed to shock him more than the other. It was the thought that even Point magic had not stopped something that came naturally in the life of women….
“You didn’t tell...”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry and besides...” She took a deep breath, not wanting...no, not prepared to discuss the questions that were now in his mind...and in hers, and before he could say another thing, Tina placed one hand about his neck and pulling him closer, kissed his forehead. “Besides...it’s a woman’s thing,” she teased, hoping that would make him smile.
“If you sit there and tell me I won’t understand...” he scolded, nearly wagging a finger at her but she caught it in mid-air.
“I know you do,” she gently answered, not wanting him to take offense. “That’s one of the reasons why I married you John Biebe...because you understood when most people never did.”
“Well, you know what I always told you, sweetheart. My movie...what I went through in it...I learned a lot. After nearly seven years here at the Point, I think...I...hope I’ve managed to learn more or it’s been kind of useless. I’d hate to think that after all this time, I’m still the same lump...”
“You are not a lump.”
“Okay, the same man I was back before I came here.”
Tina shook her head. “You are...” Her right thumb traced an imaginary line over the sensuous curve of his mouth. “You’re incredible, do you know that? Sometimes…Sometimes I swear that you know my body better than I do….And you are kind...and sweet...and strong...very strong, and any woman who never saw that, then it’s her friggin’ loss...but it’s all the things that made me....”
He knew – she saw it in his eyes as they glowed, full of love for her.
Briefly she did wonder why she had not told him of the evidence during the last months that indicated something was changing in her body. The changes had begun not long after their return home following a ten day fall holiday in England: little things, some not really noticeable at first, but others that were obvious and more pronounced, spurring her to consult with Dr. Anthony Giraudeau, the Point physician. He recommended her to Dr. Stutenbecker: they had interned together years before, were members of the same medical fraternity, and she was not only one of the top OB-GYNs in Kentucky but her associates were ranked quite highly in the Commonwealth.
But no, all she told John was that it was time – way past time that she saw a specialist in ‘female concerns,’ as she jokingly called it, causing Biebe to roar with laughter and ask her if she’d gone Victorian on him. Now she realized that as much as he prided himself on knowing her, he felt very out in the cold.
“I know...I know I should have told you everything.”
“You didn’t have to – I understand that – but it’s just...” He shrugged. “Darlin’...I feel like...well...I always hoped I knew every little inch of you, every little cycle you go through…”
“And you do. That’s what I was just saying. Sometimes I feel like you know all of this better than I do.”
“Well…I tried anyway...” he sheepishly said, partly angry with himself for not having known, when there was no way he could have. “And...I know now.”
“Yeah...and I promise...I’ve put all the cards on the table. I won’t keep any other secrets from you, I promise. It was just...I didn’t know what to think either and I kept going over what was happening with me and...Well...just promise…”
“What, sweetheart?”
“For now, it’s just between us, okay?”
“Okay. I won’t tell any of my brothers. I won’t tell anyone unless you give me the word.”
She fidgeted with the corner of the brochure, which – although new – was beginning to show signs of wear. “And I’ll tell...won’t tell...I’ll make up my mind....I know one thing though.”
“What?”
“You accused me of getting off the subject and here we are getting all serious and I have an entire week’s worth of Derby planning to finish up.”
“Sorry darlin’. My fault.” He was smiling, wondering how in the world she could manage to remain so normal.
“Well I’ve got to finalize the menus with Adalia....I mean we have Oaks Day not just Derby Day, and then the barbecues, and the country ham breakfast, and the Fillies Ball, and the Derby Ball, and the Hole-in-One...and with us having these charity events that’s going to complicate things just a teeny bit. And then I need to get with Stephanie ‘cause she’s finishing up her end of things and...grrrrrr...I promised Arthur and Andy that I’d get back in touch with them this week about Thunder night. They’ll be ordering up and buying every piece of fireworks up and down the East and West coast if they’re given half a chance. Oh and we need to order as much Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve as well can get from our supplier, and Maximus said the mint is spreading like wildfire so we’ll have real mint juleps, not some powdered mix crap, and...”
“Tina?”
“Hmm?” She suddenly realized how she was rattling off the details that were so natural to her and began to laugh. “I did it again, didn’t I?”
He only smiled. “I forgot to tell you.”
“What?”
“The mint julep cups you ordered.”
“Yeah?”
“They came this morning while you were in Louisville.”
“They did?! You saw them? And?”
“Sterling silver never looked so good.”
Tina clapped her hands together. “Yes! That is so...This is going to be the best Derby week we’ve ever had....Just like home...without the crowds, the crime, the annual Derby homicide, the annual Derby sexual assaults that aren’t sexual assaults...”
“Forced police overtime,” John added. Tina had told him numerous times that her enjoyment of Derby festivities came to a screeching halt once she joined the police department; it was more a time of stress and just praying for it all to quickly end, instead of the festival celebrated by the entire state.
“The drunken millionaire celebrities. The drunks – period.”
“Well, I’m not saying we won’t have drunks,” John said.
“Well...there won’t be as many.”
“That’s a fact....” He stood up and stretched. “So...I’ll tell you what Mrs. Biebe.”
“What’s that Sheriff Biebe?”
“How do you feel about seafood for dinner tonight?”
“I feel...” and she pretended to give it deep consideration, “very good about it.”
“Great...cause that’s what we’re having,” he grinned. “I prepped a couple of tuna steaks while you were upstairs – toasted the fennel seeds and coriander seeds and ground those with the kosher salt and fresh pepper, then rubbed all that on both sides of the tuna, and those have been in the fridge for nearly 4 hours, so the seasonings should be set.” He saw the surprise on Tina’s features as she nodded, realizing that he had obviously followed the recipe down to the detail. Most men, oh what the heck many females, would not have a clue behind heating the seeds until they were brown and fragrant. She thought she smelled something with a Mediterranean touch but hadn’t questioned it.
“Right.”
“So I’ll get the sesame seeds toasted...mix up the parsley and the Preserved Lemon...”
“You found that in the refrigerator? I’m...Wow.” She remembered when she first made the Preserved Lemon a few months before and all his questions about it, but she had no idea....
“And I’ll go ahead and start the brown rice since it’s going to take a while; figured I’d use broth instead of plain water...”
“Yeah...” Tina kept nodding over and over.
“I shredded some carrots to make the slaw with the toasted pine nuts...”
“You found those too,” she softly stated.
“Yep and picked the herbs to go in that...and you’ll be happy to hear that Maximus gave me a bottle of some Spanish red wine that he said would be great with seared tuna....but I had to have the kitchen whip us up something for dessert, darlin’. I’ll put it together later; they said it’s real simple, but how does balsamic and black pepper strawberries sound, with warm toasted mozzarella flat breads? That’s what they told me it’s called anyway.”
“That sounds...That sounds wonderful. And here I thought that you were just good at chili and hot wings.”
“Darlin’....I make some mean chili and hot wings.”
“I won’t argue with that. I love your chili and your hot wings...and your barbecued ribs aren’t bad either.”
“A guy likes to hear when he’s doing good. Okay so...you go ahead and work on your Derby stuff and I’ll start finishing up on dinner.”
“Great...oh and John?”
“Yeah?”
“You want to pop a bottle of Champagne in the fridge too? We can have that with the berries and flat breads.”
“That’ll go with Champagne?”
Tina smiled. “Check out Andrea Immer’s book since you’re using it to cook with. Everything goes with Champagne...even popcorn.”
“Popcorn, eh? Works for me then. We’ll have to try that some movie night….All right sweetheart...you just relax...”
“I will.”
“...and I’ll take care of everything,” he told her as he backed away, heading to the French doors that led into the kitchen...but not before he paused, briefly watching as she returned to her notebook...but could be seen picking up the fibroid brochure once again.
He nearly told her to let it go for the time being, but decided not to. Once they started dinner, once they relaxed over the Champagne and dessert and perhaps even found a movie to watch, he prayed that would be enough of a diversion.
Not only for her but for him as well....