THE SCAN REVEALED SOMETHING NO ONE EXPECTED
PART 2
The next morning, Ava didn’t come downstairs.
That had never happened before.
I went to her room and found her curled beneath the blankets, one hand pressed against her stomach.
“Sweetheart?”
She opened her eyes.
“Mom, I don’t feel right.”
That was all I needed to hear.
I called the pediatrician’s office.
The earliest appointment was three days away.
Three days felt impossible.
So I told Ava to get dressed.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Marcus appeared in the hallway.
“Helen, seriously?”
“I’ve made my decision.”
“She doesn’t need an emergency room.”
I looked at him.
“You’ve said that for weeks.”
Ava slowly stood behind me.
Marcus sighed.
“Fine. But don’t let them turn this into something it isn’t.”
I didn’t answer.
Twenty minutes later, I was driving toward Rosehaven General Hospital.
Ava sat quietly in the passenger seat.
Halfway there, she whispered,
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Am I going to be okay?”
I reached over and held her hand.
“Yes.”
I said it confidently.
Even though I wasn’t sure.
At the hospital, the doctors examined her and immediately ordered blood tests and imaging.
The nurse asked how long the symptoms had been happening.
I told her.
Nearly a month.
She exchanged a quick glance with another nurse.
That frightened me.
A few hours later, Ava was taken for an abdominal scan.
I waited outside the imaging room.
Marcus finally arrived.
He walked in looking irritated rather than worried.
“You didn’t have to call me.”
“She needed both of us.”
He sat down.
“This is going to be nothing.”
I stared at him.
“I hope you’re right.”
A few minutes later, the doctor walked out.
His expression was completely different from when he’d entered.
He looked at me.
Then at Marcus.
Then back at me.
“Mrs. Kingsley, could I speak with you privately?”
My heart began pounding.
“What happened?”
He hesitated.
“There is something on the scan.”
Marcus immediately stood.
“What kind of something?”
The doctor didn’t answer him.
Instead, he looked directly at me.
“There’s something inside her.”
My entire body went cold.
“What do you mean?”
“We found a mass in her abdomen.”
Marcus stared at him.
“A mass?”
“Yes.”
“Could it be cancer?”
The doctor raised a hand.
“We don’t know that yet.”
He explained that the imaging showed an abnormal growth that required further evaluation.
Ava would need additional tests to determine exactly what it was.
I felt like the floor had disappeared beneath me.
Then the doctor said something that made my blood run cold.
“It appears to have been there for some time.”
I looked at Marcus.
His face had finally lost its certainty.
For the first time in weeks, he had nothing to say.
I went into Ava’s room.
She was sitting upright, watching the hallway through the glass door.
The moment she saw my face, she knew something had changed.
“Mom?”
I walked toward her.
She reached for my hand.
“What did they find?”
I sat beside her.
“They found something on the scan.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“We don’t know exactly what it is yet.”
Ava swallowed.
“Is it bad?”
I pulled her into my arms.
“We’re going to find out.”
She began crying against my shoulder.
Then Marcus entered the room.
Ava looked at him.
“Dad?”
He stood completely still.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She frowned.
“For what?”
Marcus looked at me.
Then at our daughter.
“For not listening.”
The next morning, a specialist reviewed Ava’s scans.
He asked several questions.
Then he requested access to her previous medical records.
I watched him carefully.
“Doctor, is there something you’re not telling us?”
He paused.
“There is something unusual.”
“What?”
He pointed to the scan.
“The location of the mass isn’t the only thing concerning me.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
He zoomed in on the image.
“There appears to be something attached to it.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Attached?”
The doctor nodded.
“It looks like a small metallic object.”
I stared at the screen.
“A metallic object?”
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Ava suddenly remembered something.
“Mom…”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
Her face had gone pale.
“I’ve seen that before.”
“Where?”
She looked at Marcus.
Then slowly pointed toward him.
“In Dad’s study.”
Marcus froze.
“What are you talking about?”
Ava’s voice trembled.
“Last month, I found a little metal capsule inside your desk.”
The room became silent.
Marcus stared at his daughter.
“I told you not to go through my things.”
Ava lowered her eyes.
“I didn’t know what it was.”
The specialist looked between them.
Then he asked Marcus one question.
“Mr. Kingsley, do you know anything about a metallic capsule?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
His silence lasted only a few seconds.
But it was enough.
Because I suddenly realized my husband’s insistence that Ava was exaggerating might not have been simple denial.
He had known something.
And whatever was inside our daughter…
might have been connected to something Marcus had been hiding from all of us.