After Ever After

Chapter Fourteen

Eugene and Rapunzel's Cottage

Saturday Night

She should have thought that it would make it all better. That if she just sat him down and told him the truth, everything would be alright. But she knew better. She knew once she told him, reality would hit her, and she wasn't sure she was strong enough to face it just yet. Standing in front of the mirror, Rapunzel stared at her bare chest. Both of her breasts had become considerably enlarged and were sore to the touch. The patch of redness tinting her left breast brought tears to her eyes.

How am I supposed to tell him that I have cancer?

They've only been married a month. A single, solitary month. Why is this happening now? Why now? Why her?

"Blondie, I'm home!" Rapunzel heard Eugene yell from downstairs. She cupped her hands over her mouth as the tears began to spill from her green eyes. She tried her best to muffle her sobbing as Eugene came upstairs. "Babe, you up here?"

"I'm in the bathroom," she replied as normal as she could.

"Whew! I'm exhausted, honey. I had to break up two fights tonight, can you believe it? Some people just shouldn't drink when they're angry," Eugene flopped onto the bed and kicked his boots off. "How was your day honey? Did you finishing typing up your syllabus?"

Rapunzel blew out a shaky breath and opened the bathroom door, poking her head out to face her husband. "Eu-Eugene."

Eugene sat upright, looking at his wife with concern. "Honey, what's wrong?"

Rapunzel wrung her hands together, avoiding eye contact. "I-I have to tell you something."

"What is it? Is it your job? Did they change their minds about hiring you?"

Rapunzel shook her head.

"Did...did someone die?"

Again, Rapunzel shook her head.

"Is it you? Are you hurt?"

Rapunzel put her hands over her eyes and nodded, breaking down and silently bawling. Eugene went to her, gently removing her hand and making her look at him. "Rapunzel, please, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

She sniveled and gripped at his shirt, gathering all the courage she could muster as she said, "I have cancer."

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Gusteau's

Cinderella poked at her Jambom de Paques, completely bored as she listened to another one of Stephanie's stories of her lavish upbringing. She had been doing that all night, bragging about her travels with her parents and then asking Ferdinand about his life at his family's estate. This was not what Cinderella has in mind when Ferdinand had told her they were going out for dinner. She thought this would be a way to finally reconnect with her husband, only to find out it was another part of his campaigning.

"My father took me to Paris every summer; him being a Frenchman himself he thought it was important for me to know of our heritage. It was fabulous. Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, the locks of love, absolutely beautiful," finished Stephanie.

"I agree," Ferdinand chimed in. "You know my parents had a lock of their own up there."

"Oh how romantic," one of the older diplomats commented. She then turned her attention to Cinderella, "Have you ever been to Paris dear?"

Cinderella politely shook her head. "No, I haven't. Ferdinand and I had our honeymoon in Barcelona though."

"It's a travesty your parents never took you to Paris, my dear. It is the City of Love after all," one of the governors said with a wink.