“I don’t think I can do it.”
“You shut up!” The harshness in Maureen’s voice made me jump. I’d never heard her speak like that before. “Be a man and do it… DO IT FOR YOUR SISTER!”
My hands trembled as I pressed closer to the wall.
“She’s my…” Ethan’s voice cracked.
“Mom, it’s never the same.”
There was a brief pause before Ethan continued.
“Mom, Zara and I are not planning on having children. We want to have great careers and travel as much as possible when the time comes. We’re happy with the dogs for now, but that’s all we’ve decided.
I can’t risk my marriage. We’ve only been married two weeks.”
“I think you can risk your relationship,” Maureen said firmly. “Lisa is your blood.
She’s the only part left of your sister. You cannot run from the truth.”
What’s this about? I thought.
I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I stepped into the room and asked, “What truth?”
Ethan and Maureen looked at me like they’d seen a ghost.
“I’m tired,” Maureen announced abruptly, standing up. “I need to go to bed.”
She hurried past me without answering my question.
“Ethan,” I said, looking straight into his eyes. “Please tell me what’s going on.
What’s all this about?”
He sighed deeply, taking my hands in his. “Mom’s sick, Zara. Really sick.
She’s been hiding it from everyone, but her condition is deteriorating fast. The tremors in her hands, and the memory lapses we’ve noticed… it’s not just age.”
Suddenly, so many little moments clicked into place.
Maureen’s shaking hands while teaching Lisa to sew her teddy bear’s sweater, the confusion when she couldn’t remember where she’d parked at the grocery store, and the way she sometimes paused mid-sentence, searching for words.
