A Sister's Promise (Promises) Read Free Page B

Joely out. They’d been stuck together like glue from their first kiss.
    “We’d been dating for so long and I thought I was in love. . . .Anyway, the condom broke.” Joely sighed. “A few weeks later I realized I was pregnant.”
    Shaking her head, Kate hated to hear what came next. If her sister had had an abortion, she definitely regretted it more now than ever. “What did you do?”
    “Well, he wasn’t too excited about having a kid. He’d been accepted to Michigan State the next fall. He offered to pay for an abortion.” Joely’s face scrunched up.
    Kate held her breath. So, this was why Joely had broken up with Ray and never spoke of him again.
    Joely blinked back her tears. “I was just a kid. It wasn’t like I could get a great job and provide much of a home.”
    “Of course not. I wish you would’ve told me.”
    Joely shrugged. “Shutting you out was my way of punishing you, I think.”
    Kate curved her hand over the top of Joely’s. “Whatever you did, you did what was right for you at the time.”
    Joely’s lips squeezed together. “That’s what they said at Planned Parenthood, too.”
    Kate felt a sharp pain in her chest. Joely had unknowingly squandered her one chance at motherhood.
    “I kept thinking it wasn’t a good time, but there was no way I could ever get an abortion. And then. . . I started bleeding. I called Planned Parenthood and told them about the terrible pain. They said I was probably having a miscarriage. I bawled to them about how it was my fault for not being more excited. It felt like it was God’s way of punishing me.”
    Kate started stroking Joely’s hair. “No, no. Your body just wasn’t ready. The baby wasn’t ready. It’s not your fault.”
    Tears dripped down Joely’s face, rolling across her nose, falling onto the couch. “I told myself someday I’d be married and have a house and I’d make up for it by being such a great mom.” She sniffled. “But now. . . .”
    Without hesitating, Kate reached her arm around Joely’s back. For years, Kate thought she knew why Joely wanted to be a mom so badly, but she’d been wrong. How was it possible that she’d prided herself on being so close to her sister, and yet all along Joely had been burdened with this dark secret?
    What kind of big sister was she? When Joely had needed her most, Kate had failed her.
    Never again.
     
    # # #
     
    Twelve hours later, Joely and Kate sat cross-legged in the lobby of the rheumatologist who had confirmed Dr. Martin’s diagnosis. A TV mounted on the wall had the sound turned down so low that Kate couldn’t hear it. Not that she wanted to.
    A stooped man with a cane passed in front of them and sat down. An elderly woman carrying the Chicago Tribune took the seat next to him. She pulled out the crossword section and handed him the rest of the newspaper.
    Joely nibbled her bottom lip. Even though she and Kate didn’t look much alike, people always claimed that they could tell the women were sisters. Friends told them their mannerisms were exactly the same, the most obvious of which were that when excited, they talked with their hands and when stressed, they chewed on things—thumb nails, the ends of pencils or their lower lip.
    Joely’s normally radiant face still hadn’t regained its color, causing Kate to worry. She hoped to ease the tension with small talk. “Boy, traffic was heavy. Is it always like that?” Silence.
    “I hope it doesn’t rain. It’s not supposed to, is it?” More silence.
    “Did you hear about that new reality show?” Still no reply.
    Eventually Kate gave up and looked around at the faces of strangers silently worrying, hoping and praying. A middle-aged woman gulped coffee, a balding man with a briefcase tapped his foot, a young couple held hands and watched their little boy play with Legos.
    In the corner Kate saw a rack of aqua-colored brochures starting with the word “when”:   When a Parent has Osteoporosis, When a Spouse has Fibromyalgia,