Sybil at Sixteen Read Free Page A

wonderful.”
    â€œUntil the accident,” Thea said. “That’s when everything changed.”
    â€œI think Sybil’s aware of that,” Evvie said. “Besides, it isn’t even true.”
    â€œIt’s true enough,” Sybil said. It always came back to the accident. Four years before at Thanksgiving. The hit-and-run driver. No insurance to cover the costs of the operations and the physical therapy. Nick’s obsessive need for Sybil to walk again. The constant moves from one rehab place to another, each one promising more than it ultimately could deliver. Meg growing weary, weary of the moves, the false hopes, the endless exercises she worked Sybil through. Meg growing weary even of Nick, the man who had been dearer to her than life. And Nick, losing his obsessive drive to make money, to make deals, to start all over, full of promise, full of potential. All he cared about was Sybil, so all Sybil cared about was herself. She couldn’t let Nick down. She couldn’t let the destruction of her family be for nothing. She owed them her health. She owed them an uncrippled body, two strong legs gliding through the hallways. She owed them for the jobs they’d taken to work their way through college, for Claire’s elopement, and her giving up any thoughts of further education to earn money fast by modeling. She owed them for all those dreams of Nick’s that had been smashed that day by some unknown driver. She owed them for the house they’d had to sell, for the piano Meg had never gotten to own. They might never ask a thing of her, or they might ask the world of her, and it didn’t matter. Whatever she could offer would never be enough.
    â€œOh, no,” Claire said. “Can you hear it?”
    â€œWhat?” Evvie asked.
    â€œNicky’s playing with the radio,” Claire said. “Listen hard. You can hear him fiddling with the stations.”
    â€œThis was so much easier when we still had the stereo,” Thea said. “Sybil, are you ready?”
    â€œReady as I’ll ever be,” Sybil said. She got up carefully off the bed, and flexed her legs. They were stiff from sitting in one position for so long, but the pain was manageable. Thank God it was a sunny, dry day.
    â€œThe birthday waltz,” Claire said. “I finally kicked Nicky in the shins when I was fourteen, and he stopped making me dance with him.”
    â€œI always loved our waltzes,” Thea said, getting up and stretching with an ease Sybil envied. “It was the only time I could pretend Nicky loved me best of all.”
    â€œWe might as well get it over with,” Evvie said. “There’s no stopping Nicky once he gets his mind set on waltzing.”
    â€œIf you’re not up to it, don’t do it,” Claire said.
    â€œI’m fine,” Sybil said sharply. Last year, she’d waltzed on crutches. The year before in a wheelchair. She’d manage fine this year, if they’d just leave her alone.
    The four sisters walked down the stairs, Sybil holding on to the banister and willing her legs to cooperate. Meg and Sam were seated in the living room, and Sybil noticed that Evvie walked immediately over to Sam. Thea and Claire moved to one side, and Nick strolled to Sybil’s side and took her gently by the arm.
    â€œYou’re sixteen now,” he said. “Sixteen is a special age in this family.”
    Sybil nodded. She knew sixteen for her would never be the magical age it had been for Meg and Evvie. They had both fallen in love at sixteen. But that didn’t mean sixteen couldn’t be special for her, too. She had her family, she had her home. No wheelchair, no crutches. The world might not be perfect, but Sybil didn’t expect perfection, never really had. All she wanted was a decent chance, and that she finally had.
    The radio began a waltz, and Nick bowed his still-handsome head to Sybil, who smiled, secure in his love.