“It’s my fault. I was pushing you out the door to my graduation.”
“No.”
“I skipped out to be with Roger.”
“I’m not saying that. Delia—”
“I left you to get smashed by that truck.”
“I wasn’t saying that at all. Jesus, listen to me—”
“It’s true,” Delia said, biting the words out. “All of it. And I’m not going through it again. I refuse.”
She rose to her feet, shouldered her purse with hard, jerking movements.
“You never take anything seriously. Not even your own life. I may not be able to control what happens to you out there, but in here there are doctors and nurses and safety. You can stay put a few more months. It won’t kill you.”
I shook my head. “No.”
She went to the door. I rushed to it and shut it when she tried to open it.
“Let me go,” I cried. “Please, Delia. If something’s going to happen, it will. But let me be happy until then. Don’t let all of my memories be of this little box of a room.”
My sister jerked the door open, her gaze never leaving mine, her composure—her control—returned.
“It’s for your own good.”
Then she was gone, shutting the door tight behind her.
Chapter 26
Thea
I backed away from the door and sat on the bed, all that I didn’t know about my sister crashing over me like a wave.
I don’t know her at all. I never did.
I curled up on the bed as the sobs came. I cried for all I lost. For all I never had. My sister, Jimmy, Mom, and Dad. The alone-ness of the amnesia loomed, closing in on me.
A soft knock came at the door. “Thea?” Rita called.
I didn’t answer. She could come in whenever she wanted. The door locked from the outside.
The door opened. “Oh, honey.”
She sat beside me and I curled toward her, needing the human connection. I wrapped my arms around her knees and cried as she stroked my hair.
“She’s like the witch in a fairy tale,” I said between sobs.
“She’s try
ing to protect you.”
“I want to fight her in court, but she said she’d fight back. It could take months.”
Rita sighed and I peered up at her. Conflicted thoughts played behind my nurse’s eyes. A tiny flicker of hope sparked in me. Rita was my last chance. My only chance.
I sat up and wiped my eyes.