he wanted you to go in to see him alone."
"What?"
"That's what he said, Melody. I told the head
nurse and she said to wait fifteen minutes and then
send you in to see him. She said it would be all right. I
told her you were my sister," he said.
"Why does he want to see me?" It felt like a
hand of ice was stroking the back of my neck and then
moving down my spine.
"He thinks he's going to die tonight," he said,
"and he wants to tell you something before he does,"
Cary replied, taking a deep breath before going to sit
with his mother and sister.
I felt as if I had swallowed a dozen goldfish and they were all flopping about in my stomach. Cary checked his watch and looked at me across the small lobby. It seemed he was looking at me across a chasm so wide and deep we could never reach each other
again.
I sat back. Of all people for Uncle Jacob to
want to see. Me! Maybe he wanted to lay some curse
on me or blame me for his condition. Maybe he
wanted me to promise to leave his house for good. Or
maybe, maybe one of those deeply buried secrets was
about to rear its ugly head.
I took deep breaths. May gazed at me with her
eyes big, the expression on her face mixed fear and
hope. Aunt Sara bit down on her lower lip and nodded
to unheard voices. Cary stared ahead. I vaguely heard
the voices of other people around us and heard the
footsteps of nurses and technicians. My heart pounded
harder with every passing minute.
And then Cary gazed at his watch again and
looked up at me.