Forbidden Sister (The Forbidden 1) - Page 76
“How is she?” I asked Roxy quickly.
“Much more alert. She was happy about your going to school. How was it?”
“Tolerable.”
“That’s the way I always felt about it, tolerable. So,” she said as we started away, “guess who I met today.”
“Aunt Lucy,” I said.
“You knew she would be there?”
“She said she would, but I didn’t know when. I told her you and I would be there about now, and she said she would be on the way home by then.”
Roxy nodded. “She looked very surprised to see me, so I thought you hadn’t told her anything.”
“Surprised? Was she nasty to you?”
“Not exactly nasty. Formal. She insisted on calling me Roxanne. She always did, and I would never respond. Naturally, Papa thought I was being disrespectful. Anyway, she pleaded with me to have you go live with them. According to her, they’re very concerned about us—about you, I mean. She said if you agreed, they would arrange for Mama to have around-the-clock nursing at home. They would get you enrolled in the school the military’s children attend. She told me that if I wanted to do anything for Mama, it would be to persuade you to go.”
“Why is this so important to them all of a sudden? Before this, we hardly ever heard from them or saw them. You know they didn’t come to Papa’s funeral.”
She shrugged. “The military takes care of its own. Something like that, I guess. She’s simply carrying out orders.”
“But Papa wasn’t in the military.”
“Uncle Orman and our grandfather never accepted that.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her whether you go or not is up to you, not me.”
“Good.”
She looked down. I could feel that there was something more.
“What, Roxy?”
“We met with the doctor afterward for a few minutes,” she said.
“And?”
“When he first spoke to us, he didn’t tell us he had taken a biopsy when they operated. She had another tumor. It’s not good news, M.”
I digested her words, and then, despite my determination to appear strong, I started to cry. She put her arm around me and held me close.
“Does Mama know?”
“Not yet, but he will tell her,” she said.
“So Aunt Lucy heard that, too?”
“Yes. That’s why she was so adamant about you not being alone, and she certainly doesn’t want you anywhere near me.”
“I don’t care what she wants. Did you call Uncle Alain?”
“Yes. He was very upset it. Shocked to hear from me but very concerned about you. I called him again before I went to get you at scho
ol and told him the additional news. I told him we would call frequently. He sounded as if he was crying. I didn’t realize that despite time and distance, he and Mama held on to a relationship that must have been close.”
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