Raina's Story (16 page)

She doesn't know,
Raina thought. Who would tell her? Vicki? At the moment it didn't seem important. “I was surprised too,” Raina said, careful not to glance at her mother.

“You're lovely,” Vicki said softly.

Emma laughed. “I look better with hair. Even my eyelashes and eyebrows have fallen out, but thank you for saying so.” She looked Vicki up and down, curiosity seeping through her smile. “I've always wondered who I came from. Mom and Dad”—she glanced at her adoptive par-ents—“they've always told me I was adopted. Still, I wondered. Not enough to go looking for you, but …” She paused, catching her breath after the exertion of speaking. “Can you tell me anything about my father?”

“Yes,” Vicki said. “But later. We only stopped by to meet you.”

“Yes, later,” Carl said, stepping to the bed and pouring Emma a glass of water.

Emma smiled. “I'm always tired. But so what? I've wanted to meet you both ever since I heard we were a match. But of course I couldn't until we knew we were related. Then they said we could meet. So I've been imagining this moment for a long time. When you're lying in bed all day with nothing to do, well, imagination is all you have. Come closer, Raina.” Emma's gaze caressed Raina's face. “You're a junior, right?”

Raina nodded, not trusting her voice.

“And I was told that you do volunteer work at a hospital.”

“Pink Angels,” Raina managed to say. “That's what they call us. My best friends, Kathleen and Holly, work with me.”

“I have two best friends—Janie and Heather. We met in college.”

“And you're a teacher.”

“I love my job. Each one of those kids feels like my own.” She pointed to a corkboard hanging on the back of the door. Every inch was covered with letters and messages on all kinds and sizes of paper. Some had stickers affixed, others were decorated with different-colored pens. The papers fluttered like multihued feathers in the air seeping around the door jamb.

“They must really miss you.”

“I miss them.”

“We should let Raina and Vicki get something to eat.” This came from Helen, who stepped forward and straightened the covers around her daughter. The move looked motherly and possessive at the same time. “Your doctors want to meet us here at seven. Please get some rest.”

“Of course,” Emma said, winking at Raina and Vicki. “Settle in and come back then. You'll like my doctors. And my fiancé, Jon-Paul Franklin, will be here too. I really want you to meet him. He's a wonderful man.”

Raina felt a stab of envy. She longed to have Hunter by her side through the upcoming ordeal.

Out in the hall, Carl said, “Helen and I would enjoy treating you both to dinner.”

“No, no,” Vicki said, looking apologetic. “We should unpack, grab a nap.”

Raina didn't want to be left with either the Delaschmidts or her mother. She wanted to be with her sister, but that wasn't an option at the moment.

When she and Vicki were back in their hotel room, Vicki said, “Pick something off the room service menu.”

“I'm not hungry.”

“It wasn't a suggestion, Raina.”

“A hamburger,” Raina said, tossing the menu aside, heading for the bathroom. “I'm taking a bath.”

“Don't you think you've shut me out long enough? Don't you think this is hard for me too? I gave birth to her, you know!”

Raina didn't answer. She swept into the bathroom and turned on the taps full blast, drowning out her mother's voice.

“I can't get over how much the two of you look like each other,” Jon-Paul said that evening when everyone was gathered in Emma's room and waiting for the doctors. “Can I take a picture?” He held up a camera.

“He's a professional photographer,” Emma explained. “Every moment is a Kodak moment to him.”

Everybody laughed, breaking the tension that hung in the air. Raina had liked Jon-Paul from the moment she'd met him. He was slender, with chiseled features and light brown hair cut shaggily across his forehead. He was coiled energy barely held in check, and a blind person could have seen how much he adored Emma. Raina scooted next to Emma on the bed, and they mugged for his camera. He fired off a series of shots before Raina could blink.

“Now how about you mothers?” He said it so casually that Vicki and Helen moved forward automatically and took their positions on either side of the girls. Vicki caught herself and started
to step aside, but Jon-Paul said, “For posterity.

Don't move.” He raised the camera.

Smooth,
Raina thought.

“You too, Dad.”

Carl embraced Emma and they turned to face the camera cheek to cheek. Jon-Paul had just snapped off several shots when three men and two women wearing white coats swept into the room. Raina didn't need formal introductions to know this was Emma's medical team. The head doctor, a tall African American named Samson Wingate, shook Raina's hand warmly. “You don't know how much we've been looking forward to this moment. I was amazed when your test results showed you were such a close match to Emma. When I heard you were her actual blood sister, I whooped.” The room of people laughed. Dr. Wingate looked too distinguished to whoop.

“We'll need to run more tests, Raina. You'll need to talk to one of our shrinks—just a formal-ity—and we'll put Emma into isolation and begin radiating her bone marrow.”

Emma's diseased marrow would have to be destroyed so that Raina's healthy marrow had a chance of taking hold. The doctor continued, “During that time, Emma will be very vulnerable to germs and microbes. That's why she'll be isolated.” He was restating facts they already knew.

The days, or perhaps weeks, before and after the transplant would be the most dangerous for Emma. If she didn't reject the new marrow, if she didn't contract any nasty illnesses, she would have a chance of surviving.

“When do you want to start?” Carl asked.

“The sooner the better,” Dr. Wingate said. “Tomorrow.”

“Not tomorrow,” Emma said. All heads turned to look at her. “Not until after this weekend.” She laced her fingers through Jon-Paul's.

Jon-Paul said, “We're getting married this Saturday. Right here in this room, and you're all invited. We've already gotten our license and our wedding clothes and lined up a minister.”

“Janie and Heather will be bridesmaids,” Emma said before anyone else could speak. She looked straight into Raina's eyes. “And I want my sister to be my maid of honor.”

T
HE ROOM
erupted—everyone spoke at once. Emma and Jon-Paul held on to each other and calmly waited until the uproar subsided. Raina was the only one smiling at them, the only one flushed with excitement. Their decision made perfect sense to her.

“Emma, be reasonable,” Dr. Wingate said, his voice rising above all the others. “We've already waited longer than we should have. Your donor's here. Don't put this off.”

“I am being reasonable. It's my life and this is what I want.”

“I want Emma to be my wife before the transplant,” Jon-Paul added. “I can't let go of her any other way.”

Helen leaned forward over the foot of the bed. “Please wait until after you're well, darling. We'll throw you the biggest church wedding ever—”

“I don't want to wait, Mother. I want to go
into this married to Jon-Paul. I know what I'm doing.”

Raina understood completely. If it had been her and Hunter…

“If you'll tell me about the other bridesmaids' dresses, Raina and I will do our best to find something suitable by Saturday,” Vicki said, surprising Raina.

Helen turned on Vicki. “Don't encourage this! Who do you think you are?”

“I'm her mother, just like you. It's what she wants. Let her have it.”

Carl took his wife's arm and spoke soothingly. “It's all right, Helen. No sense causing hard feelings. We can throw the big church wedding later.”

Emma looked at her mother, her eyes misty. “You go buy a pretty dress too, Mom. You're the mother of the bride and I want you to be beautiful. And to be happy for us.”

Dr. Wingate closed Emma's thick medical file. “Look, I know when to fold. No one can override a woman who's set her mind on something she wants.” His humor eased the tension in the room. “But just a minimum of people in the room, Emma. And I'm declaring myself the best man.”

Jon-Paul grinned and nodded.

“And everyone wears a mask. It would be a disaster if you caught anything,” Dr. Wingate said, looking at Emma.

“I'll be good,” Emma said, flashing him a hundred-watt smile.

Dr. Wingate shook his head in resignation. “Shall I talk to the hospital pastry chef about baking a cake for you?”

“It sounds
so romantic,
” Holly said to Raina on the phone with a sigh.

Raina would have thought so too, if it all hadn't been so deadly serious. “She's pretty awesome. And so is her fiancé. The wedding's going to be small and quick, especially if her doctor has any say. But if I were in her place, I'd marry first too. Have you talked to Hunter?”

“Just last night. He was pretty surprised to hear you were in D.C.”

“I never told him about Emma being my sister. Every e-mail I wrote to him sounded like a soap opera, so I didn't send them. He doesn't know.” Holly was strangely quiet, making Raina think that maybe Holly had told him, but at the moment she didn't care and didn't want to get into it. So what if Holly had told him?

Holly cleared her throat. “So you're going to be the maid of honor. That's neat.”

“Emma gave Mom a picture of the bridesmaid dress and we're going shopping. The wed-ding's at three on Saturday afternoon, so we have a couple of days to find something.”

“It must be weird seeing her, knowing she's your sister.”

“It's weird, all right. How's Kathleen?” Raina changed the subject. “Will you tell her hi for me? Tell her that I miss the two of you a lot?”

“I'll tell her.”

“And how are things at the hospital?”

“Everyone misses you. Betsy and Sierra send big hugs.”

Raina thought of the adorable newborns. There would be a whole new crop by now; the turnover in the nursery was rapid and constant. And she thought of Annie. The memory made her sad but all the more determined to help her sister.

Just then, Vicki walked out of the bathroom putting on earrings and motioned for Raina to hang up. “Holly, I have to go,” Raina said. “We're heading to the mall. Wish me luck.”

“You've got it, girlfriend—fashion colors for the spring are pink and lime green, and chocolate brown too,” Holly said in one fast sentence. “In case you wanted to know.”

Raina smiled. “Thanks for the info.” She tucked her cell phone into her purse and stood. “I'm ready.”

“Put on your coat. It's thirty degrees outside. You don't need to get sick before your surgery.”

Raina bristled and started to snap at her mother, but she realized Vicki was right. She
couldn't get sick and jeopardize Emma's chances. She grabbed her coat and scarf.

Despite the cold, bleak February weather, the department stores were awash in bright, filmy spring fashions, giving shoppers hope that win-ter's end was imminent instead of more than a month away. Armed with the picture and Holly's advice, Raina was able to find appropriate styles and colors on the racks. Price didn't appear to matter to Vicki, who let Raina try on everything that appealed to her. The salespeople, eager to help, showed off dresses that Raina would never have worn anyplace. In the end, she and Vicki settled on a lovely float of pale pink georgette strewn with soft ivory-colored dots, and with an empire waist. “You look like cotton candy,” the saleswoman said, admiring Raina in the dressing room area. “Pearls would be nice with the dress.”

Vicki said, “I have pearls.”

“I'm wearing the heart necklace Hunter gave me,” Raina announced coolly, ignoring her mother's offer and ending the discussion.

When they went to the hospital, she took the dress for Emma's approval. “Perfect,” her sister said. Minutes later, Janie and Heather came through the doorway and Emma made introductions.

“Wow,” said the very pregnant Janie. “You two are spitting images of each other.”

“Emma's hair's darker,” Heather said.

“When I
have
hair,” Emma said, making them all giggle.

Raina listened as Emma and her friends talked about the wedding, and even though they were in their mid-twenties and married, they reminded Raina of Kathleen and Holly, making her wonder if she and Kathleen and Holly would still be friends in ten years. A wave of homesickness washed over her. Her life back in Tampa seemed far away, almost otherworldly, and the drama of high school term papers, test scores, basketball contests, upcoming dances, parties and who was dating whom seemed irrelevant. This place was the only real one to her now. Her sister's life, the wedding, the harvesting of her bone marrow formed the epicenter of Raina's universe.

She was grateful that the hotel had a pool and an exercise room. She spent every possible minute in those two places when she wasn't at the hospital. Anything was better than being cooped up with her mother in their room. They still weren't talking much because for the first time in Raina's life, she didn't have anything to say to Vicki. She hurt inside. Her heart felt as if it had been scraped and laid raw. How had Vicki allowed the years to slip by without telling Raina the truth? Raina told Emma about Tampa, Hunter and school—but she really wanted to tell her about their father and the fact that they were truly sisters.