Reclaiming Lily (38 page)

Kai shook her head. “You have been—what do they say?—a busy mosquito.”

A lovely tinkling sound came from Joy, so incongruous with her brash manner. “Busy bee, Kai. Slang was hard for me too.”

Again their arms linked. They inhaled, exhaled, in unison. Rhythms gifted through genes? Kai believed it so. “We have much in common.” Kai kept her eyes on Joy. Kept her mind on their rhythms. “Much to share.”

Joy popped upright. “Don’t you see? That’s why we’re in this PKD thing together. If I’m a match, it’s a no-brainer.” Her eyes were filled with such longing, Kai turned her gaze to the Common expanse, alive after its brush with winter. Alive . . . like young Joy.

Kai felt her lips tighten.
That is the way out
. TU administrators balked at twenty-something donors, much less eighteen-year-olds. A memo from her as a renal specialist decrying Joy’s involvement would end this fiasco. Joy would never know. “You are much too young to even be considered.”

“One year and I won’t be.”

Kai stared at Fourth Sister.
She comprehends all.
Desperate to add levity, she quipped, “I was right the first time. You are a busy mosquito.”

Joy rustled about. “The way I figure it, we’ve got time. That report puts you at thirty, forty percent function. God willing, we’ve got time.”

Kai studied her hands. It was not right to lie to her sister.

“You’re not going to support me in this, are you?” Joy, a pink-and-denim blur, jumped to her feet. “Are you?”

Kai looked at Joy but no longer saw beloved Chang features. Instead, she saw the village chief who tried, because of an age-old family feud, to bar her from the university, the officials who rejected her visa application—all those who had said, “You can’t.”

There had been an equal number who had said, “You can.” It pained her to be seen as a negative person . . . by the one she loved most in the world.

“You can’t play God, you know.” Joy’s voice became brittle. She scuffed her toe against dirt.

Twinges worked through Kai.
If Joy resorts to her rebellious ways, I will be to blame.
This situation called for careful reasoning. “How would I be playing God, to do what is prudent? To do what is best for you?”

Joy took Kai’s hand and warmed it between her palms. “God’s behind this, don’t you see? Like, what are the odds you’d find me? That we’d survive a tornado without, like, even a broken fingernail? Can you just try, Kai? Try to trust Him on this?” Her desperation rent Kai’s heart. “I mean, how many times does He have to tell you?” Joy’s grip tightened and surged a tidal wave of emotion . . . and a question.

“When did this revelation come to you?” Kai kept her tone light. “On Beacon Hill, did you not question God?”

Joy’s eyes blazed with a strange light. “Yeah. Things have changed. When Mom left this morning, Dad and I talked.” Sweat slicked their hands, yet Joy held tight. “I recommitted my life to God, who never gave up on me, even when I was in that . . . dark place. It just, like . . . all clicked.”

Joy released her hold on Kai. Snapped her fingers. “As I’ve learned about myself, I’ve kinda learned who He is. Though there’s a bunch more to figure out.” Joy possessed the rosy cheeks and electric energy of the children racing by, surely bound for the frog pond. “He’s a God of miracles. Of love. A God who has conquered death.”

“Conquered death.” Kai battled a negative tone. “That is a God I want to meet.”

“Then I’ll introduce you.”

The wind rustled through the leaves as Joy began to talk. Words about God coming to earth as a peasant’s son shuddered Kai’s soul. Her skin prickled, as though another presence, greater than nature, greater than humanity, had joined them. Though she could not see it, could not touch it, the presence was there . . .

“You can know Him, too, if you admit that He came for you. Died for you.”

“This morning, did you admit such a thing?”

Tears filled Joy’s eyes, which had lost their savvy look and bore the wide-eyed hope of young patients, trusting that the shot’s sting would soon be gone. “Yes. I always believed it, like, at some level. Now I’m gonna live it.”

They sat on the bench, full of the moment of being sisters enraptured with one another . . . and something, someone else. God?

Birds chirped. Lovers strolled. The strange sensation of another presence faded.

Kai checked her watch, felt her eyes bulge to see that it was already six o’clock. Time itself had bowed to the strange words, the strange presence. “It is time to meet your parents, Joy. You have given me much to think about.”

“Kai.” Again Joy gripped her hand. “Open your heart to God and His ways. Open your heart to me. Please, Kai, please!”

“You are asking me to open my heart to things I do not understand.” Kai again let her gaze fall on the Common as she thought of David, Cheryl, the Powells. An odd image—Chinese Evangelical Church flyers she’d seen tacked on utility poles—fluttered into her mind.

Kai faced Joy, who continued to grip her as if she were a lifeline. How strange that the sister for whom she had spanned seas and secrets had become
her
lifeline!
That is the problem:
I cannot get past the fact that only by endangering Joy can I allow Joy to do would she feels called to do!

Joy gave her a quizzical, penetrating look. “I know what you’re going through, Kai. No matter what my parents said, I would not listen. This morning, it was, like, wow! God brought you to help me. Now it may be the other way around: Maybe I can help you. It blows my mind.” Joy brushed off her jeans and anchored her cap on her head. “Please. At least think about it.”

“It is time for us to go,” Kai said, but she did not move a muscle. An unseen force had cemented her to the bench.

“Please, Kai.” A single tear slipped down Joy’s cheek.

Something broke in Kai, as it had when she had wiped away Joy’s first tear at the jail. She would think about it. She owed Joy that much. After she wiped away Joy’s tear, she said, “I will ponder the things you have said. For you, Joy. After all, you are a Chang. The Chang I sought. The Chang I have found.”

“Oh, Kai.” Joy fell into Kai’s embrace. “I wish . . . it had been me instead of you.” Though Kai’s jacket muffled the words, their import squeezed her heart.
Joy means it. Joy truly has a gift, a gift that has stolen my words. A gift I will treasure until . . .
She shoved away images of disease, of death, and instead basked in the sunlight, in Fourth Daughter’s presence.
No matter what awaits me, it is enough. If you are here, thank you, God.

Finally Joy lifted her tear-stained face and murmured, “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling, being a doctor and all.”

Kai nodded. “It is strange, sitting on the examining table.”

“Could I, like, be more than your sister on this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like maybe a medical assistant?”

“You have the gift,” Kai whispered. “You have a healing hand. Perhaps two.” To add levity, she tried to laugh. Failed.

Joy bowed her head. “Yeah, I know. God told me that too.”

Kai felt in her pocket. It was now . . . or next time.
With PKD looming, now is best.
“Speaking of gifts.” Kai pulled out the blue velvet box that a Boston jeweler thought perfect when he’d appraised and cleaned Mother’s priceless possession.

“What . . . what’s that?” asked Joy.

“Mother’s pearls. One treasure not destroyed by the soldiers. When Mother was on her deathbed, I promised her to one day fasten them about your neck.” Kai’s fingers trembled over the clasp. “That day has arrived.”

“But—” Joy’s face wrinkled like a dried walnut. She clapped her hands over her face. “I . . . I can’t take them.”

Kai ignored her tearful protestations and flung purple-black hair out of the way. “They are yours, Joy. We have always called you our jewel.”

Joy’s shoulders shook with such intensity, Kai could not fasten the pearls. “Shh, little one.” She hummed Mother’s favorite folk song until Joy settled. “It would be disgraceful to ignore our mother’s last wish.” Finally completing her task, she sat back and admired two Chang treasures.

“Don’t you see?” Joy raised a tear-stained face. “You cannot deny me a chance to help.” Again Joy grabbed her hands. “After what you’ve done for me, it’s insane for you to shut me out!”

The creamy pearls, the chirping birds, Joy’s bubble-gum smell—they all overwhelmed Kai’s senses, as did an ephemeral hovering presence. God? Kai again linked arms with Joy. Perhaps it was He and not just Joy she had spanned seas and secrets to find.

“You’ve got to see the ducks!” After they walked Kai to her cab, Andrew grabbed hold of Joy and Gloria and pulled them to the corner. Twilight sun dappled his face with gold, gifting Gloria with another twenty-four-karat moment. How often had she prayed for times like this? Never had she imagined she’d find them in Boston.

“Why ducks?” Joy’s bangs scattered, then settled. “We’ve got ’em at home.”

“Not like these.” Gloria handed Joy a book they’d just bought at a shop down the street. A silly little present, but a symbol of Boston. Kai. Their new start.

“
Make Way for Ducklings
?” Joy’s snort became a giggle.

She’s too cool for this book and those ducks . . . or so she thinks.

“Fine. Just laugh.” Andrew herded Gloria and Joy across the street. “You’ll see.”

With Joy holding the book, years rolled away, as if the time in Boston, the time with Kai, had rubbed from Joy’s face not only that sleazy makeup, but the last smears of rebellious attitude. Gloria skipped to match Andrew’s enthusiasm. With Joy open to God and their family reading a chapter called trust, years tumbled off Gloria as well.

The first chick seemed to waddle close. Andrew broke into a jog.

“Dad! What are you doing?” Joy thrust her book at Gloria. Father and daughter dashed about, quacking. Gloria’s happiness skyrocketed. Father, daughter, ducks . . . family again.

Because of Kai.

Gloria hugged the book. If Joy proved to be a genetic match for Kai, she would not stop her donor attempt. Both Kai’s and Joy’s lives were at stake. Though she and Andrew needed to discuss it, she knew what he would say . . . what they both would say. If God allowed it, they would obey. There was no choice.

Inhaling the fresh, crisp air, she hurried forward.

“This is amazing!” Joy screeched.

“I told you so!” Andrew playfully punched Joy in the ribs. “Say you’re sorry.”

Joy threw back her hand and laughed. Then her mouth twisted, and she hung her head. “I
am
sorry. For all I put y’all through.”

“Oh, Joy.” Gloria stepped forward, as did Andrew. They draped their arms about Joy, pulling her close. “It goes both ways, you know.”

Joy found Gloria’s hand and squeezed hard. “I know” came out in her new manner of speaking. Half sarcastic, half humorous, all truth. Perfect.

“This trip’s given us a fresh start.” Andrew reverted to his preacher voice to wrap everything up. Gloria didn’t mind a bit.

“When we get home, Dad, will you baptize me?”

Gloria’s jaw slackened. Another thing she’d prayed for since they’d left Customs with ten-year-old Joy. “Oh, Joy . . .” was all she could say. Again, it was just right.

“And, Dad, could we do it at a lake or something?”

Joy and Andrew kept talking, but Gloria quit listening. Tears pummeled her cheeks. She heard clicks, saw flashes, knew that tourists were photographing a woman having a breakdown by the famous bronze ducks, but she did not care. Shy Gloria was blubbering for all in the Boston Public Garden to see. Her Joy was in God’s family. They’d spend eternity together. If that wasn’t something to lose control over, what was?

“Mom!” Joy shoved her hair behind her ears and unbuttoned her jacket. “I’ve gotta show you something.” Encircling Joy’s neck was a luminous strand of pearls.

Exactly like the ones Daddy had given to . . . that woman.
His trophy wife.

“They’re . . .” Gloria’s mouth felt as if it had been deadened for cavity-filling.

“It’s my . . . our . . .” Joy ducked her head. Embarrassed. Insecure. Things that made Gloria find her voice.

“What, Joy?” Gloria gripped Joy’s shoulders. “Tell me. Now.” She added punch to her request. “No secrets. Remember?”

“They’re . . . my mother’s. Like . . . not my real . . . I mean . . .” A gargling sound came from Joy’s throat.

Poor baby. Worried about me.
As Andrew stood mutely, Gloria tightened her grip on Joy’s shoulders.
God, help me here. Get me over Daddy and his new wife. For once and for all!

Gloria focused on each pearl, a perfect symbol of irritation handled with grace. She rubbed her finger over surfaces smooth as . . . Joy’s skin. “They’re lovely, Joy.” She kissed her daughter’s brow, her cheek. “But not as lovely as you.” Her hand still on the pearls, she said, “Every time you doubt that you are loved, remember this necklace. Wear it with pride. Never, ever worry about my feelings.” When Joy’s head jerked up, Gloria nodded so hard, her earrings grazed her cheeks. “Real family, birth family—call it whatever. Like, I’m your mom. Like, nothing’s gonna change that.”