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“I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” Victor affirmed. “But if we have to go to Boston, we have to go to Boston. I can take a few days off work this week.”
Esme squeezed his upper arm. “That’s sweet of you. You’re so good to us.”
Victor stopped briefly and adjusted a curl behind her ear. The look in his eyes told Rebecca everything she needed to know about love. It was real—and it was significant.
Would she and Tommy Tucker ever feel that way about each other? Was it possible she would ever find love?
Victor’s sailboat was a beautiful vessel with the name ESME written across the side. Bethany and Rebecca rolled their eyes at their father’s cheesiness as Valerie and Joel hopped on and marveled at the ropes and the sails. Since they were children, they’d frequently sailed on their father’s old boat, which hadn’t fit them all comfortably.
As Rebecca was the oldest of the Sutton children, she was in charge of operating some of the ropes. She tied intricate sailor’s knots—the bowline, the reef knot, and the clove hitch. Bethany was still trying to get the hang of the bowline. As the sails burst open and the boat glided in the open water, Valerie and Joel clung to the side railings and screamed at the water below. Their joy was youthful and electric. At fourteen, Rebecca already understood that you couldn’t get back your youth once you’d lost it.
For a little while, Victor sailed the family around the island. The beauty of their home intoxicated the Suttons. When they saw their Victorian on the shoreline, they called and waved to it, praying their dog would run outside to say hello to them. Their love lived in that home. They were safe and happy in that home. They ate meals and told stories and got a little bit older every single day in that home.
The week after that sailing adventure, Joel and Victor visited Boston to see a specialist about Joel’s nosebleeds. Until that time, nobody had mentioned the word “cancer” yet. That happened to other people. Not the Suttons.
The Saturday after the appointment with the specialist, Rebecca wanted to go to a birthday party. A girl in her class had invited her, and she was pretty sure Tommy Tucker would be there. Bethany begged to go with Rebecca, and Rebecca spent the morning telling her it was only for “older” kids over thirteen.
But around noon, Esme knocked on Rebecca’s bedroom door and beckoned Bethany and Rebecca to the living room for a family meeting. Esme’s eyes contained dark circles beneath them. Rebecca was suddenly frightened about her mother and how much she’d seemed to age in only a few days. Was that how aging happened? Did it happen all at once?
Downstairs, Victor sat in his cushioned reading chair. He bent over his knees with eyes similar to Esme’s. Rebecca and Bethany sat across from him on the couch as their mother stood.
“Where’s Valerie?” Rebecca asked.
But at that moment, Valerie burst down the stairs. Her hair was wild and unkempt, and she had paint on her fingers. She sat between Bethany and Rebecca and bounced on the couch cushion.
“Where’s Joel?” Valerie asked.
Esme and Victor eyed one another. Rebecca’s stomach was in knots.
“Your brother is in his bedroom sleeping,” Esme replied.
“Do you want us to wake him up for the family meeting?” Bethany asked.
Esme shook her head. “He needs his rest right now.” She looked on the verge of falling over.
Victor clasped and unclasped his hands. “Your brother has been diagnosed with leukemia. Do you know what that is?”
Bethany shot up from the couch, her face stricken. As their mini-scientist, she knew about many types of diseases. “You can’t be serious,” she said.
Beside Rebecca, Valerie was very stiff. She glanced at her face, which seemed hollow and strange.
Victor went on to explain that leukemia was a type of cancer in the bone marrow and blood. Soon, Joel would begin chemotherapy, which would attack both the cancer and Joel’s healthy cells at once. This didn’t make sense to Rebecca. Why would Joel’s medicine hurt Joel? Still, she didn’t want to sound stupid. She had to be the brave older sister.
“How can we help?” Bethany asked, sounding more confident and sure of herself than Rebecca felt.
“Well, it’s difficult to say right now,” Victor began.
“We need to be strong for your brother,” Esme continued. “He’ll need our love and support more now than ever.”
“But we’re the Suttons,” Victor continued. “We’re the strongest family I know. We can fight this together.”
“Joel isn’t alone,” Esme said. “He knows we’re here for him. He knows we’ll get through this.”
On the couch, Valerie clutched both Rebecca’s and Bethany’s knees. The look in her eyes was sharp and bizarre. Like Valerie, Rebecca wasn’t sure she believed what her parents said. How could Esme and Victor have any say in what cancer could or couldn’t do? How could their love fight cancer?
But then again, Esme and Victor were their parents. The Sutton sisters had to trust them.
Later, Joel woke up and walked downstairs in his socks and pajamas to eat soup and grilled cheese sandwiches with his sisters. They sat on the back porch and listened to the seagulls cawing overhead. Together, he and Valerie gabbed about a type of shark they both liked as Rebecca studied her brother’s face. He looked just the same as ever. How could he be so sick?
