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But I missed him.
I hated to admit it, after everything, but I did. I truly missed him. And it hurt. So many times I wanted to reach out, to apologize, to say thank you for helping with Declan. But I didn’t even have his number.
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After a few weeks of treatment I drove to Zion to meet with the head of the clinic, who was going to update me on Declan’s well-being. I arrived there just after six and went straight to the doctor’s office, nervous, as if I was walking into an exam.
“Happy to see you Miss Mercer,” the woman said, when I stepped inside. “I’ve been looking forward to this day!”
I couldn’t hold back the smile. “I assume it’s good news then?” I sat down across from her.
“Very much so! Your brother is a tough cookie, I’ll tell you that much! There’s almost no trace of the infection that we could find in his lungs. He can breathe and speak normally, and he does that every time the nurses are around!” They giggled, and she continued, “The cancer is still there, and we have to continue treating him until we see a positive trend. The cells diminishing. Not growing back.”
“How much longer will that take?” I asked.
“Impossible to say, I’m afraid. We are doing everything we can, but there is only so much we can do. It can take a couple more weeks, or it can take a year. I don’t want to alarm you, but you must be ready for the long haul.”
“Oh, I’ve been preparing for that our whole lives.”
The doctor offered a sympathetic smile. “What I can guarantee is that the treatment can make things better, but I can’t promise it will cure your brother. I wish I could say that.”
“I know. It’s okay. Thank you. We will keep fighting. Like you said, Declan is a tough cookie, and he makes me tough. We’ll get through it.”
“I know you will, Sydney, and we’re here for you.” When I began to get up, she added, “Do say hi to your brother from me when you are delivering the news, okay?”
“Will do.” I smiled, and left the office. I felt like I could fly! It wasn’t a knockout victory, but I felt they were half-way there. The Bon Jovi song popped into my head, and I went down the hallway humming the melody and mouthing the words. This was something, real progress. And it was all thanks to Owen.
I walked into Declan’s room with a huge smile on my face. Declan was watching TV, sitting in my bed.
“Have you talked to Dr. Morrison?” he asked.
“I sure did!”
“A-and?”
“No infection!”
“Fuck yes no infection! I kicked its ass!”
“I’m so proud of you! The doctors here have done an amazing job.”
My brother turned more serious. “About that. I assume we have some private benefactor paying out bills.”
“Yes,” I said simply, unwilling to go into details. The subject was bothering me, too, but I wasn’t going to worry about until after Declan had been released from the hospital
“Is it a lot?”
“It’s at least twice more than a lot. The monitoring here alone costs more than what we have paid on our own.”
“Holy shit…”
“Yeah. But that doesn’t matter for now, right? We’ve been given this chance to heal you, so let’s focus on that.” I sat down next to him, looking at the TV screen.
Declan said, “Tell him I’m thankful. If you ever speak to him again that is.”
“Yeah I will, one day.”
“You should look for him,” Declan said, matter-of-factly.
