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Yes, this situation beyond sucks. I don’t think anyone would argue with that fact. But there are so many other terrible things that could be happening to me or someone I love. Memories and experiences have been lost, but there is still time to make up for what has been missed. I need to accept that this is my life now and no amount of pity parties are going to change any of this.
My phone starts ringing in my bag drawing me out of my thoughts. I wipe quickly away at the tears that have fallen. I pull out my phone and see my older sister Liz’s face flashing on the screen. I pick it up and the image expands to a video call.
“Hey Ro,” Liz says somberly, like I’m a deer and she doesn’t want to scare me away.
“Is she okay?” My younger sister, Sophie’s face pushes into view. “Rosemary are you okay?”
“Did Mama tell you to call me?” I ask.
They exchange a quick glance, turn back to the screen, and lie in unison. “Nope.”
“I’m fine,” I say, and realize it’s not completely a lie.
“It’s going to be okay,” Liz says. “This doesn’t change anything.”
I shake my head at her. “How can you say that? It changes everything.”
“You are still my most annoying little sister,” Liz jokes. “I don’t care what any DNA test results say. That will always be a fact.”
Sophie giggles and I can’t help but smile too. Liz has always had a way of talking me down off a ledge with older sister tough love or just making me laugh.
“You’re stuck with us, Ro,” Sophie adds. Her bubbly joy is infectious to those around her. She can even get Daddy to crack a smile when he’s being a grump.
My throat tightens with emotion. My sisters. My sisters. They are the only ones who have somehow been able to keep a level head about all of this madness. They couldn’t have prepared themselves for it, but it’s like they knew, everyone else was going to freak out and they needed to hold it together.
When Chasen took me home after finding out the test results, he had to be the one to explain everything to my parents. What could I say to the two people who have been my parents for the last twenty-five years? “Mama. Daddy. I’m not your real daughter. Who’s hungry?” I don’t think so.
Mama teared up immediately but tried to pretend that everything was okay. Daddy didn’t say a word. He just stood up and walked over to the stone fireplace and stared at the picture of the two of us on my graduation day before walking out, mumbling something about needing to get back to work.
“You guys are coming back tomorrow, right?” Sophie asks.
“Yeah, first thing.”
“It’s going to be fine, Ro. I know it’s a lot to process, but we will figure it out—together,” Liz adds.
“I love you both to the moon,” I tell them.
“And back,” they say in unison.
We say our goodbyes and I hang up.
“Was that your sisters?” a voice asks.
I turn and see Hazel standing a few feet away. Her arms crossed over her chest like it’s some kind of shield to protect herself from me.
“What are you doing out here?”
“I needed to get out of there.” She glances back at the door. “Things were starting to get heated between my dad and the hospital people.”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” I drop my head in my hands.
“You didn’t do anything. This was something that happened to us.” She sits down on the bench next to me. “You just figured it out.”
“Sometimes I wish I never found out the truth.” I look over at her. “And then other times—”
“You start to imagine how different our lives would be if this didn’t happen,” she finishes for me.
There is no one in the world who understands what I’m going through more than this stranger sitting next me.
