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Palmer suggested they put their luggage into the wheelchair to avoid making two trips. Kent agreed and even let her push it for a bit, knowing it would give her some stability. They walked through the lobby and out to the parking lot. While Kent loaded the back, Palmer climbed into the Jeep and wept. The seizure was a turning point for her. She had peaked and was now on a downward spiral.
After they stopped for breakfast, it took her a good two hours before she said anything to Kent, and it was only after she heard his phone beep with an incoming message. “May I check your email?”
“Of course you can. I told you, you don’t have to ask.” She looked at him oddly, and he wondered if her memory was starting to slip. She checked and saw that someone had responded to her email.
“Someone wrote me back.”
“That’s great,” Kent said. “Do you want me to pull over?”
Palmer shook her head and enlarged the font like Kent had shown her. She read it once, and then again, before crying out. She cried and asked him to pull over so he could read it. He signaled and found a safe place.
“Read it to me,” he said. Hearing this from her own voice was going to make a world of difference.
She cleared her throat. “Hello, Palmer. My name’s Courtney Marsh, and I’m your half sister. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been looking for you for some time now. When I saw your email, I thought for sure it was some kind of joke, so I’m hoping this is real, that you’re real, because I’d really love to talk to you. No, strike that. I want to meet you. I’m not sure where you live, but I’m in Missouri and willing to travel to wherever you tell me. I can’t thank you enough for your email, and for taking the test. I’ve waited for you for a long time. Your sister, Courtney.”
Palmer wiped at her tears. “I have a sister.”
“Yeah, you do.” Kent threw his hands in the air and cheered, and then honked the horn a half dozen times in excitement. “Let’s go meet her.”
“What?”
“Let’s do it, Palmer. Missouri is on the way to New Mexico. It’s an easy stop for us. Unless you don’t want to.”
“I do. I think.”
“What’s holding you back?” He turned in his seat to face her. She started to speak and then stopped to look at the email again.
“I’m dying,” she said so quietly he could barely hear her. This was something she rarely said, if at all, and he didn’t know how to respond. Palmer was going to die; there wasn’t a cure waiting for her when she returned home, and there wasn’t going to be some miraculous breakthrough in the next day or two that would save her. She would succumb to the tumor, sooner or later.
But not today, if Kent had anything to say about it, or tomorrow or however many days it took them to get to Missouri. He’d driven through the night to get them to DC, and he’d do the same damn thing again if it meant meeting her sister.
“Here’s what I propose. Tell her you want to meet, but you need three days. Ask her to find a restaurant where we can sit down and have a nice conversation.”
“I want you there with me,” she told Kent. “You know what to look for, in case . . .” She looked to Kent for help.
“You don’t want her to know?”
Palmer shook her head. “I don’t think so, at least not right yet.”
“Whatever you want, Palmer. You’re the boss.”
Kent adjusted their GPS for Missouri and signaled to get back on the road. Palmer typed out a response and read it back to Kent.
“Dear Courtney, You have no idea how much your email has meant to me. I have waited a lifetime to find out I have a sister. This is such amazing news. I would love to meet you and can do so in three days if this works for you. My boyfriend and I are traveling and are on our way to Missouri right now. Would you be so kind as to find us a place where we could have a nice meal together and enjoy a conversation? I look forward to hearing from you. Palmer.”
“Boyfriend, huh?” Kent waggled his eyebrows at her, and she giggled.
“Do you want me to change it?” she asked.
Kent waved her question away. “Absolutely not. Besides, we’re always holding hands, or I have my arm around you. No one needs to know we’re not. In fact, I sort of like the sound of it.” He absolutely loved the sound of her calling him her boyfriend and needed to find a way to make it permanent. Kent was certain Palmer had similar feelings toward him as he did her, but he was afraid his declaration would scare her and ruin their trip. Their trip was far more important than a title.
