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After Eva askedthe question, the flood gates opened. All four siblings started talking at once.
As always, it was Chet who jumped in to settle things down. “Okay everyone, let’s take a breath.” He held up his hands to signal them all to stop talking. To his surprise, they did.
After a collective breath they all seemed to be holding, Angelica spoke up. “Mom just dropped an info grenade and then left, Big Brother. I have all the questions now.”
“We all do, but we need to address them one at a time.”
“Dominic, you spend the most time with Dad at work. Have you noticed anything off?”
His brother shook his head. “I’m as surprised at this as you guys are.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, he has looked a little tired lately, but that’s par for the course with Dad, right? He works like crazy—always has.”
“He did cancel our brunch last week,” Angelica added. “But I chalked that up to work getting in the way. He didn’t sound like anything was wrong when we spoke.”
“Well, Dad hasn’t ever been the kind of guy to show it if something’s wrong. Remember when he had the flu, and no one knew until he almost passed out at his desk.” They all nodded at Eva’s comment. “For that matter, Mom keeps things pretty close to the vest as well. I’m surprised she even gave us this heads-up call today.”
“Which is what makes me so nervous.” Angelica twirled a piece of her hair.
Chet had been thinking the same thing. Their mother tended to avoid sharing much about anything personal, not unlike Meg, now that he thought about it. She wasn’t cold or distant by any means. She was one of the kindest people he knew. But his parents were like one unit, always in full agreement that it was them against the world. It was something he admired about their relationship and wanted someday for himself. They had each other’s back no matter what. So, for his mother to whisper to them while his father slept made Chet wonder how serious his father’s health condition really was.
“What are we supposed to do?” Angelica asked the question, but they all looked toward Chet. Although he was only the oldest by twenty minutes, the role of eldest child always fell to him.
“The only thing we can do is wait. Mom trusted us with this information, so we wait for the test results and pray for good news.”
Dominic nodded. Eva leaned her head on his shoulder. Angelica, not surprisingly, wasn’t as quick to acquiesce. “Not to be harsh, but you and Eva aren’t here anymore and don’t see Dad as much as we do. It’s not as easy for us to go about like we aren’t concerned.”
The comment was meant to be factual, Chet knew, but it cut anyway. Angelica had a flair for the dramatic, which tended to add more fire to her comments than intended.
“That’s not fair, Angelica.” Eva gave her sister a frown.
“Don’t get all frazzled. I just mean that it’s easier to pretend you don’t know anything when you’re not around.”
“Not really.” Dominic shrugged. “But Dad will be fine. We have to wait for the results.”
Chet sensed his twin wasn’t as relaxed as he sounded but was acting so to ease his sister’s mind.
“That shouldn’t take long, and how many times will you see Dad in the next week or so anyway, Ang?” The family enjoyedteasing Angelica about her social calendar, and the ribbing about it from Dominic had the desired effect. In true Angelica fashion, she rolled her eyes at her brother.
“Whatever, Domino.” Angelica used the nickname she’d come up with for him when she was little. One that drove him crazy. He’d forbidden her to ever use it if anyone outside the family was around.
He shook his head and stuck his tongue out at her. She did the same in return.
“Nice, you two. Very mature,” Eva reprimanded them. “I expect that from Angelica but not you, Dom. You’re supposed to be our mature, older brother.”
“Chetty Boy is the oldest here, not me.”
The sparring continued between them, which Chet was grateful for. It wasn’t hard to see that each of them was trying to process what their mother had told them.
They said their good-byes and agreed to talk again just the four of them as soon as anyone heard news on their dad’s test results.
Chet had always seen his dad as invincible. Allister Endicott—Al to his family and close friends—was not one to bend to much of anything, least of all illness. Yet Chet couldn’t rid his stomach of the knot that formed at the thought of his dad as sick or frail. No. He wouldn’t think that way. Like Dominic said, they’d have to wait patiently and deal with information when it came their way. As he hugged Eva good-bye at the door, he said a prayer that whatever the test results were, they would be good.
*
The diner wasbusy.
Sunday mornings had been popular ever since Franklin added brunch items to the menu. He had a knack for creatingspecialties like eggs Benedict, twice-baked French toast, and vegan grain bowls, all without losing the vibe of diner food. It was a gift, really, and one Meg felt lucky to have in her kitchen.
Meg looked up as the bell on the door chimed. Hannah and Paul entered, the baby tucked in Paul’s arm like a football and Abby holding Hannah’s hand. A tiny woman with dark hair was with them. Meg waved and pointed them to an open table.
