What She Left Us Read online

  Darren pulled her to a sitting position and looked at her. “Jenna, Jenna, hold on baby, you’ll be okay. I’m here with you. I’m going to take care of you forever. I promise. I won’t let anything bad happen to you baby. I love you.”

  “It’s too late. It’s too late. The bad’s already happened. The bad’s already here.”

  **

  Courtney looked at her sister who was still sitting in the driver’s seat but not making any move to get out of the car. “You ready to go in?” she asked.

  “Not really,” Jenna said.

  “The sooner we get in and have our blood taken, the sooner we’ll be done and that much closer to having this be over with.”

  “I know. I was thinking about Mom. I never did tell you about that night I found her.”

  “Not now. Come on, hon, you’ve got to get a grip. Okay?”

  Jenna didn’t say anything. The keys were still in the ignition. Van Morrison played on the radio.

  Courtney missed Mitch and wished he were there with her. He had played Brown Eyed Girl for her on the guitar that day at the gazebo. Maybe she should have asked him to come home with her? No, it was too soon. And now, she was especially glad she hadn’t brought him home to this mess of a discovery. That would have sparked the end of whatever was happening between them. He did not need to come home with her to discover she and her sister were facing a possible health crisis. It would have been a complete disaster.

  Not cool at all.

  But the more Courtney thought about it, the more she thought that Darren should be there. Her sister had really screwed that one up. She didn’t understand what the hell had happened, but he had been part of their family, what was left of their little family, for the past two years. He was like an older brother to Courtney and she did miss him terribly.

  “Okay,” Jenna took a deep breath. “I’m ready.” She took the keys out of the ignition, and just like that, opened the car door, got out and slammed it shut.

  “Go time,” she said.

  Chapter 20

  It seemed to Jenna that she watched a lot of television at Mrs. Crand’s that very first day. But after those horrible raisin oatmeal cookies, things got only a tiny bit better. The kitten curled up on her lap on the couch, and Mrs. Crand stopped asking all those nosy questions about her new baby sister for a while. She kept coming into the family room to sit next to her though, and she had that old lady smell. She did not smell like a nice little perfumy lady. She smelled like a stinky old bathroom that needed to be cleaned. And dirty old cat poo. Jenna tried not to inhale when Mrs. Crand came near her. Unfortunately, she was near her a lot that first day.

  After a bazillion episodes of The People’s Court, which Mrs. Crand had recorded on VHS, the doorbell finally rang and Jenna heard her father’s voice in the foyer.

  “Thank you so much for keeping Jenna for us today,” he said.

  “Yes, well she was a pleasure, quiet little girl she is, though,” Mrs. Crand said.

  “I’m sure she’s worried and wants to come home,” Jenna heard her father say.

  Jenna lifted the kitten from her lap and ran out to see her dad.

  “Hey pumpkin!” he reached out and lifted her up to him.

  “Daddy! Where’s Mommy and Court-Court?”

  “We’ll talk about that when we get home sweetie,” he said. And then to Mrs. Crand, he said, “Thanks again for your help. Would it be all right if she stayed with you tomorrow too?”

  Jenna tugged on her father’s pant leg to indicate she didn’t like that idea.

  “Anything you need, Frank. When do you think the baby will be home?” she asked.

  “It’s hard to say, they’ve got to run some tests,” he replied. Then he led Jenna out the door. She was never so glad to leave a stinky old house before in her life but she was going to kind of miss that kitten.

  When they got back to their house, Jenna said, “I don’t want to go to Mrs. Crand’s tomorrow Daddy.”

  Jenna’s dad sat her down. “You have to go honey. Baby Court-Court is going to be in the hospital for a little while.”

  “Why? Is it because I gave her the pacifier?” Jenna started crying. “I did such a bad thing, didn’t I? You and Mommy told me and I didn’t listen!”

  “No sweetie! It has nothing to do with you. Nothing at all. She was born with a problem and she has to stay there to get fixed for a little while. That’s all. Everything will be okay but she’s going to be at the hospital for a while.”

  “Can I see her?” Jenna asked through tears.

  “No honey, they won’t let little kids into the baby part of the hospital. It’s not safe for the babies, or for you. Too many germs.”

  “Is Mommy coming home?”

  “Yes, she’ll be home for part of the time, but some days you will have to stay over at Mrs. Crand’s house.”

  “Yuck! I hate it over there! She’s smelly and she makes raisin cookies! And she is so nosy and the only nice kitty is the teeny one. All the others make mean growlies at me. I don’t want to go there. Can I go to work with you? Please?” Jenna begged.

  “Oh hon,” her dad ran his hands through his hair. Jenna felt bad all of a sudden. Like maybe she did cause all of this but her parents were saying that she didn’t just to protect her. Maybe she did. She should probably stop all the whining and begging and be a good kid or something else bad might happen.

  “I’m sorry Daddy. I need to be a big girl and a good big sister. I’ll do whatever I need to do so Courty gets better.”

  “That’s my good girl. She will get better. It’s just going to take some time at the hospital and lots of medicine. She’s a sick little baby right now. But she’ll be okay. And we have to be really nice to Mommy. This is going to be hard on her. When she gets home you have to be a super big girl and a big helper for her. No whining or crying. You have to be like a grown up. You’re my big good girl, okay? Promise me?”

  “I promise Daddy. Anything for my baby sister,” Jenna said.

  “Pinky promise?” her dad asked, putting his smallest finger out which still loomed large in Jenna’s eyes.

  Jenna reached her tiny finger out to her father’s and linked it up with his.

  “Pinkies.”

  Chapter 21

  Courtney and Jenna filled out separate medical forms at the doctor’s office where they answered everything about their current and past health situations, their lifestyle and family history. Then they were both brought into one of the small medical rooms and told to wait for Dr. Rhetler. Jenna had done some research on hemochromatosis and discovered that Dr. Rhetler was the best doctor in the field in their area and she wanted to be seen by someone who specialized in the disease. She wanted to make sure she got all the answers to her questions and she wanted the right answers immediately. Courtney still thought she was overreacting, but she said nothing as they waited in the room.

  Courtney hopped onto the examining table while Jenna sat in one of the chairs. “Hand me that magazine, will you,” she asked her older sister.

  “Which one?”

  “The one with Ryan on the cover,” Courtney said.

  “How can you read at a time like this?” Jenna asked, flipping the magazine to Courtney.

  “We’re getting our blood drawn,” Courtney said, “They’re not cutting us open and tearing out our organs.”

  “Yet,” Jenna replied.

  “Relax.”

  They sat in silence for a while, Jenna worrying about what would happen when they would both be inflicted with the terrible disease and have no one to take care of them but each other, while Courtney flipped through the magazine and wondered what Mitch was doing on his fall break. She thought of his lips and his arms, and his amazing eyelashes, and how she’d much rather be in his room instead of in this crappy doctor’s office with her moody sister.

  There was a tap on the door and a woman entered the room. “Good morning ladies,” she chirped.

  “Hi,” Jenna and Courtney said at
the same time.

  “I’m Dee, and I’ll be doing your blood draws for the test this morning.”

  “But I thought Dr. Rhetler would be doing that,” Jenna started. Courtney glared at her sister.

  Dee smiled kindly. “Oh, Dr. Rhetler doesn’t do the blood draws, but she’ll be in later to chat with you two. Who wants to go first?”

  Courtney offered her arm right away. She wasn’t scared or worried at all, and she figured Jenna would whine or have something negative to say if she went first and Courtney wasn’t in the mood to hear it. She figured if she went first maybe she could sneak out and grab a coffee and a muffin while it was her sister’s turn. She was starving.

  “Okay then, looks like we don’t even need you to switch places, huh?” Dee asked. “We’ll do one arm first and then the other. And I’ll draw a couple vials from each arm.”

  “No problem,” Courtney smiled and rolled up her sleeve.

  Jenna looked up from her seat across the small room. “Should we be worried? Seriously? I mean, our mom died from this disease. That’s why we’re here getting tested. In case we have the hereditary gene.”

  Courtney shot a glance at her sister. God, she wished her sister would shut up already. She turned and smiled apologetically to Dee, like she knew Dee didn’t need to hear all of this shit when all she was trying to do was draw some blood, do her job. Dee concentrated on cleaning the site where she would stick Courtney’s vein, but she did say, “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that’s why you girls are here. I didn’t get through all of your paperwork. But I’m sure Dr. Rhetler will talk to you about everything, about the risks and the preventatives you can take if the tests come out positive. Sometimes they don’t though, come out positive, you know.”

  “Well, what’s the likelihood of that?” Jenna asked.

  “Jenna! Can’t you see that Dee is trying to stick a needle in me? Let her concentrate please!” Courtney said through clenched teeth. How could she love her sister so much yet be so annoyed with her at the same time.

  “And here, let me just… stay still Courtney, I’ve almost got it in… and here we are. Don’t move, and there!” Dee announced with flourish and the needle was in and she was filling tubes with bright red blood for the first draw.

  Jenna sat quietly through Courtney’s second blood draw on the other arm, as Dee explained why it was necessary to do two separate draws for the hemochromatosis blood test. Something about how one was for the protein and one was for the liver, but at this point, Courtney wasn’t really paying attention; she just wanted to get out of there. She was hungry, felt clammy and flushed, and was completely annoyed.

  She was annoyed with her sister, tired of being home when it wasn’t even home any longer, and really ready to get back to school and see what was going on with Mitch and where the rest of the semester might lead.

  “Okay Courtney, you’re all done. Let’s switch spots and get Jenna up here now,” Dee said as she slid the needle from her arm, and carefully placed a bandage on the site.

  Jenna stood up, looking pale, but made the seat change with Courtney, who tried to give a sympathetic smile to her sister. “You’ll be fine,” Courtney said.

  Jenna couldn’t let her blood draw go by without an “ouch!” and a “that stings” and when she was done, she made a big show of asking if the areas would bruise and if she should ice them when she got home. Courtney couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her sister, and Dee smiled a sympathetic smile at her when Jenna was looking down at her arms.

  “Hang tight girls. Dr. Rhetler will be in shortly.”

  “Thanks, Dee,” Courtney said.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Jenna added.

  When Dee walked out, Courtney glared at Jenna. “Could you have been any ruder? She was just doing her job and you were being such a bitch.”

  “What? She hurt me,” Jenna whined.

  “You’re acting like the biggest baby I’ve ever met in my entire life. I can’t even believe this is you. I hate to say this, but Mom would be so disappointed in you.” Courtney said.

  Before Jenna could answer, the door opened and Dr. Rhetler walked in, smiled warmly, and said hello. Jenna and Courtney introduced themselves and the three sat in the regular chairs.

  “So, first of all, I’m so very sorry to hear that your mother passed away from hemochromatosis,” Dr. Rhetler said.

  “Thank you,” Jenna said.

  “Thanks,” Courtney said.

  “It’s a terrible disease, especially if gone undetected, as it did with your mother, from what I understand. You girls are lucky though. If you both carry the gene for genetic iron poisoning, and if one of you has it, so will the other, then there are available treatments depending on how far the iron overload has gone throughout the years. So that is good news.

  “The two tests you’ve just had were a serum transferring saturation, where we measured the amount of iron bound to a protein that carries iron in your blood. And the other blood test was to check the amount of iron stored in your liver. Both of these tests combined will tell us if you have hemochromatosis, or the start of the disease.”

  The doctor looked to Jenna and then to Courtney.

  “I know this is a lot to take in, are you girls following me?”

  For the first time, Courtney had a strange look on her face, like she might be frightened, but she nodded.

  “I think so,” Jenna said quietly.

  “Okay, so then, there are some cases in which we can’t get a clear read on these two tests and a liver biopsy may be necessary.”

  Courtney and Jenna reached for each other’s hands.

  “But,” Dr. Rhetler continued, “In your case, since you’re sisters, and this is, I guess, a positive… Since we know that if one of you has it, the other will have it, then we should get a clear read on you and we probably won’t have to go the liver biopsy route.”

  Sighs escaped from both girls. Dr. Rhetler smiled sympathetically.

  “The good news is, you are both very young, and by the looks of things, very healthy. Besides the unfortunate death of your mother, do either of you have any unnecessary stress in your lives?”

  “Uh,” Jenna paused. “My fiancé and I just broke up, and I’m considering quitting school.”

  Courtney looked at her sister. Good God, she was crazy.

  “You’re not going to get your master's?” Courtney asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Well girls, at a time like this, I don’t know if it’s smart to introduce new stresses into your life. Really think about it before you do anything rash, Jenna. If thinking about school is causing you stress, maybe take a semester off. You can always go back. Your health is important,” Dr. Rhetler said. “Please make wise decisions.”

  Then Dr. Rhetler looked to Courtney, “And you, Courtney? How are you? Your stress levels?”

  “I’m… I’m pretty good. I’m an RA up at Northern P University. There’s a bit of stress involved with the responsibilities, but I think I lead a pretty healthy lifestyle.”

  Jenna nodded in agreement.

  “Okay then. So the next step in all of this is I’ll get the results back in a week to ten days. Someone on staff will call you both. Hopefully, that will be the end of that and the tests will be negative. If they do come out positive, the treatments… has anyone talked about treatments?”

  “I’ve read about some of the options,” Jenna said.

  “Okay.” Dr. Rhetler said. “There are prescriptions but those are the most mild cases and extremely rare situations. Most cases require phlebotomy. You’re familiar?”

  The girls half nodded, half shrugged so Dr. Rhetler continued. “It’s almost like going in to donate blood. And most of my hemochromatosis patients go in twice to three times a week to start off. Yes, it’s a hassle, and time-consuming, but listen up, it’s life-saving. The goal is to get rid of the iron that’s attacking your system. And that’s what we’ll do, okay?”

  “Dr. Rhetler?�
� Courtney asked.

  “Yes?”

  “If this does happen, will I still be able to go to school? Can I do this blood thing at school and stay at NPU?”

  “Absolutely one-hundred percent. This will not have a negative effect on your life whatsoever. This is not a death sentence, girls. This will be preventative and life-altering, but not life-threatening. You both understand this, don’t you? This is not going to kill you. If you have it, we’ll treat it and you’ll both be fine,” Dr. Rhetler smiled.

  At these words, Jenna felt like she could exhale for the first time since she received the autopsy report that had claimed hemochromatosis to be life-threatening. Even if she and her sister had the disease, they would be able to treat it, and they would both be okay. She heard it from Dr. Rhetler personally. She and Courtney were going to be just fine.

  Chapter 22

  Jenna tried, she really did, but she found it really hard to keep the promise she made to her father to be a really good girl, to help her Mommy out and to be patient while her baby sister was in the hospital getting better.

  The summer dragged on. Jenna spent more and more time at Mrs. Crand’s house, more days than she ever wanted to remember. Her father dropped her off in the mornings, and then took her mother to the hospital, where she spent the day with Courtney. Jenna packed up some dolls and coloring books and crayons, always asking, always hoping that Daddy would tell her this was the day she didn’t have to go to Mrs. Crand’s. Still though, he dropped her off with a kiss on her forehead and a reminder to be good, “that we have to make sacrifices for baby Courtney, we want her to get better, don’t we?” Jenna would nod her head in agreement, although she was crying inside, wishing secretly, just maybe, that she never got a baby sister after all.

  Because life before, with just Mommy and Daddy had been so much easier, so much better. Now, it seemed like she didn’t have anyone. Except old Mrs. Crand who kept making those stupid raisin oatmeal cookies and asking stupid questions about her family and talking about dumb old lady stuff, like potluck dinners and needlepoint. And she smelled so gross every day – a mix of cat poo and old lady. Jenna wondered if she ever took a bath.