“Hello mom. Yes, I am on the floor now. Which room are you guys in? Yeah, I’m right around the corner, see you in a sec. Love yah.” Apprehension threatened to overwhelm her, but she tugged on her big girl panties and walked swiftly down the hall.
Kathy’s heels were clicking on the vinyl tiled floors. She increased her pace and had just turned the corner when she saw Jake coming out of a room. He looked tired and unconsciously ran a hand through his hair.
Janice and Jake had been high school sweethearts. Janice often laughed and said she knew it was love at first sight when she had first seen Jake in the school cafeteria. Anytime you fell for a guy with ketchup running down his blue shirt and food hanging out of his mouth, you knew it must be the real thing.
Jake had handed Janice a single red rose the first time he came to take her out. That single red rose had grown to be the symbol of love between the two. You just didn’t see that kind of love anymore. Kathy knew for certain she had never experienced it and now at thirty-two she probably never would.
Kathy was terrible at the dating game. No, she admitted to herself, she royally sucked at dating. She tried. Honest to God, she did. But the men or as she called them, boys, emitted bad juju. She didn’t have to rely on her premonitions to realize most of the ‘boys’ that asked her out were only after what money they thought she had. She didn’t believe in true love.
“Jake, how are you doing?” She nervously asked him, as she brought her mind back to the present. Jake turned at her voice. Up close he looked even worst, but that was understandable. She knew that his nerves must have given out hours ago and sleep seemed to still be a long way off.
“Oh Kathy, I’m glad you made it in. Janice is sleeping and your mom is there with her. I just couldn’t sleep on that little cot the nurse brought up and ....” Jake rambled on clearly distracted.
“I understand what you mean. I tried to catch a few winks on the plane but I was just too keyed up to even nap. Did you go ahead with the name you two picked out or change to something else? I know Janice was going back and forth between Marisa and Martha and then switching to something weird like Satra, yeah it was Satra wasn’t it?”
She knew she was rambling too, but the real questions she wanted to ask were just too difficult to put into words. Her fear for her sister and baby niece was too great, too new, too much to handle.
“I thought I heard voices out here,” Delores, Kathy’s and Janice’s mom said as she came out of the room closing the door behind her. “Kathy you look so tired. I shouldn’t have called you but I didn’t want you to not be here in case . . .”
She let the statement trail off. Both Kathy and Jake knew where she was going with the statement and didn’t need her to finish for them to understand just how stressed everyone was.
“Mom, how’s everything?” Kathy didn’t say more. There wasn’t much more to say. Deep inside she was a mess. She prayed her premonition held true. She would probably die herself if anything happen to her baby sister.
Hell, Janice was only 22. What must mom and dad been thinking when they let that 10 year gap be created? She had never asked that question of her and now with dad gone these past 5 years, Janice was all mom had. Besides Kathy was busy with her career and it didn’t seem as if she was needed anymore. She had let herself be pushed out of their lives.
“Let’s go to the nursery and see little baby girl Dickerson,” Delores said with the first lift in her voice since coming out of the room.
“No mom, I need to see Janice first. I want to see for myself if, if everything is ok.” Kathy rubbed her arms as if a chill had come over her. Please God she prayed, let my dream come true. Let Janice and the baby be safe and healthy. Please I love her so much.
Kathy pushed open the door and quietly entered the room. She didn’t want to wake Janice if she was sleeping, but she also didn’t want to intrude. The thought was almost absurd. This was her only sister who she dearly loved. She wouldn’t be intruding but for some reason those were the thoughts that were running through her head.
Janice turned her head towards the door as Kathy came in. “Hi yah Kat. What you doing here?” Janice was still groggy and in need of much needed sleep.
“Hi Jay, I heard you were up all night and having this party without me. You know I couldn’t miss this show.” They had always shared jokes between them since Kathy at 10 had first laid eyes on little newborn Janice. Even when the baby couldn’t possibly understand, Kathy had regaled her with her knock knock jokes.
“Kat, come here and help me get up. I want to show off your new niece.” Janice was struggling to get up and Kathy had no choice but to help her.
“Jay, maybe you should hold off and get some more rest before getting up. Jake and mom can show me to my new niece.” Kathy reluctantly tried to get Janice back into bed. They both turned their heads toward the door as Jake and Delores came into the room.
“Jay, I got something for you,” said Jake as he came to Janice’s bed side. He handed her a single red rose. Tears overflowed from Janice, Kathy, and Delores’s eyes as they stared at the perfect red rose that Jake had somehow managed to find
