What She Left Us (21 page)

“Hey
Mitch, how’s it going.”

Courtney
lay in the bed looking much better than she had two hours earlier. Some color had
returned to her face.

“It’s
like a party in here,” she toyed with the bed sheets.

Jenna
moved to the bed and hugged her sister. “Can you stop doing shit like that,
please? It’s getting really annoying.”

“Believe
me, I wish I could.”

The
doctor was just in,” Mitch said. “He said she can go home as early as tomorrow.
They want to make sure her iron count keeps rising. And he’s ordered her to
start eating more fish and spinach.”

“Ugh,
my favorites,” Courtney stuck out her tongue.

“Hamburgers
have iron,” Clay offered.

“True,”
Jenna said. “You can eat dinner every night at Klippy’s. So, that’s all he said
you have to do? Really?”

“Yeah,
and also, he wants me to go back to see Dr. Rhetler.”

“Okay,
I’ll make us an appointment for this week,” Jenna reached for her cell.

“I
was afraid you’d say that,” Courtney glanced at Mitch.

“What?”
Jenna asked.

“Mitch
is going to take me, then we’ll head to his house for Thanksgiving. It’s no big
deal. I can handle it. I want you to go see Darren.”

Jenna
felt Clay stiffen next to her at the mention of Darren’s name. She knew he
didn’t like the idea of her going to Florida for the week. She knew he considered
her a good friend, but he would like to be more than just a good friend. She
would never want to hurt his feelings, but she needed to go see Darren. Wanted
to go be with Darren. Jenna touched Clay’s hand lightly.

“Well,
I’m not going until you’re discharged from the hospital. I need to make
absolutely sure that you’re okay,” Jenna said. “You have a place near Mitch’s
home to get treated during Thanksgiving break? You’ll have to go on Friday.”

“I’ll
see what Dr. Rhetler has to say. I’m going to try to get an appointment for Wednesday.
I’m guessing with my recent complications, she’ll want to see me right away.”

“True,”
Jenna said.

Mitch
and Clay looked to one another. “Sounds like these girls have everything
figured out, huh?” Mitch said.

“Yeah,”
Clay agreed. “Is there a ball game on or something? Hand me that remote.”

“No
way,” Courtney said. “I am not watching sports while I’m in the hospital!”

“Hey
Missy,” Mitch said, “Shut your mouth. You’re only allowed to open it to eat
your spinach.”

They
all laughed, the tension gone for the immediate moment, but Jenna was still
worried. Worried about leaving her sister in her current condition and how she
would be without her. She was also worried about how it would be when she got
to Darren’s, worried about how she would feel when he would gather her up in
his arms.

She
hoped she would feel the same as she used to, that she would feel complete,
like she belonged with him, that she was where she needed to be the moment they
saw one another and were together again.

Because
when Clay arrived at the hospital and hugged her, and when Jenna inhaled the
scent of him, she felt secure and safe – she felt that Clay had stopped
everything and rushed to her side to be with her.

She
wasn't sure if Darren was that type of man any longer, or if he was, would she
have the same feelings for him as she did for Clay?

Jenna
hoped she would know when she stepped off that plane and into Darren's arms.
She hoped she would have answers then.

Mitch
and Courtney sat in the office waiting for Dr. Rhetler, their hands clasped
tightly together.

“Thank
you so much for coming,” Courtney said for about the thousandth time.

“Court,
you’re being ridiculous. Of course I’d be here with you,” he leaned into her
and brushed her lips with his, and she shivered and smiled, kissed him back.

She
still couldn’t believe he was hers, that he loved her, that he was there with
her, and that later he was taking her home to meet his family. Courtney was so
nervous to meet his parents, and moreover, she was scared to death to meet his
four sisters. Four sisters! What on earth was that like, she had wondered. He
hadn’t told her much, and what he had shared hadn’t been very good, that it had
been difficult growing up with that kind of family dynamic, and he wished he
had been closer to everyone. Mostly he got along best with his youngest sister,
Sammi, who was eight. Everyone else was too dramatic, too busy with their own
lives, you’ll see, he had said.

There
was a quick knock on the door and in peeked a nurse. “Doctor will be with you
shortly. We’re still trying to locate your file. We found your sister’s under
Haddonfield but yours must have been misplaced. Would you like some water while
you’re waiting?”

“I’m
fine,” Courtney said. Mitch shook his head.

“It
shouldn’t be too much longer,” the nurse smiled apologetically and closed the
door.

“Wanna
play doctor?” Mitch grinned at Courtney, and reached for her. “I can check your
vitals while we’re waiting.”

“Stop
that! Hand me that
People
mag. I want to see what kind of drama
Brangelina is stirring up these days.”

“You
and your trashy gossip mags.”

“But
look at what she’s doing now! And doesn’t she look horrible? She needs to eat
some pie!” Courtney was flipping through the magazine commenting on celebrities
when the door opened again. Dr. Rhetler entered the room, all professional and business,
as Courtney was busy checking in on the latest celebs. She felt like she had
been caught misbehaving in kindergarten.

“Hello
there,” Dr. Rhetler greeted them.

“Hi
doc,” Courtney placed the magazine behind her.

“Interesting
articles?” Dr. Rhetler asked.

Mitch
laughed. “She was checking out the gowns from last week’s award show.”

“Oh
yes, didn’t Jennifer look glamorous in that Vera Wang?” Dr. Rhetler took a seat
at the desk next to Mitch and Courtney.

Courtney
beamed. “So much!”

Dr.
Rhetler introduced herself to Mitch. “They’re still looking for your file, but
I didn’t want to keep you waiting. I’ve got Jenna’s file, and they’ll bring
yours in when they find it.” Then she said, “Since we’re all here though, let’s
talk about what happened. I heard you were recently hospitalized?”

“Yes,
I passed out. Low iron count.” Courtney said.

“Tell
her how low,” Mitch added.

“Seven-point-three.”
Courtney looked down at her knees, like somehow she was to be blamed for this.
“But it’s back up to eleven now, and I feel great.”

“Seven-point-three?
Why in God’s name were they drawing your blood when you were eleven even?
That’s still a below-average iron count. That’s not even high enough for a healthy
person to donate blood.”

“It’s
not?” Courtney was so confused. What did all of this mean?

Thank
God Mitch was with her because he started asking all of the right questions,
like why were they taking her blood twice a week if her iron was already so
low, and what exactly was hemochromatosis and could she please explain all the physical
signs of the disease as well.

Dr.
Rhetler was explaining all of these things to Mitch when there was a quick
knock on the door and it opened slightly. The same nurse who had stopped in
earlier was back. “We found the other Haddonfield file.”

“Do
I even dare ask where it was,” Dr. Rhetler said.

“Lissa’s
desk.”

"I
suspected as much."

Dr.
Rhetler turned her attention to Mitch and Courtney. “Lissa was suspended from
her duties.” Dr. Rhetler took the file from the nurse who delivered it, thanked
her and flipped through it. A minute later, a look of grave concern crossed
over her face, and Courtney felt the mood in the room change.

“Courtney,
it indicates here that you were called by Lissa right after you and your sister
were tested. Here are her initials.”

“No.
I never got a call from any nurse or the office. Jenna came to school to tell
me. All the information I ever got was from Jenna. Why? What’s the matter?”

“You’re
sure you never got a call?”

“Of
course I’m sure. I would remember.”

Dr.
Rhetler rolled her chair closer to Courtney to show her the file.

“Look
here.” Dr. Rhetler pointed at the file pages. "Is this your phone number?”

“Well
no. That number… ” Courtney pointed to the page… “that should be a seven, not a
one.”

Courtney
looked at Mitch, fear in her eyes, then to Dr. Rhetler, and she asked, “Am I
okay?”

“Well,
yes, I think. Give me a minute.”

Courtney
didn’t like how Dr. Rhetler sounded. Mitch moved closer to her and she grabbed
onto his hand. The gesture was warm and reassuring. Dr. Rhetler reached into
her lab coat pocket, took out her reading glasses, and put them on. She went
through the pages in the file, turning them ever so slowly, moving back and
forth between pages, and then flipping back to another, rereading a paragraph
and then moving ahead to another part of the file.

Then
she opened Jenna’s file and read through hers, doing the same, flipping pages,
going back and forth on certain parts. Her attention to the files was creating
paranoia in Courtney that she had never experienced before. Her skin itched and
her scalp tingled; she wanted to know what the hell Dr. Rhetler was doing, what
she was trying to figure out, what could she be reading that was so important?
And why was she comparing her chart with her sister's chart?

Finally,
Dr. Rhetler shut the files, took off her glasses, placed them back into her
coat pocket and cleared her throat. All Courtney could focus on was the loud
clicks of the standard clock in the room – the kind she remembered from high
school – the minute hand would snap into place at each sixty-second pass, and
when the shrill of the bell rang to signify the fifty-minute class was over,
everyone would startle at the noise, and move to the next class.

She
waited.

“Okay,”
Dr. Rhetler sighed.

“What
is it?” Courtney asked.

“You,
my dear, do not have hemochromatosis.”

“I
don’t?” Courtney’s mouth gaped open.

“No,
you don’t. You never did. All of your tests came back completely fine.
Negative. I don’t know how this slipped past us, and I’m completely sorry, so
very sorry you’ve been put through this ordeal.”

“Wow.”
Courtney exhaled. This was wonderful news, incredible actually. She and her
sister could start living their lives normally again. Jenna could maybe stay in
Florida with Darren now, they could plan their wedding. They could get their
mother’s home cleaned out and ready to put up for sale. Courtney could really
focus on her classes, make more time for the art that she had been neglecting for
so very long.

“I
can’t wait to call Jenna and tell her the great news,” Courtney hugged Mitch,
who had a look of relief smattered across his own face.

“Wait,
Courtney, there’s more,” Dr. Rhetler said. “There’s something I still don’t get
here.” Dr. Rhetler moved onto the rolling chair closer to Courtney now, and
looked her eye to eye. “This is very important, and I need you to listen very carefully,
okay?”

Dr.
Rhetler placed her hands onto Courtney’s knees as if to steady her. Mitch stared
at the doctor, sensing he was about to hear shocking news, because what kind of
doctor touches the knees of her patient?

Courtney’s
life flashed in front of her and she wondered if the doctor was going to tell
her that instead of hemochromatosis she had cancer, because that had to be it.
She had to have cancer. The doctor was too close and too concerned. Dr. Rhetler
was in her personal space, and she had something very important to tell Courtney.
What she was about to tell her had to be bad.

“Your
sister. Honey, your sister, she still has hemochromatosis.”

Courtney
sighed.

“That’s
all? That’s okay. We’ve been dealing with it already. Oh my God, I thought you
were going to tell me I had cancer or something.” Courtney let out a nervous
laugh. “Okay, sure she’s going to be freaked that I don’t have it anymore,
never did, but we’ll get through this. Okay, deep breath, Court. God Mitch,”
she looked up at Mitch and said, “Mitch, I thought she was going to say I had
cancer.” And she laughed.

“Courtney,
you’re not following this,” Dr. Rhetler said gently, touching her knee for
emphasis. “If one sibling has hemochromatosis, you know it’s automatic that the
other has it, right?”

“Yeah,
so, I beat the odds?” Courtney said the words while her mind tried to follow
along with what Dr. Rhetler was telling her. “Right? I could have beat the odds
on this one. It could happen, right?”

Dr.
Rhetler shook her head slowly.

“What?
What are you saying… ?”