Previously: I bring cake and presents to Bobby’s house. My sister has flown down for a belated birthday party, the last one she’ll ever have. Barbara relates the story of how the doctor opened her up to put in a stent and discovered cancer cells that had been growing for twelve years.

Chapter 70 ends:

"So how long did he give you?" I asked.

"Two good months, two not-so -good, and then I could choose to go into Hospice or stay at home for palliative care. My goal is to stay well enough to see the two doctorial students I’ve been mentoring for the past year, graduate in May."

"I remember Mom once said, "You were so smart, you could succeed at anything you tried."

"Really?" Barb sat up straighter and brightened. "Our mother said that about me?"

Her reaction surprised me. How could she doubt that Mom wouldn’t be proud of her?
 

"Hey, Bobby."  Frank turned to my nephew. "I'd like to see that new tax program you have on your computer. If it's not too complicated, maybe I'll buy  it." 

"Sure, Uncle Frank. It's easy for the short form." He circled his mobile wheelchair to head toward the bedroom he had converted into his office.  Hubby followed and shut the door.  He knew  Barb and I needed time alone.

All the emotion I had been holding in tumbled out as I looked at the beautiful face of my composed sister. Leaving my chair, I knelt in front of her, choking back tears. "Oh Barb, I’m so sorry for anything I’ve ever said or done that hurt you."

"Me too, Shari." Barb took my hands and squeezed them gently. "I’m grateful you and Frank have looked after Bobby. I just hope his father will visit more often after I’m gone."

"You know that John invited Bobby to live with him."

"Yes. Norm said he could move in with us too.  Bobby said no to both of us. He hates snow."

"He has a support group here." I stood up and kissed her forehead. "Guys and girls he met in sports bars. They go with him to hockey and baseball games."

"I'm so glad for that." Barb brightened. "He's set financially too, with his tax clients. Plus he gets monthly rent from the apartment I bought in his name. Actually, I had planned to retire in two more years and move in for the winter and then go back to Missouri and Norm in the summer."

My sister just climbed four rungs on my ladder. Finally, her son came first. I  kissed her cheek and sat down again.

Barb continued to surprise me. "I'm checking to see if he can receive my social security. That’s the good thing about knowing when you’re going to die. You can make sure everything’s in order. Even better, I can plan my own funeral." She laughed.

A predictable reaction, I thought. Barb was a perfectionist and liked to take control.

"Bobby really likes Frank, and I do too,"  my sister continued. "I wasn’t sure when you married him because he didn’t have a college education. I know now that formal education is not the measure of a man."

This was a biggie. Compliments didn’t come easy to my sister. She never commented on my clothes or my accomplishments whereas I always praised her many educational achievements.  I switched the topic the conversation to  our childhood and teen years.

"We both had a crush on Billy Doull —"  I started.

"Our summer love while staying at the cottage." Barb chuckled. "He was so cute and so clueless. How old were we? Ten and a half and twelve?

"Yes and still innocent.  Then four months later, we were back in Florida. You came home from fifth grade one day and told me how girls got pregnant."

"I remember that." Barb giggled.  "Some girl in my class told me it happens when a guy puts his "pee thing" in your mouth."

"We both said 'yuck' and swore to never have kids. I wonder when we found out the truth?"

"I don't know, but maybe that story explains why I broke out in hives when Brian Cooper asked me out in twelfth grade. I said yes and then canceled."

"And that summer I came home from college. He saw me working at the bakery and asked me out! You were ticked."

"You think?" Barbara frowned and then smiled. "I'm over it now."

For the next twenty minutes we talked about our youth. She brought up memories of Dad but never mentioned Mom. I knew she still held a grudge but didn’t want to discuss that. Anyway, Barb was dying. What difference would it make?

Boy, was I wrong.

To be continued