Chapter Five

Marie-Thérèse left the hospital more depressed than she’d felt in a long time. She hadn’t experienced such sadness since before she decided to pursue adoption in Ukraine. Marc had appeared so horribly frail and human in the hospital and for a moment, she had seen her mother in the bed, then her father, and lastly Pauline, her dear little sixteen-year-old sister. All taken from her, one at a time.

While she didn’t dwell on their loss, she admitted to herself a deep fear of losing more members of her family. Because of this fear, she knew she overreacted a lot. Both Larissa and Brandon had been to more doctor appointments individually than Josette’s four children combined. But her peace of mind was worth the extra trips.

“Is your phone back on?” she asked André as they arrived at his car. The hospital personnel had requested that cell phones be turned off while visiting, and she wondered if her children had tried to call.

“I forgot.” He reached into his pocket briefly before opening the car door for her and Josette.

“I can’t bear to see him suffer,” Josette said, entering the back seat. Her voice was unusually subdued.

“He’ll be all right,” André replied gruffly. “Rebekka and the others will be tested tomorrow, and then we’ll know. Louis-Géralde only had three matching antigens out of six, I believe. Not the best.”

“Well six out of six would be like identical twins,” Josette said. “I’m his twin—I should have at least been closer.” She bit her bottom lip and stared at her fingers in her lap.

“But even if you were compatible, you’ve had so many children,” said Marie-Thérèse. “That makes the chances of success go down, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Josette sighed. “Maybe we should call Louis-Géralde’s mission president today, just in case.”

“It’s not like he’s going anywhere,” André said dryly. “He’ll be there for the next two years. And we don’t want to worry him yet.”

Josette’s laugh was nervous. “I know but . . .” She shivered, though the late September day wasn’t cold. “Sometimes it pays to be safe.”

When they arrived at Josette’s, André bid a hasty good-bye in order to return to his wife. Inside Josette’s large apartment the children were peacefully playing another board game, except for Stephen who was asleep on the carpet and Brandon who was watching TV from the couch. Marie-Thérèse breathed a silent sigh of relief that everyone had survived their absence.

Larissa popped up from the floor immediately. “Well? What happened?”

“Uncle Marc’s kidney is failing, but he’s stable now. They are doing testing to see who’ll be able to give him a new kidney.

“I’d do it,” said Brandon.

Larissa shook her head. “You’re not old enough.”

“Well, I wish I was.”

Marie-Thérèse reached in her bag for her car keys. “Come on, kids. We should go now. Your dad had to go back to work from the hospital, but he’ll be home for dinner.”

Larissa started for the door, but from his position on the couch Brandon coughed and moaned.

“What’s with you?” Marie-Thérèse asked.

“He’s been coughing, and he’s got an ugly rash on his leg,” Larissa said. “It’s gross.”

Marie-Thérèse exchanged brief looks with Josette. “Let’s see it,” she told Brandon. He sighed, coughed again for a long minute, and then rolled up his pant leg. Marie-Thérèse was shocked to see a swollen, ugly red rash line with deep, painful-looking groves. “When did this happen?” she demanded.

Brandon shrugged, his light brown eyes innocent. “Yesterday, I think. It just came.”

“Have you been scratching it? That’s what it looks like.”

“No, it hurts if I try.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“It just got bad today. I only noticed when you were gone.”

“Pull up your shirt.”

He gave her a horrified glance. “Mom!”

“Everyone out!” Josette ordered.

The kids grumbled as they ambled from the room. “Don’t know why he cares,” Larissa muttered, wrinkling her nose. “He’s a boy, isn’t he?”

“He has a right to his privacy,” Marie-Thérèse answered. Brandon had always been rather modest and rarely took his shirt off, even at the swimming pool.

Brandon didn’t seem to mind showing his chest to Marie-Thérèse and his Aunt Josette, who was his second mother. To their dismay, his entire chest was also filled with the rash, though it looked less severe. Further investigation revealed that the red patches on his legs ran all the way up to his thighs, and that he was having trouble breathing as well.

“You’d better take him to the doctor,” Josette said, giving her a sympathetic frown. “Larissa can stay here.”

Over his protests, Marie-Thérèse drove Brandon to the doctor, trying not to fear the worst. Brandon was coughing badly by the time they arrived.

After a fifteen-minute wait, the doctor examined the rash on Brandon’s leg. “I think this was caused by a bite.”

“A bite?”

“Yes. Has he been in the woods lately?”

Marie-Thérèse thought for a moment. “Well, ten days or so ago we went to my parents’ cabin in the mountains. But he’s been fine since then.”

“It’s not uncommon to have a delayed reaction,” the doctor said. “Possibly his body fought off whatever it was, but then something he picked up in the past few days caused the breakout. It’s difficult to know.” He picked up a pad and began writing. “I’m going to give him a cream for the rash and he’s to apply it twice a day to affected areas. Since the cream is rather inexpensive, I’m prescribing a large jar so that you can use it if he has any recurrence. And because the rash is fairly severe, I’m giving you another medication to take by mouth. Take it until it’s completely gone.”

Marie-Thérèse nodded. “What about his breathing?”

The doctor’s brow creased. “That’s probably related to his allergic reaction to whatever caused the breakout. Given his history, I’d like to do more allergy testing once this has all cleared up. Why don’t you bring him back next week? Of course, if it becomes more severe in the meantime, please come in sooner.”

With an inner sigh, Marie-Thérèse agreed.

As they walked out to the car Brandon asked, “So, how long is Uncle Marc going to be in the hospital?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, they’ll let him come home as soon as it’s safe for him but he needs a kidney transplant. He’ll have to go back in.”

Brandon shook his head. “That’s bad. I’d like to see him. Maybe take him a new book or something. I got a new one he’d like. It’s sci-fi.”

“I’m sure he’d like that.” Marie-Thérèse started the engine. “But that’s only if you’re feeling better.”

He coughed for a minute. “I will as soon as we get that medicine.”

“We’ll be at the pharmacy in a minute. Just lie back and rest.”

Marie-Thérèse let a few moments of silence go by before saying, “Brandon, I think you should know that your dad’s going in to be tested tomorrow, to see if he’s a good enough match for Uncle Marc.”

“I hope he is,” Brandon said. “If I was older, I’d try to give him my kidney. Uncle Marc’s cool.”

Feeling a little guilty, Marie-Thérèse silently thanked heaven that he was too young. “There are others who can donate. Besides, we’ve got to work on getting you better.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Brandon stared out the window, but Marie-Thérèse had the feeling he wasn’t seeing the passing buildings.

“I wonder what it would be like to be dead,” he said after a long pause. “I would like to see it for myself.”

Marie-Thérèse breathed in swiftly. Brandon glanced at her, and seeing her expression, he added, “Not to stay dead. I’m just curious. To see what’s there for myself.”

“I think you’ll see for yourself after a long life,” Marie-Thérèse forced her voice to be light.

It doesn’t mean anything, she told herself. Just a child’s curiosity. At times in her life, she had been curious as well. After all, her birth family was waiting for her in the next world, and she had often wondered what it would be like when they were together again.

They stopped for the medicines at the pharmacy and then returned to Josette’s to pick up Larissa. As soon as Larissa was in the back seat of the car, she started in on her usual request. “Mom, can I play with Jolie when we get home?”

Marie-Thérèse wasn’t impressed with Larissa’s choice of friends, but she tried not to make an issue of it. “I don’t think so. It’ll be dinnertime soon, and we might need to go over to Grandma’s tonight. We’d like to begin a family fast for Uncle Marc.”

“You just don’t like Jolie,” Larissa said, slapping her hand in indignation on the back of the front seat.

That’s accurate enough, Marie-Thérèse thought, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “Besides, we need to discuss some changes that we’ll be making once the new baby is with us. Or babies.”

Larissa gave a disgusted sigh. “I don’t know why we have to adopt a baby at all. It’s just going to be a lot of work. Look at poor Preston. With all of Josette’s kids, he’s always baby-sitting.”

“Josette doesn’t go out all that much,” Brandon said. “And Preston likes to watch his brothers. I wouldn’t mind a brother, even if I did have to watch him.”

“Well, I don’t want a brother or a sister. It’s too much work. Jolie’s an only child and she gets anything she wants.”

Marie-Thérèse was shocked at her daughter’s comments and was about to say so when she realized that eliciting such a reaction had been Larissa’s intent. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said calmly, “because your father and I feel very strongly that we are supposed to have another baby.”

“Just so long as I don’t have to take care of it!” Larissa folded her arms and sat back in her seat, lips clamped tightly together.

Marie-Thérèse didn’t understand her daughter. She’d thought Larissa would love the idea of a little sister or brother to mother, but since they had announced their decision to adopt last night, Larissa had made no secret of her ill feelings toward the idea. Maybe we should have told her sooner, to let her become accustomed to the idea.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Brandon’s hand stole over the space between them to gently pat Marie-Thérèse’s shoulder. “I think it’s a good idea,” he said in a soft voice. “Larissa’s just mad ’cause she wants to go on that ski trip with Jolie’s parents.” He made a disgusted noise in his throat.

Marie-Thérèse thought that for almost eleven he was pretty smart. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“I won’t share my room, either,” Larissa added loudly. “So you might want to think about moving.”