Reclaiming Lily (22 page)

Somehow she ate the whole thing. Well, not exactly. Unlike Andrew, she’d stopped short of gnawing the bone. Neither manners nor a finicky appetite stopped her. She, like every robust Chinese, sucked juice from rooster skulls, gobbled down chicken intestines, the reproductive organs of fish . . . especially at joyous feasts. But the Texas-sized portions, her anxiety, or thoughts of those mounted trophies kept her from savoring the food. Besides, there was something—someone—else to savor. Kai again framed Joy in her field of vision. This moment would be tucked away. Retrieved during hard times.
Which may start now, with PKD talk. . . .

As if on cue, busboys removed half-eaten slabs of Texas toast, scraped-to-the-skin potatoes, and the funny T-shaped bones. Andrew swept crumbs into a napkin and folded it into a tight square. If only Joy’s problems could be so easily removed.

“Joy, we have something else to discuss,” he began.

Hair brushed Joy’s shoulders as she bounced about. “Like . . . another surprise?”

Gloria fisted her jar and wiped off water beads with her thumb.

“Not . . . not exactly.” Andrew didn’t say more, only exchanged a wide-eyed expression with Gloria.

Kai pulled her folder from her bag. Someone must start this. Why not the doctor? She cleared her throat. “Joy, you asked earlier why it took so long for me to find you.”

“Um-hum.” A narrow-eyed wariness usurped Joy’s gay mood, which Kai regretted. Still, this must be done.

“In fact, you asked twice. You also asked why we Changs left you at an orphanage.”

A carefully guarded look entered Joy’s eyes.

“I did my . . . best to answer the orphanage question.”

No one moved. To keep from frightening Joy, Kai had infused her voice with calm. Still, this one must know the suffering of the Chang family. She extracted a paper from her file and laid it on the table.

“If you are willing, I would like to answer the question of timing now.”

Gloria was absorbed with her hands. Andrew crumb-gathered. Kai vowed to fix her attention on Joy. Ignore the rest of the world . . . including her phone, which was emitting the majestic ring tone that signaled a call from David. Kai closed her eyes and envisioned David’s gentle voice. When her job here was done, she would relax in her spacious hotel room and pour out to the heart doctor all that had taken place this day.

The nocturne ended. So did the irritating beeps, which acted as an alarm clock for Kai. She straightened and fixed her gaze on Joy.

Joy scraped at a nail. “Yeah, um, sure” stuttered from her mouth.

Kai took a breath. “Our mother suffered great indignities during the Cultural Revolution. Father was not spared, either, but that is another story. Of all her ailments, the one afflicting Mother’s kidneys caused her the most pain. After you were born, Joy, she took to her bed . . . and rarely left it.”

Joy, her face crumpling, shook her head, as if she could not hear more. Who could blame her? “Did she . . . suffer?” she finally asked.

Kai moistened her lips. There would be no discussion of ankles swollen to the size of small trees, vomiting, lethargy, bloody urine, the sunken-eye, fixed expression, the itching, the twitching. If Kai had her way, she would never utter such things to this one. “I would like to tell you otherwise, but it would be a lie. Though I had been called to medicine at an early age, seeing Mother’s suffering confirmed the vow I’d made at age eleven to be a doctor.”

Joy knotted her hands. “Wow! Like, you were just a baby!”

Younger than you, but wiser in the ways of the world. Or so I thought.

“You will have to tell her about that too,” interjected Andrew with such enthusiasm that Kai turned to him and smiled. At least one Powell believed in her story.

To her surprise, Gloria nodded forcefully.

Make that two Powells.

“Ever since, I have stalked Mother’s killer.” Kai leaned across the table and handed Andrew and Gloria sheets identical to those she had given them earlier. She handed her last copy to Joy. “A year ago, I finally received Mother’s file from Chinese authorities. A name was given to Mother’s killer. PKD. Polycystic kidney disease.”

Joy hunkered into her seat and seemed to study the medical-speak of the papers. Kai absorbed every lift of Joy’s eyebrow, every turn of Joy’s head. Could it be that medicine also called Fourth Sister? Despite the gravity of the situation, Kai allowed herself to dream of working with Joy, side by side, somehow, somewhere . . .

“This sounds awful.”

I have only given a sanitized version, dear Joy. You should meet the patients hooked to the blessed, cursed dialysis lines. You should see the lists, pages of which could carpet hospital halls, of those begging for a kidney. You should have seen what was left after PKD ravaged Mother’s body
. Kai nodded yet pressed her lips together lest even one gory detail escape.

Joy set down the papers. Her lovely eyebrows displayed their full arch.

“I am sure you are thinking, What does this mean to me?”

Joy nodded. Gloria punished her fist. Andrew had removed every molecule of Texas toast from their tablecloth.

Here is the hardest part, dear sister. Oh, that I get it right
. “I am sure you noted the third word on this document. Such medical terms often are unclear to laypersons.”

Joy edged the word
hereditary
with a chipped nail. Her lovely forehead creased.

Angst assailed with such force, Kai leaned against the table. If only that wretched word could be scratched from the document and forever forgotten.

“Hereditary components play a significant role in PKD. So Mother’s children are at higher risk of having polycystic kidney disease.”

There. She had said it.

She knew by the creases in Joy’s cheeks, her droopy eyes, that Joy understood.

“What are the symptoms?” Joy spat out.

Kai’s heart swelled.
Oh, she is a smart one. An emotional one.

“Well, now, Joy . . .” Gloria, who had been strangely silent, made her debut in the discussion. “We don’t want to alarm you.”

“
Moth
-er! If I have a disease, I want to know!” Joy crossed her arms, glared at Gloria. “How long have y’all known about
this
?”

“Now, Joy . . .”

Kai placed her hand on Joy’s arm. It worked with Third Daughter, or at least it did years ago. Perhaps it would calm this one. “Your mother learned about PKD just before we met. Her health and . . . your predicament . . . did not allow her to share.”

Gloria fixed her with that half-curious, half-grateful look. Surely she knew by now that they were allies in this battle.

Joy gave a sullen nod.

“We had begun to discuss testing when . . . we were interrupted by Officer Robbins. If your parents agree, I’d like to have you tested before we waste time on what might be.” Kai allowed herself a sigh. She had said enough. The Powells must make the next move.

Andrew laid his hand on Gloria’s arm. Right below the elbow, as always. How comforting, to be able to predict your spouse’s every move!

Kai imagined David, standing beside her, his breath warming her neck, his arms allaying the sights she daily viewed in the hospital. David and Kai. It sounded so right to her. How did it sound to David? To David’s parents, who traced their ancestry to the Mayflower and snubbed all without red, white, and blue blood lines?

“I’m glad you brought up testing, Kai, ’cause Gloria and I discussed it.” Andrew turned his head. “We’d like for Joy’s Texas doctor to run prelims. Give Joy a physical. Right?”

Gloria nodded.

“The family medical history will be shared, of course. If there’s any reason at all for concern, Carl will call. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way. Right?”

Again Gloria nodded.

“First thing in the morning, we’ll give Carl a ring.”

“Hey, wait a minute. So . . . Kai?” Joy crinkled her eyes. “Like, this is your medical specialty, right?”

Smart
and
cagey, this one. “Renal medicine, yes.”

“Is that a coincidence . . . or what?” Joy pushed back from the table. “Why don’t we, like, just go to Boston?”

Gloria opened her mouth and then clamped it shut. Andrew and Kai exchanged glances.
Surely he will take the lead here. I am only her sister, not her legal guardian, as the police so aptly pointed out
.

“Joy, no use rushing things that can be avoided. I mean, Boston’s a long way—”

“She’s my sister. Don’t y’all understand anything?”

More than you understand, dear one
. Kai slipped on the hats worn by Joy’s parents, something she’d done with dozens of patients. Another trick taught by old Dr. Ward.

“Your parents know best, Joy. It’s time you accepted that as a fact.”

“But—” Joy tossed her head and slung purple strands over violent eyes. A curse spewed into that stringy mop.

“Joy!” flew from Gloria.

Kai gripped her chair, gritted her teeth, and met the half-veiled gaze of Tornado Joy head on. “A Chang does not say such things.” She swept her hand toward Joy’s parents. “Neither, I am sure, does a Powell.”

An eternity passed. Or was it ten seconds?

The teenager was the first to look away. And hang her head.

Kai released her achy fingers from weathered wood. “I concur with your parents’ decision. There is also the matter of the police to consider. You are under a station adjustment, no? They may not allow you to come to Boston.”
Though I ache for it.

Andrew and Gloria again joined hands and exchanged glances before they smiled big. Their body language signaled another surprise.

“Gloria and I discussed something else. After the tornado.”

Joy tensed, as if expecting yet another blow. Who could blame her?

“If you complete the requirements of the station adjustment and Nicole allows it, we will all visit Kai. In Boston.”

Waves of elation swept through Kai. The Powells’ trust had risen to the point that they would permit such a thing? Just hours ago, she never would have imagined a change of heart.

Joy bounced in her seat. Waved her hands. The spitting image of Third Daughter. Oh, it was a marvel!

“That is, if Kai can put up with us.”

Kai bit back a desire to explode into a musical masterpiece similar to the one recorded on her phone. “I would like nothing more.”

“There is the police matter,” intoned Gloria. “Your grades. Attendance.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ll see a change, really.” Joy gripped Kai’s hand as she had done during the storm. “Now that I . . .” She glanced toward her parents. “I mean, with two families behind me.”

Andrew nodded. “I am glad you see it like that, Joy.”

“Yes,” Kai echoed.

“So . . . I’ll be going to Boston?” Joy’s eyes sparkled mischief and hope.

Dimming images of needles pricking Joy and CT scanners whirring over Joy’s body, Kai managed a smile. “Massachusetts, here you come.”

“Can we go to the coast? Like, stick our toes in the Atlantic? And the Freedom Walk? Can we do that? We studied it in school.”

Kai glanced sideways at Joy, suddenly so alive, so eager. Boston offered much for tourists. How she craved to shuttle them about the city that had embraced her! She stifled a sigh. How many patients bypassed sights because they must languish in a sterile dialysis cubicle?

“We’ll just have to see, Joy,” said Gloria.

I could not agree more. We will just have to see.
Kai nodded. “Your mother is right, Joy. And your father—a thousand thanks for an . . . unforgettable meal.”

Andrew puffed out his chest. “There’s nothing like this in Boston, huh?”

I certainly hope not.
“No doubt about it,” Kai managed.

Andrew signed the bill with a flourish.

Kai adopted Andrew’s habit of searching for minuscule crumbs.
The Longhorn Palace was not such a bad place for the PKD discussion. But I will not discuss the other thing here.
The waiter disappeared with the credit card. Table chatter waned.

“We must address one other matter.” Kai fixed her gaze on a bucking bronco poster, avoiding Joy. “Would you mind if we went to my hotel?”

Question marks entered Powell eyes. “Sure,” Andrew finally said. “Whatever you want, Kai.”

15

She’s with her sister . . . and on cloud nine
. Gloria pretended to reapply lipstick but instead used the vanity mirror to study Joy and Kai, huddled together in the backseat studying the framed family pictures Kai had given Joy. The two looked like best friends.
Something I never had
. Or sisters.
Ditto.

“That’s Ling? She’s beautiful!” Joy squealed.

“She has the round face of Southern Chinese. Much admired in our village.”

Photos and family members crowded in with Kai and Joy, filling the car with old stories, laughter; filling Gloria with the sense of being an outsider in a reunion.
Joy has the family she’s yearned for, at some level, all her life.

Tears blurred Gloria’s vision.
Joy’s peace. I’ve been on my knees, begging for this
. Gloria hand-combed her hair. She was happy for Joy. So why did the sisters’ laughs set off an internal barometer?

Because she’s connecting with the sister she’s known for one day better than she’s connected with me for years
.

A scene flashed in Joy’s mind: Ten-year-old Joy, begging to dye blond the hair of the Asian doll she’d received as a birthday present. “So everyone will like her.” Joy had stroked the doll’s plump plastic cheek, such a yearning in her eyes that Gloria had turned her head. An hour later, pink balloons, tied to dining room chairs, nodded listlessly. Not Gloria, who fumed as she fussed and pretended to busy herself with Joy’s hair ribbons. In homes where folks shelved Emily Post’s
Etiquette
next to Junior League handbooks, not one of the mothers of the invited girls had bothered to RSVP.

Gloria, fearing something like this, had urged Joy to invite church friends. Even then—years before the fire—an inexplicable, indefinable divide existed between Joy and her church peers. Joy had refused to include several deacons’ daughters who would’ve attended—if for no other reason than their parents told them it was the Christian thing to do.
I should’ve made Joy invite them
. Gloria berated herself for the thousandth time.
I should have told
Joy
that was the Christian thing to do. Back then, she’d have listened.