In Search of Tomorrow ✓

Twenty-Seven

The only thing I was conscious of as I took a deep breath was Cameron's warm hand pressing into my shoulder and the beeping of machines. Nervously, I began twisting the white sheets between my fingers, my heart pounding.

Everything I had been working so hard to keep a secret, both for my sisters' protection and for my own, now had to come out. I knew now that I would have had to tell someone eventually—I couldn't have kept it hidden forever. But did now really have to be the time, when my little sister was in critical condition and my life had literally been flipped upside-down again?

You're getting your wish, Clare, I thought. I'm finally telling the truth.

"My parents aren't here," I told the nurse, my voice shaking. My vocal chords felt strangely strained, almost blocked. "My mom passed away in a car crash years ago."

The nurse's expression molded into one of extreme sympathy and disbelief. "I'm so sorry, honey," she said, scribbling something down on her clipboard. "What about your dad?"

I glanced up at Cameron, who was just smiling at me sadly. "He left shortly after my mom passed away," I said. I felt like I would choke, like everything was strangely dreamlike and surreal.

"Honey, I need a contact," said the nurse, her eyebrows furrowing. "I've got to get an adult over here. How about foster care? Or an orphanage?"

Cameron's hand was now pressing so hard into my back that it normally would have hurt, but right now I felt strangely stabilized and comforted by its presence. "We're not staying at an orphanage or a foster home," I said. "I've been taking care of my sisters on my own."

My delicate glass world was shattering all around me, and there was nothing I could do to stop the million glistening pieces from cascading onto the ground. What would be left when I had no fragile cover, no stability, to live with?

The nurse sucked in her breath. "That's illegal, Evelyn, honey," she said, continuing to scribble. "And not only that, but it's impossible. Someone would have caught on by now."

I didn't even have to glance at Cameron to know that he was frowning.

"We've been doing it," I said, "for six months. And nobody's turned us in." I blinked back tears, feeling my breath rattling, as I added, "Can we just take care of my sister? Please?"

The nurse had capped her pen and was flipping through the papers in her clipboard, muttering. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I've got to get an adult over here, stat, but there's no one to call! This is illegal—illegal and extremely dangerous."

I chewed on the inside on my cheek, still twisting the hospital sheets in my hands. Suddenly, I remembered what Katie told me the day she closed down the ice cream shop. I still want to keep in touch. If you ever need me, call me.

I didn't think I'd ever need her more than I did now.

"Can I make a phone call to a family friend?" I asked the nurse, who startled from her muttering as if she hadn't expected me to speak. She glanced up at me and nodded permissively, then gestured to my cell phone which was lying on the bedside table.

As I dialed Katie's number, I tried to both control my emotions and think about what I was going to say. I had to stay calm and collected for Clare's sake.

"Evelyn!" exclaimed Katie when she answered. "I didn't expect to hear from you! What's up?"

Her gravelly voice was somehow a comfort to me. Still clutching the sheets, I said, "I need you to come down to the hospital. There's been a car crash, and Clare's in a coma."