Children of the Boss

Chapter 68: Carmen

July 10th

Things felt so normal, and so right. I loved being in the townhouse with Kenneth and Bia, my siblings. Clara and Lorena were so close. I had passed one of my summer classes and had two weeks left of my other two summer classes, which I had straight A's in. I'd come home from class and sometimes it would just be Kenneth and I. He'd make me food as I fed Bia, then we'd sit down as a family together. It was nice. Bia looked a lot like him.

Everything was going alright, until it wasn't.

Dean, Cassidy, Eve, Gloria, Kenneth, BB, and I were all sitting in the lounge on a Sunday. Things felt right. Dean and Cassidy were together. Eve and Gloria were back together. BB was healthy and beautiful. I loved having Clara and Lorena so close. Everything felt fantastic.

Dad called me. I was best about answering my phone. "What's up?" I asked.

"Granny is in the hospital."

"What? What for? What happened?" I looked at Kenneth as he held Bia.

"She just passed out and..." He sighed. "I guess she's been having issues but hasn't told anyone."

"What kind of issues?"

"Health issues. Honey, she has brain cancer."

I put my hand on my head. "And she didn't tell anyone?"

"No, not yet at least," he said. "She was scared to but apparently she found out when it had spread a lot already. I need you all to come to the hospital."

"Well, is she gonna make it?"

Dad sighed again. I think he was trying not to get choked up. "It's not likely honey. Please come to the hospital."

"Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can. I love you."

"Love you too, Carmen."

After I hung up Kenneth asked, "What's wrong?"

Everyone was looking at me. "Granny's in the hospital. She has cancer and we need to go to say goodbye."

"Say goodbye?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, she's apparently had cancer for a while but didn't tell anyone. We need to go, though. I'll see if Clara can watch Bia."

Kenneth and I dropped off Bia at Clara and Lorena's while the rest went to the hospital. Kenneth drove us to the hospital quickly. He said she was worried, sad. Granny was 78. It was elderly, but I expected my grandparents to live into their 80's, maybe even 90's.

"Didn't her grandfather have brain cancer?" Kenneth asked.

"No, no. He had an aneurysm. Not the same thing. I don't think brain cancer is genetic," I said, grabbing his hand.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, no, but no one else in that side of the family has ever had brain cancer. You have nothing to worry about." I thought of Bia, who had Kenneth's genes who had Granny's genes. "I think it's very unlikely to have anything like that be passed down to a great-grandchild."

He nodded. "Right."

We made it to the hospital. It was packed with our family. Granny was resting in a bed, looking frail and thin. I didn't get it. I had just seen her. Why didn't she tell us?

We sat in the room with her. She was really tired, nodding off, but coming back to talk to us. Her words were getting jumbled, slurred, a side effect of the cancer growing in her brain. Apparently when she had been diagnosed, a tumor was already pressing against her skull.

We didn't talk about that, though. We didn't talk about her cancer and why she didn't tell us. We sat around and talked about the good times with her, brought her some of her favorite foods and flowers. We wanted her to be comfortable.

Aunt Axelle sat to the right of her, her boyfriend next to her. Gabe and Abe next to them. Dean and Cassidy. Emily. Aunt Alisha and Uncle Clovis. Alex and Madison. Eve and Gloria. Uncle Claude and his girlfriend Melody. Me, Kenneth. Dad and Pop were sitting to her left. Grandma and Grandpa were standing behind them. We had such a beautiful family. I almost wished we had brought BB, but I figured she might get fussy and we didn't need the distraction.

One by one, we eventually said goodbye, probably for the last time. Dean went first. Hugged her, thanked her for helping him get better when he was living at home. Eve said goodbye next, kissing her head. Speaking in a little bit of French with her, which made Granny smile. The Dean and Eve left, crying, with Gloria and Cassidy. One by one we said goodbye until it was only Dad, Pop, Aunt Axelle, Uncle Claude, Aunt Melody.  

Kenneth and I drove to get Bia from Clara and Lorena's.

"How's your grandmother?" Clara asked.

"Not well," I said. "I think we just said goodbye for the last time."

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry," she said, hugging me and kissing my head.

"Here's Bia," Lorena said, passing Bia to me. "She's been a bit fussy."

"Thank you," I said. "Hi baby girl." I kissed her head.

"Wait a minute," Kenneth said. "What's that?" He pointed to Lorena. 

"What?" I asked.

He grabbed her left hand, which had a beautiful ring on her finger. "Are you guys engaged?"

Clara and Lorena smiled bashfully. "Well, we were going to announce it before we heard about your grandmother."

"Oh my god!" I cheered. "Congratulations. When did this happen?"

"Last night," Lorena said. 

"That's fantastic," Kenneth said. 

"It just felt like the right time. We're in careers we both love, in a city we love, so close to you. It felt right," Clara said.

"Well congratulations again. That's awesome. When's the wedding? You can totally have it at the townhouse too if you want."

"We'll figure it all out but probably won't have it happen until next spring," Lorena said.

"We always wanted a spring wedding."

We stayed for coffee with them, Bia sleeping in my arms. They were excited to get married, wanted something small which seemed to be a trend these days. They asked how school was going, how Bia was getting along. 

I loved having my family so close to me. Which is why when we went home I cried a lot over Granny. It didn't quite hit me that I said goodbye to her for the last time. 

"I'm really thankful she got to meet Bia," I said to Kenneth as we were sitting in my bed, Bia asleep in the crib.

"Me too," he said, but in the way he said it I know he was sad about having to stay secretive. Still, I trusted him and knew he knew better than to tell.

Although we knew pretty much all of our siblings knew about us, and pretty much their significant others. I was still scared about the future. What if we didn't want to be together anymore? Not only were were related, but now we had a child together. 

Deep down, though, I knew the truth. Nothing could ever come between Kenneth and I. 

Even if we wanted it to.