“It’s fine. You’re old. I forgive you.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “And about Verity and Sib. They didn’t mean?—”
“I know. It’s my fault.” I plunge both arms into the sink. “If I’d told them sooner, I’m sure they wouldn’t have done it.”
Clancy rubs my arm. “Are you okay?”
“With what? The fact that my central vision is starting to deteriorate rapidly, or that Maverick showed up here with soup because he was worried about us, or that I have to tell my family I’ll be blind by Christmas?”
“All of it.”
I shut my eyes and drop my head. “Do I really have to tell them today?”
“That’s up to you,” Clancy replies. “But delaying it won’t make it any easier.”
He’s right. I pull the plug and dry my hands on the dish towel. “No time like the present, right?”
We walk into the living room. Clancy turns off the game Jack and Chris were watching on TV. Chris is about to pipe up in protest, but Sibella is the first to read the mood.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, breaking out of her conversation with Verity and Pip, her intelligent eyes darting between me and Clancy.
“Jackson has something to say.” Clancy motions for me to take the floor, and he joins Pip and Verity on the couch.
“Um, yeah. So, I don’t really know how to say this…”
Wringing my hands together, I begin with the symptoms I started experiencing late last year to the diagnosis I got a few months ago. “The thing is, having optic neuritis on top of my preexisting condition is incredibly rare. That explains my headaches. I wouldn’t have them if I only had one of the conditions. But combined, it makes weird stuff like that happen.” My throat clams up as I get to the part I’ve been dreading the most. “It also means that instead of losing my sight in my forties or fifties, it’ll happen a lot sooner than that.”
“How soon?” Sibella asks.
I drop my gaze to the floor, not wanting to face my sisters as I deliver the news. “It’s already started. I can’t drive at night. Dim light is a nightmare. My central field of vision is narrowing. Dr.Ward couldn’t give an exact timeframe, but if I’m lucky? A few months, tops.”
Sibella grunts as she struggles to push to her feet, and along with Verity, they rush over to wrap me up in their arms. The familiar scent of my sisters washes over me as we hug and cry in front of everyone.
“For once in my life, I’m speechless,” Sibella says, pulling back slightly.
I chuckle. “And yet you somehow find a way to speak through your speechlessness.”
I stare at her.
She looks back at me.
I grin.
Her mouth curves.
It only grows from there.
Verity giggles.
Pip snorts.
And before you know it, all seven of us are laughing like absolute idiots. I take in my family through tear-soaked eyes, and despite delivering the worst news of my life, right now…I’m actually happy.
Pip frees up the couch so that I can sit between my sisters, holding their hands as we all discuss my next steps.
Where am I going to live? In my cabin at the rescue center.
Will I need any extra medications? I don’t believe so, no.
