by Leanne Davis
Vickie was so pale and unnaturally colored. She was tucked neatly in the hospital bed, but her blonde hair was pulled back and unteased. She wore no makeup either, and Julia wondered if she had ever seen Vickie without any makeup and her hair all undone? Her chest was flat on one side, and Julia clearly saw one breast was gone under the plain hospital gown. An IV drip was hanging near her with a tube inserted into her wrist. Her eyes were closed but her lashes soon opened when she heard the soft clicking of Julia’s shoes on the vinyl floor.
“Julia?” Vickie said her name softly, and her voice was as rough as gravel. She smiled but it was a weak version that was lacking her usual gleaming white teeth and bright red lips.
Julia dug her fingernails into the fatty part of her palm and pressed hard. She was desperately trying to restrain the sudden sobs that were filling her eyes with tears and lodging a knot in her throat. Vickie barely lifted her hand. “Come here, honey, I’m okay. Please… don’t leave… not yet.”
Julia sniffled and started to cry as she flopped down onto the visitor chair near Vickie’s head. Gripping the side rails of the bed, she buried her face in the covers as choking sobs emerged from her mouth and tears rolled down her face. The stark reality of the cancer was so much worse and more graphic and devastating than Julia was prepared for.
“I don’t think I understood what… that this… I mean, I didn’t think you were lying… but…”
Vickie barely smiled again, the slightest tilt of her lips curving. She lifted her hand to Julia's wrist, squeezing it. But it seemed to take all of her strength. “It’s more alarming… seeing it up close… huh? Makes it more real. It’s okay, honey. I’m cancer-free… at least, I am right now…”
Julia placed her head beside Vickie’s, holding her hand, trying to remain calm. “I’m sorry for all the cruel things I said…”
“Nah. No. There’s no need for that. I love you Ju-Ju-Bee. I might not have always shown it the right way, but I never stopped loving you, and I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m here… Vick… I mean, Mom.”
Vickie squeezed her hand harder. “Nah, don’t do that either. You’re my daughter, but Tracy is your real mother. It’s okay. I know she needs to be that. But I can be… your… friend…if you thought that maybe…”
“I think that would be a good place for us.”
Vickie smiled, shutting her eyes and Julia could see her exhaustion in the lines bracketing her mouth.
“Are you in any pain?” Julia groped around, looking for the nurse call button, feeling frantic to help Vickie.
“No… Lots of pain meds, I believe. Just really tired. Good anesthesia. One more thing, Julia? I’m sorry… for not being…”
Julia sucked in a breath. “Nah. No. There’s no need for that. I love you, Vickie.”
Vickie’s eyes were tiny slits, but her tears fell. “You haven’t said that to me in fifteen years.”
“Well, I do.”
“Cancer will do that.” Vickie grimaced.
“No. It’s—”
Vickie squeezed her hand. “It’s a good way to relieve the pressure. If we make fun of cancer, we can’t let it win. It already took my breast.”
Julia knew losing a breast would be hard for many women, but for a woman as dependent upon her looks and body image for her self-esteem as Vickie, it seemed like the world’s cruelest trick.
“You can get a new one. Bigger. Better,” Julia’s said, trying to prevent Vickie from feeling depressed in her quiet, morose exhaustion.
She shook her head. “You know what? No. Nah. I think I’ll just… I don’t know, appreciate that I’m still alive. That it isn’t my boobs or my hair that matters in the end. Being alive is what’s important. Being with you makes it so much better.”
“I never dreamed you’d say something like that.”
“Cancer does that to a girl,” she said before her eyes fluttered shut. Julia stayed there, holding her hand and saying nothing. Just being there with her… With Vickie. It didn’t have to be confined to a tidy label anymore. Technically speaking, most of the relationships in her life were strange. Her cousins were her stepsisters, but really just her sisters. Nate was her stepbrother, then her ex-stepbrother, then her cousin-in-law and her brother-in-law, and yet, she considered him her brother. Her mother was her aunt, and her father was the uncle of her sisters, but it didn’t matter anymore. Not at all. She glanced up when she noticed a huge, hulking figure standing outside the doorway, staying back, out of the way, lingering.
Chris.
She smiled at him.
He smiled back at her and she waved him in. He hesitated, glancing at Vickie and then at her. Quietly, as Vickie slept, he said, “I was worried… thought I should check…”
And that was another strange one: Chris’s father was her ex-boyfriend, who would eventually become her father-in-law someday. She had no guarantee, of course, only a gut feeling that could happen. She realized that some things in life didn’t need to have an exact name. They could just be. The people that loved you, supported you, and wanted to be part of your life in whatever capacity they could, were all that mattered. Not their labels or placement in the family tree.
“I think she’ll be okay. I think we’ll be okay,” Julia said, glancing at the soft, vulnerable form of Vickie. “I think I’ll be okay.”
Chris wanted to touch her and hug her, and carry her out of there. She could tell he did by his flexing fingers and fidgeting feet. He didn’t like hearing she was uncomfortable or in any pain. But he didn’t try to solve her issues for her either. He only tried to support and care for her, loving her the best way he could.
Julia released Vickie’s hand, standing up and taking Chris’s hand. “I think I’ll give Mom and Gretchen some time with her. They need to see for themselves that she’s okay. Or she soon will be. And then, I think tomorrow we should go to work, discuss the project with Lloyd and get started on it.”
“With Lloyd? All three of us?”
“Yeah, I think it’ll be okay. He’s your dad, and you should give him a chance. Family matters. Even if it’s family that comes late to the party. Or never joins the party. No matter what you want or expect, they’re still family. They still matter. And besides, we’re so damn good at our respective jobs and even more so as a team. Instead of laying low, I think we should revel in that and do it together. Starting tomorrow.”
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly.”
He held her close to him. “I don’t know what happened in here—”
“Cancer. It tends to change a girl’s perspective.” She smiled mimicking what everyone else had been telling her, but only now did she understand. Her former grudges seemed petty and irrelevant. Her understanding of herself and others seemed clearer. All the flaws and complications she experience can be improved or worked out. But illness and death? It couldn’t. Everything else? Could be. Cancer made her understand it was pretty much that clear cut.
“Okay, we’ll go to work tomorrow, together.”
Nodding as she took his hand, Julia headed out towards her entire family who were waiting anxiously, and worried about her and Vickie. They were all there. For her and each other. But mostly, for Vickie. As they would continue to be. No matter what cards fate dealt to them, they had each other to rely on as they forged ahead and strove for success. A blanket of warmth wrapped around Julia’s heart and her insides as she stepped into the waiting area to tell her mother she could go and see her sister now.
Julia believed and trusted her family, relishing the bond she knew would prevail forever. Her family was all gathered right there, together, and for today, everyone was safe, healthy, and most of all, here. And that’s all anyone can ask for. Today. That was something to be grateful for.
Gretchen and Tracy hurried down the hallway to see their sister. Julia smiled, watching their eagerness as she waved Olivia over to her. Yanking Olivia under her arm, Julia turned towards her sisters and grabbed Ally’s shoulde
r as she had Olivia’s, while nodding for Kylie to hug Ally. All three shuffled in, hugging and caring with their heads together. So rarely did Julia reach out for them in comfort.
“We’ll be like this, when we’re in our fifties and seventies and even our nineties. All four of us, won’t we? Always running to each other, no matter what happens. Sisters can make it through any ordeal or difficulty,” Julia said.
“We will be,” Olivia said, and her tone was emphatic.
“We will and we kind of already have,” Ally agreed softly while Kylie wiped her eyes.
“We’ll always find a way back to each other too,” Kylie added.
“Because you’re my sisters.”
“She finally gets it.” Ally exclaimed with a playful smile, but her eyes sparkled with tears.
“I do finally get it,” Julia said, squeezing them both to her. They squeezed her back and smiled into each other’s eyes. Because sisters are forever.
At least Julia’s were.
Epilogue
“HEY, CHRIS. CAN YOU take this? It’s hot.”
Chris’s back was turned towards her as he chatted away with Walter from work. She bumped his back with her elbow. “Chris?”
He turned around, startled by her bump. He stared at what she held in each hand. His eyebrows rose and his mouth tugged upwards. “Julia. Did you bring that coffee… for me?”
Annoyed at his pause and the warmth of the cups were on the brink of singeing her palms, she nodded. “Take it.”
His gaze searched out hers. She growled the warning at him again.
“You don’t realize what you did?”
She reached around him and set the coffee on the guest table they shared with the rest of the people from work. She started to flop down but he grabbed her around the waist and stood her up as he simultaneously brought her closer. She let out a startled exclamation to find herself being hugged and feet slipped off the floor. Which he was perfectly strong enough to do, but didn’t often. “What?”
His mouth dipped down and touched hers in a brief, but potent kiss. Then he smirked as he repeated softly, his eyes glowing in feelings, “You brought me coffee… willingly.”
She blinked, eyebrows drawn down in puzzlement at why he was acting so weird and then… it all dawned. Coffee. That long ago proclamation of his about her bringing anyone coffee. She smirked. “So I did, Mr. Vaughn. Looks like I have.”
His forehead touched hers. She cupped his face in her hands. It made him so happy. She couldn’t resist the tender smile directed at her. “Okay, I brought you coffee. Yes, so I guess it means I’m committed.”
“Forever?”
She shook her head. “Well at least as long as this marriage lasts.”
He cracked up and shook his head. “Oh God, give me better odds than that.” He glanced above her head toward the bride and groom who were now twined together and dancing on the small dance floor. He then dropped his gaze back to her as he whispered, “Do you think we can leave yet?”
“I wish, but… aren’t we kind of central to it all?”
Chris sighed. “I know.” Then he brushed his lips over hers again. “I just don’t care. And I don’t think either of them would care. If the mood so struck them, they’d leave our wedding.”
“That’s so true. It’s still so gross. So weird…”
“And so fits them. So yeah, we’re here while Lloyd and Vickie pledge their love together forever or at least until one of them cheats first.”
“Only we would end up being best man and maid of honor at our parents’ marriage to each other.” She giggled at his sour look, and then she started laughing harder. In ways she had been since they’d first discovered her mother and his father were sleeping together, and then low and behold, a few months later, they were in love and now here they all were.
At a damn wedding. Of Lloyd and Vickie Cartwright.
“You know in many ways, there was no other way this could go. These two had to do this. You saw them when they first met each other.”
“I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. But I warned you anything with Vickie involved—”
He flashed a grin. “You weren’t kidding. I had no idea. Well, at least she’s still alive and well to bother us like this.”
She pressed her lips together and waved her hand around. “Those two—who knows maybe they’ve finally found their match. Slut for slut. Or at the very least, they’ll drive each other crazy in trying to figure out if the other is cheating and how young the person the other is cheating with is. Just imagine, maybe all their dysfunction will cancel each other out.”
“He did nurse her through cancer. Maybe, maybe they’ll surprise us.” Chris added with a bit of hope. Then he shook his head. “Then again—”
“He did.” At the time Lloyd heard of her mother’s surgery, he’d come to the hospital out of respect for Julia and wanting to bond with Chris. He’d also gotten a view of Vickie again. And to their surprise when she went home, he often showed up with games to play, small bouquets of flowers or movies to watch until they were dating, each claiming to want more out of life than they’d ever indulged in before. And that included Chris and Julia, respectively.
Julia had humored them and eventually accepted it despite all the gross factors of Lloyd and her and then Chris and her. Julia had to accept that this is how anything to do with Vickie would go. Odd. Weird. Inappropriate. All of those things followed Vickie and she could let Vickie be all those things without it hurting her or believing it reflected on her.
And so, here they were at the marriage of Vickie and Lloyd. For now.
Thank goodness Lloyd had signed paperwork giving his son Chris complete control over the operations of CGC so Vickie could never get her hands on it and bankrupt him at any point. It had made Lloyd cry with joy the day he did so.
This was Vickie’s sixth marriage and yes, Julia knew how crazy that was. And odder still, Julia decided to believe this just might be her last. But for now, Vickie was alive and healthy and a smidgeon more considerate of Julia after all the years of no contact, and of course her journey through beating cancer. She seemed to learn a limited version of a lesson.
And Julia had learned that would be enough. Because she had her family. And Chris.
She and Chris celebrated their parents marrying each other and decided whatever antics or disasters followed this wedding, they’d not let it affect them or Tully or Tracy or the people who were their real support team.
Chris leaned forward then and touched his lips to hers and then trailed them to her ear where he said, “I know we shouldn’t leave, but I want to get out of here before your mother throws a bouquet at you in hopes you’ll get married next. I’m sorry, I don’t want any of her luck or advice touching our future.”
She bowed her head to hide the giggle. “Oh yes, please. Get me out of here.”
They held hands and snuck around the crowd, making little eye contact as they slunk out past her entire family from grandparents to cousins to all the kids.
Chris’s side only had Tully.
But now Chris had not only Tully, but the entire Moore-McKinley-Lindstrom clan to count as his. Finally away from witnessing the odd union of their parents, they laughed like little kids as they stole free of the banquet room they had thrown their wedding reception in. She’d rolled her eyes and sighed and begged Vickie to not have a wedding. Not again. Class it up this time. But Vickie was Vickie. And here they were.
And oddly, this time? She was okay with that.
They ran from there, laughing as they held hands and stopped, gasping for breath.
“So what do you think if we make this as odd as most of the tangled webbed marriages in your family and get engaged on our parents’ wedding day to each other?”
Her head shot up and all at once, Chris went down to one knee and there in the beautiful lit gardens of the hotel, Chris held out a box and ring. Her mouth dropped open as her eyes filled with tears and she shut her eyes as the fe
elings overwhelmed her. “I’m just not sure it could be any other way.” She opened her eyes grinning. “Of course, I will marry you. And for us? It’ll be the first, last and only marriage.”
“Could it be any other way?” His gaze sparked with warm feelings as he rose up to his feet. Their hands slipped together tightly after fitting the ring on her finger. They smiled at each other, with a deep, loving understanding that came from all the years that led them to this moment.
And from dealing with their crazy, wild, involved, nosy, big, complicated, messy, wonderful family.
Maybe there was no other force that could have drawn them so intimately and honestly together as the family they loved and would now forever share.
###
Dear Reader
I would be so grateful if you took a few moments to leave a review of The Step Sister. It helps expand an author’s audience, and I really appreciate the effort.
This is the last of a long series that spans over thirty years and dips into another spin-off series in The Daughters collection. It is made up of eleven full-length novels and all but two are original stories whose characters are linked to a previous one. Each book can be read as a standalone but the related novels are designed to be more deeply enjoyed in their entirety as a snugly intertwined, complicated and involved series. If you’ve read, one, two, five or all eleven books, I sincerely thank you for reading them and hope you enjoyed every one!
If you would like to read another, please check my website for available options.
Otherwise, thank you for reading this story, and I sincerely hope you read another of my novels.
If you would like to keep up on my releases, please go to my website and sign up for my email distribution list or contact me directly at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Leanne Davis
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