Chapter 2
I stood in my kitchen, steam rising around me as I lifted the lid off the pot. The lobsters inside had turned a brilliant red, their once-threatening claws now limp and harmless. The rich, buttery scent filled the air—a small luxury I'd allowed myself after the devastating news at the hospital.
Tonight, I would make a proper dinner. Tonight, I would sit with my family and tell them what was happening to me. Surely, faced with my mortality, they would finally see me.
My hands trembled slightly as I arranged the table. The good china we never used. Cloth napkins folded into perfect triangles. A small vase with fresh flowers I'd picked up on the way home. Candles, unlit for now, waiting to cast a warm glow over what would undoubtedly be a difficult conversation.
The front door slammed, and I straightened, smoothing down my dress. Voices filled the foyer—Michael's deep tone, Emma's teenage chatter, Daniel's quieter responses. I took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway.
"Dinner's ready," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I made lobster."
They all stopped, looking at me as if I'd spoken in a foreign language. Michael was already checking his watch.
"Mom, why are you being so weird?" Emma asked, not bothering to hide her irritation. "We're not even hungry yet."
I opened my mouth to explain, to tell them about the doctor's visit, about the months I had left, but Michael's phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his entire demeanor changed.
"It's Victoria," he said, answering immediately. "Vic? What's wrong?"
I watched his face transform with concern—real concern, the kind he'd never shown me, not even when I'd mentioned cancer just hours ago.
"A migraine? That bad?" He was already reaching for his car keys. "No, don't drive yourself. We're coming to get you. The ER is the right call if it's that severe."
"Aunt Vic is sick?" Emma asked, instantly alert, her face pinched with worry.
"She's having one of her episodes," Michael explained, already heading for the door. "She needs us."
"I'll get her that lavender eye mask she likes," Emma said, rushing upstairs.
Daniel stood silently, but his eyes followed his father and sister. The unspoken expectation hung in the air—they were going, all of them, and he would too.
"But dinner..." I said weakly, gesturing toward the kitchen where steam still rose from the perfectly prepared meal. "I need to talk to you all about something important."
Michael barely glanced at me. "Catherine, your sister is in agony. Whatever it is can wait."
"It's cancer," I said, my voice breaking. "I have terminal cancer."
He paused for just a moment, his expression flickering with something—annoyance? Disbelief? But Victoria's name lit up his phone screen again, and whatever I might have seen was gone.
"We'll talk later," he said dismissively. "Victoria needs us now."
Emma thundered back down the stairs, clutching the silk eye mask. "Ready!"
Daniel moved toward the door without a word, falling in line behind his father and sister.
"Don't wait up," Michael called over his shoulder. "These ER visits can take hours."
And then they were gone. The front door closed with a decisive click, leaving me standing alone in the hallway, the sound of their car engine fading into the distance.
I returned to the kitchen, staring at the table I'd set with such care. The candles remained unlit. The lobsters cooled rapidly, their shells dulling as the minutes passed. With mechanical movements, I picked up the lobster claws and placed them back into the pot, covering them as if hiding evidence of a crime.
My appetite gone, I opened the pantry and pulled out a box of stale crackers and the cheap cereal I kept hidden behind Michael's expensive granola. I ate standing over the sink, tears streaming down my face, watching crumbs fall into the drain.
Tomorrow, I told myself. Tomorrow I would try again. Tomorrow I would make them listen.
But as I stared at my reflection in the darkened kitchen window, I saw the truth in my own eyes. There would be no tomorrow where they suddenly cared. There would be no moment of revelation where my husband would choose me over my sister, where my children would see me as more than an inconvenience.
The next morning, I found Victoria in the foyer of our townhouse, arranging fresh flowers she'd brought—as if my own wilting arrangement from yesterday wasn't still sitting on the table.
"Catherine," she said, her voice lilting with false concern. "You look terrible. Are you sleeping at all?"
I gathered my courage, hands clenched at my sides. "I need to talk to you about the money."
Her perfectly shaped eyebrows rose. "Money?"
"My father's house," I said, the words rushing out before I could lose my nerve. "The money I gave Michael to save his business. You promised to pay me back years ago."
Something calculated flashed behind her eyes before her face crumpled into a mask of remorse. "Oh, Catherine, I've been meaning to... I feel awful about that."
"I need it now," I said, my voice stronger than I expected. "For treatment."
Victoria reached out, her manicured fingers brushing my arm in a gesture that might have seemed comforting to an observer but felt like a brand against my skin.
"Of course," she whispered. "I'll wire it by the end of the week. Family takes care of family, right?"
As I looked into her eyes, I saw something I'd never noticed before—a glimmer of satisfaction beneath the performance of concern. And I wondered, not for the first time, what I had ever done to make my own sister hate me so completely.