“Okay, a little background here. At your ceremony, one of the parishioners worked for the local paper. He did a human-interest piece on the wedding. It was picked up by a National newspaper. You were given only a couple of months to live. That’s why the quote, unquote wedding took place. There was nowhere else to turn, since we had exhausted all treatment, the only hope was a bone marrow donor. But we had contacted everyone in the family. That article in the National paper generated a flux of donors. Finally, a perfect match was found. You had the bone marrow transplant and got better. That’s what that scar on your right hip is from.” Fern looked at her sister through the screen and could tell she had shocked her sister.
“A couple years later, Dad packed us up and moved us to Oregon. You were thirteen when you became run down. Because of everything you’d gone through atthree, Dad wouldn’t leave the doctors alone and demanded answers. Your kidneys were failing. What we and the doctors didn’t know or conclude was, it was a result of all the chemo and radiation. It had been written in the fine print that kidney failure could be a side effect. Or was there something in the bone marrow’s genetic history to cause kidney failure, or was it your own kidney? We’ll never know the actual cause of it, all we know for a fact is that they were beginning to fail.
“Anyway, you were again admitted to the hospital and put on dialysis. It was so bad, you were also put on a donor list. Remember it was a whole year you were there. Again, you were at death’s door when a donor's kidney became available. You had the transplant but during the surgery, we lost you twice, like your heart stopped during that operation. Once they got you back, both times, it was successful and your body accepted it. You have to be on that medication the rest of your life, so it doesn’t get rejected. We felt that was a small price to pay for you to still be alive.”
“I know that. That’s why I don’t drink alcohol. It counteracts with the medication.”
“Right. And remember when you came to us after college, and you said you were tired.”
“God, how can I forget, I was suddenly taken to several doctors, and you, Doug and Mom and Dad catered to my every whim. I was finally able to get it across to you that that was what I was tired of. Every time I sneezed you guys took me to a doctor. That’s why I left.”
“And we fought you tooth and nail, but after you promised to call or come home if something didn’t feelright, then we had to let you go. We realized you were twenty-one and had to live your own life.”
“And I thank you for it. But what about this marriage license? Is it real? Is it legal? Where did it come from?”
“You’ll have to talk to Christopher about that.”
At that comment, Willow smirked and looked at the men across from her. “Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.”
“Why?” Fern frowned and leaned closer to the computer. “And why don’t I like that smirk on your face?”
Willow giggled and grinned. “I kinda sort of introduced some of my friends to the man.” She grinned wider as she turned the computer. “Fern, say hello to my friends.” She heard Fern suck in her breath. “Guys, meet my sister, Fern.”
“Hi, Fern,” they all said, and grinned at her. “Don’t worry.” Mick grinned, taking the lead. “We didn’t hurt him, only scared him off a little. We’ve been looking out for Willow since the day she moved in.” He didn’t see his friend wave her hands at him to get him to stop.
“Who’s Willow?” Fern frowned. Which caused Mick to look at Willow in alarm.
Willow quickly turned the computer back and sighed. “I think it’s time my family came for a visit. I have plenty of room for everyone. So, why don’t you write down this address and make plans to come?”
“Okay.” Fern already had the address, but she wrote it down anyway. “I don’t know when everyone can get there, but I know Mom and Dad can come now. The kids still have a couple months of school left. We can maybe come down for the weekend. I don’t knowif or when Brandon and Doug can get the time off, but I’ll talk to them when they get home from work. Do you want me to send Mom and Dad now, or do you want to ask them?”
“Since you know it all now, could you ask them? I know I’m a mature twenty-three-year-old, but I want my Mom.”
“Oh, Sweetie. I’ll call her now.”
“Thanks, Fern. I love you.”
“Love you too, Sweetie. Knowing Mom and Dad, they’ll probably be knocking at your door in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Good,” Willow said, and signed off. She took several deep breaths to clear her throat and slowly opened her eyes and looked at her friends.
“Damn, girlfriend. You’ve been through hell in your young life,” Gypsy said, and walked around and gave her a hug, which Willow sucked up.
“Apparently.” She finally sighed.
“So, is that why you always tell us no when we offer you alcohol to drink?”
“Yes.” She got up and refilled her water glass, and as she took a sip, she saw everyone wince. “What?”
“How can you drink that?” Paul shuddered as he saw all the lemon slices floating in the glass.
“The medication I’m on makes me nauseous, while sucking on a real lemon helps, it doesn’t look good, so I cut up four lemons for the water, and I’m killing two birds with one stone, drinking plenty of water and keeping me from throwing up.”
“Wow, never would have thought,” Gypsy said, and took the glass from her and sipped. But she shuddered. “I have ice water with lemon when we goout to restaurants, but this is just too much lemon for me.”
“Sorry.” Willow grinned and took a sip. She looked at Paul. “You heard what my sister had to say, is this a legally binding document?”
“I’m guessing yes. But why don’t you let me look into this as much as I can, and we’ll wait until your parents get here and we’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on? But I have to warn you, if this is a legal document, you’re going to have to obtain a lawyer. I don’t do divorce, but I can recommend someone for you if you’d like.”
