"Don't cry, Kate. I've never been happier. And you'll be happy too. Don't waste tears on the old me, and don't fight for the old you. The battle is already won. In a few more days the new, better you will emerge triumphant. And as for this…"
She reached past Kate, unplugged the microwave, then slid it off the counter and let it smash on the floor.
"… don't waste your time."
Immediately Kate sensed that her thoughts were again no longer completely her own.
"Jeanette—"
The phone rang. They both stared at it, waiting for the fourth ring when the answering machine would pick up. Kate heard a beep, then a woman's voice.
"Oh, Kate. I was hoping you'd be there. I—"
Kate snatched up the receiver. "Yes? Who is this?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you're in. This is Gia. We met—"
"Yes, of course. I remember you. Jack's friend." She sensed the strain underlying the other woman's voice. "Is something wrong?"
"It's Jack. He's sick."
Her gut clenched. "How sick?"
"A hundred-and-four temperature. Delirious. Shaking chills alternating with drenching sweats. I don't know what to do."
"I'll be right over. Wait—I don't know where he lives." Gia gave her an Upper West Side address. "Don't leave him. I'm on my way."
"Your brother is sick," Jeanette said—a statement, not a question. Her expression was troubled.
"Yes. No thanks to you and your virus."
"But… this is not right. The virus does not make one sick. It slips past the immune system and—"
"Well, my brother's has thrown up a roadblock."
At least Kate hoped that was what it was. Those symptoms could indicate any number of infections, pneumonia among others.
She hurried to the bedroom where she changed into khaki pants and a chambray shirt. She gathered up the stethoscope and diagnostic kit she'd brought along in case she needed them for Jeanette—that was a laugh—and stuffed them into her oversized shoulder bag.
"Good-bye, Jeanette," she said, more from reflex than anything else, as she headed for the door.
Jeanette said nothing. She still stood where Kate had left her in the kitchen, staring at the wall, her brows knitted.
11
"Take another breath, Jack," Kate said. "Deeper this time."
Clad only in damp boxer shorts, he lay sprawled on a rumpled double bed. Jack didn't respond so she had to be satisfied with listening to his tidal respiration.
Kate pressed the diaphragm of her stethoscope more firmly against the perspiration-beaded skin of his mid back. She hadn't realized how sleekly muscular her brother had become. His almost total lack of body fat left the muscles close to the skin. The way he dressed gave no hint that this sort of body moved within his clothes. Men in Jeanette's end of town who had bodies like Jack's tended toward tank tops and skintight muscle shirts; their object was to attract attention; Jack's seemed to be to deflect it.
She strained to hear the crinkling cellophane rales that would signal fluid in the alveoli. She heard none.
"No sign of pneumonia," she said.
Gia sighed. "Thank God."
Not necessarily good hews, Kate thought. Means we're dealing with something else. And if Jeanette had told the truth, that something else was most likely the contaminant virus.
"What do you think it is?" Gia said.
Kate looked at this pretty blond woman and thought back to the night—Lord, had it been only two nights ago?—that she and Jack had come over. Kate might have found herself attracted to her if not for everything that had been happening. She remembered how she'd been struck by the easy camaraderie between Jack and Gia, the way they laughed with each other and, when listening to Gia speak of Jack, how deeply she cared for her brother.
And now she saw the near panic in Gia's eyes, and thought, You're so lucky, Jack, to have someone who loves you this much. Don't ever lose her.
She decided to tell Gia part of the truth. "It's most likely a virus."
"Is it catching? Vicky's been in and out, helping me. Bad enough Jack's this sick. But Vicky's so little. What if—?"
"She should be fine."
Kate had met the dark-haired, blue-eyed child on the way in and her pigtails had made her ache for the days when Lizzie had been that age. Life had seemed so simple back then.
"I hope so," Gia said. "I've had to change his T-shirt three times. Finally I stopped. He pulls the covers over himself when he chills and throws them off when he sweats."
"That's part of the infection-fighting process."
But why is his system fighting it when mine didn't?
Kate felt a tug in her mind, a nanosecond of scrambled thoughts, and then a question leaping out before she could stop it.
"Has he ever been sick before?"
"This sick? Yes, once."
"When?"
She couldn't control her voice!
"Last summer. After…"
Kate tried to lock her throat, succeeded, but not before she said, "After what?"
"I don't know if I should go into that. Maybe Jack should tell you."
Now Kate herself wanted to know what Gia was talking about but was determined not to let the Unity hear the answer. She sensed fear and uncertainty in the Unity and that worried her. What might they do to wring the answer out of Gia?
She fought to regain control of her voice, and squeezed her eyes shut with the effort.
"Kate, are you all right?"
She felt beads of sweat pop out on her forehead… and then suddenly she was back in the driver seat… but she could still feel other hands reaching for the wheel.
"I'm okay. Just a bad headache."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Can I—?"
"You know what?" Kate said. "On second thought, it might be better, for Vicky's sake, if you go."
"Oh, no." She was shaking her head. "I couldn't leave Jack. I'll just keep Vicky in the other room and—"
"I'm concerned that if you catch whatever this is you might pass it on to her, and then…" Kate let the sentence hang and watched Gia chew her upper lip. She added, "I'll look after him, Gia. I've had a bit of training in this sort of thing."
"I know." She shrugged, her expression unhappy. "But I still feel like I'm abandoning him."
"I promise to watch over him as if he were a member of my own family."
This earned a smile. "Yes, I guess I can count on that, can't I." She sighed. "Okay. I'll take Vicky home. But you'll call me as soon as he comes out of this, won't you?"
Kate sensed increased efforts in her head to make her stop Gia from leaving but she beat them back.
"Of course."
Gia started for the door, then stopped and turned. Keep going! Kate wanted to shout. She didn't know how long she could hold out.
"Just one thing."
"You really shouldn't stay here any longer."
"I know, but I just want to warn you that Jack might not be too happy to find you here."
"I don't understand."
"It was my idea to call you over. When I told him he didn't respond, so I'm not sure it got through."
"Why would that be a problem?"
"He's a little quirky about this place. He… well, he doesn't like anyone to know where he lives. Hardly anyone does. And as for being here, Vicky and I are the only regulars. This is his sanctum."
"But I'm his sister."
"But you didn't know the address, right? I had to give it to you. See what I mean?"
"I think so."
"So if he's upset that you're here, don't take it personally."
Kate glanced at the sprawled sleeping man. "Strange guy, my brother."
Gia's lips said, " 'Unique' is more like it," but her eyes seemed to say, If you only knew.