Choosing Hope

When she starts to calm, Maura reaches over and grabs a kleenex, passing it to her mom.
“The best day of my life was when I finally found you. You and Cailin in the restaurant that day,
seeing you stand side by side, my heart was whole again. Now, the thought of losing either of
you, my heart can’t take it Maura. It’s like the fucking universe is stacked against me.“
“Let’s just take this one step at a time mom. Let them run some tests. Maybe I am wrong and all
this worry is for nothing. If I am right, maybe it is still in the early stages. We don’t know what
we are dealing with yet.”
“Mom? Maura?” Maura and Hope look up to see Cailin standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Cailin walks over and sits down beside her mom. “What’s the matter mom? Why are you
crying?” She looks from her mom, to Maura, and back again. “Does someone want to tell me
what is going on?”
Maura is the first one to speak. “We were going to talk to you this morning. Cailin, when you
passed out yesterday, I am pretty concerned about how fast you bruised. That rash you have, I
think it is petechiae. The capillaries break underneath the skin and……”
Cailin holds up her hand, stopping her sister mid sentence as her eyes immediately fill with tears.
“I know what petechiae is.” Cailin stood there for a moment before she began to vigorously
shake her head from side to side. “No Maura. No. You can’t be thinking I have cancer. I told
you, medical school has been brutal. That’s it. That has to be it.”
Maura reaches her arm around her sister and hugs her, doing her best to offer comfort. “Here,
come sit down”, Maura says, leading her sister to the couch.”You’re right. I could be wrong. I
could just be one extremely worried sister that is making something out of nothing.”
Cailin shook her head again as the tears began to steadily fall. “No. That’s what scares me
Maura. You are one of the most respected doctors in Boston. The governor appointed you to
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