Chapter 208: You don’t get to give up on me
"You tell me. I need to know what’s wrong with my brother," she said, no preamble, no polite greetings. "I heard enough this morning to know something’s wrong, and if you don’t tell me, I swear I’ll tear this place down." The doctor hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. "Miss Shepherd... Steve didn’t want anyone to know."
"I’m not anyone," she snapped, her voice breaking. After a heavy pause, Keller sighed and pulled a file from his desk. He didn’t want to breach doctor-patient confidentiality, but Mara was going to break loose of hell if she didn’t get what she wanted, plus he thought family could convince him to take treatment.
"He was diagnosed a few months ago. It’s a degenerative brain disease. Causes severe, chronic headaches at first... then memory loss. Gradually, the brain starts to... forget basic things. Faces. Words. How to walk, how to eat. There’s no cure."
Mara’s world tilted, the walls closing in.
"No," she whispered. "No, not Steve. He’s... he’s fine, he was fine." Keller didn’t say anything. There was nothing left to say.
Mara left his office in a daze, the diagnosis echoing in her skull like a funeral bell.
Steve was dying. And he didn’t even want to fight. The ache of it settled in her chest. It was too much. Too damn much. But she wasn’t going to let him go down like this.
Not without a fight. Mara didn’t remember the drive home.
All she knew was one moment she was sitting in the doctor’s office, hearing words no sister should ever have to hear, and the next, she was shoving open the front door of the house like a storm come to life.