AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your scar looks like one of mine,” Hailey said as they started to eat. “I don’t know if Tyler told you, but I had a kidneytransplant ten years ago. Your friend Luke mentioned the doctor was running tests to make sure there wasn’t any damage to your kidney at the hospital that night. There wasn’t any was there?”
“No, I’m fine,” she reassured the girl as Tyler’s hand slid into hers. “I actually had an appointment in Settle yesterday with my doctor who confirmed the slight bruising I had was gone and everything looks fine.”
“You got hit on the other side though,” Isabelle said, her brows furling a bit as she and Hailey shared a curious look.
“I did,” she agreed trying to diffuse the situation. She didn’t know how Hailey would react if the truth came out and the last thing any of them needed right now was that truth coming out. Their families were already at each other’s throats, they didn’t need any more issues.
“There’s something you’re not saying,” Hailey stated looking between them. “I can handle hearing about someone else’s health issues if that’s what it’s about. I mean, if you were sick or got hurt in the past I won’t freak out you know. I just don’t recall hearing anything about it, I mean, the scar looks to be pretty old.”
“It is, it was nothing big. A minor surgery. No one’s said anything about it because it happened after I left here,” Justine offered giving her an easy smile. “I just don’t like to bore people with health stuff. There’s so much else to talk about than things that can depress people.”
“Tell me about it. I had to see a therapist after I had the transplant for years because the doctors warned Mom and Dad that it’s possible for a recipient to easily become depressed. Now they’re trying to make Isabelle see one,” Hailey added making her sister groan.
“Like I want to talk to some stranger about being stupid and trusting someone online,” Isabelle sighed.
“I understand. Believe me, I put it off for as long as possible not wanting it to feel weird myself,” Justine said making her brows lift in surprise and she nodded at the unasked question. “I’m not seeing mine because of what happened with Grimes or getting hurt, but about what happened on my last assignment. I came home to be somewhere that felt safer because I was suffering from PTSD.”
“Really?” Isabelle said and she nodded again. “I just don’t want to have to go over and over about that day. I mean for the most part, I was just stuck in that stupid cell. I mean yeah, I’ve had a nightmare or two about being back in that place but it’s not making me crazy, you know?”
“I know but a good therapist won’t harp on the same thing over and over. They’ll let you talk, ask you some questions, maybe prod you a bit to ensure you’re not hiding anything about the situation, but if it’s really not affecting you, they won’t make you go back to it constantly. The most important thing is to make sure that whoever you see makes you feel comfortable. If you’re not comfortable there’s no way you can try to unpack anything that may be bothering you. So, I’d suggest giving it a shot, but know that you don’t have to keep going to someone that makes you feel uneasy.”
“I guess I can give it a try,” Isabelle said letting them dig into the food, enjoying the time with the girls until they left to head into town.
“Come here, babydoll,” Tyler said lifting her onto his lap, his hand holding her head gently, his eyes filling her with pure love at the sweetness coming from them. “Thank you, for convincing Isabelle to give talking to a therapist a shot. For knowing how to get Hailey off the medical stuff…it’s so damn hard to not just tell her the truth, but our dad would go berserk if he knew that Hailey’s kidney came from you, especially right now.”
A gasp sounded from behind them and Justine’s breath stopped in her chest as a loud “What?!” followed it.
They both turned, seeing Hailey and Isabelle staring at them, both standing stock still, and Justine cursed spotting the bag on the lounger not far from them.
“Hailey…” Tyler said as they quickly got up from the swing moving towards the girls.
“You just…what the hell? Why wouldn’t you just tell me? I mean I get not telling Dad but not tellingme?! What the actual hell Tyler?” Hailey demanded as Isabelle simply continued to stare at them. “I mean, I’ve been asking for years if I could find the family…wait…Mom and Dad were told the donor had died in an accident. How…if you knew…then how…”
“He didn’t know until I came home,” Justine said seeing the anger starting to appear on Hailey’s face directed his way. She took the girls’ hands, guiding them back to the seating area, settling into the chair next to Hailey with a gentle smile her way. There was no way around it now and she admitted the truth to the girls as Tyler’s hand rubbed her thigh, trying to calm himself she knew.
“Wait, so you left so no one would find out that you donated the kidney to me? Stayed away so they wouldn’t know?” Hailey asked when she finished.
“Mainly yes,” she answered. “It would have been too coincidental if I’d come back with a still healing or barely healed surgical site. By then, your entire family knew about the transplant, most of my family knew because there’s no better gossip than that of the enemy it always seemed,” she added putting a tiny grin on the girls’ faces. “You were both so young that if your parents refused to let Tyler see you if we’d come out there wouldn’t have been any way around it. And I had no idea what your dad would do if he knew that a piece of a Crawford was inside you. While the doctor was running the tests to see ifI was a match, I learnt that the combination of our blood type and HLA markers were really unique and finding another match would be really difficult, take time and I knew he’d never be happy to have to deal with all of that.”
“It’s just so weird that you were a match but not one of us was. I mean, we learnt in biology last year that a person that was blood type O but Rh positive could have donated the kidney, just not blood. It didn’t make sense because Dad always grumbled about no one being a match but I’m pretty sure a couple of the cousins have blood type O too,” Isabelle said, and Justine grinned at the look she tossed at the three of them.
“Truth be told, I didn’t know much about it then either. The doctor said that no one in the family was a match because they had to be type O and then match up with the necessary HLA markers. If it was strictly based on compatible blood types transplants would be much easier. I’ll tell you a secret as well,” Justine said making the girls’ brows lift curiously, “the doctor asked if part of the reason our dads hated each other so much wasn’t because one of them slept with the others’ wife.”
“No way…eww that’s so gross of a thought,” Isabelle gasped, and she nodded.
“Especially adding in the fact that Tyler and I were together, but thankfully the tests showed that while Hailey and I might share a blood type and HLA markers in common, there is absolutely no genetic connection between any of us,” she assured all of them, and Tyler pulled her onto his lap, nipping at her ear.
“Thank the fuck for that, babydoll.”
“Behave honey-bae,” she returned, making the girls giggle which was much better than stoic expressions they were wearing. “We didn’t want to say anything that might upset you when Tyler first learnt the truth. Didn’t know how the twoof you would react to us together let alone the news that your transplant came from me.”
“Are you kidding me? I already loved you because you kept Isabelle safe, then you just added onto it by loving my brother, making him finally stop being a grumpy ass, but knowing this…I don’t even have the words to explain how much it means to me,” Hailey said leaning up, giving her hug around Tyler’s hold. “I swear if you do anything to upset her…” she added towards Tyler making all of them laugh, and he returned the hug which made Isabelle butt in to get some of it as well.
“You can’t tell Dad about this, there’s still no telling what he might do if he knew,” Tyler warned them as they got ready to leave for the second time, Isabelle’s bag with her this time.
“We know. We’ll see you later, Sis,” Hailey said, giving her a huge grin before sticking her tongue out towards Tyler. “Love you both.”
“Love you too brat,” Tyler returned, and Justine sank into his hold, relaxing as they drove off. “I’m sorry baby. I should have watched what I said but part of me is glad it’s not a secret between us and Hailey anymore.”
