This Side of Married by Rachel Pastan

Author:Rachel Pastan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The next day Dr. Rubin called Isabel from the hospital. Isabel could hear bells chiming and pages coming in over the public address system. “I only have a minute,” Dr. Rubin said, “but I wanted to tell you before you heard from anybody else. Isabel, are you sitting down?”

Isabel, who had been on her way out, was standing in the kitchen with her handbag on her shoulder. There wasn’t any place to sit that the phone cord would reach.

“I know this is going to be hard for you,” Dr. Rubin said. “Try to take it as well as you can. For your sister’s sake.”

Isabel’s heart pounded. “What is it?” she said. “What’s happened to Alice?”

“No, not Alice,” Dr. Rubin said impatiently. “It’s Tina. I hate to tell you this, honey, but your sister Tina is pregnant. She’s going to have a baby, and what’s more, she’s going to marry Soren Zank!”

It was amazing, Isabel thought, how her mother managed to sound mournful and exultant at the same time. The thought helped ease her back from the rush of terror. She let out her breath. “I know,” she said. “Alice is getting married, so Tina has to do something even more dramatic.”

“You know.” Doc was taken aback.

“I just found out,” Isabel said, hoping Doc’s feelings weren’t hurt by not being the first person Tina had told.

“You’re not upset, are you?” Doc said. “I know how long you’ve been waiting. But these things just happen sometimes.”

“Believe me,” Isabel said, “I would rather never have children than have them with Soren Zank.”

“Please don’t talk that way in front of Tina,” Dr. Rubin said. “I remember the way she used to follow you around, gazing up at you with those big brown eyes, when she could barely walk!”

“Not me,” Isabel said. “Alice.”

“You were six and starting a new school, and you thought you were such a big girl. You used to shut the door to your room right in her face. Well, I always said it was your right to be alone, if that was what you wanted.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.