A Taste of Love by Susan Willis Read Free Book Online

quickly pulled into a lay-by to take the call and cursed herself for not having her hands-free set. ‘OK, sweetheart, take a deep breath,’ she soothed. ‘Where are you now?’ She heard Karen breathe in deeply and then start to cough and splutter – she could tell she was overwrought.
    ‘I’m sitting outside Dad’s house in the car. I-I didn’t know where else to go…’
    Helen squeezed her eyes tight shut and lay back against the neck rest. She shook her head trying to stop the horrid old memories crowding into her mind. Surely, it couldn’t happen again, and not to her beautiful sister?
    Stay focused and concentrate on Karen, she willed herself, then sitting up straight she turned on the ignition. She made her voice sound calm and steady. ‘OK. It’s going to be all right, Karen. We’ll sort this out together. You just stay exactly where you are and I’ll be there in a jiffy.’
    She swung the car round and headed to her father’s small house on Highfield Road. Karen was sitting in her cream Mini parked outside the house and Helen could tell her father wasn’t at home. He’d most likely still be at his bridge club, she thought, as she jumped out of her car and ran to the passenger side of the Mini. She opened the car door and gasped in shock at the sight of her sister. Karen was dressed in blue jeans with a zipped denim-look jacket and was totally devoid of any make-up. Tears poured down her cheeks and Helen could tell she’d given up wiping them away and was letting them run off her face to drip down onto the blue zip. Helen sat on the seat and whispered her name, ‘Karen?’
    She didn’t answer but looked at her with eyes that were red and glazed. They seemed empty and filled with such sadness that Helen caught her breath.
    Manoeuvring herself in the seat Helen awkwardly managed to get her arm around her sister. ‘Do you want to go into Dads? I’ve got my spare key – we can make some coffee.’
    Karen shook her head. ‘No. I don’t want to go in; it’ll only remind me…’
    Helen was frightened – she’d never seen her sister in such a mess. ‘My house then? I can drive us over and we can pick your car up later.’
    ‘No,’ she sniffed, staring down at her hands. ‘I-I don’t know where I want to be or what to do. I came here because it seemed the only place to come but then I knew if I went inside to the kitchen all Mum’s memories would come flooding back.’
    Helen spotted a rug on the back seat– she reached for it then eased Karen’s drooping shoulders forward and draped it around her, tucking it under the front of the jacket. Then she took a tissue from her bag, gently turned Karen’s face towards her and wiped her wet cheeks. ‘Can you tell me a little about what’s happened? You mentioned a mammogram on the phone.’
    Karen lifted her shoulders and clutched Helen’s hand. Nodding, she croaked, ‘I didn’t want to tell you because you’ve had such a rotten time with Rob and I was determined to do this by myself. I was so convinced it was nothing to worry about that I haven’t even told Greg, yet.’
    Helen nodded understandingly. ‘Go, on. Tell me what you know.’
    ‘I found a small thing – I’m not calling it a lump, because it’s not. It just feels like a small, hard pea in this one,’ – she touched her left breast – ‘I went to the GP and she told me it felt like a cyst and she wasn’t concerned but because of Mum and our family history she was going to send me for a mammogram, which I had two weeks ago. And now I’ve got a letter calling me back for an assessment tomorrow. ‘
    ‘And that’s it so far?’ Helen asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. ‘Honestly? You’re not keeping anything back from me?’
    Karen’s voice broke and she sobbed, ‘Yes, that’s it. But I-I’m bound to be like Mum and have it – aren’t I?’
    ‘There’s nothing concrete to say that you’ll be like Mum,’ she said, deliberately avoiding the word. ‘Women