The Perfect Man

Six

"Where am I?" I asked when I woke up to Kerry caressing my face.

"You fainted last night so they brought you to the hospital," she said. My father's secrets were starting to crack the foundation that this family was built on. Kerry's flawless face was now adorned by dark circles and bags under her eyes.

"Funny how the doctor now needs medical attention," I giggled, trying to cut through the thick tension in the ward.

"The doctor came in and..." the words couldn't leave Kerry's mouth

"Kerry, what's wrong with me?"

Kerry couldn't let the words out, she sat down in the chair that I assume she was sitting in before I woke up.

"Kait, you're pregnant," Kate has always been the blunt one. She doesn't understand the concept of ripping the bandage off slowly. She yanked it right off and now I felt like I couldn't breathe again.

If Willem wasn't my half-brother, I wouldn't have had a problem with this baby issue but now I would be having a baby with my brother.

"What is he doing here?" I asked pointing to my father who was now moving to the side of my bed."

"He's still your father sweetheart. I know it hurts but you have to forgive him," my mother was so naive. She suspected my father of cheating for years but she never left him because my grandmother always told her to hold on no matter how hard things got.

I couldn't help but chuckle. For years laughing has been my coping mechanism and I always send mixed signals to people.

"You know, for years I looked up to you. I thought you were the perfect man and I wanted to get married to a man like you. I've changed my mind. When Chris got my roommate, I never thought that I would go through anything worse than that. I honestly never thought that I would be able to meet anyone but then Willem came along. I went from hating him to falling hopelessly in love with him just to find out that he's actually my brother, all because you don't know how to be faithful. I'm probably gonna live the rest of my life afraid of making the same mistakes my mother made, I'll probably put up my walls and never trust anyone ever again. Now, thanks to you, I have this monster growing inside of me."

I spoke with tears welling in my eyes and he stood there without saying a word. I was so livid; I wanted to say so much more to him. I wanted to tear his world apart the same way he tore mine apart.

Grobbies walked into the room before the next mouthful of words escaped from my mouth.

"I invited him, I hope you don't mind," Kerry said.

My entire family exited the room giving Willem and I space to talk.

"I wanted to contact you but I thought you would appreciate the space," he said. Things will never be the same between us. Maybe one day we'll look back to all this mess and laugh about it but right now it feels like I won't be able to recover from this shock.

"Is that for me?" I asked, pointing at the stuffed animal and get well soon balloon in his hand.

"Yes, sorry. My mind is still trying to get used to the fact that my fiancé is actually my sister." He grabbed a chair and we sat there holding hands. I will miss all these moments that we've shared.

"It's gonna take so much for me to get past this, it's gonna be so hard letting you go as someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with into accepting that you're my brother. I have to watch you love, marry and start a family with someone who isn't me. I didn't think it would all end this way."

"I miss what we had already. I miss all those nights we spent studying together, all the junk we shouldn't have been eating, driving to the beach at midnight and just staying up with you. I don't think I can share all those moments with anyone else. I feel so angry at our parents for being so irresponsible, I feel angry at my mother for not reaching out and telling your dad, well he's our dad now, about me. All this could've been avoided."

"Grobbies, I'm pregnant."

We stared at each other in silence and then he climbed onto the bed and he just held me as we both wept. This is not an ideal situation, it's not all black and white. I never thought that I would have to get an abortion. I have never judged anyone who found themselves in that situation but I always thought that it's not an ideal situation.