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She clapped her hands and squealed in delight “What?” she asked

I liked iven this bear today that Heidi would love it I slippedand pulled out the bear

Just like I had ihtly Because of the look on her face I would tell Davey toirlfriend—he’d made my sister smile

“For me?” she asked her eyes wide

I nodded “Yes For you Happy Valentine’s Day,” I told her Although I knew she didn’t understand, like she didn’t understand or care how I got the teddy bear

She hugged it, tucking the teddy bear under her chin

“I love you, Beulah,” she said against the ears of the bear that was pressed to her mouth

“I love you, Heidi,” I told her

Her s that I sive you The one where nowith the world, you kneas okay I didn’t have a memory that Heidi wasn’t in She was my twin My sister My other half But she was different She couldn’t live life the way I did She had to do it differently All because she was a special angel God had sent to earth I knew that was true And I knew I’d always do anything to take care of her

10 years later

TODAY SHOULD BE SPECIAL, BUT it was like any other day Just another day that I existed, like all the others for the past sixall that was asked ofimportant to me was safe Protected

I woke up each day with a et better That my current situation wasn’t forever

“Beulah, for God’s sake, could you hurry with ets hoht ,” Portia Van Allan called fro room

Portia didn’t eat food At least, she didn’t eat often She drank coffee and she drank wine Because of this, I wasn’t expected to cook for her The list of duties she had h to keep me busy from the time the sun came up to well after it went down

“Yesthe French press coffee she preferred It took tilass contraption also only s I hadn’t ever heard of until I was forced to take the position as a ave me Portia’s name and address on a piece of paper only a day before she passed away, I never asked who Portia was I was so scared and in denial because of my mother’s illness that it wasn’t important at the time

The day after my mother was buried, the landlord came to tell us o h he was very sorry for our loss, we had to pay or move out I’d taken Heidi withwhat to expect Her home, where I now lived and worked, was not even close to what I had ever expected

“I knoon’t stay at the house long, but while he’s here you’ll make him breakfast I’ll ask him to leave you a list of what he eats I can’t remember because I never cooked for him We had someone do that His father liked French toast, I do remember that” Portia’s words trailed off