Gone

“Mr. Robinson, I’m so sorry.”

Royal stared at the surgeon who stood in front of him with a sad expression on his face. This wasn’t happening. His brother was a loud vivacious man with the world at his feet. “He’s gone?” the words were barely croaked from his throat.

“Yes. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“His wife? Mindy?” He was asking questions on autopilot knowing when his parents arrived back from their second honeymoon, they had sent them on not three days ago, they were going to be devastated.

The surgeon shook his head sadly, “your sister-in-law is currently on life support. We will need next of kin to make a decision.”

“And my niece?”

“Your niece had a fair amount of blood loss. We do need to talk about this. We had asked if there were any key pieces of information, but nobody let us know she was adopted.”

“She wasn’t adopted,” he frowned at the surgeon. “She was born out of state, but she was definitely not adopted.”

“Her blood type does not match either of her parents,” the man frowned.

“One of my favorite pictures of my brother is of him kissing the belly of my very pregnant sister-in-law. The girl is his spitting image.”

“I’m afraid blood doesn’t lie. I would suggest a DNA test to confirm parentage. If there was a mix-up at a hospital. I’m not sure where she was born,” he trailed off.

He blinked in confusion. His brother and Mindy had decided they wanted to have the baby back in her home state of Pennsylvania. She was originally from Pittsburgh and her parents were deceased, but she really wanted to have her child to have something shared from them. She insisted it felt for her it was a connection to her lost family. They flitted back and from until she was close to three months and then for six months totally relocated to Pittsburgh. They came back when the baby was a day old.

“I’m telling you, the child in there is my brother’s.”

“All I can tell you Mr. Robinson, your brother has O-positive blood, your sister-in-law has O-Positive blood. Your niece needed a blood transfusion of a B blood-type.”

He wasn’t a stupid man. He had graduated top of his class in every level since he had left kindergarten. His brain is what made him into the wealthy and powerful businessman he was today. Yet, as he stood staring at the doctor who was explaining biology to him in the most basic of forms, he was barely grasping the information.

"You’re telling me there is no way they are her parents?”

“It is possible one of them is her parent. I would think in this case if you saw Mrs. Robinson pregnant, then she could be the biological parent and your brother not.”

“Not possible. They loved each other. There is no way on this planet she had an affair and had another man’s baby.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Robinson, we have no way to gather the information verbally from either of them. I strongly suggest you get comparative DNA testing of the three of them. If they hid an adoption from the family, they had their own reasons but given the medical situation we are in now, it might be valuable for Precious to know her medical background.”

He moved to sit on a chair, his legs shaking. “Do it.” He waved to the doctor. “Get it done.”

“I know the timing of this request is hard, but your brother had indicated he would donate his organs on his drivers’ license.”

His brother was selfless to the end, he considered and nodded. “It is what he would want. I know it. Please do what you need to do.” He paused, “I want to see him.”

“Of course. We will bring you to him as soon as we can. Your sister-in-law had her husband listed as next of kin. Is there someone we should call?”

“She had nobody. Her parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning when she was sixteen. She had been staying overnight at a friend’s house and their furnace went screwy. She was an only child to two people who were also only children. She has no aunts, uncles, or cousins. She had nobody,” he repeated the last sentence aware he was rambling. He rubbed his face with the knowledge his family was going to put the decision on his shoulders for end-of-life for his sister-in-law.

His parents. His mother was going to be inconsolable. His hands shook and he looked back to the doctor, “you can keep Mindy alive until my folks get here? To at least say goodbye?” He blinked back tears, “they just had a forty-year wedding anniversary and Prince, and I sent them to the Africa for their second honeymoon. I have them on their way home now but it’s a long flight.”

The surgeon nodded, “of course. We will do our best. Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Is Precious going to be, okay?”

“She’s stable now.”

“Can I,” he swallowed the lump, “can I sit with her? Please?”

“Of course,” he motioned to a nurse, “take Mr. Robinson to sit with his niece in ICU.”

The nurse nodded at him and extended her hand, but he ignored it. She walked him down the quiet corridor.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Robinson.”

“Thank you,” he nodded as his chest tightened. He wanted to rage against the world. His brother, his best friend, confidante, and the life of the family was gone. The man who would often arrive to a family gathering, jump on a table and scream, “the party has arrived” was gone. One drunk driver had taken out the heart of his family.

He noted the brightly painted murals on the walls, and he realized they were in a children’s wing of the hospital. Precious, not even five years old was now an orphan. His parents were in their sixties and would not be able to raise her. His only other sibling was their little sister Jubilee, a surprise for their parents when his mother had turned forty. Jubilee was twenty-three now and in her first year of law school. There was no way she could take care of a child.

He approached the bed and noted the clear plastic tubing in her nose and the IV in her thin little arms. She was turning five in two weeks. Mindy had been planning a huge birthday party with all the family. He had six aunts and uncles on his mother’s side and five on his fathers. Both sets of his grandparents were alive, and all his aunts and uncles had procreated at least once. Their family was huge with more cousins than you could count, and the cousins had children of their own. This child would not be alone. The family would do as they always did, and they would pull through, but he had to admit, he didn’t know where she was going to live.

He bent and pressed a kiss to her brow and drew his thumb across her forehead.

He remembered vaguely his brother saying he had drafted a will and had asked him to be Precious’ guardian should anything happen to them, but he couldn’t remember if he had gone through with it. He didn’t know the first thing about kids.

“Royal?” a quiet voice spoke behind him, and he turned to find his sister there.

“Jubi,” he held his arms out.

“Where is Prince?” she slipped into his embrace.

Breaking his sister’s heart nearly destroyed him as he whispered, “he’s gone.” She fell against him as if her legs couldn’t hold her up any longer and began wailing. He dragged her away from the child’s bedside and held her while she fell apart. When he told, her Mindy also was not going to make it, they were keeping her alive until their mother could say goodbye she collapsed. He had to carry her to a waiting area and sat in a metal chair and held her on his lap while she clutched his lapel and cried until there was nothing left.

He decided to not say anything yet about the blood matter the surgeon had discussed with him. He would shoulder it alone for now, until he had answers.

When the nurse came to tell them, they could go pay respect to their brother, he held his little sister again, while they both broke down. His brother’s face battered and bruised, and his head wrapped in bandages. Cranial trauma was what the doctor had said but he knew. He’d heard the nurses whispering how part of his brain had been exposed. He had known there was no coming back but standing here, looking at him on the table didn’t feel real.

He leaned over and kissed his cheek, “I love you, little brother. Goodbye.” He took his sister and dragged her from the room and prayed for the strength to make it through.