Me Without You (34 page)

"But X!" Hugh hesitated.

"It'll be okay! I don't think Aunt
Gilda will ruin this for me!" Xavier insisted. He clapped Hugh by
the shoulder and opened the door to let all of them in.

"Why do I get the feeling, we've been
through this just last night?" Jervais told Jonah.

"Yeah, it's so
déjà vu
ish kind of thing!"
Jonah replied.

With Dr. Christopher Lively, already
seated in the round table of the dining hall, Helen Lively greeted
Jonah and Jervais. Helen was trying her best to appear joyous in
front of everybody else even if she was still feeling a little
tension between her and Jonah. She was even quick to avert Jonah's
eyes every time their eyes locked.

Eyeing the food, the wine, the table
arrangement, the flowers and candles, Jervais couldn't help but
recalled the same instance the night before when Jane had narrowly
escaped food poisoning. She muttered under her breath, "I don't
feel like having dinner at all! Will it be an insult to run out the
door now?"

"I have been thinking the same thing,"
Jonah whispered back. "If Gilda Byrne joins us, it will be time to
give an excuse."

Even before the words were out of
Jonah's mouth, the menthol scent was already wafting through the
air announcing Gilda's presence.

Trying not to appear agitated, Jervais
suddenly took out her phone and looked at the time and calmly
declared, "My, I just remembered that we have an unfinished
business to attend to with Aunt Judith as soon as
possible!"

"Now? You can just eat and run along in
a while," Xavier insisted.

"But my dear, if Jonah and —" Helen
started to say, looking pointedly at Jervais.

"Jervais," Jervais supplied for
Helen.

"—Jervais are needed at home, they can
always drop by to visit you some other time," Helen
uttered.

"Yeah, that's right!" Jervais said. She
crossed her fingers behind her back and added."You know Aunt
Judith. She can be so demanding. I guess she has really something
VERY important to discuss with us that can't wait until later." She
gave a convincing pout and Jonah almost gave in to her desire to
laugh right at the moment.

"Oh, well!" Xavier said
disappointingly. "If you put it that way—"

"We will be back to see you tomorrow,"
Jonah said quickly and did an about-face towards the front
door.

Jonah and Jervais hurriedly dashed for
the door with Xavier and Hugh behind them who had volunteered to
escort them out. But they were not quick enough to avoid Gilda,
whom they still met on their way out.

With just one look coming from Gilda,
the four of them stopped in their tracks. The old woman checked
Jonah out from under her eyes as she tilted her chin up. A small
smirk spread through her lips. Then, her eyes rested on
Xavier.

"My dear boy, Xavier! Let me bless
you," Gilda said. Xavier obediently stepped forward. Then, she
reached out her hands and ran them from the top of his head to his
chest, mumbling something to herself. When she was done with
Xavier, she looked from behind him and said, "Are your friends not
staying for the celebration?"

"They—" Xavier started to say but the
ringing of the door bell interrupted him.

Hugh ran across the hall and opened the
door.

To everybody's surprise and must to the
dismay of Jonah and Jervais, Aunt Judith was standing right outside
the door.

Nobody spoke. Gilda turned and
proceeded to the study. Aunt Judith entered the house uninvited.
With one look at Jonah, who caught on to follow, Jervais held on to
Jonah's arm tightly.

"Don't be silly!" Aunt Judith told
Jervais on her way to the study.

"It's okay," Jonah reassured Jervais
and followed the two older women past the dining hall to the
corridor leading to Gilda's study.

"I've come to discuss about the new
one," Aunt Judith was already saying when Jonah entered the room
and closed the door behind her. Seeing that the two old women did
not take a seat, Jonah remained on her spot by the door. Gilda was
standing near the window with her back against Aunt Judith who
stood by the table putting one hand on top of it supporting her
weight.

"What do I care?" Gilda said. "She is
already healing my dear boy, Xavier, anyway. That's all I need from
her."

"Oh, for God's sake, Gilda! When are
you going to let go off your obsession for the boy! If it were not
for Rebecca—" Aunt Judith said harshly.

"If it were not for Rebecca, this
family would not have gone through hell," Gilda said.

"When are you going to realize that
Rebecca has nothing to do with the boy getting sick? He is plain
and simple plagued with the disease no matter how unfortunate it
is. Rebecca had nothing to do with it. It's just your anger
blinding you from the truth and taking it upon you to heal the boy
at all cost—when you can't!" Aunt Judith said.

"Oh, yes! But the new one can!" Gilda
answered.

"And it's that all there is to it?"
Aunt Judith asked. "We used to love being healers and healing
others, what happened to that?"

"Used to," Gilda replied. "Don't ask me
what happened when you and Rebecca had betrayed the
cause."

"I simply did not want to take sides.
And when you can't see that and branded me as a traitor as well,
where else can I turn to? We came from the same blood—a healer's
blood. I just hope that you can remember how it was when we were
starting out. How delightful it was to touch and heal. How that
nourished us as well," Aunt Judith said. "Here is the new one.
Young, foolish, naïve. She won't stand a chance without our
help."

Jonah winced at Aunt Judith's words.
But she felt herself relaxed and comforted. She had never thought
things would turn out this way. Although, she had always been
suspicious about the two old women, thinking that they were on her
side after all made her feel wicked and powerful she could almost
grin. And she liked it very much.

However, Jonah's happiness was
short-lived. Gilda had remained silent and standing by the window
without looking at Aunt Judith, who was giving up on her sister and
turning to leave. Jonah opened her mouth to speak but closed it
again for nothing better to say.

"How can you be sure it's her?" Gilda
said stopping Aunt Gilda from taking another step. She had turned
around and was facing Aunt Judith's back. Jonah's ears jazzed up
and held her breathing.

Aunt Judith faced Gilda again and
replied, "Rebecca killed herself. And this foolish girl had been
spying on her mother without realizing she was allowing her to die
by not intervening."

"Good God! Why in the world would
Rebecca do such a thing?" Gilda gasped disbelievingly, covering her
mouth with one hand. "It has rarely happened!"

"I know!" Aunt Judith said. Without
looking back, she reached out from behind her and took hold of
Jonah's arm. She pulled Jonah towards the light. From her pocket,
she also took out something. Slowly, she spread half of the belly
chain with both hands.

It was Jonah's turn to draw a lot of
air in amazement.

Gilda stepped closer to the
table, turned in a lock on the topmost drawer and drew in her hand
the other half of the
habak
. She went around the table and
met Aunt Judith. They joined the belly chain together and for the
first time, Jonah saw both women shared a genuine and satisfied
smile with each other.

Gilda and Aunt Judith looked
at Jonah for a moment, then Gilda took the
habak
and wrapped it around Jonah's
waist.

"This will be part of your daily
uniform, dear girl!" Gilda announced. "Guard it and use it
well!"

It seemed that Jonah was instantly
engulfed into a vortex of light with different colors, she almost
lost her balance. But just as quickly as the vortex swirled around
her, then it went away. And when Jonah looked around her, she
couldn't see things the same way. All she could see were shapes
outlined with different hues and shades. She tilted her head and
attempted to look from beneath her eyelids. Still, nothing has
changed. Putting both her arms up to keep her balance, she took one
hesitant step and almost fell.

Both Gilda and Aunt Judith laughed out
loud. They began talking to each other excitedly as if Jonah was
not in the room and having difficulty at all.

"Oh, I could remember the first time it
happened to me!" Gilda said joyfully. "I almost did not want to go
out of my room for fear of breaking anything!"

"And I remember I learned to use my
ears more when I had the sight," Aunt Judith said excitedly. "I
could hear almost everything the neighbors were saying and doing.
And I waited to listen when everyone's asleep because the juicy
things happened when the fires were put off!"

"Aunt Judith," Jonah interrupted the
two. "When will this go away?"

"Give it a month, dear girl!" It was
Gilda who answered. "By then, your vision will clear."

While the two women were having fun
bursting out giggling together like children, Jonah was left
annoyed and unable to take another step.

Unmasked

After stumbling a few steps and feeling
like she just lost her eyesight, a hearty dinner and pretending
nothing was amiss, Jonah sat huddled together with Xavier on the
front porch steps while everybody else were inside chatting the
night away and enjoying coffee.

"So, it's you, huh!" Xavier
said.

Jonah looked at Xavier from the corner
of her eye. Although, she had only been doing it for a couple of
hours, it seemed seeing from beneath or from the corner of her eyes
or using her ears more often were quickly becoming a habit of
hers.

"I guess so! That's what the goddesses
of yin and yang told me," Jonah giggled. She was sounding more like
Jervais than herself, naming people through their
eccentricities.

"You still have to seal it though,
right?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah!" Jonah replied. "Aunt Judith
said she will have to teach me first how to use the belly chain.
Then, teach me some of basic healing techniques. Your Aunt Gilda
also offered to teach me how to make some herbs and potions. And I
don't know how they will go about it. They were just so glad to
reconcile with each other again, they have not settled things
yet."

"But you're giving it a thought,
right?" Xavier said.

"X, I would like to help you get well,"
Jonah said. She turned to face Xavier. But all she could see was a
white mass with gray mixed with a broken yellow outline. "If I need
to seal it—"

"You don't have to, Jonah!" Xavier cut
in. "They have decided to continue my chemo after a few findings in
my blood. And I have decided to take it. There's also a bone marrow
transplant once Dad has found the right donor. I will be doing it
this way. I will fight this. Unlike before, I have a reason to fear
dying. And yes to love life. It's you, Jonah! You are my reason.
You made me feel again."

"Sealing it is not just about you, X!
It has gone beyond that," Jonah said.

"Don't tell me you've become like
them," Xavier said looking towards the house and referring to the
two sisters. "They are not happy, Jonah. Look at them—"

"Please, X!" Jonah said. "Let's not
talk about this anymore. Not now anyway. Besides, I have not
exactly thought about it yet. How about we talk about
us?"

"I—" Xavier shifted in his spot
uncomfortably. Then, the door opened and Jervais came out with Hugh
closely following behind her.

"Hey, you!" Jervais called out. "Say
your goodbyes now! Aunt Judith wants to go home. I will be taking
her car and going to the hospital to check on our patients. Hugh
can drive you and Aunt Judith home."

"I am coming!" Xavier said.

Aunt Judith and Gilda shared a few
hushed words together. Then, she motioned for them to get going.
And in a few minutes, they were on the way to the Blood mansion,
with Jonah and Xavier sitting at the back and Hugh with Aunt Judith
in front.

"Just don't tell me anything now,"
Xavier whispered in Jonah's ear.

"I don't understand," Jonah whispered
back. But Xavier had already remained quiet for the remainder of
the trip.

When they finally arrived at the
mansion, Aunt Judith turned to Jonah and asked, "Can you manage it
from here?" It was the first note of assistance Aunt Judith gave
Jonah her way, which almost made the younger woman laughed out
loud.

"I will find my way," Jonah assured
her, unable to hide the sarcastic smile that ran through her
face.

"Well, you better. You're not treading
a mountain anyway," Aunt Judith snorted and went ahead of Jonah
inside the house.

"I—" Xavier began to say something
holding Jonah back from following in her Aunt's steps.

"What is it, X?" Jonah
asked.