“I wanted to tell you last week.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Of losing you.”
I felt my chest tighten.
She opened the folder.
Inside were several medical reports and a letter from a specialist.
She pushed the papers toward me.
“I found out something about our family. Something Mom never told us.”
I looked at the documents.
The first page contained a medical history I didn’t recognize. The second discussed genetic testing. The third had a name I knew.
Our mother’s.
I looked up.
“What does this mean?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Mom had a genetic condition. She knew about it before we were born, but she never told us because she thought it wouldn’t affect either of us.”
I stared at her.
“What condition?”
Vanessa pointed to a paragraph on the report.
“It can increase the risk of developing certain cancers. The specialist said that because of our family history, we both need to be evaluated.”
