Arachnia #Featured

Chapter Twenty One - Part 6

Chapter Twenty One

by sloanranger

Part 6

"But why didn't you acknowledge one another."

"It's complicated. Elizabeth took off when she was seventeen - well, when we were both seventeen; after Mom died and after I'd had Billy."

"After You had Billy?"

"Yes." Paula got a faraway look in her eyes then.

"Elizabeth had quit high school already, a year or so earlier. And within two years she had her GED and her LVN nursing license. She was really smart. By the time Billy was born, she was already working in the hospital."

Elaine was just shaking her head slowly in an uncomprehending way.

"I thought she had gotten over the fact that Bill had married me instead of her, " Paula continued. "It was even kind of nice, having my sister for my nurse and everything. But she hadn't gotten over anything."

Paula looked steely eyed, now. "She took Billy from me while I was still in the hospital and disappeared."

Elaine's head was spinning. She felt as though she was in the middle of a soap opera.

"So, Billy is yours?"

"Yes," Paula nodded.

"I, we - Bill and I - followed them to LA but lost track of her there. It took me a long time to find them again. Bill died and I'd married David. I became pregnant again, but lost the baby. Remember, Elizabeth had changed her name, her nose - everything really. It wasn't until David became ill, that I saw her again, when he went into the hospital."

(To be continued).