LITMIR.BIZ

       Fifteen

      Sarah came awake to blinding sunshine and the fuzziness that results from too little sleep. She rolled over, grimacing at the scratchy pull of her slept-in slacks and turtleneck, and squinted at the empty spot beside her.

      No Gina.

      And no note, she discovered when she crawled out of bed and checked the sunny sitting room. More than a little annoyed, she padded into the bathroom. Face scrubbed, she appropriated her sister’s hairbrush and found a complimentary toothbrush in the basket of amenities provided by the hotel.

      Luckily, she and Gina wore the same size, if not the same style. While she was content to adapt her grandmother’s vintage classics, her sister preferred a trendier, splashier look. Sarah raided Gina’s underwear for a pair of silky black hipsters and matching demibra, then wiggled into a chartreuse leotard patterned in a wild Alice In Wonderland motif. She topped them with a long-sleeved, thigh-skimming wool jumper in electric blue and a three-inch-wide elaborately studded belt that rode low on her hips.

      No way was she wearing her red sweater coat with these eye-popping colors. She’d look like a clown-school dropout. She flicked a denim jacket off a hangar instead, hitched her purse over her shoulder and went in search of her sister.

      She found Gina outside on the terrace, chatting with an elderly couple at the next table. She’d gathered her blond curls into a one-sided cascade and looked impossibly chic in pencil-legged jeans, a shimmering metallic tank and a fur-trimmed Michael Kors blazer. When she spotted Sarah, she jumped up and rushed over with her arms outstretched.

      “You’re finally up! You got in so late last night I... Omigod! What happened to your face?”

      Sarah was more anxious to hear her sister’s story than tell her own. “I got crosswise of a metal strut.”

      “I’m so sorry! Does it hurt?”

      “Not anymore.”

      “Thank goodness. We’ll have to cover it with foundation when we go back upstairs. Do you want some coffee?”

      “God, yes!”

      Sarah followed her back to the table and smiled politely when Gina introduced her to the elderly couple. They were from Düsseldorf, were both retired schoolteachers and had three children, all grown now.

      “They’ve been coming to Lake Lucerne every spring for forty-seven years to celebrate their anniversary,” Gina related as she filled a cup from the carafe on her table. “Isn’t that sweet?”

      “Very sweet.”

      Sarah splashed milk into the cup and took two, quick lifesaving gulps while Gina carried on a cheerful conversation with the teachers. As she listened to the chatter, Sarah began to feel much like the tumbling, upside-down Alices on the leotard. Had she fallen down some rabbit hole? Imagined the panic in her sister’s voice last night? Dreamed the sobs?

      The unreal feeling persisted until Gina saw that she’d downed most of her coffee. “I told the chambermaid to wait until you were up to do the room. She’s probably in there now. Why don’t we take a walk and...and talk?”

      The small stutter and flicker of nervousness told Sarah she hadn’t entered some alternate universe. With a smile for the older couple, Gina pushed her chair back. Sarah did the same.

      “Let’s go down to Chapel Bridge,” she suggested. “We can talk there.”

      The Rebstock sat directly across the street from Lucerne’s centuries-old Church of Leodegar, named for the city’s patron saint. Just beyond the needle-spired church, the cobbled street angled downward, following the Reuss River as it flowed into the impossibly blue lake. Since the Reuss bisected the city, Lucerne could claim almost as many bridges as Venice. The most famous of them was the Chapel Bridge, or Kapellbrücke. Reputed to be the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, it was constructed in the early 1300s. Some sections had to be rebuilt after a 1993 fire supposedly sparked by a discarded cigarette. But the octagonal watchtower halfway across was original, and the window boxes filled with spring flowers made it a favorite meandering spot for locals and tourists alike.

      Zigzagging for more than six hundred feet across the river, it was decorated with paintings inside that depicted Lucerne’s history and offered wooden benches with stunning views of the town, the lake and the snowcapped Alps. Gina sank onto a bench some yards from the watchtower. Sarah settled beside her and waited while her sister gnawed on her lower lip and stared at the snowy peaks in uncharacteristic silence.

      “You might as well tell me,” she said gently after several moments. “Whatever’s happened, we’ll find a way to fix it.”

      Gina exhaled a long, shuddering breath. Twisting around on the bench, she reached for Sarah’s hands.

      “That’s the problem. I came here to fix it. But at the last minute, I couldn’t go through with it.”

      “Go through with what?”

      “Terminating the pregnancy.”

      Sarah managed not to gasp or groan or mangle the fingers entwined with hers, but it took a fierce struggle.

      “You’re pregnant?”

      “Barely. I peed on the stick even before I missed my period. I thought... I was sure we were safe. He wore a condom.” She gave a short, dry laugh. “Actually, we went through a whole box of condoms that weekend.”

      “For God’s sake, I don’t need the details. Except maybe his name. I assume we’re talking about your ski instructor.”

      “Who?”

      “The cuddly ski instructor you texted me about.”

      “Oh. There isn’t any ski instructor. I just needed an excuse for my sudden trip to Switzerland.”

      That arrowed straight to Sarah’s heart. Never, ever would she have imagined that her sister would keep a secret like this from her.

      “Oh, Gina, why did you need an excuse? Why didn’t you just tell me about the baby?”

      “I couldn’t. You’ve been so worried about Grandmama and the doctor bills. I couldn’t dump this problem on you, too.”

      She crunched Sarah’s fingers, tears shimmering in her eyes.

      “But last night... After I canceled my appointment at the clinic...it all sort of came down on me. I had to call you, had to talk

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