They hadn't told her until it was too late. Sister Evangelina had gone, possibly forever, and she hadn't had a chance to say goodbye.
Sure they'd had their fair share of disagreements-her opinion of Shelagh's change of life and the bottle feeding display just a few of them, but honestly Shelagh considered Sister Evangelina her family, her sister and she loved her fiercely. And now she couldn't say goodbye.
Only 6 months is what Sister Julienne had recounted when Shelagh had popped around to query a birth record. Only 6 months her arse as the locals would say. The thought of never hearing her voice again was unbearable, the great bellow that was home, the brashness that made her who she was.
The worst thing was that Sister Evangelina thought so poorly of herself, had felt she had drifted from her calling in life. Actually scratch that-the worst things that Shelagh herself could have stepped in and stopped it at it's beginnings. She knew Sister Evangelina's opinions and had only barely quenched her outburst at the clinic. If only she'd taken her aside and argues back then perhaps Connie wouldn't have heard the opinions that cost them all a dear friend.
What if she didn't come back? Angela was supposed to grow up with her Auntie Sister Evangelina teaching her to be strong. Had her daughters entire future changed by this one action.
Why hadn't anyone told her in time?
How would Sister Monica Joan cope?
How would she cope without her sister?
She'd collapsed into a mess of tears on Sister Julienne's office floor. Literally the floor-she fell off the chair with the force of her sobs. Patrick had been called and the pair ended up laid on the floor together as Shelagh hyperventilated into his chest. Sister Julienne had left them alone and the pair were not seen for over an hour before eventually appearing to be taken into a tight hug from her fellow nurses. They lived there so they'd been granted the chance to say goodbye. They apologised over and over for forgetting to call her.
All Shelagh knew was nothing would be the same again.