“I don’t know, honey. It’s okay. We’re going to take care of her.” Without taking my eyes off my mother, I reached back for the phone and pushed 911. Choking out the words, I called for help.
I never minded hospitals growing up. I’d had my share of broken limbs and cuts that required stitches, but the hospital was where they fixed me up and made me good as new, ready to take on the world again. Even when I got older, the hospital didn’t scare me; Piper’s birth had been my first adult experience there, and that day ranked with the best in my life.
But six months later, I was back in that same facility, on a different floor, in the trauma unit instead of the birthing center, and it was there I learned to hate hospitals. It was while sitting in the cold white waiting room that I heard the words that destroyed me.
I’m sorry, Mr. Wallace. We did everything we could. Ms. Briggs’ injuries were too extensive for her to recover, and although we did our best, we were not able to revive her on the operating table, and she died.
I hated that they said it so baldly, but later, someone told me that medical personnel were taught to deliver bad news in that way. Apparently, breaking the news gently to a loved one could lead to denial. They had to say it plainly, no matter how much it hurt.
Since I’d moved back to Burton, I’d been in the local county hospital too often for my taste. This was where Mom was diagnosed, where she came to get her chemo treatments and where we ran whenever anything irregular happened.
Which was why we were here now, of course. I shifted in the hard plastic chair, ignoring the ache in my back. On my lap, Piper squirmed and then cuddled closer. I didn’t like to have her with me here, but today there’d been no choice. I’d followed the ambulance over, and there was no one I could call to watch her. I texted Sam a terse sentence about what had happened and where we were; if need be, I was sure he and Meghan would come get Piper.
Mom had come back around briefly after the paramedics arrived, but she was confused, and her words were slurred. There was no question that she needed to be here, where the doctors could run tests and assess what had happened.
I let my head drop back against the plaster of the wall and closed my eyes. Please, God. If you even exist, which I’m not sure I believe. But whatever and whoever is there ... not my mom. Not yet. Help. Please.
“Mason.” A hand at my shoulder roused me, and Piper squealed.
“Rilla!” She slid off my lap and grabbed Rilla around the legs. “Nan got sick. I was so scared, but I went and got Daddy, and the doctors are going to make her better.”
“Of course they are, sweetie pie.” Rilla reached down to lift my daughter into her arms. “You were very brave and very smart. I’m proud of you.”
Piper snuggled against her, and Rilla smoothed a hand over her tangled blonde curls. Their hair mingled together over Piper’s back, and I couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. My daughter looked so comfortable and content with Rilla. Seeing them together gave me an odd feeling that I couldn’t label. Rilla glanced at me.
“Are you okay?”
I realized I was staring at her and mentally shook myself. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Um, what’re you doing here?”
She sat down next to me, turning Piper so that she sat across her lap with her back toward me. When she replied, it was in a low voice. “I thought you might need help. I can take Piper home and wait for you there.” She gestured with her head toward the door of the waiting room, where I spotted a familiar couple. “Sam and Meghan are here, and they said they’d drive me to your house.”
I exhaled long and pinched the bridge of my nose. “That would be great, but Rilla, we need to talk about what happened this morning. With your dad. Sam told me what he did.”
She closed her eyes. “Actually, that’s the last thing I want to think about right now. Let’s concentrate on your mom. What happened?”
“I don’t really know. We were eating breakfast in her room, and Sam called. I stepped outside to talk to him, and then next thing I knew, Piper was pounding on the door, telling me she couldn’t wake up Nan. I found her in front of her chair, unconscious.”
Worry filled her blue eyes, the same anxiety I’m sure she saw in mine. “Has this ever happened before?”
“No.” I dropped my voice. “I’m just hoping it wasn’t a stroke. Or ...” I gripped the edge of the chair until my knuckles hurt. “The leukemia getting worse. She’s supposed to go in for a bone marrow biopsy in two weeks, to see whether the chemo’s worked enough to put her into remission. If it has, we can move ahead with the transplant.”
Her brows knitted together. “Transplant?”
“Yeah. It’s kind her get-out-of-jail-free card. Wipes out the cancer from her body, gives her a fresh start. They destroy her own marrow, and the donor stem cells grow new bone marrow.”
“Oh. Well, we’ll just pray it isn’t anything bad. Maybe just a little hiccup, or maybe she has a virus or something. It might not be anything bad.”
I managed to hold back on rolling my eyes, but I couldn’t help the derisive tone in my voice. “Yeah, well, forgive me if I’m all out of hope right now. For the last few years, if anything could go wrong, it has. You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law? Murphy’s been living in my back pocket.”
Rilla didn’t argue with me. She laid her hand on my arm and squeezed; her fingers were too small to circle my bicep, so it felt more like a caress than a touch for comfort. I had an insane desire to cover her hand with my other one, but I held back. I couldn’t afford to muddy the water when it came to my relationship with Rilla. I needed her help, and maybe she needed mine, but we had to keep it professional. All business.
“Rilla, can we go home?” Piper leaned back and reached her hands up to hold Rilla’s face. “I didn’t get to finish my pancakes.”
“Sure we can, sweet pea, if your daddy says it’s all right.” She shot me an inquiring look, and I nodded. She stood up, adjusting Piper in her arms, and was about to leave when my daughter spoke up.
“Wait, I want to kiss Daddy good-bye.”
Rilla smiled and turned around again. She leaned down low so that Piper’s lips could reach my cheek, and as I kissed my little girl, I got a whiff of scent that was pure Rilla. I couldn’t say what it was—not quite floral, not musky, but heady and intoxicating. It made me want to run my nose down the side of her throat until I found the source.
She straightened before I could do anything stupid, like lick her skin. “Can you call me when you hear something about Naomi?”
“I will.” Looking up into her face, eyes filled with equal parts compassion and concern, I made a snap decision. “One of the first things we’re going to do is get you a cell phone. It’s just safer for you, and it’ll make me feel better to know I can get in touch with you without ringing the house phone, if it’s late at night or whatever.”
She frowned. “What’re you talking about?”
I let one side of my mouth curve up. “I’m talking about you moving in with us.”
I DON’T KNOW WHAT I said to Mason after his matter-of-fact statement that I was moving in with his family. I thought I nodded and then turned around to follow Meghan out of the waiting room and through the corridors of the hospital.
We’d just reached Sam’s pickup truck when I heard running steps behind us and saw Sam himself trotting over. He held up his hand, and a key ring dangled from one finger.
“You need the booster seat for the car. Mason sent me out to unlock his truck for you.” He pointed back to another section of the parking lot. “I’ll grab it and bring it over to you.”
“Why isn’t Sam coming with us?” I let Piper slide down my body and sit on the passenger seat of the truck after Meghan unlocked the door.
“He’s going to stay here with Mason while I drop you and Piper off, and then I’ll drive back to get him. We didn’t think Mason should be alone at the hospital while he waits.”
“That’s really nice of you.” I leaned against the side of the truck, ma
king sure Piper didn’t fall out as she jumped on the seat. “You and Sam are such great friends. To Mason. And to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you, and you haven’t even known me that long.”
“It’s not the length of the friendship, it’s the breadth.” Meghan dropped her arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “Sam and I love you, Rilla. So do Ali and Flynn. We want you to be happy, and we’ll do whatever we can for you. You have a home with us for as long as you need it.”
Sam returned with the seat and helped us get Piper buckled in before he dropped a quick kiss on Meghan’s lips and went back inside. As we drove out of the lot, I glanced over at my friend and ran my tongue over my bottom lip.
“Meghan, about staying with you ... just now, when I was leaving the waiting room, Mason said he wants me to move in with them. So I can watch Piper and help Naomi.”
“Oh. Oh, wow.” Meghan blinked, and her mouth drooped a little. “Um, I mean, yeah, that makes sense, doesn’t it?” She turned her head to look at me as we stopped at the intersection. “Or not?”
“I—I think it does. I want to be able to keep this job. I love Piper and Naomi, and it feels right. I can still do my PR work, and since I’ll be in town, I might even be able to get some more clients. And eventually, I can find my own place.”
“As long as you’re comfortable with it, Rilla. You’re talking about going from living with your father and your grandmother, in a very protected environment, to moving in with people you haven’t known very long.”
“I know. But like you said, sometimes it’s not about the length of time. It’s scary, but at the same time, I finally feel like I’m moving forward. You know? I’m doing something that works for me. I’m being independent. An adult.”
“After what you told me your dad said this morning, I’m not surprised you want to get away from home. Just make sure you’re not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.”
The memory of my father yelling the ugly, angry words as Gram cried at the kitchen table sliced through my heart. I’d never heard him say those things. Whore. Slut. And the phrase that had hurt the worst: Just like your worthless mother. I swallowed hard. It had almost been a relief when he’d told me to get out of his house. Despite Gram begging him to reconsider, I hadn’t hesitated before going to the phone to call Meghan for help. I couldn’t stay there any more than he could have me under his roof.
“I don’t think I am. But it’s good to know that if anything goes wrong, I can call you. I know I have other options, and that’s something I haven’t felt before. Ever.”
Meghan nodded. “I’m happy for you, Rilla, if you’re happy. If you’re sure.”
I wasn’t sure about anything, especially about living in the same house with Mason Wallace, but the idea of taking care of Piper and Naomi felt right. With everything else in my life adrift, I clung to that one certainty.
Meghan came inside with Piper and me for a few minutes, chatting with the little girl as I re-heated the pancakes and cleaned up the mess in Naomi’s room. I found packaging paper that the EMTs had left on the floor, from syringes and tubing, and my hands shook a little as I crumpled it up and tossed it into the wastepaper basket. I whispered a prayer for the woman who had become dear to me in the short time I’d known her.
Once Meghan left, I played with Piper for a few minutes and then settled her down for a nap. She was exhausted from the morning’s excitement and fell asleep almost immediately.
I wandered through the silent house, unable to sit still. It was odd to think that this was going to be my home, for a while, at least. I ran my hand over the counter, brushing crumbs into my other palm and dumping them into the sink. I remembered Meghan telling me that Mason had bought this house after he’d moved back to Burton. I wondered how many of the dishes and appliances were the same ones his wife had used in Tennessee. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to be reminded of her daily ... although of course he had a living, breathing reminder in Piper. And maybe he didn’t want to forget Lu. He’d never mentioned her to me by name, though he’d referred to “Piper’s mom” now and then.
I heard a car in the drive and turned around in time to see Mason coming up the steps and into the kitchen. He was smiling, and relief flooded through me. Nothing could be that bad if he could grin like that.
“Sorry I didn’t call. It was just going to be easier to come home and tell you in person.” Mason dropped his truck keys into the bowl by the door. “Mom’s fine. Turns out it was an issue with one of her medicines. They’d prescribed something for her blood pressure back when she was diagnosed and stressed out, and now she doesn’t need it anymore. It made her pressure too low, and that’s why she passed out.”
“Oh, thank God.” I pressed a hand to my heart. “I’m so glad, Mason.”
“Yeah. They’re keeping her overnight, just to keep an eye on things. And even better, they said her blood work looks so good, they’re going to do the bone marrow biopsy tomorrow, while she’s still in the hospital. We should know in a few days whether or not she’s in remission.”
“That’s good, right?” I wasn’t familiar with all the terminology of Naomi’s disease, although I was learning.
“It’s excellent.” Mason looked about ten years younger than he had at the hospital. “If she’s in remission, we can move forward. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still got a long, rough road ahead, but this transplant is her best shot at recovery.”
I closed my eyes. “I was so worried.”
Mason hesitated a beat and then reached toward me, drawing me against his body and wrapping his arms around me. It was innocent and friendly, and I knew he was offering me comfort, and maybe even drawing a little of the same from me. My heart went nuts, though, pounding against my ribs. In my memory, I’d never been hugged by any male other than my father, and that was when I was little. He’d stopped giving me any kind of affectionate touching once I hit my teen years.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Did I just stand here and let Mason embrace me? Should I return the hug, wrap my arms around him? Before I could make a decision, he released me and stepped back, studying me with a frown on his face.
“Meghan and Sam went to get your stuff from their house. They’re going to drop it off later this afternoon, and I think Meghan’s bringing something over for dinner, too.”
“That’s ... that’s really great of them. I could’ve cooked, though.” I swallowed and hoped my face wasn’t bright red. I was sure Mason was used to girls for whom a quick hug like that was an everyday occurrence, not a reason to get flustered.
“You had a rough day, too.” He stepped around the counter and scraped a kitchen chair against the tile before he sat down. “I want to talk to you about that. But first of all, I know I dropped that idea about you moving in here on you without any warning. It just seemed like a no-brainer, though. We need you. You need a place to live. I hope you don’t feel like I’m forcing you into something that makes you uncomfortable.”
I shook my head. “No. I was surprised, but you’re right, it makes sense. I’m very grateful that you’re willing to have me.”
“You’ll be helping us more than we’re helping you.” He rubbed the knee of his jeans with his thumb, smoothing out the cotton. “Why did your father kick you out?”
I needed to sit for this discussion. Pulling out a chair across the table from Mason, I sank down. “It’s been a long time coming. My dad ... he had a plan for my future. It wasn’t a bad plan, but it didn’t match mine. When I started working for Sam, starting up the advertising business, he was unhappy. In his mind, I was supposed to stay at home, help Gram, go to church on Sundays and be content until Jonathan was ready to marry me. I didn’t agree with him.”
“Who’s Jonathan?” Mason frowned, and I bit my lip.
“He’s the youth pastor at my church. My father thought he wanted to marry me.”
“And he didn’t?” His forehead was creased in confusion, and I didn’t blame him.
> “Apparently not. Or he didn’t want to marry me any time soon. I’m still not sure if my dad just wanted it to happen, or if Jonathan actually ever said anything to him. Doesn’t matter now.”
“Wait a second. Why would this guy talk to your father and not to you?”
I felt the beginning fingers of embarrassment creeping over me. “Our church ... it’s pretty strict on dating. If a man’s interested in a girl, he courts her, which means they go out in a group setting. They’re never alone together. I think most of the time, a boy wants to court a girl because he likes her, but Jonathan never seemed to want to be with me. I have a sneaking suspicion he was only trying to please my father.”
“By pretending to be in love with you?” Mason looked more angry than confused now.
“No, he never pretended to be anything with me. My dad’s an elder in our church, and Jonathan wants approval to start up his own congregation. I think he felt that hinting he might be willing to marry me upped his standing with Dad. But he never followed through. He visited us a few times, and he asked me to help with the youth group, but that was it.”
Mason shook his head. “I just can’t understand it.”
“What part?” I managed a smile. “I know it must sound really strange to you.”
“Why would a church make rules about dating, and why would this jerk not be dying to be with you? I mean, you’re beautiful, and smart, and funny. And you’re one of the most genuinely decent people I’ve met.”
Warmth swirled to fill my heart. “Thank you. That’s really sweet of you to say. As far as the church, it wasn’t so much a rule as a guideline, and not all the families followed it. I mean, we’re not a cult. My dad has a tendency to take a suggestion and carry it through to an extreme. From what Gram said, he kind of shut down after my mom left, and he wanted to make sure I didn’t turn out like her. So he was strict. He kept me at home as much as possible, and whatever the pastor said for everyone else went double for me. No dating, no being alone with any male outside my family ... no life. Just sticking to the rules he made.”
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