“How wonderful to see how you two pitch in to help. Thank you, girls.”
“Are we going to see Mother now, Daddy?”
He nodded.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go just yet,” Cassie said.
“I want to go,” I said firmly.
“So do I, but we also want to do what is best,” she told me.
“I’m afraid she’s not much better than she was when I left her last night. It’s understandable that she would be in a depressed state.”
“We can cheer her up, Daddy.”
“If she can see or hear us,” Cassie said.
“It can’t do any harm, and Semantha is right. It might help bring her around. I have a few calls to make,” he said, looking at his watch. “We’ll leave in twenty minutes or so.”
He went to his den office.
“Go wash up,” Cassie snapped at me. It wasn’t hard to see how irritated she was at my contradicting her. “You probably stink of polish and have dust all over you.”
I nodded and hurried to the stairway, avoiding her gaze. Close to a half-hour later, we got into Daddy’s car, Cassie up front and me in the back, which was usual whenever we went anywhere without Mother.
“When we get there,” Daddy began as we drove out our main gate, “try not to let her see how much you’re disappointed with what has happened. Talk about other things. If she starts talking, no matter what she says about the miscarriage, change the subject.”
“Well, you do have the gala opening next week,” Cassie said. “We can talk about that.”
“Yes. That’s smart,” Daddy said.
“Does Uncle Perry know about it all, Daddy?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. He was up there with me at the hospital before I came home yesterday. He practically flew from Lexington when I told him what had happened. Your uncle Perry is quite fond of your mother, and she of him.”
“Women are most comfortable with men who don’t present any sexual threat to them,” Cassie declared.
Daddy turned to her. I held my breath. Was he going to be angry that she had referred to Uncle Perry’s homosexuality? He didn’t look angry, however; he looked impressed.
“That might very well be true, Cassie. Very astute.”
“I’ve been doing some reading about that,” she said.
“You always amaze me, Cassie. There’s nothing predictable about you. Someday, some man is going to sell his soul for your devoted attention.”
“That’s not the man I’d want,” she said, and what I had feared might not happen for some time happened. Daddy laughed. In fact, he looked as if he was relaxing, too.
“Maybe we’ll go to lunch at a nearby restaurant I know instead of the hospital cafeteria,” he said.
“That would be nice,” Cassie said.
“How long will Mother be in the hospital, Daddy?” I asked.
“I don’t know yet, honey, but I’m sure not very long. Dr. Moffet’s building her up quickly. He did say he was having a therapist see her today.”
“A therapist?”
“Psychiatrist,” Cassie said.
“She needs a psychiatrist?”
“Maybe not a psychiatrist,” Daddy said. “A psychologist, sort of a counselor who can help her get over the disappointment. We’ll see,” he added. “Let’s not …”
“Get ourselves too depressed about it,” Cassie finished for him, turning to look back at me.
“Exactly,” Daddy said.
I looked at Cassie. She was still staring at me. I felt as if the two of them were the adults and I was an even younger child. Daddy treated Cassie as if she were close to his age and treated me as if I were too young to understand anything.
Don’t look at me like that, Cassie Heavenstone! I wanted to shout. You’re barely two years older than I am.
I smothered those words almost as quickly as they came to mind, however, and turned away to look out the window. Cassie, as if she was practicing for when we would be with Mother, began to talk to Daddy about the gala and the new store. She had given him a half-dozen suggestions for the party, and he liked most of them. I know he surprised her when he told her that Uncle Perry liked most of her ideas as well. Cassie acted unimpressed or disinterested in that and skipped over it as if he had never said it.
As they continued talking, I let myself drift off to think about Mother. I had to fight back my urge to cry every time I pictured her happy and hopeful. Just thinking about how we would have to dismantle the nursery choked me up. Maybe Daddy would just lock the door and do it all when Mother wasn’t paying attention. It had to be very difficult for him, too, though.
I had actually begun fantasizing about having a little brother. I had seen myself caring for him, babysitting, helping Mother raise him. Contrary to the things Cassie had said, I had seen his coming as an exciting thing. I hadn’t imagined its turning our world topsy-turvy in a bad way. All I had imagined were good things, happy things.
I wondered if they could possibly try again. I knew it was too soon to ask such a question, but it bubbled about in my brain. Would Mother be too frightened to try again? Would Daddy? What if they did and she had another miscarriage? The consequences of that could be overwhelming. No, I thought, there was no way they would even think about it. The prospect of a male Heavenstone to be born and groomed to take over our expanding business was gone forever. It was more likely that Daddy would try to get Cassie to become more involved. Women were running major corporations all over the country now, and if anyone had the leadership, administrative skill, and intelligence to be a CEO, it was surely Cassie. I had to give her that.
If it was what Daddy wanted in the end, she would do it, I concluded. She lived to please him.
We’ll be all right. The Heavenstones will be just fine.
Strengthened by my own theories and projections for our future, I walked into the hospital with Daddy and Cassie unafraid. I told myself that we would help Mother recuperate, and things would soon return to normal. Why, this could all make us even tighter as a family. We’d care more for each other, be more considerate to each other. Pretty soon, I’d be chanting aloud like Cassie: “We’re the Heavenstones.”
The sight of Mother looking shriveled and small in her hospital bed plugged up my gushing optimism quickly. It was as if she were lying on a mattress full of her own tears. The dark circles around her eyes, the pallor of her complexion, and the weakened appearance she presented practically nailed my feet to the floor. I had to press myself to move to her bedside. Daddy rushed to take her hand. She opened her eyes, and almost immediately, her lips began to tremble.
“Please don’t cry, Arianna. We need you to get well and come home,” he said, and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
Her lips stopped trembling, but she didn’t speak.
“The girls have been terrific. They’re taking good care of me, and they’ve been working on the house, too.”
Mother nodded and looked at us and shook her head, again looking as if she would cry.
“You’ve got to get yourself well, Mother,” Cassie said, moving beside Daddy at her bedside. “There’s so much to be done for the new store opening. We’ve got to mend and become the Heavenstone family again.”
She stood looking down at Mother, who simply looked up at her as if she didn’t know what Cassie was talking about. I hurried to her bedside and kissed her. She smiled finally, but she had yet to say a word to any of us. Instead, she simply closed her eyes.
“She’s still under some sedation,” Daddy said in a voice just above a whisper. “I’m going out to speak with the doctor. I see he’s at the nurses’ station. You two keep talking to her.”
Cassie waited until he was gone and then looked at me and at Mother and shook her head.
“Mother, we need you to stop this and get better,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world. Other women have had miscarriages and rebounded quickly. Besides, you were taking a chance getting pregnant this late in life. Surely, you knew this mig
ht happen.”
“Cassie!” I cried.
She ignored me. “Daddy is devastated, too, but he has to recover and deal with his responsibilities. The quicker you get better, the less pressure there will be on us all.”
I looked down at Mother. She didn’t open her eyes, but her lips began to tremble again. I couldn’t stand it. I walked away from the bed and looked at the floor, with my back to Cassie. She came up beside me.
“Stop behaving like an infant, Semantha. This is how you deal with people in her state of mind. You force them to snap out of it. You don’t cater to their self-pity.”
“How do you know what to do? You’re not a doctor,” I snapped back at her.
“I’ve read about this. In fact, I studied up on it last night. I did a great deal of research on my computer. I’m not doing anything to hurt her or be mean. I’m trying to help her. I’m surprised you would think anything else. In fact, I’m a little hurt, Semantha. I would hope you’d think better of me. I’m always looking after you, aren’t I?”
“It sounds very cruel.”
“It’s called tough love, and it’s a proven technique. I’ll show you articles on it when we get home.”
I nodded, but I still didn’t like it. She returned to Mother’s bedside and continued to whisper her tough love. I stood back, watching, until Daddy returned and she stopped talking. Cassie shook her head to indicate that there was no change.
“I was right. She is still under sedation,” Daddy said. “We should leave and return after lunch. She’ll be more alert then.”
“Whatever you think, Daddy,” Cassie said.
Just then, Uncle Perry appeared in the doorway.
“How is she?”
“Resting … sedated,” Daddy said.
Uncle Perry nodded. He came in and looked at Mother and then at us. “Sorry, girls,” he said.
“We don’t want to dwell on it,” Cassie said. “Especially in front of Mother. She might still be able to hear us, sedated or not.”
Uncle Perry looked at Daddy, who nodded, and then we all walked out of the room.
“What’s Moffet saying today?” Uncle Perry asked Daddy.
“He has a therapist coming to see her late this afternoon. He wants to keep her a few days.”
“What about the bleeding?”
“It’s under control. Thank God,” Daddy told him, and smiled at me.
Uncle Perry nodded and looked at Cassie and me. “You girls have got to stick together and pitch in.”
“Oh, they’re doing a great job already,” Daddy said.
“We do stick together, Uncle Perry, and we always pitch in,” Cassie said sternly. Then she smiled. “Especially now, with all this pressure from the new store opening.”
“Good. Well, as long as your mother is on the mend and—”
“I thought you had a very good idea with that lottery,” Cassie continued. She sounded disinterested in talking about anything else.
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
“Only I suggested we don’t simply have people fill out a coupon. We automatically include everyone who buys anything at a Heavenstone store that day.”
“Oh … Teddy?”
“I thought it was a good suggestion, Perry. Helps the bottom line.”
“Fine.”
“Now, then,” Daddy said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go to lunch.”
“Where we can talk more about the opening and get my father’s mind off this situation,” Cassie added, leaning toward Uncle Perry.
Uncle Perry looked at me. It didn’t take a genius to see the difference between Cassie’s emotional state and mine. I was still hovering close to tears. He smiled at me. “C’mon, Sam. You can ride with me,” he said and put his arm around my shoulders.
I looked at Cassie. She shrugged, and as we walked to the elevator, she whispered, “Better you than me.”
“Your sister is one tough cookie,” Uncle Perry said when we got into his car. “Your father and I had a great-aunt like her, Great-aunt Agnes Loomis, who was married to your grandmother’s brother. He died while they were on vacation in Florida, and she kept him in storage until she finished the holiday. She didn’t want to lose the money they had spent. I hated the way she looked at me whenever we saw her. I used to have nightmares about her. I still do, matter of fact.”
We saw Daddy pull out of his parking spot, and Uncle Perry started his car and followed.
“If you’re in a crisis, however, Aunt Agnes and, I suppose, Cassie are the types of people you want.” He glanced at me. “How do you two get along? You’re pretty different.”
It wasn’t the first time I had been asked about Cassie’s and my relationship. Another one of Cassie’s Commandments was that Heavenstones never say anything about each other that they wouldn’t say to each other, especially to someone outside our immediate family.
“Okay,” I said.
“Just okay?” he followed quickly.
“Cassie is my older sister,” I said. “She looks after me, and she is much smarter than I am.”
“There’s two kinds of smart,” Uncle Perry said.
“What are they?”
“There’s book smart, and there’s people smart. My guess is you’re people smart, which means you’ll get along better out there, meeting people, working with people, socializing. Cassie doesn’t have many friends, does she?”
“I don’t like saying bad things about Cassie, Uncle Perry.”
He nodded. “I understand. That’s admirable. Loyalty is admirable, but,” he said, looking at me again and smiling, “don’t forget to be loyal to yourself, too.”
I said nothing.
His words hung in the air between us as we drove on, staying close enough to Daddy’s car for me to see Cassie talking to him continuously.
Cassie was never at a loss for words when it came to talking to Daddy, whereas she could sit in a room for hours with Mother and not say a single thing.
“You guys will be all right,” Uncle Perry said, believing my silence was all worry about Mother. “I’m sure.”
It was only the two of us in the car, but strangely, all I could hear was what I was sure Cassie would say: How would he know?
Hospital Visit
CASSIE KEPT OUR conversation at lunch focused solely on the gala opening of the new Heavenstone store. Uncle Perry looked amused at her determination to control the discussion. Every once in a while, he threw me a smile, but I looked away or down, afraid that Cassie would realize he was including me in his amusement with her. I sensed that Daddy wanted to talk more about Mother and the loss of Asa, but Cassie had probably persuaded him in the car to hold off on any discussion about all that until we were alone. She never recognized Uncle Perry as part of our immediate family.
Afterward, we all returned to the hospital. Mother was more alert now and had eaten some lunch herself. I was so happy to see her sitting up in bed that I could feel the smile bursting on my face. It brought a smile to hers, too, finally that motherly smile that was as important to me every morning as the rising of the sun was to the earth itself.
But almost as soon as her smile came, it disappeared when she set eyes on Daddy, and once again, her lips began to tremble. I could hear Cassie’s groan of disapproval.
“Dr. Moffet doesn’t think it would be wise for us to try again, Teddy,” she said when Daddy took her hand.
He glanced at us and nodded. “That’s all right, Arianna. We’ll be all right. I told you not to think about any of that right now. Just concentrate on getting yourself stronger and better.”
“Daddy’s right, Mother,” Cassie chimed in. “You want to be able to attend the opening ten days from now. You should be at Daddy’s side when he meets the governor.”
Mother looked at her as if Cassie were speaking a foreign language.
“And don’t forget we have Semantha’s birthday soon, too,” Daddy added, smiling at me.
Mother gave me another short-lived smile an
d turned back to Daddy. “I’m tired, Teddy.”
“That’s the medicine still working,” he said. “You won’t need much of it soon.”
“Sure,” Uncle Perry said. “In a day or so, you’ll be on your feet, Arianna.”
Mother just shook her head. Daddy started to take the tray off her table, but Cassie shot forward to do it.
“That girl won’t let me lift a napkin,” Daddy told Mother.
She nodded, barely creasing her lips.
Uncle Perry stepped up to the foot of the bed. “Hey,” he said. “We need that smiling face of yours, Arianna. You can’t expect Teddy and me to make a good impression without you.”
Mother forced a smile again but turned back to Daddy, her eyes watering. “I’m so tired, Teddy, and so sorry.”
“It’s all right,” he said, patting her hand. “We’ll be all right. It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Uncle Perry added. “You have to tell yourself, if it was meant to be, it would be.”
Behind him, Cassie rolled her eyes. The nurse’s aide came in, and Cassie gave her Mother’s tray.
“I know you all have so much to do,” Mother said “I don’t want to bring any more hardship to this family.”
“Arianna!” Daddy snapped. “Don’t say things like that. You haven’t brought any hardship. We’re all fine, fine.”
I couldn’t help myself. I started to cry. Instantly, Cassie seized my left arm at the elbow and tugged me back.
“Stop it!” she whispered. “You’ll make things even worse.”
I sucked in my breath and turned so Mother wouldn’t see. Cassie stepped in front of me and began to talk to Mother.
“Now, listen, Mother, Daddy’s right. Semantha and I have things under control at the house. We’ll both return to school tomorrow, and Daddy will return to work. We’ll come to see you as often as we can while you’re here, but Uncle Perry and Daddy are right. We need you well and home.” She spoke sternly, then glanced at Daddy and added, “We really need you, Mother. The house is empty without you. No matter what happened, you still have Semantha and me to care for and love, and we both love and need you.”