Surfside Sisters(24)

“He had a heart attack.”

“But you’re a nurse! Didn’t you—”

    “Of course I tried to save him. I gave him CPR, I did my best to revive him, and I called the ambulance and they came right away.”

Her mother continued to speak. Keely crumpled onto her chair, shaking. She couldn’t get her breath.

“Keely, honey, are you okay?”

“How can I be? I don’t believe this. Oh, Mom. Are you all right?”

“I don’t know…I can’t think…” Her mother broke into wrenching sobs.

Her mother’s anguish made it real. Keely’s father had died. Keely wanted to throw back her head and howl with grief, with anger at the universe. But she knew her father would want her to be in control, to take care of her mother who had lost her husband, her companion, the love of her life. Keely couldn’t turn back time, but she could pull herself together and be there for her mother.

“When did this happen?”

“This morning. I’m still at the hospital.”

“Do you have someone with you?”

Keely’s mother laughed weakly. “Keely, I’m a nurse here. I have all my colleagues here.”

“But Brenda.” Brenda, Eloise’s best friend, lived on a small farm with her husband and their always-changing menagerie of rescued animals. “Can you call Brenda and have her help you?”

“Yes. I can do that. I will. But I need you to come home.”

“Of course, Mom. I’ll leave right now. I’ll be able to catch the seven o’clock fast ferry. If not that, the slow boat at eight.”

“Good. Let me know. I’ll meet you there.”

“Mom? Mom, I love you.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

Keely threw clothes in her duffel bag, grabbed her clutch and her backpack, and scribbled a note to her roommate. She didn’t say when she was coming back. She didn’t know.

As she drove, she knew she had to keep it together. She had to hold in her tears, she had to pay attention to the traffic, the exit signs, the stoplights. But her heart was swollen, almost bursting. She put on the radio, tuned in to heavy metal, and screamed along with the earsplitting, furious music. By the time she reached the ferry, her throat was sore.



* * *



—

    Brenda was with Eloise to meet Keely’s boat.

“Keely,” Eloise cried, throwing her arms around Keely and hugging her close.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Keely said, knowing that nothing was okay right now.

They stood together, weeping, devastated, holding each other up. After a few moments, Keely gently pushed her mother away. “Let’s go home.” Keely tucked her arm into her mother’s arm and steered her toward Brenda’s car.

As soon as they were in the house, Brenda said, “I’ll leave you two alone. Call me tomorrow if you need anything.”

Brenda looked exhausted, Keely thought, and her mother seemed to have aged decades in a day.

“Sit down, Mom. I’m going to make us something to drink.”

She found a bottle of pinot noir in the kitchen and poured them both a healthy serving.

“Take your shoes off, Mom. You look shattered. I’ll sit here, put your feet on my lap. Now tell me. Tell me about Dad.”

Needing to talk, her mother let it all spill out. “We were having breakfast. You know how George loves his bacon and eggs. He was eating, and he clutched his chest, and oh, Keely, he made an agonizing noise. I said, ‘Oh, George, have you got indigestion again?’ But I knew he didn’t have indigestion. I knew he was having a heart attack. So I tried to get an aspirin down him, but everything happened too quickly. He couldn’t swallow. He didn’t say anything. He just made that horrible noise and then he slumped over.” Eloise began to weep.

“Oh, poor Daddy.” Sorrow wrenched Keely’s heart.

    “Keely, he fell out of his chair. Onto the floor. I tried to break his fall. I cushioned his head with my arms. And when he was on the floor, I called 911, and then I tried CPR. I talked to him. I told him I loved him over and over until the ambulance came.”

“Oh, Mom, how terrible for you. How scary.”

“It was. It was scary.” Her mother put a handkerchief to her mouth to hold back sobs.

Keely waited for her mother to calm herself and listened as Eloise spoke about the rest of the day. The hospital room where her husband had a weak pulse, and then, in spite of the physician’s efforts, no pulse. Dr. Lewis pronouncing George dead. The nurses hugging Eloise, the long minutes when they left Eloise alone in the room with her dead husband, how Eloise had talked to him and wept. Kind people bringing her tea. Someone giving her the phone, telling her to call Keely.

Eloise looked up at Keely, suddenly wide-eyed. “You’ll stay with me awhile, won’t you?”

“Of course, Mom. Of course.” Keely looked around the room. “Daddy’s chair!” she cried, catching sight of his slightly worn, beloved recliner. It had pockets on the side. His book of crossword puzzles and his notebook of game statistics were there, quietly waiting for him. It was like a relic from when the world was good.

“I know, Keely. He’s everywhere.” Her mother let out a wail like nothing Keely had ever heard before. “Everywhere and nowhere.”