The Silent Sister(110)

The heavy door to the room opened and Danny walked toward me, shaking his head. “I’m so mad at you,” he said, but I could tell he was more relieved than angry. He wouldn’t talk to me that way if he thought I was going to die.

“I had to go see her,” I said.

He stood at the side of my bed, his hands in his jeans pockets. “You had to go warn her, you mean.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t do a very good job of it,” he said. “They haven’t canceled the concert. At least not yet, and it’s only a few hours away.”

“Have you talked to Harry?” I held my breath.

“You asked me to wait, and I waited. I planned to see him this morning, but I haven’t had the chance, since my little sister had an accident.” His smile was small, but it reached his eyes and I felt his love. “I still plan to see him as soon as I get back to New Bern, though,” he added.

I was sure he’d fantasized about tonight, watching Harry approach Lisa, either before or after—or, God forbid, during—the concert. Finally, after all these years, he’d see her get the punishment he thought she deserved.

“Danny…” I said, “I know Jeannie told you about…” My voice suddenly shut down and I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Yes, I know it all.” He took his hands from his pockets and wrapped them around the safety rail of my bed, and I wondered if he was thinking about the fact that he wasn’t my brother after all. “At least, I know the parts Lisa wants us to know,” he said, “but—”

“She didn’t want us to know any of it,” I said quickly. “It was Celia who told me everything.”

“And we know whose side Celia is on,” he said bluntly.

I frowned. “Are you saying you don’t believe her?” I asked. “What part of the story are you questioning?”

“It doesn’t matter if I buy it or not,” he said, his smile completely gone now. “The fact that the guy was a bastard isn’t the issue. He was still a human being and she slaughtered him.”

That was the undeniable truth. Maybe if it had been someone else’s mother at risk here, I would have been among the first to say she should stand trial and serve her time. But this was my mother at the center of the storm. I couldn’t let that happen.

“Please don’t take her away from me, Danny,” I pleaded.

He let go of the rail and walked over to the window. He looked outside for a moment, then turned to face me, his arms folded across his chest. “She never should have jumped bail,” he said. “She should have stayed and—”

“Blame her jumping bail on Daddy, if you have to blame someone,” I interrupted him. “She felt desperate, and she was so young.”

The door opened with the slightest of squeaks, and a young, blond-haired nurse came into the room and walked over to my bed. Danny waited silently while she took my blood pressure, shined a flashlight in my eyes, and asked me if I knew where I was.

“You’re doing awesome,” she said when she’d finished. Then she nodded toward the door. “Your friend Jade is waiting out there to see you,” she said. “Are you up for a little more company?”

I glanced at Danny. His face was like stone.

“Yes,” I said. “Please let her come in.”





59.

Jade

She shivered as she walked down the hall toward Riley’s room, and not only because the air-conditioning in the hospital was set too low. Jeannie had said she’d be welcome in the room … by Riley at least. Jeannie hadn’t been so sure about Danny, though, and he was the one who held her future in his hands. She felt like she was walking toward the executioner.

Jeannie had greeted her and Celia when they’d arrived at the hospital a short time earlier. If her life hadn’t been in the midst of chaos, Jade would have been thrilled to see her. As it was, she’d felt close to tears when Jeannie hugged her. That hug told her that, at least in Jeannie’s eyes, she was forgiven for everything she’d put her family through. For every lie she’d told.

Riley’s nurse, a petite, perpetually smiling blond woman, had asked Jade if she was one of Riley’s relatives.

“Jade’s a family friend,” Jeannie had answered for her. “Their families go way back.”

Back as far as you can go, Jade thought now as she knocked lightly on the door. Pushing it open, she was relieved to see Riley nearly sitting upright in the bed. Riley was pale and bruised, her smile uncertain, and Jade felt a rush of gratitude at seeing her alive and alert. At the other side of the room, Danny stood silhouetted in front of the windows. With the light behind him, Jade couldn’t make out his features at all and felt instantly at a disadvantage. It was impossible, though, to miss the edgy tension that crackled in the room.

“Hi.” She smiled at Riley as she walked toward the bed, trying to pretend this was a simple hospital visit rather than a reunion between three hurt, brittle, and wired-up people. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I’m all right,” Riley reassured her.

Jade bent over to kiss her daughter’s cheek. “I’m so relieved,” she said. “I was terrified when I heard.” She tore herself away from Riley and walked across the room, her body stiff with fear as she held out her hand to her brother. She’d never felt less sure of what to say in her life. There were no words to make up for the years apart.