A Walk Along the Beach(11)

“I’m sure he’ll be back on Monday,” Alice assured me.

Embarrassed, I tried to pretend it was no concern of mine.

    We stopped off at the local market to purchase a large bouquet of colorful spring flowers for Mom, along with a bottle of water so they would remain fresh. The mood was somber as we headed to the cemetery. Because of our frequent visits, we had no problem finding Mom’s grave site.

Lucas poured the water into the small vase and I set the bouquet inside. Then we bowed our heads and each said our own special greeting to the mother we so deeply loved and would always miss.

Harper looked up and her gaze drifted from me to Lucas. “I have something to tell you…I probably should have before now.” She paused and tears clouded her eyes.

I reached for her hand and she gripped hold of it so hard I nearly cried out.

“When I was the sickest, when I was sure I was going to die, Mom came to me.”





CHAPTER 5





Willa


“Mom came to you?” Lucas repeated.

Harper nodded and smeared the tears across her cheeks. “For a long time, I thought I must have been hallucinating, but the more I think back to that day, the more I realize she was there. Mom was with me.”

“You actually saw her?” Lucas asked, looking as stunned as I felt.

Harper hesitated before answering. “I…I don’t think I saw her as much as felt her presence. I knew she was there, although I don’t know how I knew…I just did.”

“You said she spoke to you?”

“I didn’t hear an audible voice, if that’s what you mean. It’s hard to explain. I was so sick and weak; everything hurt. Nothing seemed to make it better. Willa had been with me all day and refused to leave my side until you came,” she said, looking to Lucas. “You convinced her to take a break and go with you down to the hospital cafeteria, so for the first time I was alone.”

    “What happened?” I asked, struggling to hold back my own tears. The fact Harper had managed to keep this to herself for this long shocked me. Not once since she’d gone into remission had she mentioned anything about this incident.

Harper nodded. “It was at a point where I didn’t care any longer if I lived or died. Sick as I was, I would have welcomed death just to make the pain go away.”

If memory served me right, it must have been soon after the initial treatments began. Harper was in the hospital twelve days for the first round of chemotherapy. She lost all her beautiful blond hair, but that was the least of her problems. The treatments left her violently ill, and to complicate everything, she developed an intestinal infection. We were told this was a common side effect of chemotherapy. In Harper’s case, it had almost been a deadly combination. Fearing we were going to lose her, I was at her side almost twenty-four/seven.

“The thing is, I kept drifting in and out of sleep. After Lucas took Willa away, I felt this strange comfort. I still hurt and would have done anything to make the pain stop. That was when I felt a presence in the room. Not a physical presence, like a nurse checking on me. A spiritual one. Right away I knew it was Mom. I didn’t hear her voice, but I felt it in my heart just as if she had spoken. Mom told me I needed to hold on. That I would survive, and I did.”

“Yes, you did,” I said, blinking back my own tears. “And look at you now. You’re climbing one more mountain.”

Harper smiled at me through her own tears. “Yes, I am. Mount Rainier, here I come.”



* * *



—

    Monday, I found myself waiting for Sean to stop by and was disappointed when the morning passed without my seeing him. Harper almost had me convinced that he was interested, and I’d been foolish enough to believe her.

Harper dropped in between classes, as cheerful as ever. “Has Sean been here today?” she asked, as I made her the drink she had created with kale, wheatgrass juice, and protein powder, then dished up her favorite whole-grain spelt brownie.

Doing my best to hide my disappointment, I shook my head. “Not today.”

“Oh,” she murmured, pouting a bit. “That’s disappointing.”

“I told you he wasn’t interested.” I was intent on making busywork at the counter. Alice had phoned in sick, but I had a feeling it had more to do with fun over the weekend than any virus. As a result, I was left manning the counter single-handedly. Shirley had made it clear when I hired her that she was no barista and preferred to bake and stay in the kitchen.

Harper finished her brownie and returned to work and I went about my day. Near closing time, Sean arrived. My heart did a little jig when I saw him. Thankfully, the business had died down and it was only the two of us in the café.

“Your usual?” I asked when he stepped up to the counter.

He nodded. I noticed he looked tired. “Busy day?” I asked.

“Busy weekend,” he answered, holding my look. “I was on a last-minute assignment. The timing couldn’t have been worse.”

I was curious and wanted to question him but wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate. I knew next to nothing about his work and wished I did. If I was more like Harper, who naturally engaged people, I would have encouraged a conversation.