Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(94)

“Lo siento mucho,” she whispered. “I’m sorry you had to go through all this.”

“Shh, it’s okay, baby. You’re done with it now. All of it.”

“Te amo, Miguel. I love you.”

“Te amo mucho,” he said. “It’s over, baby.”

Every afternoon when it was almost David’s nap time, Mel would drive out to the Andersen ranch. Doc went out there every morning and most evenings. They’d been doing this since the second week in January when Lilly’s chemo and radiation had been suspended. There comes a time in every life when the curtain is coming down, and when that time is present and there’s no way to turn back the clock, the best answer is dignity and peace.

When Mel arrived at the ranch, she greeted family members and put David down in Chloe’s crib with his afternoon bottle where he would sleep for a couple of hours. Then she went to Lilly’s bedroom, checked the morphine drip and kissed her on the forehead. “How’s my girl today?” she asked.

“I think this is a good day to talk to the kids,” she said weakly. “I don’t want to miss my opportunity.”

“Okay,” Mel said.

“Will you help me?”

“Of course. Let’s see who we can gather up.”

Mel went to the living room and kitchen. Lilly’s daughters were there, her sons out in the barn with their dad. “Your mom wants to talk to you about something important. Can you round up your dad and brothers?”

“I’ll go,” Sheila said.

Back in the bedroom, sitting down again beside Lilly and taking her hand, Mel said, “It’s going to be okay, you know.”

“I know. I owe you so much, Mel.”

“Oh, it’s the other way around. If I hadn’t found Chloe on Doc’s porch, I’d have made it all the way to Colorado Springs without ever knowing my husband, without having my children.”

Only five of Lilly’s seven kids were present, but that was enough for her to make a clean breast of it. Buck stayed in the kitchen with Chloe, bouncing her on his knee as he had with the six children before her. “This is going to shock you,” Lilly said to her grown children. “I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I lied to you. I was a little bit crazy,” she said, and then was sent into a coughing fit and had to rest for a little while, her children looking at each other in confusion.

“Whew,” Lilly said when she recovered. “I have to get this over with. Chloe isn’t adopted,” she said weakly. “I gave birth to her, right here, in this bed. I covered my pregnancy with large and loose clothes and put her on Doc’s doorstep. Mel?” she said, looking up at her.

“I’m going to see if I can help out with this,” Mel said. “Your mom is so tired. Lilly was distraught at the thought of having another child to raise at the age of forty-eight, already being a grandmother seven times. She thought some nice young couple desperate for a baby would want to adopt her and that everyone would be better off—that Chloe would have young parents. But when no one came forward, Lilly took her back.”

“I regretted it so much,” Lilly said. “Your father thought it was crazy, but he was more afraid of what I might do if he didn’t go along with the idea. I was really out of my mind. So I pretended to foster and adopt her—but she’s your blood. I can’t die without you knowing.”

Lilly’s oldest daughter, Amy, sat down beside her on the bed. She took her mother’s hand, kissed it gently and smiled. “Well, that certainly explains why she looks like all the rest of the Andersens.” She leaned over and kissed her mother’s cheek. “You shouldn’t worry so much. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry I lied to you all.”

“But you did the right thing when you brought her back home. We would have taken care of her for life anyway….”

“It’s important that you know where she came from,” Mel said. “Not just for medical reasons, but so she knows her legacy. Her biological family. We can’t have our girl running around Northern California trying to figure out who her family is.”

“If you have to tell her someday, please tell her that I loved her so much. And that I’m sorry,” Lilly said. “Shew. I’m so tired. I hope this doesn’t last much longer.”

Mel stood and tinkered with the drip, giving her a little more morphine.

One by one Lilly’s children leaned over the bed and kissed their mother.

“It’s okay, Mom. Everything is okay and I love you.”

“Thank you for another sister, Mom.”

“We’ll take care of everything—don’t you ever worry.”

“No one’s mad at you, Mom. You’re the best mother and grandmother in the world.”

And finally, to her oldest boy, Lilly said, “Harry—you be sure to take care of Dad. He’s really helpless.”

“I got it, Mom. He’ll be fine.”

When it was just Mel and Lilly again, Lilly said, “There. I’ve been meaning to do that for a long time. Thanks.”

“It wasn’t me. You raised a wonderful family. They’re the most loving people I know.”

“It’s much easier to go, knowing that. I’m leaving behind some good work. Really, a woman couldn’t ask for more from a lifetime than a family like that. They make me so proud.”