“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.”