I nodded, but Cassie could see I wasn’t happy about it. “I do miss her and want to see her, Cassie,” I said.
“Of course you do. We do, but if we don’t use tough love and be strong, we’ll only do her more harm. You want her back on her feet quickly, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s settled. You might as well go back to work here and really get yourself tired. Then you won’t have to pretend so much. In fact, when you’re finished here, wash all the floors downstairs and upstairs. I’m returning to the office.”
Wash all the floors in this great house? That will take me all day, I thought, and just sat there anticipating how exhausted I would be. I went ahead and began the work, however, breaking only for lunch and then, when Cassie called me down from washing the upstairs floors, to have what she called a snack to kill our dinner appetites. Her plan certainly worked. Daddy only had to take one look at both of us at dinner for him to suggest that we should stay home and get to bed early.
To my surprise, Cassie started to protest, but then she looked at me and said, “Semantha is exhausted. She’s had a terrible emotional ride. I couldn’t see leaving her alone.”
Daddy agreed and was pleased. He left right after dinner and promised to give Mother our love and tell her we’d be there tomorrow.
“Of course, we won’t be.”
“How will we avoid it tomorrow, Cassie?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll think of something. She won’t be there much longer, anyway, I’m sure.”
Still, I went to bed feeling very guilty and twice almost went to the phone to call the hospital and at least speak to Mother, but Cassie had specifically forbidden that, too.
“Mother will see he’s making up some excuse,” she told me before I went to sleep. “She’ll realize she should come home. She’ll be worried about us instead of herself, finally.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t help remembering how Uncle Perry had called her another Aunt Agnes. If the world really needed people like that, I thought, it must not be a very nice place.
I was so tired that despite my wish to wait up for Daddy to see how Mother was, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn’t open my eyes until the sunlight struck my face in the morning. Realizing I had missed him, I leaped out of bed and washed and dressed as quickly as I could. Cassie was already downstairs, and Daddy was at the table. He had to go to Lexington this morning.
“How was Mother last night?” I asked the moment I saw him.
Cassie poured him some more coffee.
“It was amazing. When I first arrived, she was almost the way she was when you girls were there, but when I told her why you two couldn’t come, she seemed to rally. Before I left, she told me she has to get home and get back to taking care of all of us. I was very encouraged.”
“That’s wonderful, Daddy.”
“Yes. Now,” he said, looking at me with his chin lowered and his eyes raised, “remember, you’re on probation. No funny business.”
“I’ll remember.”
“Good.”
Almost as soon as he left, Cassie pounced. “Well? Do you see how right I was now? Do you?”
“Yes, Cassie.”
She smiled. “As long as you listen to me, Semantha, you’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.”
What could I do but agree, yet I wondered if she ever felt arrogant. Mother always said she was the most self-confident young woman around, but when does self-confidence move into the realm of arrogance? When do you become your own worst enemy?
And for Cassie, Cassie as a worst enemy would be devastating, I was sure.
It wouldn’t be all that much longer before I would be the one proving that true.
Mrs. Bledsoe
CASSIE DIDN’T HAVE to come up with a new reason for us staying home and not visiting Mother at the hospital. When we arrived home from school the next day, we found Daddy in the hallway speaking with a private-duty nurse. Even without the sight of the nurse being there, one look at his face told me anyway that Mother had been brought home. His smile and robust energy had returned.
It had been a most interesting day for me at school. Again, Cassie’s predictions proved to be true. Before I had violently attacked Roxanne Peters, most of my classmates and other students saw me as aloof, rich, spoiled, and snobby, someone who thought she was lowering herself to be in their company. The fact that I could behave more the way one of them would behave won me many new converts and solidified whatever small relationships I had built with some. Even Kent, as Rachel had said, saw me in a new light and was very friendly, to the point of suggesting we go to a movie together soon.