“Yes, it was,” she said. “I think I told you that we were unable to have children. So, my husband found someone he
“Oh, my, I am sorry.” Carlynn shook her head. “Alan and I could have no children, either, so I know how you must have felt.”
“But Alan didn’t leave.” Joelle turned the corner into the parking lot of the nursing home.
“No, I think our generation was quite different from yours. And Alan and I were bound together by so much… So very much.” Carlynn looked lost in her own thoughts for a moment, then she suddenly sat up straight in the seat. “Is this the nursing home? Let me shift my mental gears, then,” she said, taking off her sunglasses and folding them in her lap. “Let me sit quietly. I want to get ready to meet your Mara.”
Joelle parked the car and turned off the ignition. “Shall I leave you alone?” she asked.
“Just for a few minutes,” Carlynn said. “I’ll open my door so I don’t suffocate.” She giggled like a little girl as she opened the passenger-side door.
“There’s a bench by the front door of the building,” Joelle said. “I’ll meet you there, all right?”
“Fine.” Carlynn leaned her head against the headrest, folded her hands around her sunglasses in her lap, and closed her eyes.
Joelle walked slowly up the path to the bench near the front door of the nursing home. This whole situation was starting to feel a bit hokey to her now. The so-called shifting of mental gears, the sitting quietly to prepare herself for meeting Mara. The healer herself dying of hepatitis. Maybe Alan Shire had been trying to protect Joelle from being suckered. Whatever. It was too late now to change her mind.
She hoped she had timed the visit accurately. It was nearly five. She knew Liam would be visiting Mara alone today, without Sam and Sheila, and even if she and Carlynn spent a full hour with Mara, they would still have time to get out of the nursing home before he arrived. As long as Liam was not early, they would be all right.
Joelle didn’t understand why, but Sheila had turned cold to her recently. She and Sheila and Liam had been a real team after Mara became ill, working together to get her the best care possible. Sheila would often call Joelle for her opinion of a particular doctor’s suggested treatment or of a nursing home’s skill level, and sometimes she’d simply call for consolation or to chat. Joelle had felt like a true member of the family. Although she couldn’t pinpoint the moment she’d noticed a change, Joelle no longer received phone calls from Sheila. As a matter of fact, Sheila barely even spoke to her when they bumped into one another, not even offering her a smile. Joelle had called her once a couple of months ago to ask if she had done something to offend her, and Sheila pretended she had no idea what she was talking about. That left very little room for resolving the situation, and Joelle had given up.
Carlynn walked up the path toward her, using her cane, with only a hint of a limp in her gait. Joelle drew in a deep breath.
Mara’s bed had been cranked up into a sitting position, and she looked exactly the way Joelle hated to see her look. She was asleep, her face slack, aging her fifteen years. Her mouth hung open a little, a rivulet of saliva trickling down her chin, and her short hair, which Joelle cut herself once a month, was disheveled from the pillow.
Joelle took Carlynn’s arm at the door of Mara’s room. “She’ll smile when she wakes up,” she whispered. “She’ll look as though she knows who I am, but I don’t believe she does.”
Carlynn nodded and followed Joelle into the room.
Joelle sat on the edge of Mara’s bed, while Carlynn stood off to one side.
“Mara.” Joelle touched the pale hand where it rested on the covers. “Mara? It’s Joelle, sweetie.”
Mara’s long, dark lashes fluttered open, and she smiled the instant she saw Joelle.
Joelle took a tissue from the box on the nightstand and wiped Mara’s chin with it. “Mara,” she said, “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine, Carlynn Shire.”
Mara didn’t shift her gaze from Joelle until Carlynn moved closer to the bed, stepping into her field of vision. She looked at Carlynn, that vacuous but eternally happy expression on her face. Carlynn had to be taken in by her beauty, Joelle thought, by the remarkable change in Mara’s face once she was awake and alert, if
“Hello, Mara.” Carlynn gently lifted one of Mara’s hands.
“Would you rather she be in her wheelchair?” Joelle asked, standing up from the edge of the bed.
“No,” Carlynn spoke to Mara, “let’s leave you in bed, where you’re probably more comfortable.”
Joelle sat in the chair near the night table, while Carlynn rested her cane against the table and took her place on the edge of Mara’s bed.
“My, you’re very beautiful,” Carlynn said. “I’ve spoken with Joelle, and she told me all about you. How deep your friendship is with her. How much she loves you. You are a much-loved person.”
Mara merely blinked her eyes. Joelle was certain she had no understanding of Carlynn’s words.
“Would you like to have a gentle massage of your hands?” Carlynn asked, but Mara’s expression didn’t change.
“I think she would,” Joelle said. “I’ve done that for her sometimes.” She realized as she spoke that it had been a long time since she’d given Mara a massage. She used to rub her all over with moisturizing lotion, and it had made her feel as though she was at least trying to help her friend. Sometime in the past year, she’d given up. Did Liam still do that, massage Mara, touch her that way, with gentleness? She hoped so.
Carlynn reached into her large handbag and brought out a bottle of lotion. Joelle craned her neck to see the label, expecting the lotion to contain special herbal ingredients or at least
Carlynn poured some of the lotion onto her own palm, then gently lifted one of Mara’s limp hands and began a slow, tender massage. Joelle remained quiet, not even watching the two women after a while, just listening as
