“You have before,” Dana Sue reminded her mildly.
Helen scowled at her. “Whose side are you on?” she snapped.
“Yours, always, but he has a point,” Dana Sue said, ignoring the irony of her being the one to voice support for the doctor’s firm stance. She certainly hadn’t listened to a word he’d told her, or more precisely, acted on his advice. “How long have you been making promises that you’d deal with this by exercising and eating properly?”
“I do exercise. I do eat properly,” Helen said, then winced under Dana Sue’s skeptical scrutiny. “Most of the time, anyway. Look at me. I don’t have an extra ounce of weight on me.”
“Because you work most of the time and get stressed over it when you’re not working,” Dana Sue said. “He’s not giving you those pills to insult you or quarrel with your intentions. Doc Marshall wants you healthy. That’s it.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to defend him if I were you,” Helen retorted. “He’ll probably come after you next.”
Helen’s prediction was definitely valid, which was one reason Dana Sue hadn’t scheduled an appointment with him. She didn’t want to face him and find out that she was one step closer to needing pills or insulin to regulate her blood sugar. She felt fine—most of the time, anyway. And when she remembered to check her blood sugar, the level wasn’t that bad.
Recognizing the rationalization for what it was, she winced. They were all pathetic, she concluded wearily. They’d rather ignore their problems than deal with them head-on. How could she come down hard on Annie when she was just as bad? Maybe denial was a natural state for her, but it was dangerous for Annie and just as risky for Helen. Right now Dana Sue needed to focus on them.
“Let me ask you something,” she said. “If a client comes to you with a problem, what do you do?”
“Give them the best advice I can,” Helen answered, looking confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Bear with me a minute,” Dana Sue said. “Do you expect them to take it?”
“Of course,” she stated, as if anything else was inconceivable.
“When you see Doc Marshall, you’re expecting him to give you his expert professional advice, right? You don’t want him just to tell you what you want to hear, any more than you’d tell one of your clients only what they want to hear.”
Helen’s frown deepened. “You’re starting to get all reasonable and obnoxious like Maddie,” she accused.
Dana Sue grinned. “I’ll regard that as a compliment.” She took the bottle of pills from Helen’s clenched fist. “‘One a day,’” she read. “Seems a small price to pay if it’ll help get your blood pressure in check.”
“It’s the principle,” Helen complained, clearly not yet ready to give in.
“No, it’s your stubborn pride,” Dana Sue corrected. “You don’t like admitting you need help. Just think how great you’ll feel the day you can toss these things in the trash forever.”
Helen sighed then and reached for the bottle. “Fine. I’ll take the damn pills, but don’t you come grumbling to me when he hands you medication for your diabetes. I’ll throw all this calm, logical crap right back in your face.”
Dana Sue laughed. “Feel free.”
Only after Helen had gone to stick her head in Annie’s room and say good-night did Dana Sue sink back on the uncomfortable plastic chair and sigh. She was such a fraud. When push came to shove and she was faced with a prescription proving that she couldn’t control her blood-sugar levels on her own, she was going to be just as impossible as Helen. Worse, even.
But just as she’d been there for Helen tonight, Helen and Maddie would be there to remind her of the goal—to stay alive and well.
Thinking of that reminded her that she and Ronnie needed to do that very same thing for Annie tonight. Pulling herself together, she marched down the hall, prepared to endure tears, anger or whatever else their daughter threw at them.
* * *
She found Ronnie alone in the room with Annie. They were playing checkers, which had been one of their favorite after-dinner pastimes since Annie had been old enough to understand the rules.
“She’s still beating the daylights out of me,” he said as Dana Sue pulled a chair up beside his.
Annie beamed. “I am, but I don’t think you’re really concentrating,” she said. She immediately jumped his remaining three men to win yet another game.
Ronnie sighed dramatically. “See what I mean?” He turned to Dana Sue. “She’s ruthless.”
“You taught her that, so don’t start complaining about it now,” Dana Sue said. When Annie started to set up the board for another game, Dana Sue stopped her. “Let’s put it away for tonight, sweetie. We need to talk.”
Annie’s expression turned wary. “About?”
“Your sessions with Dr. McDaniels,” Ronnie said.
Dana Sue gave him a grateful look, relieved that he wasn’t going to leave this whole conversation up to her.
Annie’s good mood vanished in a heartbeat. “I don’t need a shrink,” she said sullenly. “I don’t know why she keeps coming back. I’ve told her I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Dana Sue insisted. “Look where you are, sweetie. No girl your age winds up in the hospital with heart problems unless there’s something serious going on.”
“But I’m well now,” Annie argued. “I’ve been eating the stuff Lacy and I agreed to, except when it’s totally disgusting. And then I drink those stupid little shakes to make up for it. Ask her. She’ll tell you that she’s gotten my calorie count almost up to normal, or what passes for normal in her world. I feel great. Dr. Lane says I’m getting stronger every day. I bet he’ll let me out of here tomorrow or the
