Her mother-in-law laughed maniacally.
“He doesn’t love you. How could he?” she jeered.
“He loves me,” Rory affirmed.
“If he truly loves you, where is he? Not in this church and certainly not in Oak Harbor fighting for you,” she said matter-of-factly.
Rory glanced around the church once more, but it was useless. She already knew he wasn’t there. Her tears continued to fall, and her heart sank to the bottom of her chest, leaving the space hollow.
“Your wedding was destined to be like this all along,” Lenora smiled victoriously. “Groom less.”
Suddenly there was a crescendo of mocking laughter from behind her. Rory couldn’t take it. She crouched down with her hands over her ears as the laughter got louder, drowning out everything else.
Rory woke with a start, her hand flying to her chest as her heart beat wildly against her ribcage. Sweat covered her forehead and arms.
“What was the hell?”
ChapterTwelve
Andrea placed her sneaker-clad foot on the fork and pressed down heavily, displacing the soil around the rose bush she was currently working on. She pulled the handle of the fork horizontally to the soil, ensuring its prongs moved the dirt upward.She continued to do this until the earth around the bush was completely dug up and turned over.
Her mother’s rose garden needed to be prepared for the incoming frost. Autumn was coming to a fast close, with the tree’s leaves having almost all fallen to the ground and the winter chill coming in from further up north. Before they knew it would be winter. The temperature so far was already in the low twenties.
For the roses and the other flowers in the garden to have another successful blooming session next spring, what she was doing now was very important to prevent the frost from destroying them. She made a note that she needed to pick up some bags of mulch and garden coverings from the garden store when next she visited town.
She rested against the fork and wiped the sweat from her brows.
Resting a bit, she admired the beauty before her. A plethora of colorful roses and other flowers, those that were perennial and those that were annual, perpetuated the space broken up and separated by cobbled pathways that gave visitors the opportunity to admire the work of art that was her mother’s rose garden.
A small smile of satisfaction graced her lips. It was a lot of work to prepare the garden for the winter, but she was prepared for it.
“Need a hand?”
Andrea looked over her shoulders to see her sisters coming toward her.
“Thanks, but I think this is it for me today,” she informed them, taking in a deep breath and releasing it before turning to join them on the path.
“You know Jamie did offer to send a few of his workers to help out. It’s not too late to accept the offer,” Cora suggested as they made their way toward the raised platform to the back of the garden.
“I know, but I just think this is something we should take care of ourselves. Dad took great pride in making this garden beautiful for mom all by himself. We owe it to him and to ourselves to continue his work knowing all that we know.”
The three sisters sank into the garden chairs situated around a wrought iron table. Cora released a heavy sigh.
“I’m so scared at how quickly mom’s sickness is progressing,” she spoke fearfully.
The others nodded their agreement, the weight of what was now proving to be the inevitable pressing heavily on them. They were witnessing all that the doctor had explained to them would happen, and from their own research that their mother was manifesting more and more of the symptoms posted for stage two. Pretty soon, she would progress to stage three. None of them could bear the thought.
“I keep wondering…if we had known earlier. If we had come back sooner, if it would have made a difference, you know?” Andrea peered at her sisters, her face riddled with guilt and regret. These were the questions that plagued her constantly, especially at night when she lay in bed.
“You can’t think like that,” Cora warned. “It’s not our fault that mom is sick, and as much as I do wish we had known earlier, I’m not sure it would have made much difference. You heard what the doctor said. Even if she could be admitted to a trial, there was only a 25% chance that it would have prolonged her life for a few more years.”
The sisters sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thought and regrets over the whole situation. It didn’t seem fair to Andrea. She was just rebuilding her relationship with her mother and running out of time fast.
“It kills me to see her in so much pain,” Jo sighed, looking down at her locked fingers resting on the table.
“Yeah, I know,” Cora agreed. “I wish she wouldn’t try to hide just how much pain she’s really in. This morning I heard her groaning, but when I went into her room, she stopped and tried covering it with a smile, but I could see it in her eyes. She was struggling.” Cora shuddered, dismayed by the memory.
“The day you guys went dress shopping with Rory, she had another episode,” Jo confessed softly.
