“Do you think Georgina finally realizes that those memories she had were strictly in her imagination?” Daddy sounded more hopeful that he had any right to be.
“I really don’t know. Dr. Sturges had a powerful influence on her patients. All of them. It may be tough to overcome.”
Ruth massaged her neck as if it were sore. “I thought you said that Georgina is seeing a new doctor.”
“Scott says she is. We can always hope that the new guy doesn’t see abuse lurking behind every tree.”
“You know I didn’t do anything to that child,” Daddy said.
“We all know that, Daddy.”
“Where’s Georgina now?” Mom’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I don’t know, Mom. I’ll see if I can find out.” If Mother died while I was trying to locate Georgina, I would never forgive my sister.
“Do you want me to come?” Paul lurched to his feet.
I shook my head. “I’m just going to make a phone call.”
“There’s a phone right here.” Daddy pointed to the telephone on a bedside table.
I wanted a little privacy, but couldn’t think of a graceful way to escape. I dialed my sister’s number.
“Hello?” It was one of the twins.
“Sean?”
I had guessed right. “Hi, Aunt Hannah.”
“Can I talk to your mommy?”
“She’s not here.”
That was a good sign. “How about your daddy?”
“Not here either. Want to talk to Mrs. Crombie?”
“Who’s Mrs. Crombie?”
“She’s the lady next door. Mommy started crying, so Daddy got Mrs. Crombie to come over. She made us popcorn.”
“That’s nice. Can I talk to Mrs. Crombie, Sean?” I held the phone away from my ear while Sean summoned the helpful neighbor with a shout so loud it made me wonder if she was watching my niece and nephews from her own home.
“You don’t need to shout, Sean. I’m right here.” Mrs. Crombie sounded upbeat and young, like one of the upwardly mobile professionals who lived on Georgina’s street. She told me that Scott and Georgina had left for the hospital forty-five minutes ago, saying that she didn’t know when to expect them home.
That was the best news I had heard all day. I wished the woman good-bye, then leaned back against the wall. I checked my watch. If they left the house forty-five minutes ago, they should be here now. Where the hell were they?
When I tuned back in, Ruth was talking about feng shui. All the beds in Bali were oriented with their heads toward some sacred mountain. Still no Georgina. Mother lay quietly, almost smiling while her machines beeped in a regular, reassuring rhythm. I talked myself into thinking that it was going to be all right. Where there’s life there’s hope.
My mouth was furry and dry, tasting of the garlic in the slice of pizza I’d had for lunch. “Want something to drink?”
Ruth nodded. “Tea would be nice.” Dad just shook his head and pointed to a paper cup on the bedside table.
Paul came to life. “Let me help.”
“That’d be great.” I didn’t want to be alone. Not for a single minute.
I was hungry, too, but I knew from past experience that at this hour, all the food concessions would be closed. Paul and I left the coronary care unit and went in search of the vending machines, which were tucked into an alcove farther along the hall. We bought a Coke and two teas.
When we returned I was delighted to find Scott and Georgina sitting in the waiting area just outside the door that led into the coronary care unit, holding hands. I noticed that Georgina had come away wearing her apron. A bright red corner of it peeked out where her coat fell open at her knees.
“Georgina?” Her face was red and puffy from crying, her eyelids swollen.
“Oh, Hannah!” She sprang to her feet and lunged in my direction, startling me so that I nearly dropped the Styrofoam cup I was holding. I spread my arms wide while Georgina wrapped herself around me. Paul lifted the cup from my hands, freeing me to hug Georgina properly.
“How’s Mom?” Scott directed the question to Paul over my head.
“Stable for now.”
Georgina released me and stepped back, her tear-stained face a mask of misery. “I’m so ashamed.”
I felt like saying You ought to be, but was so glad that my sister seemed to have come around that I didn’t dare. “She’s asking for you,” I said.
Georgina raised an eyebrow. “She is?”
“She wants to see you, Georgina.”
Georgina turned to her husband. “I don’t know what to do, Scott.”
“It’s up to you, honey. Remember what Dr. Loring said.” He stared at his wife for a long time without blinking.
Georgina flopped onto a chair and patted the one next to her. “Can you sit down for a minute, Hannah?”
“Sure.”
Paul dragged another chair over so we could all sit together. It took a while for Georgina to come to the point. She sat there peeling the frosted pink polish off her nails, not looking directly at me. “I’ve been thinking about what you said,” she began. She chipped away at a nail with her index finger. “After you left, I telephoned Dr. Loring. He’s helping me put things together.”
I nodded, my hands wrapped around my cup. “And?”
“Suggestion can be a powerful thing.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Dr. Loring indicated that I might have been unduly influenced by some of the other women in that therapy group.”
Hallelujah! A crack in the facade. I hoped that if I waited long enough, it might split wide open and my real baby sister would arise from the ruins.
“Stephanie Golden said the same thing, Georgina. It wasn’t until she withdrew from the group that she started thinking more clearly and began to question Dr. Sturges’s diagnosis.”
Georgina made the connection. “Hannah, you have to understand that all that stuff about the Cabbage Patch doll seemed so real to me. I could see her face just as plain as day. She had on a yellow flowered dress and little buttoned shoes.” She shook her head. “But I checked into what you told me, and you’re right. There’s no way I could have had one.”
I leaned against the back of the chair and exhaled. I felt dizzy, as if I’d been holding my breath for a week.
“I have to be honest,” Georgina continued. “I’m still not one-hundred-percent sure that nothing ever happened, but after listening to you and to Dr. Loring, I’m willing to give Dad the benefit of the doubt.”
After all we’d been though in the past seven weeks, I felt like tossing my teacup into the air and dancing a jig on the tabletop. Scott looked more thoughtful. “That therapy group was like a fire. Each member was a log. The more logs, the hotter the fire. But as the logs were pulled away…”
“When I pulled myself away,” Georgina corrected, “it was if the fire grew cooler.” She studied me silently, chewing on her lower lip. “But I still have a feeling that something happened in Sicily. If it wasn’t Daddy…?”
I grew suddenly cold, as if a cloud had passed over the sun. Paolo? Charming, lighthearted Paolo? I shivered. No. No way.
As if he had read my mind, Paul laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, then spoke directly to Georgina. “It’s your mother who needs you now, Georgina. We may not have much time.”
Scott grabbed his wife’s upper arm and shook it. “Go!”
“But…”
Scott stood, took her hand, and pulled her to her feet. “Go, Georgina, or you may regret it for the rest of your life.” He pulled a crumpled tissue out of his shirt pocket and waited for her to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. She turned a blotched face toward me.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Ready.”
Outside our mother’s room Georgina stood frozen, looking in. I knew she had to be taking in the machines and the sounds and smells of serious illness. Fresh tears brimmed in her eyes, and she must have seen what I did-Ruth and Dad flanking the bed; Paul perched on the arm of a chair talking to Emily on the telephone. And our mother.