“MAMA?” Jo stood next to her hospital bed a short time later. She was fearful at how pale her mother looked against the sheets. Before Jo went in, her father had finally told her that Daisy Mae had collapsed at home. He’d been helping her into bed for the night and she’d begun feeling dizzy, right before she passed out. Her weight had been too much for him to bear by himself, and she’d crumpled to the floor, suffering major bruising. Paramedics had found her blood pressure alarmingly high.
The emergency room doctor had informed Lyndon that she’d suffered a hyperglycemic hyperosmolar nonketotic episode, and had she not been treated immediately she might have slipped into a coma and possibly even died. She’d originally been admitted to ICU, but had been moved to a regular room when she’d responded well to treatment. Right now she had an IV taped to her arm to help treat dehydration.
“You didn’t tell me she had diabetes,” Jo had said. “How long? How serious?”
Her father had waved his hand dismissively. “Some years now. Nothing serious. Type 2. I didn’t want to worry you about it, since we’ve been able to keep it under control.”
“By having me bring pecan pie?”
“What was I supposed to do once you brought it? Tell her she couldn’t have a piece? So long as she’s careful, she can even have that every now and again.”
“If I had known, I never would have brought it. Jesus, Daddy. Do you know how serious this is? You can’t control Mama any more than you can control the setting of the sun.”
Jo had served with a marine with type 1 diabetes. He’d been born with it and it ran in his family. But since the disease didn’t run in hers, she’d never had reason to believe any of them could get it. She hadn’t realized her mother’s obesity would make her more susceptible.
“Mama?” she said again, smoothing her hair back from her face.
Daisy Mae’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled faintly. “JoEllen Sue. What are you doing here?”
Jo was relieved that she not only was able to speak to her, but still had her same old spunk. “I’m here to see how you are, of course.”
“Oh, dear. I should have told your father not to call you.”
“From what I understand, you weren’t able to tell him anything.”
Daisy Mae frowned, as if trying to remember.
“Would you like some ice chips?” Jo asked, filling a plastic cup from the ice holder.
“Ice chips?” Daisy Mae licked her lips. “Why ever would I want ice chips? Surely there’s some sweet tea I could have?”
Jo bit her bottom lip and held up the glass of ice. “Open.”
Her mother did.
Jo’s heart nearly broke as she watched her chew on the chips. Her father must have helped her wash before the collapse, because there was not a speck of makeup on her mother’s face. A face that without rouge looked rounder than Jo could ever remember it. So much so that Daisy Mae’s eyes seemed like narrow slits, her mouth and nose tiny.
Hot tears welled up in Jo’s eyes.
“Mama, how can you keep doing this to yourself?” she whispered. “Doing this to us?”
Daisy Mae’s eyes focused on her and blinked several times. “Do what, JoEllen Sue?”
Jo swallowed thickly as she put the cup back on the side table. “This…putting on so much weight.”
Spots of color appeared on Daisy Mae’s cheeks, the only sign she’d registered what Jo had said. “I don’t know what you mean. I don’t weigh all that much more than I did when I won Miss Beaumont.”
Jo stared at her. “Mama, you weigh enough for four Miss Beaumonts.”
She patted Jo’s hand. “Don’t be silly. It’s just that thyroid problem I told you about. Nothing more. Watch. You’ll see. The doctor will be here in a minute to tell me I can go home in the morning.”
“And then what?”
“Pardon me?”
“You heard me, Mama. Then what? What happens after you go home? Have you seen the bruises on your hip and back? Has anyone shown you?”
Daisy Mae made a face. “Is that why I hurt so much? Must have happened during the fall. Nothing to be concerned about.”
“There’s everything to be concerned about. You shouldn’t be falling in the first place. Why didn’t you tell me you had diabetes?”
“It’s just a touch of The Sugar. There wasn’t any reason to tell you. Anyway, it’s not the serious type.”
“How can you say that? You could have died tonight. If the paramedics hadn’t arrived when they had, you might not be here right now.”
“Don’t go getting all dramatic on me, JoEllen Sue. It’s nowhere near as serious as that.”
Jo took a closer look at her mother. Was that what she would have been told, had her father not panicked and called her tonight? If he had not been afraid that her mother was near death? That it had been nothing serious? Would Jo have learned of the hospital visit at all? Found out about her mother’s failing health?
“Mama, you’ve got to lose weight.”
There, she’d said it.
Daisy Mae looked as if she’d been smacked in the face. Causing Jo to feel she’d just been the one to smack her.
“Your father…your father, bless his heart, loves me just the way I am.”
“I love you, too, Mama.” Jo grasped her hand, holding it tightly in both of hers. “This isn’t about love. I don’t care how you look. I care about your health. And being as big as you are isn’t healthy.”
Daisy Mae tried to laugh off her words, but Jo could tell she was stung. And running as far and as fast as she could from the truth. It might have worked, but now that Jo was in a place where she had to deal directly with the problems their family faced, she wouldn’t allow herself to be put off. Not again.
“You sound just like my doctor. He wants me to have that surgery where they take out half of your insides—”
“Gastric bypass?” Jo interrupted.
“Yes. I think that’s it. He—”
“How long as he been talking to you about it?”
“How long?” Daisy Mae paused, clearly not used to being interrupted. “Oh, I don’t know. Three years or so.”
“And why haven’t you had it done?”
Her mother blinked. “What?”
“I asked why you haven’t gone ahead with the surgery. If your doctor thinks it’s the best course of action, then it sounds to me like something you should take him up on.”
Daisy Mae’s color had flared again, albeit for a different reason. Jo could tell she was getting her back up. And once that happened, there would be no talking sense to her. She could argue the rain back into the sky, as Jo’s father liked to say.
“I don’t need no surgery, JoEllen Sue. I’m fine. In perfect health. Just ask your father.”
“I have asked Daddy. And he’s said no such thing.”
Her mother looked hurt.
“He didn’t share how badly you were doing, either,” Jo murmured, not comfortable with allowing her mother to believe that Lyndon had betrayed her.
“I’m not doing badly at all,” Daisy Mae countered, smoothing the top of the blanket with her doughy hands. Jo caught sight of her wedding ring, the large diamond solitaire flashing. She took her hand and turned it over.
“How many times has Daddy had to take this in to make it bigger, Mama?”
“What?” Daisy Mae jerked her arm back. “It’s never been enlarged. It’s the same size as the day we were married.”
“How many?” Jo insisted. “Three? Four? Ten?”
“I told you—”
“No, Mama, you lied to me.” She held her palm up. “The size of your hand when you married Daddy would have been the same as mine.”
Daisy Mae’s mouth worked, but no response came out.
“Don’t you see, Mama? We—Daddy and I—can’t lie for you anymore,” Jo said pleadingly.
“You always were closer to your father.”
“No, I wasn’t. I’ve always loved you both equally, and you know that.”
“Then show it.”
Jo set her teeth. “I am. Probably for the first time in a long time.”
It was then she realized her mother’s eyes were welling with tears.
“JoEllen Sue.”
It was her father’s voice. Jo turned to see him standing in the doorway. She didn’t know how long he’d been there, but it had obviously been long enough for him to overhear at least a part of their conversation, if his angry expression was any indication. And if that wasn’t, then his calling her by her full name was.
“Say good-night to your mother,” he told her.
Daisy Mae had begun crying in earnest, although she tried to say it was due to the hospital air. “You never know what they have pumping through these vents, given all the sick people here.”
Jo wanted to tell her she was sick, but that unlike many of the other patients, she could actually make the choice to get well. Before it was too late.
“Good night, Mama. I’ll be back in the morning.”
Daisy Mae accepted her kiss on the check. “You really needn’t bother. I’ll be home before you even get up.”
Jo held her tongue and walked to the door. Her father held it open for her, but he was silent until they were out in the hall and the door closed behind them. Then he took Jo’s arm a little too roughly and led her toward the elevators.
“How dare you talk to your mother like that while she’s lying sick in a hospital bed, girl?” he began, more upset at Jo than she could ever remember seeing him. “Do you want to make her sicker? The doctor says it’s likely stress that caused this episode. And you, young lady, just added to it. What in God’s green earth were you thinking?”
Jo turned toward him in front of the elevators. “I was thinking that it’s way past time that we stopped this unhealthy game we’ve all been playing, Daddy. Mom nearly died today. Do you realize that?”
“I’m perfectly aware. You seem to be the one with the memory problem.”
Jo squinted at him. “I know you’re upset, Daddy. I’m upset, too. But nothing’s ever going to get better if we continue lying to each other about everything. Mama’s not here because of a thyroid problem. Her diabetes is not something that can be managed. If we, all three of us, don’t wake up and face some cruel facts, she’s going to die. Don’t you understand that?”
The color drained from her dad’s face. He stood for long moments not saying anything, then paced a short distance away, rubbed his hands over his graying hair several times, and turned back to her.
“You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t wake up every morning scared witless that I’m going to go into Daisy Mae’s room and find her…”
Dead. He didn’t have to say it. His shudder was enough to communicate his meaning.
“And every night I sit by the side of her bed just listening to her breathing, praying that she won’t stop.”
“Daddy—”
“No, Jo, you’ve had your say. Now it’s time I have mine.”
She closed her mouth.
“That surgery she mentioned? The insurance won’t pay for it. I know because I checked. They say that because of her age and weight she’s too high risk. Denied the request outright, they did.”
Jo’s throat tightened.
He focused his gaze on her. “And the enlargement of her wedding ring? I’ve done it. Four times. Without her ever knowing.” He looked down. “I’d tell her some fool thing like she must have lost it, and I’d take it into the jeweler while out on errands, then bring it back and put it in a place where she could find it. She never caught on.”
Jo felt instantly guilty. But she couldn’t give in. Not this time. Not ever again.
“That’s sweet, Daddy. But don’t you see? By continuing to cover up for Mom, make excuses for her, lie to her…we’re killing her. And I, for one, don’t intend to sit around and watch that happen. I’m going to make her face what she needs to do, no matter what you say.”
She pressed the down button.
Her father swung her around, looking as if he was a breath away from striking her.
“You’re no longer welcome here, Jo.”