Pearl had a checkup with a doctor each week, and Rose made sure she was present for each one. This week was especially important since she wanted to be sure that after the incident on the beach, Pearl was okay physically and as good as she could be mentally.
A thick grouping of clouds blocked the sun, coloring The Burrow a misty gray. The threat of rain kept most of the onslaught of tourists inside for the morning. It was the perfect time for Rose to visit Mom. At least she wouldn’t see another escape.
She crossed her fingers that tomorrow would be perfect for the movie. Maybe she could convince Shane to take a little time off and sit with her.
As she drove onto the campus, droplets of rain peppered the windshield. The long-haired girl popped into her head. There was a distinct possibility she’d started out at the nursing home that fateful day. Did she know one of the residents? The last visit to a loved one before making a drastic decision to jump?
She couldn’t allow Shane’s verdict to overshadow her own. She felt the girl’s presence. Her spirit was alive – at least she hoped it was. They hadn’t found a body, so there was no way to know for sure.
Calling Patrick was her next step and then she’d get her closure too.
The air shifted slightly when she entered The Cottage. Voices from inside Pearl’s bedroom made the hairs on her arms stand up. Was she late?
Mrs. Gillette’s bed was empty, but Pearl sat on hers.
Dr. Williams stood next to Pearl. Two rotating doctors came into The Cottage. Rose had only seen Dr. Williams a few times. His deep brown eyes met hers.
‘Good morning, Ms. Barros,’ he said.
She didn’t correct him. He was the only one in this place who refused to call her by her first name. After several times correcting him to no avail, she’d stopped.
If Mom noticed Rose, she didn’t show it. Her eyes were on the doctor; a small smile touched her lips. She always appreciated a handsome face.
Dr. Williams handed Mom’s chart to Jessie, who dwarfed him by at least a foot and a half. She smiled at Rose but subdued her perkiness around her boss.
‘How is she doing?’ Rose asked.
‘It’s been hard for her these last few days,’ he said.
‘Since she escaped to the beach?’
Jessie’s hands tightened around the chart.
‘Before that too,’ he said. ‘I don’t think her little jaunt helped, but it’s been tough getting her out of bed. She’s fragile and fatigued.’
‘What can I do?’
‘There isn’t much you can do at this stage,’ he said.
Rose opened and closed her mouth a few times. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Her condition is rapidly declining. It’s happening earlier than we anticipated, but the signs are there.’
This wasn’t happening. ‘She seemed better the other day.’
‘She’s not getting better,’ he said. ‘But I’m going to observe her a little more closely these next few days.’
Rose had come in expecting to see her mother in the other room, watching the ocean through the window. Now, she sat up on the thin mattress, her wrinkly hands clasped together as if she were lying in a casket.
Shaking her head violently, Rose tried to dislodge the thought. She wasn’t ready for that yet. ‘Can I visit with her?’
‘For a little while,’ the doctor said. ‘She hasn’t been awake for much more than an hour at a time. Jessie can try to assist her into the wheelchair if you’d like.’
‘No,’ Rose said. ‘I want her to be comfortable.’ It was all Rose ever wanted. Everything in the last few years was for Pearl. She knew the end would come eventually, but facing it head on was the most terrifying experience of her life.
‘I’ll be making my rounds if you want to speak with me before you go,’ Dr. Williams said.
‘I will,’ Rose promised.
Once they left, Rose sighed and crossed the room, grabbing on to one of the chairs closer to the dresser. On top were the photographs Rose had picked out for her. When she was seven, Reen had decorated one of the frames with sand and shells from their house. Over the years, some had fallen off, leaving white circular glue marks. Rose couldn’t get rid of it.
If Reen ever visited, she might have appreciated that Rose wanted their mother to remember the daughter who left.
She dragged the chair toward the bed. The sound perked Pearl’s ears, and she finally turned to Rose.
‘Hi, Pearl,’ she said.
Mom let out a sigh.
Rose took her hand and squeezed it. Other than skin hanging over her bones, there wasn’t much left. Her eyes were glossy, and tears formed in the corners, waiting to fall.
‘The outdoor movie is tomorrow. Thinking about going without you is a little strange. I suppose according to the doctor, that’s something I’m going to have to get used to.’ A tear slipped from Rose’s eye, and she flicked it away. ‘This sucks, Mom. I don’t care if I’m not supposed to call you that. I never got to say goodbye to you. I’ve been tiptoeing around you since you got here and now it’s too late to see the woman I love and who saved me, whenever I needed saving.’ The weight of the past crashed over Rose, and she allowed herself a few seconds to sink into the watery depths of her mind.
When she returned to the present, Mom’s hand went limp in hers, and she was softly snoring, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side.
Instead of charging out of there, demanding to know what else they could do, Rose held her mother’s hand and told her all about the movie. Throughout the years, the organizers rotated through different mermaid or ocean-themed movies. This year was Splash. It was one of Mom’s favorites. Since she was working all day tomorrow, she wouldn’t be able to visit. Instead, she recalled the movie as it projected in her mind.
The closest multiplex movie theater was a good half an hour away. As Pearl got older, they went less and less. So, when the annual outdoor movie event came around, Mom and Rose were always in attendance. Dad had been a lifelong resident of The Burrow, and everyone welcomed Pearl into the small town the moment she’d captured Dad’s fancy. Along with so many others, it was their tradition every year. Mom had loved to stop and chat with locals and tourists alike, flitting through the crowds in the graceful way she always had.
Rose wasn’t going to allow Pearl to miss another event, even in her new bed in a strange place.
After an hour, Rose peeled herself off the chair and quietly placed it in the corner of the room. She stood over Pearl and pressed a kiss to her mother’s forehead, then smoothed her fingers across her skin, still as smooth as Rose remembered.
‘I love you, Mom. Sleep well.’
Since there was no one else in the room, Rose turned off the light, allowing Pearl to sleep comfortably before her roommate returned.
Dr. Williams stood at the nursing station reviewing a chart. Rose approached the small desk tucked in the corner at the end of the hallway. After being with Mom, Rose had completely changed her mind about how she wanted the conversation to go. ‘She fell asleep.’
‘Good,’ he said, finishing marking up a chart before closing it. ‘How are you doing?’
‘How do you expect?’
‘My apologies. I know you weren’t expecting this news. But I can’t give you false hope when every day is a struggle for most of the patients here.’
‘I get it,’ Rose said. ‘But what can I do?’ The question rolled over and over in her mind. There had to be something. Did he expect her to give up? That wasn’t her. Mom had taught Rose to fight, even when she didn’t want to. Now it was time for her to make use of that lesson.
‘Enjoy this time with your mother. Don’t worry about a cure or how to make it better. At least when you come to terms with that, then you’ll be able to remember these moments with her.’
Dr. Williams excused himself, leaving Rose in his dust. He was already in a conversation with Katrina when Rose followed him into the common room.
Words failed her. As much as she wanted to shake them out of her head and engage in a deeper conversation with the doctor, what more was there left to say?
Numbly, she walked toward the exit and peeked into Mom’s room one last time. Lightning surged outside and illuminated the space. Pearl was in the same position as she was when Rose left. The doctor’s words repeated in her mind as she left the building and drove home.
On the drive, Rose tried to block out her sadness about Pearl’s prognosis by focusing on the girl. If she thought of Mom, she’d break down. A distraction was in order.
When she got home, Mrs. Collins’s front windows were open, and there was movement inside. Heat coursed through her. Had her neighbor seen Shane leave Rose’s place this morning?
She scurried up the stairs, dreading the next conversation with her neighbor.
Inside, she settled at the kitchen table with a pad and pen. Rose had no issue calling Patrick and requesting information about the local homeless shelters that he knew of in the surrounding areas.
With the event tomorrow night, Shane would be busy with the precinct overseeing the setup. If she wanted to get answers, she’d have to do it herself.
Besides, he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to invest any more time in the case. Rose wasn’t sure how she was going to present any information she received, but she’d get there eventually.
Patrick was more than helpful in giving her the information. She researched each of the places and jotted the phone numbers on her pad before starting her calls.
The first one was a bust. When asked why she needed to find this person, Rose froze. She couldn’t tell them that she was a part of a police investigation and why would someone who wasn’t related be concerned about a teen girl? She stammered through some excuse about the girl being a friend’s niece. The woman dismissed her and hung up.
The next one went much smoother. Rose fabricated a story and played it off easier than the first, now confident in her lie.
But it was all for naught as none of the homeless shelters recalled a young long-haired girl coming in. At the very least, she didn’t have to lie to Shane about new information as she had nothing to give him.