Chapter Fifteen

Kate and Livvy had never been more disheartened than they were at that moment. Climbing into Kate’s Honda Accord, they sat side by side, neither of them speaking. Kate rested her hands on the steering wheel but didn’t start the motor. A couple of cars passed on the quiet street.

“What does this mean?” Livvy asked, finally breaking the silence.

Kate sighed. “We don’t have the time or the resources to go looking for her in Phoenix. It’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“There has to be another way,” Livvy said, pushing her hair back from her face.

Kate turned the key in the ignition and slid the gearshift into reverse. She glanced over her shoulder and backed into the street.

Livvy paused in thought, then continued, “We need something more concrete than the car salesman’s word that they even went to Phoenix. Do you think the post office would keep forwarding records?”

Kate shook her head. “It’s been too long.” As they passed State Line Road, Kate glanced at her watch. It was eleven thirty. “Let’s get some lunch.” She pointed ahead at Andy’s Restaurant on Dodds Avenue and pulled into the parking lot. “We need time to ponder and regroup.”

Livvy reached for her purse from the floor of the car and got out. The two women walked up to the plain-looking restaurant.

The place was bustling, and the scent of fried chicken and barbecued pork hung in the air, making Kate’s mouth water. A short young waitress with light-blonde hair and freckles dotted across her nose led them to a booth that looked out onto the street; she handed them their menus and placed two glasses of water on the table. She chewed gum as she spoke. “The specials today are pork riblets and chicken-fried steak. I’ll be back in a few to take your order.” As she bounced away, Kate and Livvy exchanged looks.

“I wish I felt like her,” Kate said, making Livvy smile.

Livvy glanced at her menu, then said, “The question we need to ask ourselves is who would’ve known the Olsens well enough to keep track of them over the years?”

Kate meditated on that thought for a while as she perused the menu. Her stomach grumbled, and she pressed her hand against it.

“We’re assuming, of course, that the Olsens are the kind of people who keep up with old friends,” Kate said.

“It’s all we have to go on right now.” Livvy glanced back at her menu, then set it at the end of the table and took a sip of her ice water. “It’s too bad we don’t know what church they went to or if they belonged to any civic organizations.”

The perky blonde returned to take their orders. “Heya,” she said between chews on her bubble gum. “Do you know what you’d like?” She held the order pad aloft with a pencil at the ready.

“What do you recommend?” Kate asked.

“Hmm,” the girl thought as she popped her gum. “I guess the barbecue? Otherwise, the hamburgers are really great. I like the chicken strips too.”

Livvy raised an eyebrow, and Kate sent her a scolding look.

Kate pointed to a thin man with white hair who sat eating alone at the counter.

“What is he eating?”

“Oh, that’s my neighbor, Mr. Leighton. He always orders the loose-pork barbecue. It’s a hickory-smoked pork, off the bone. Has a very smoky taste. That’s always popular.”

“I suppose it’s pretty fatty?” Kate asked.

The girl nodded and tapped her pencil against the order pad.

“I’ll take the Cobb salad, then,” Kate decided, “with blue-cheese dressing on the side. Does that come with a breadstick?”

“Yes, ma’am, it does. Is that okay?” the waitress asked.

Kate nodded.

“I’ll have the loose pork,” Livvy said. “And a fill-up on the water, please.”

Kate watched the girl as she hopped to the next table, then she glanced at the man sitting at the counter—the waitress’ neighbor. “Hmm,” she said.

“‘Hmm’ what?” Livvy asked.

“I think the light is coming on. You know what we’re missing?”

Livvy shrugged. “A clue?”

“That too. But no, that wasn’t what I was thinking. We need eyewitnesses. And who are the best eyewitnesses?”

“You lost me at hello.”

“The neighbors!” Kate said. “Of course the people who bought the house wouldn’t have known the Olsens, but the neighbors might. There are always neighbors who stick around, especially in an old established neighborhood like theirs. Who knows, one or two might even still send Christmas cards to the Olsens.”

WHEN THEY RETURNED to the neighborhood, it was almost one o’clock.

Kate and Livvy made their way up to the house next door to the Olsens’ former home. Kate noticed the heavyset man they’d spoken to earlier peeking through the gauzy curtains at them. She waved, and he quickly shut the drapes.

The woman who answered at this residence was barely older than the waitress they’d just met. She had long brown hair that hung in braids down her back and dark circles around her blue eyes. Two preschool-age children tugged at her legs and screamed for attention when the door creaked open.

“Can I help you?” she asked, then shouted, “I said stay back!” She scowled at a little towheaded girl who had the same blue eyes as her mother. The mother’s face flamed red as she turned back to the women. Sorry, she mouthed.

“Yes,” Kate smiled. “We’re looking for a Robert and Mary Olsen and their daughter Valerie. She would be twenty-two now. They used to live next door.” She tilted her head in the direction of Valerie’s former home. “Do you happen to know—?”

The mother was already shaking her head no. “I just moved here last year,” she said. “I haven’t even met the guy who lives there now.”

The next two houses were no different. Neither of the residents knew the Olsens. And at the fourth and fifth houses, no one answered their knock. They were about to give up when they decided to try one more house. It was a white two-story with black shutters and a hedge of lilac bushes that ran the entire length of the property on three sides. Kate imagined it smelled heavenly when April and May rolled around.

Livvy rang the bell and stepped back beside Kate. They could hear the sound of someone shuffling around inside, so they waited even though it took several minutes for the door to open.

“Hello, ladies,” an elderly man said. He had gray eyes and salt-and-pepper hair. “To what do I owe the honor of your presence?” he asked, lifting his head and looking through glasses that had slipped down his nose. There was something about him that reminded Kate of Gregory Peck in his later years. Then Kate realized it was his rich-sounding voice. It carried that same warm honeyed quality she’d always enjoyed in the actor’s performances.

“We’re looking for someone, actually,” Kate said. “Valerie Olsen? She’s the daughter of Mary and Robert Olsen, who used to live at 313 on this street.” She pointed to the house kitty-corner and across the street. “It would’ve been in the eighties when they lived there...”

“Well, sure I remember little Val. Cute button of a girl, that one. We were quite good friends with the Olsens. At least my wife was. I remember the day her parents brought her home. My Cora made them a cake, and we decorated the house with Welcome Home banners. What do you need with her?”

Kate felt a bubble of hope begin to rise within her.

“We’re looking on behalf of her birth mother...” Kate explained, not sure if it was the right thing to say. But, she figured, if he recalled her homecoming, then he already knew that she was several months old on that joyous day. “She’d like to...meet her.”

The man stroked his chin, then met Kate’s eyes. “Why don’t you come in? We can talk, and I’ll tell you what I know of the Olsens.” He stepped back and allowed Livvy and Kate to enter the lovely home.

Decorated in simple yet stylish furnishings, the place felt comfortable and homey. The old man led them to a living room at the end of the hallway. Its windows looked out onto an expansive backyard with a rock garden and a fountain that was now dormant.

“I don’t think I introduced myself,” he held out a hand, “I’m Arnie Kerr.”

Livvy, then Kate in turn, introduced themselves and shook hands with him, then they sat down on a high-backed formal couch.

“So, you’re looking for little Val,” he said, settling into a wingback chair. “My Cora had such affection for that child.” He pointed to a small piano against the wall on which was a framed photograph of a woman. It was one of those photos that had been retouched as they used to do during the war, with paint applied to a black-and-white photo, giving it a painted portrait quality. The woman wore her hair in 1940s style, with perfectly sculpted curls that framed her face. She gazed prettily into the camera.

“We never had kids of our own,” Arnie went on, “so Cora took in all the children in the neighborhood. She loved children. When Mary Olsen told her that they were going to adopt, well, that was real special to Cora. We probably should have adopted too, looking back. I wouldn’t be alone now...” his voice trailed away and his brow furrowed. “But it was too late by then.” He shifted in his seat. “I’m sorry—I didn’t offer you anything to drink. Would you like some lemonade?”

“No, thank you,” Kate and Livvy said in unison, and Arnie scooted back in his chair to tell the story.

“Cora babysat little Val a lot in those early days,” he said. “Mary worked as a secretary, so she needed day-care help, and Cora was happy to provide that. That child was a beauty—dark-haired and equally dark eyes. And she had these dimples...I’m sure they made the boys weak-kneed when she was a teenager.”

The description brought Marissa to mind, and because of it, Kate felt a connection to this child she’d never met.

“When she got a little older,” he went on, “I guess about five or six, she always rode her bike up and down the street. I can still see it. And even after she was in school, she’d come in to talk to me and Cora and look at the jigsaw puzzles.”

He pointed at several pictures throughout the room. Kate hadn’t noticed before that they were puzzles that had been shellacked and framed as art around the house.

“We liked to put puzzles together in the evenings,” Arnie said. “Cora and me. Helped pass the time.”

“Do you know what happened to the Olsens?” Livvy asked.

He shook his head. “They moved in ’97, I believe. They were doing well for a long time, but then we got word that they were getting a divorce. Mary told us in a Christmas letter a few years after they moved. I felt so bad for Val. She was probably a teenager by that time. I’m sure she was heartbroken. Her dad moved somewhere southwest—Arizona, I think. But Mary and Val stayed in the area for a while before they moved to Nashville. I got a Christmas card from them last year, even with Cora gone. That was nice of them to think of me. But I didn’t get one this year.”

He got up and hobbled over to a long oak cabinet and shuffled through a top drawer before returning to his chair. He handed Kate a card, still in its opened envelope. “This is from Christmas before last,” he said. “You can keep it if you want.”

Kate pulled out the card along with a photo of the mother and daughter. Kate stared at it. Valerie looked so much like her sister. If it wasn’t for the hair, it would have been hard to believe it wasn’t Marissa in the photograph. Her mother was dark-haired and dark-eyed too, with that exotic, almost-Mediterranean look she’d noted before. She no longer had the fluffy eighties hairdo of the photo Kate had seen in the agency file. If she hadn’t known Valerie was adopted, it would have been easy to believe that the woman was her biological mother. She glanced at the envelope, noting the return address.

“So, this is where they live now?” she asked.

Arnie nodded. “As of a year and two months ago.”

MARISSA HAD BEEN QUIET ALL DAY. Patricia tried to engage her in conversation, but the girl answered in curt, short answers. She wouldn’t even look her mother in the eyes. Patricia thought her heart would break from the agony of it, but she also knew Marissa needed time to process the news. And time to forgive. She hoped she’d eventually be able to forgive her. She didn’t know what she’d do if Marissa didn’t.

She seemed weaker now too, and the doctor was more concerned about her low hemoglobin and red-cell counts. Her color, which had reappeared once her treatments were done, was now a faded gray hue. The dark rings under her eyes looked as if they’d sunk deeper into her skull, and her lips were cracked and parched-looking.

LuAnne had stayed with Patricia Friday night and part of Saturday, and then returned to Copper Mill for her evening shift at the diner. Before she left, she had promised she’d come back to visit.

Patricia had never known the woman well, other than knowing that she was Matt Reilly’s aunt—Marissa’s great-aunt. Another of the details she’d need to tell Marissa in due time.

They sat without talking as the television played mindlessly, Patricia in the chair alongside the bed. At least TV kept the awkwardness at bay.

“Did you want her?” Marissa suddenly asked through her mask, breaking the silence between them.

Patricia turned to look at her daughter. The hurt she saw in her daughter’s face sent a barb into her own heart. “Valerie?” she clarified.

Marissa nodded.

“Of course I wanted her—” Patricia’s voice broke on the admission, and tears rushed to her eyes. “I wanted both of you. But it was so hard. I was facing eviction because I couldn’t pay my rent and pay for day care. I was all alone in a strange city...There was no way I could go to college to get a better paying job. I wanted better for my girls.”

“So why her and not me?” Marissa asked.

“Oh, honey. You can’t imagine how hard that decision was. Kara...I mean Valerie...was smaller than you were. She had a rougher start. I figured an adoptive family would have more resources to raise her and love her the way I loved her.”

Marissa fingered the thin blanket that covered her legs. “Why didn’t you give us both up?”

“I didn’t give her up,” Patricia said, her tone becoming defensive. “That sounds so callous. This was far from a heartless decision. I cried for a long time about it. For years I’ve regretted it, wondered how Kara was doing, missed her. Yet I knew I had no other choice. I kept you because...because I thought my heart would break if I lost both of you. At least with you here, I had a part of her too.” She shook her head. “Maybe that doesn’t make sense. Maybe it was selfish. In a perfect world, I would have had both of my children with me.” She let out a humorless laugh. “I guess in a perfect world, I wouldn’t have been an unwed mother, would I? But I’m so glad I had you—having you brought healing to my broken heart. Somehow that made everything better, even my parents’ rejection.”

Tears traced Marissa’s cheeks, and Patricia reached out a hand to touch her face. Then she let it fall to the bed beside her daughter. “Ray loved you as if you were his own daughter.”

“He didn’t tell me the truth either.” Hurt and betrayal lived in those words.

“He wanted to, but he felt it was my decision...And a poor one it was.”

Marissa reached out and took her mother’s hand. Patricia closed her eyes as a healing balm flooded her being.

“This makes so many things clear,” Marissa admitted. “Why you acted the way you did about certain things...” Their gazes met.

Patricia mouthed I’m sorry again. Marissa leaned toward her, and mother and daughter touched foreheads.

“I want to meet her,” Marissa said. “And not just to see if she’s a match. I want to know my sister.”

IT WAS DARK OUTSIDE. There was no moon, and clouds covered the stars. The interstate rolled beneath their tires with only headlights to illumine the way. Livvy slept in the passenger’s seat.

Kate dialed Patricia’s cell phone as they drove the rest of the way from Chattanooga to Copper Mill. She had to tell her the news right away. They’d found someone who knew Valerie. She even had a fairly recent photo of the girl who looked just like Marissa.

A tentative voice answered. “This is Patricia.”

“It’s Kate. How’s she doing?”

“Weak, but she’s okay. For now.” Patricia spoke in a whisper.

Kate wondered if she was in Marissa’s room and the girl was asleep. Then she could hear the sound of a door shutting.

“I told her the truth, Kate.” Patricia’s voice was louder now. “I told her about Valerie and...everything.”

“How did it go?”

“You were right. She forgave me. All this time I wasted, and she forgave me.”

“Of course she did. She’s a great kid, and she loves you.”

“I underestimated her,” Patricia confessed.

“Do you think the doctors will let her go home soon?”

“No...” Patricia paused. “She’s weak, Kate. I feel like time is running out, and that scares me. Through all her chemo treatments, I didn’t feel the way I do now...”

Kate passed the twenty-mile sign for the exit to Copper Mill.

“I have some news that might help boost her morale,” Kate offered.

“Oh?”

“We found someone who knows Valerie, or at least knew her. One of her old neighbors. His wife provided day care for her when she was little.”

“Really?”

“Patricia, Livvy and I have a photo of her—she looks just like Marissa. She’s so beautiful.”

Kate could hear Patricia crying over the phone, so she waited before going on. Then she said, “We have an address...in Nashville. I’m going to drive there first thing in the morning. You just tell Marissa to hang in there,” Kate said. “We’re going to find Valerie for her.”

AFTER HER TALK with Patricia, Kate felt an even deeper urgency. They had to find Valerie and find her soon.

Livvy couldn’t make the long trip to Nashville with her. She had responsibilities at work, but Kate knew Paul could manage by himself for a while. She dialed him next. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey, honey. How’s it going?” he said, no doubt having read caller ID before picking up.

“I’m going to have to make another trip,” she said into her headset.

“Oh?”

“We think we’ve found Valerie, or at least her trail. But it’s all the way in Nashville. I’m bringing Livvy home now, then I’ll head to Nashville early tomorrow morning.”

“Whatever you have to do, just be careful.”

“I will be. And Paul?” she went on.

“Yes?”

“Remember I said I’d let you know when it was time for you to come to Patricia’s aid?”

“Sure.”

“It’s time. She needs to know she’s not alone, and I can’t be the one to do that right now.”

MARISSA SLEPT FITFULLY the rest of the night. Patricia watched as she twisted and turned under the covers. Thankfully the hospital had put La-Z-Boy chairs in the rooms for visitors rather than the hard vinyl and metal chairs Patricia was used to seeing in other hospital wards. She pushed back in the chair to recline and let her eyes droop shut.

Throughout the night the nurses came to check on Marissa, and the doctor even came in at one point to read her chart and bend over to listen to her heart. Though Patricia felt a huge emotional weight lifted from her shoulders from telling her daughter the truth, a new reality had dawned. Marissa was growing weaker.

When a knock sounded on the door, Patricia realized it was morning. She cleared her throat and glanced at her watch. It was eight o’clock. How had she slept so late? She stretched her back and pushed her hair into some semblance of order.

“Come in,” she called, wiping the sleep from her eyes and straightening her clothes.

A clean-shaven man, who looked to be in his sixties, with salt-and-pepper hair and clear blue eyes tentatively entered, wearing a surgical mask.

“I hope I’m not disrupting anything,” he said. “I’m Paul Hanlon. Kate’s husband?”

Patricia put the recliner down and crossed the room to greet him. “I’m so happy to meet you,” she said.

“I’m kind of early, aren’t I?” he said after glancing at his watch.

“No, it’s fine, really.” Patricia waved the comment away with a hand. Her gaze turned to her daughter.

“Kate is going to Nashville today, so I thought I’d stop in and see how you two are holding up,” Paul said.

Patricia crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s a hard one to answer.” She paused, still watching Marissa. “She’s not doing well...”

“I’m sorry.”

She met his gaze and felt the sincerity behind his words. “You and your wife have been so kind.”

“We’ve only done what anyone would do.”

She shook her head and looked away. “Believe me, that isn’t true. I’ve been left alone more times than I care to remember, but you two have been such a...” She searched for the right word and finally said, “blessing.” She was surprised by the word choice. But it was true.

When she turned back to the pastor, he was smiling. “We aren’t the only ones who care about you, you know. We’re trusting that God will find a way for your daughter.”

Somehow those words didn’t irk her as they would have a few short weeks ago. She’d seen loving compassion in the people of Copper Mill firsthand. And somehow, in that compassion she felt God’s care for her. She supposed that as much as she had underestimated Marissa’s ability to forgive her, she’d done the same with God.

A moment of silence passed between them. Patricia started to speak, then hesitated before she finally said, “Pastor?”

Paul’s blue eyes were filled with kindness. “Yes?”

“Would you mind praying for us?”

LATER THAT MORNING a whole bunch of visitors started coming and going. Whether LuAnne Matthews had been the one to alert them or Pastor Hanlon or both, Patricia didn’t know, but Marissa was enjoying the attention. And to Patricia’s surprise, she was glad for the company too.

At ten thirty, LuAnne Matthews arrived, having scrubbed and gowned. “Hi-ho,” she said as she came in. “How are you kids doin’?”

The redheaded waitress set a plastic bag on Marissa’s bed and proceeded to lay out a full meal on Marissa’s tray, including hot soup, canned peaches, a salad, and a dinner roll.

“I brought you some good food from the Country Diner,” she whispered. “Hospital food is for the birds!”

In the first container was a steaming batch of chicken and dumplings; its scent of thyme and pepper filled the room. Marissa looked hungrily at the feast before her.

“She can have the hot food and peaches,” Patricia instructed, “but the doctor said she can’t have anything that might carry germs.”

LuAnne pulled the salad and roll off the tray and winked at the girl.

When it was all ready, Marissa lifted her plastic fork and tasted the dumplings. She closed her eyes in rapture. “This is wonderful!” she said. “You’re right, LuAnne. Hospital food is for the birds.” Then she dug in, a smile on her face. Patricia watched, grateful for the moment, and LuAnne said, “She’ll gain her strength real quick if she keeps eatin’ like this.”

Several minutes later, Marissa sat back with an expression of satisfaction on her pale face. “That was very thoughtful of you, LuAnne. Thank you.”

The plump waitress shrugged. “It would’ve just gone to waste sittin’ around at the diner! You’ll let me know if there’s anything else you have a hankerin’ for, won’t you? I can sneak food out without a problem.” She winked at Marissa again, and the girl giggled.

“I better get back to work,” LuAnne said, looking at her watch. “The lunch crowd will be coming in soon. You know how crabby people can get if they have to wait for their meal!”

She waved good-bye and left.

At around noon Renee Lambert arrived. The older woman came bustling into the quiet of the hospital room. She was all made up as if she were on her way to a formal event—full makeup and false eyelashes, and an icy pink dress with matching nail polish and shoes.

“I heard on the prayer chain that you were here,” Renee announced. Then she asked Patricia, “Do you remember me?”

Patricia knew the woman only slightly when she was a teenager. Renee had been an acquaintance of her mother’s from the Rotary Club. Patricia smiled and walked over to the counter to retrieve a mask, which she handed to Renee.

Renee raised an eyebrow at it, then gingerly slipped it over her head, trying not to disturb her neatly coiffed hair. “I tried to sneak Kisses in,” Renee admitted as she settled the mask into place. “He’s my Chihuahua. But that mean nurse made me take him back to my car! They have rules about no animals. I think it’s pathetic, if you ask me. What’s more comforting than a snuggle with a little umpkins?”

“That was very nice of you,” Marissa said. “What was your name?”

“Oh dear. I assumed that since your mom knew me, you would too. I’m Renee Lambert. I go to Faith Briar Church...” She paused, then said, “I heard about how poorly you were feeling. But I want you to know that we’re all thinking of you and praying for you.”

Renee stayed for over half an hour before excusing herself and offering to come back the next day. Patricia didn’t know what to say to the woman. She thought of her initial reaction when Kate Hanlon had started visiting, yet that had turned into a good thing. Who knew? Maybe even visits with an elderly drama queen could bring joy into their lives. So she said, “That would be nice, Renee. Marissa usually gets sleepy a little before supper, so if you could come around the same time...?”

“I’ll plan on it,” Renee said with a big smile.

A few minutes later, yet another visitor dropped by to see Marissa—Betty Anderson from Betty’s Beauty Parlor. She had been their regular hairdresser for several years, so when she poked her bleached-blond surgical-capped head into the room, Patricia waved her right in. She too wore a gown, mask and gloves.

“Hey,” Betty said. “I thought you two could use a visitor.”

“You don’t have a dog in your purse, do you?” Marissa asked with a laugh.

Betty wrinkled her brow, then winked at Marissa. “Now why would I have a dog in my purse?” She bent over to kiss Patricia on the cheek, then leaned back to look at her as she put back on the mandatory surgical mask. “You look awful!”

“Thanks!” Patricia said.

“I just mean that you look like you need to get some rest,” Betty explained. She glanced down at her hands. “And a manicure wouldn’t be a bad idea either!”

“She’s right,” Marissa said. “You do need to take better care of yourself, Mom.”

“I’m just fine,” Patricia said.

“Well...” Betty went on, this time to Marissa as she reached into the large tote that was tucked under her arm. “I came with an idea for you, young lady.” She withdrew a makeup bag. “How about a little dolling up?”

Marissa touched her face, which hadn’t seen makeup in ages, and then the flowered scarf that was tied around her bald head. “I doubt it would make a difference.”

“At least let me try. I guarantee a little pampering will make you feel like a brand-new girl.”

Marissa nodded and sat forward on the bed, tugging the IV stand, whose tube was attached to her arm, out of the way so Betty could sit next to her.

Betty pulled out a wig from another bag she’d set on the floor. “Want to try it on?” she asked.

Marissa smiled weakly and Betty nodded. “You’re right. Now’s your chance to go blond,” she said, pulling a long blond wig out of the bag.

Marissa laughed and shook her head. “I’m not really a wig kind of person,” she said.

Betty shook her head, pulling out a third wig, this one with short red hair. “You sure?”

Marissa nodded.

“I thought that might be the case,” Betty said, “so I brought you a couple of new scarves.” She pulled out two new head scarves, both in pretty, vibrant shades—one in blues and greens, the other in reds and oranges. “Can I?”

Marissa smiled and leaned forward as Betty removed the scarf she was wearing and wrapped one of the new scarves around her head, fastening it with a butterfly-shaped pin.

Then she handed Marissa a mirror. “What do you think?”

Marissa gazed at herself, turning her head one way and then another. She handed the mirror back to Betty and said, “I look like a new woman. Thank you, Mrs. Anderson.”

Marissa smiled gratefully, but Patricia could see the weariness etched in the corners of her daughter’s eyes It had been a long day, and while she was grateful for the kindness that everyone had shown, she also knew Marissa needed to rest. She moved to Marissa’s bedside and helped the girl lie back as Betty gathered her makeup supplies.

“This was so thoughtful of you,” Patricia said to Betty.

Betty’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I didn’t do anything. Really.” She glanced at Marissa, whose eyes had already closed in sleep. “Take care of her, okay? And take care of yourself too.” She met Patricia’s gaze. “That’s an order.”

When Betty finally left, Patricia sat back in the recliner and closed her eyes. Marissa slept with a contented expression on her face.

“You need to go home and sleep, Mom,” she said later that evening when she roused. “Betty was right about that.”

Patricia opened her mouth to protest, but Marissa interrupted her. “You won’t be any good to me exhausted and sick. I mean it. I’ll be fine. Go home and sleep.”

Patricia finally agreed, and Marissa closed her eyes and was soon breathing in a deep rhythm of sleep.

Patricia had thought the world had deserted them, and yet today it had been made irrefutably clear to her that she wasn’t alone. Even though Ray was gone, life didn’t need to end for her. And as long as Marissa was alive, she would fight for her and pray, because she was beginning to see the power in that act. That sensation was something she didn’t want to let go of.

Her thoughts turned to Kate’s trip to Nashville to find Valerie. Her stomach fluttered, both in nervousness and excitement with the possibilities that that discovery could bring. To have both of her daughters together, and to have Marissa healed of this horrible nightmare, would be beyond her wildest dreams.