So they ended the conference call by agreeing that Penni would return to Boston and her familiar support system (not to mention her husband) in place there; and that Jodie would accompany her on the flight and as long as needed thereafter. Outside in the waiting room Penni sat down and began checking possible flights on her phone.
Jodie laughed and said, “Haven’t you learned anything? You’ve got to let the man of the house do his thing!” She called Dave, summarized the results of their doctor’s visit, then said, “So we need two one-way tickets to Boston for this afternoon. Could you help with that?”
Dave said, “I’ll check into it” and hung up.
Jodie turned to her sister. “Done.”
“When did you learn that trick?”
“Dad-Dave has been helping me on the Q-T since I was a junior in high school and he bailed me out of jail and got the charges dropped without Mom ever knowing. Ever since I’ve turned to him whenever I have a problem he can help fix.”
“I never knew.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
They were halfway home when Jodie’s phone buzzed.
“You’re set,” Dave said. “Two business class seats leaving at 1:35 and arriving at 3:12. I’ve got you on the window, but you and Penni can switch if you want.”
Jodie smiled and gave a thumbs up to Penni with her hand still on the wheel.
Penni rubbed her fingers together in the sign of cash.
Jodie shook her head but asked for her sister’s sake. “What do we owe you?”
Dave laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Penni wants to know.”
“Tell Penni I paid with credit-card miles.”
“Will do, Boss,” she said, then added, “Thanks, Dave.”
He responded with his standard line in such situations, “What are stepdads for?”
Back at the house they repacked and made up their respective rooms. It didn’t take long. They ate an early lunch. Leah would take them to the airport. They checked their flight’s schedule and everything was showing on-time. The weather was clear up and down the east coast. Hopefully there would be no delays and the flight would be smooth. Penni’s cramps had steadily subsided since Jodie’s massage in the wee hours before dawn followed by all the walking and activity. She theorized that her lower back had been strained by the sitting in the cramped seat the day before and that the cramps had been muscle spasms unrelated to her pregnancy—or so they all hoped.
After lunch the three women went in to see Brooke. Dave had got her up and filled her in on the day’s developments as he gave her the daily sponge bath, changed her into a fresh powder-blue sweatsuit, sat her up on several pillows, and gave her the standard high-protein milkshake. Her hair still looked good from the day before but the make-up had all been washed away. Her skin was clean with a light sheen from the moisturizing lotion, but it was a dull gray color, its flatness accentuated by the contrast with her bright and active eyes.
Penni led the way followed by Jodie then Leah. She crossed quickly to the bed and bent best she could and hugged her mom and kissed her forehead. The action caused a sharp pain in her back and she winced as she stood back upright.
“Do I look that bad?” Brooke asked.
Penni shook her head vehemently. “It’s my back, Mom. I don’t know if it’s the baby coming or just sore muscles.” She slumped into the near chair.
Brooke smiled. “It’s both, dear. Take it from one with a little experience in the baby-toting department—you’ll survive even though sometimes you may doubt it.”
Penni nodded thanks. Sitting there staring at her conscious mother she confronted for the first time the implications of her decision to return to Boston—this likely would be the last time she would see her mother alive. That understanding caused her face to blanch and tears to rise in her eyes. Maybe she should reverse her decision and take her chances with staying here.
Jodie slid between her sister and the bed and bent to kiss her mother. As she rose tears were in her eyes also. Leah pushed the other chair up close and urged Jodie to sit beside her sister. Once seated Jodie’s hand found Penni’s and squeezed it tightly.
Leah found Brooke’s right foot beneath the covers and pressed it, signed I love you in their schoolgirls’ long-ago symbol—the shape of a heart quickly pierced by the shaft of a finger’s arrow—then pulled up the third chair and sat near the end of the bed.
“Well isn’t this a fine ‘how do you do?’ Get myself all gussied up and all I see are tears!”
Jodie wiped away hers with the back of her hand. “Sorry, Mom. You look great. It’s nice to see you awake.”
“Was I napping yesterday?”
Penni nodded.
“A girl has to get her beauty sleep, though I guess it didn’t work.”
“You look beautiful, Mom,” Penni said. “Do you feel O.K.?”
“With all of you here, I feel wonderful! But enough about me. How do you feel?” she asked Penni.
“Pregnant.”
“It’s a bitch, isn’t it? But it’ll be over soon enough, then the real fun begins!”
“Hopefully, not too soon.”
“You’re a martyr for saying so.”
“A few more weeks in there at least.”
“You’re made for motherhood, dear.”
“I’ll hope you’re right.”
“Have I ever been wrong?”
Jodie laughed then covered her mouth. “Sorry.”
Brooke fixed her eldest child in a steady gaze. “Are you ever going to settle down?”
“I’m back in Seattle, Mom. It’s my home.”
“I mean with someone.”
Jodie returned her mother’s frank stare. “I’m working on it.”
“Don’t wait till it’s too late.”
“I won’t,” Jodie said simply.
Brooke turned her attention to Leah and smiled.
“What?” Leah asked.
“If you ever get in trouble, call your aunt,” she said to her daughters. “She has all the answers.”
“I wouldn’t claim that.”
Brooke looked back to her. “All my life.”
Leah tried to skirt the deep chasm that suddenly opened before her. “That’s a lot of answers,” she said with a shallow chuckle.
Brooke smiled. “Just one, and it’s transferrable.”
All the air went out of the room and they were suddenly five people floating through eternity, linked forever.
Then they were back.
Penni bent and kissed her mom.
Brooke pressed her lips to her daughter’s ear. “Take care of my granddaughter.”
Penni nodded.
Jodie bent and kissed her mom.
“And you take care of my baby,” she whispered.
From the foot of the bed, Leah, able to read Brooke’s lips even if she couldn’t hear the words, signed in their adolescent miming—Whom do I take care of? She ended the signing as if cradling a baby in her arms.
Brooke signed back—All of us—letting her eyes circle the room and all therein.