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At first, it had been strange reading about places and people she remembered but hadn’t seen in so many years. But as the months went by, she began to feel a tenuous connection. She had even taken a chance and contacted her former foster mother, Maddie Oglethorpe. Maddie’s house in Maraville was the closest thing to a real home Eliza had ever had.
She thought about the old Victorian house on Poppin Hill, in her mind envisioning a weathered clapboard building standing in lonely splendor atop a small knoll on the outskirts of the sleepy southern town.
For a moment a kaleidoscope of images flooded her mind. The shock of losing her mother when she’d been only four. The uncertainty and fear when she’d suddenly been thrust into the foster home on Poppin Hill to live with strangers. People often said young children didn’t remember much, but she recalled every day at Maddie’s with her foster sisters.
April, Jo and Eliza. Wild girls with no place else to go, they’d carried chips on their shoulders the size of elm trees as they’d grown into rebellious teenagers. But they had ended up closer than sisters. There had been laughter and shared confidences, plans and dreams.
Jo had dealt with her anger at the world by challenging authority every chance she got. April had seemed vain and conceited to those around her, but underneath was a girl desperate to know her family. Eliza’s own insecurity had been covered by a brash bravado and clinging dependence. A jumble of images from those days—poignant, funny, bleak—flashed through Eliza’s mind now.
Their lives together had ended abruptly when Eliza was sixteen. In the space of two days, the world as she’d known it had changed. Nothing had ever been the same.
She shook off her somber mood and scanned the front page. Opening up the paper, she stopped in surprise. There in a sidebar column on page two was a report of Maddie Oglethorpe’s stroke and hospitalization.
For a moment, emotions swelled in Eliza. She felt like the uncertain sixteen-year-old she had been all those years ago—alone, adrift, afraid—after being forced from Maddie’s home. The last twelve years might never have been. She was transported back in time to the last day she’d seen her foster mother.
The older woman had seemed indomitable. She had been the strength of that household, caring for the girls, making ends meet on a limited income and the small stipend from Social Services.
Eliza had written to her frequently since that initial contact two years ago, sending her cards at Christmas, even calling her a couple of times to chat on the phone. They’d made tentative plans more than once about getting together, but Eliza hadn’t gone back to Mississippi and Maddie hadn’t come to Boston.
The news of her stroke shocked Eliza. She couldn’t imagine Maddie sick at all, much less gravely ill.
Checking the date, she saw the paper was only three days old.
She picked up the phone and dialed Information to find the number for the Maraville hospital. It was now after midnight, but a hospital was staffed twenty-four hours. There would be someone on duty who could give her an update on Maddie’s condition.
Several frustrating moments later she hung up. No one would give her any information. She was not a relative. Maddie didn’t have any relatives after her father had died. That had been one reason she’d opened her home to foster children in need of family.
There had to be someone in town who could find out how Maddie was and let Eliza know.
The first name that came to mind was Cade Bennett’s. The old hurt resurfaced. Eliza knew he wouldn’t give her the time of day. Not after those hateful words he’d said to her that last day in Maraville.
If April or Jo were still in town, she could have called one of them. The only person she could come up with was Edith Harper, Maddie’s best friend. But when she called Information, there was no number listed for her. Was her phone unlisted? Surely Maddie would have written if anything had happened to Edith.
Dammit, who could she call?
Not for the first time, Eliza felt the aching loss of her best friends. Sisters united, they’d called themselves. She rubbed the small scar on the tip of her index finger. She remembered the day the three girls had pledged undying friendship and sisterhood. Blood sisters.
It had been Jo’s idea. They had been thirteen at the time. Three girls with no family to call their own banding together. Eliza’s parents were dead. Jo’s mother was too caught up in drugs and abusive men to care about her only child. April’s parents were unknown.
To solidify their bond, they had each cut a fingertip and mingled their blood. What a mess they’d made, cutting deeper than necessary. Blood had spattered their clothes and the bedspread. Maddie had been upset with the mess they’d made, but the bond had never wavered until the day they were sent to different foster homes throughout the state of Mississippi.
It was all because of the accusations Jo had made. Angry at Maddie for reasons Eliza never knew, Jo had accused their foster mother of beating her, and she’d had the injuries to prove it. Social Services had stepped in immediately after the sheriff had interviewed Eliza and April the next morning, swiftly taking each of the girls from Maddie’s home and placing them elsewhere.
By the time her junior class in Maraville had held its prom that spring, Eliza had been living in Biloxi with the Johnson family. She never knew where April and Jo had been sent. In the twelve years that had followed, she had not heard from either of them. Nor, as far as she knew, had Maddie. She’d asked in earlier letters, but Maddie had said neither had ever contacted her.
Losing touch with Jo and April had been devastating. Eliza had tried to find them but ran into brick walls at every turn. She’d kept to herself at her new school and was grateful her second set of foster parents had invited her to remain with them when she’d turned eighteen. They had helped her far more than she’d deserved.
It wasn’t until she’d left Maraville that Eliza realized how much living with the other girls meant to her. Maddie, too, though at the time Eliza had often thought her rules excessive. As time passed, however, she recalled happy memories. Laughter as well as tears.
The three girls had made plans to go to college together, to get a large apartment in New Orleans. They’d been united in their desire to leave Maraville and take their chances in the world.
Homesickness grabbed hold of Eliza, surprising her. She suddenly yearned to see April and Jo with a fierceness that startled her. How could they have let the years go by without finding each other? Had April or Jo learned of Maddie’s stroke? Would either of them consider returning to Maraville?
Eliza sat on the sofa for long moments, lost in memories and indecision. But the idea forming in her mind grew stronger the more she thought about it. She had not left town under the best of circumstances. But time healed old wounds. And she owed Maddie.
She could make a quick visit. See Maddie. Reassure herself her former foster mother was going to recover.
Eliza rose and went to the window. The rain continued its assault. The Charles River glittered in the distance, light reflecting from the choppy surface. The asphalt below gleamed beneath the streetlights. The few cars on the road splashed through the puddles, coating the sidewalks with their spray.
She leaned her forehead against the cold pane. She wanted to go back. She wished she could see the other girls, discover what they’d done with their lives. Maybe she could recapture that ephemeral feeling of family she’d had so long ago.
Her fear for Maddie grew. What if she didn’t recover? What if the stroke put an end to the Maddie she knew? Eliza was filled with a sense of impending doom. She had to get to Mississippi. She’d let things go far too long without making a real attempt to reconnect with Maddie and revisit her childhood home. It was too bad it had taken a tragedy to prompt the thought.
Eliza had spent so many years alone. It was one thing to vow to remain aloof, to protect her heart from further bruising, but the reality had led to a solitary existence. She had made a mistake as a teenager and it had left her wary of getting close to anyone—afraid of hurting and of being hurt herself.
Maddie had done her best for her girls. Eliza appreciated her even more now that she was on her own. She couldn’t imagine taking in three young girls and raising them alone as Maddie had done.
Was this the end? Was Maddie alone in the hospital, living her last few days with no one to visit, to talk to her, to love her?
Eliza couldn’t allow that. It was said that you could never go home again. But for her entire childhood, Maddie had given Eliza her best. She was the only mother Eliza remembered. And now she needed Eliza.
What was she waiting for?
She flipped through the city directory and lifted up the phone and punched in the number of an airline.
CHAPTER TWO
ELIZA’S HIGH HEELS CLICKED on the polished linoleum floor the next day as she followed the directions the nurse had given her to the ICU waiting room. She looked neither left nor right, but focused on getting to the end of the corridor.
She tried not to breathe deeply; she didn’t like the smell of disinfectant and sickness and fear. She hoped by this time Maddie was out of immediate danger and on her way to a quick recovery.
Eliza’s dove-gray suit, dark-gray shoes and soft white silk blouse looked out of place among the gaily colored uniforms the nurses wore. It had still been raining in Boston, with the temperature in the low fifties, when she’d decided to wear the wool gabardine suit. How could she have forgotten that here in Mississippi it would be pushing the high eighties, with humidity to match?
She wanted to strip off her panty hose, tear the sleeves from her blouse and drop her suit jacket in some trash can. Then bundle her hair up on top of her head to cool her neck. Instead it was tied back neatly, primly, at the nape with a clip. The last time she’d been in a hospital… It had been for Chelsea. They’d arrived too late. She’d already died. Eliza shivered at the memory, fervently hoping that would not be the case today.
Now as she reached the ICU nursing station, she asked where she would find Maddie Oglethorpe.
“Are you a relative?” the nurse asked.
“Sort of, I was one of her foster children.”
“You’ll have to talk to the doctor to get an updated prognosis.”
“Will I be able to see her?”
“I guess that relationship is close enough to visit. Rules are one person at a time every two hours for a few minutes.” She glanced at her watch. “No one else has been to visit Miss Maddie so you can come with me.”
Eliza followed the nurse, sad to hear no one had come to see Maddie. So glad she’d made the trip. As they walked through the doors into the unit, the nurse took a folder from a rack. Scanning the notations, she glanced at Eliza.
“Dr. Pendarvis will be finishing his rounds in a few minutes. He already checked Miss Maddie earlier. I’m sure he’d be happy to talk with you and answer any questions. There’s been no change in her condition. We’re monitoring her closely. There’s a nurse on duty here at all times.”
As the woman turned to leave, Eliza peered around her, shocked at the frail-looking figure lying so still on the high bed. She was hooked up to tubes, a large machine monitoring her vital signs. It was Maddie. Eliza almost didn’t recognize her.
Her hair was covered by wide strips of gauze holding a bandage over the left side of her head. What few strands escaped lay against the hospital pillow, gray and lifeless in the subdued light. Her determined blue eyes were closed. She seemed shrunken, smaller than Eliza remembered.
Eliza tiptoed closer, her eyes filling with tears at the sight. Until that moment, she hadn’t understood the reality of Maddie’s situation. There really was a distinct possibility she would never wake up.
Eliza couldn’t stand the thought. Her heart ached for the woman who had spent so many years raising three orphans, and was now so alone. Eliza should have contacted her as soon as she had turned eighteen. She should have done more for her over the years. How could she have ignored the woman for so long?
What if she hadn’t subscribed to the paper a couple of years ago? What if she hadn’t written and renewed communication? Would Maddie have died without Eliza ever knowing?
Dashing away the tears, she wanted to reach out and force Maddie to sit up and recognize her. She wanted to ask Maddie to tell her all she’d been doing since they’d last seen each other. She wanted the foster mother she remembered!
Guilt attacked. She should have tried for a closer tie with Maddie. No matter how things had ended with Cade Bennett, Eliza should have made contact with Maddie earlier. Insisted she come visit her in Boston. Or Eliza should have come back to Maraville sooner. How could she have let so many years go by?
The attendant nurse stepped up to the bed, gently laying the back of her hand on Maddie’s cheek while scanning the monitors. She mouthed, “No change.” Then she moved back to her seat a short distance away.
Eliza pulled an empty chair next to the bed and sat. Could Maddie feel her presence? Did she know Eliza had come as soon as she’d learned of her stroke? Would Eliza’s own silent demands for her to wake up penetrate somehow and trigger an awareness?
She knew what loss felt like, and hated it. The death of her mother when Eliza was four had shaken her world. It had been shaken again that terrible day Cade’s sister had died and April, Jo and Eliza had been separated.
When she’d moved to Boston with her new foster family, Eliza had given up hope of returning to her childhood home. After so many years in Boston, she felt as if her life was centered there now. She’d made friends, established a place of her own. She was even planning to marry a seventh-generation Bostonian.
Eliza thought back to the previous night. Although she’d booked her flight to New Orleans, the nearest large airport to Maraville, as soon as she’d decided to make the trip, she’d waited until just before leaving before calling Stephen.
He had not been happy with her plans.
“What do you mean you’re going to Mississippi? You said nothing about this last night.”
“I only found out after we spoke. It was too late to call you after that. I’ll just be gone a few days. But I have to see Maddie. She could be dying.”
“What about your job? I thought you couldn’t get time off this weekend.”
She was surprised at his reaction. Visiting someone who was gravely ill didn’t compare with going to a weekend house party.
“It’s not exactly a social occasion. Maddie had a stroke. She’s in her sixties, which isn’t young. I need to see her.”
Stephen had been annoyed she hadn’t consulted him earlier, and for that she felt guilty. Didn’t she often have the same complaint about him?
At the end of the conversation he’d eased up and had even offered to drive her to Logan Airport.
“I’ll take the T,” she’d said. She was used to taking public transportation. No sense in disrupting his day. “Shall I call you once I know what’s going on?” she’d asked.
“Of course. And I want to know when you’ll be returning so I can meet your flight. Maybe you’ll be back by the weekend.” He’d sounded hopeful.
“You never know,” she had said, irritated he was still focused on his mother’s house party. Maddie was the person who had raised Eliza. They weren’t as close as they might have been, but Eliza owed her a great deal. Going to see Maddie when she was so ill was the least Eliza could do. Stephen should understand that.
Eliza sat lost in thought now as she watched Maddie’s chest slowly rise and fall. She felt so helpless. Surely there was something she could do.
Endless minutes slipped by. The left side of Maddie’s face was badly bruised. The nurse had told Eliza that Maddie had hit her head when she’d fallen after suffering the stroke. One hand was bandaged, lying lifelessly on top of the light bedcover. Tubes hung from multiple IVs connected to Maddie’s arm.
“Ms. Shaw?”
Eliza looked up at the doctor who approached. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties and his warm, intelligent eyes inspired confidence.
“Yes?”
“I’m Dr. Pendarvis. Are you a relative of Maddie’s?”
“I was one of her foster girls years ago. I just found out last night she’d had a stroke. Can you tell me about her condition?”
He gave her a brief rundown. Eliza let the medical terms swirl around her. When he finished, she asked for the bottom line.
“Basically, I can’t guarantee anything. Her age is against her, of course. But she’s in pretty good health considering everything. It’s up to Maddie.”
“So we wait and hope?” she asked.
He nodded. “A prayer or two would be helpful. We’re doing all we can. She’s on blood thinners, and we’ve relieved the pressure on the brain caused by the fall. She’s also on antibiotics, and we’re keeping her hydrated and nourished. The rest is up to her.”
“The longer she’s unconscious, the worse her chances, right?” Eliza asked. She dreaded confirmation of her fears, but needed to know the facts.
“Usually. But we think she was found very soon after the stroke. We administered the drugs immediately. Those first six hours are crucial, so we’re hopeful. Sometimes people wake up and it’s as if they took nothing more than a long nap.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
The doctor studied her for a moment. “Try talking to her. Coma patients often respond to familiar voices. If you notice any change, any agitation, notify one of the nurses at once.”
Eliza nodded. “Thank you.”
When he left, she drew her chair closer to the bed.
“Hi, Maddie. It’s me, Eliza. It’s been a long time. I bet you’re surprised I’m here. I read about your accident last night and I came right away. Wake up so we can visit, can you?”
Eliza swallowed. This was harder than she’d expected.
“Wake up, please. I want to tell you all my news. Since I wrote last, I’ve become engaged. His name is Stephen Cabot. He’s a Yankee, but you’d still like him.”
Eliza didn’t know if Maddie would or not. The woman had had some odd notions. Eliza and the other girls had laughed at her old-fashioned ideas. But Maddie had always been fair. She’d give any Yankee the benefit of the doubt.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t better about keeping in touch. Wake up so we can tell each other all we’ve been doing lately.”
Ten minutes later, Eliza was talked out. Discouraged at the lack of response, she brushed her lips against Maddie’s pale cheek. “I’m going now. They let me stay longer than I was supposed to. But I’ll be back soon. Wake up, Maddie, please.”
She patted her hand, lying so lifeless on the sheet, then turned, blinking back tears. She’d hoped the sound of her voice would work a miracle. She should have known there were no miracles left, especially in Maraville.
ELIZA WENT TO THE HOSPITAL cafeteria in a small building adjacent to the main facility. It was only early afternoon in Maraville. She was hungry, yet she wanted to stay nearby in case Maddie woke. The nurse had told her she could return in a couple of hours.
After buying a large latte and bagel with cream cheese, she went to an empty table and sat down. She took her cell phone out of her purse and punched in Stephen’s number at work.
