The Summer Sisters (Juniper Springs Book 2) Read online

  “I…” Her mother hesitated as though suddenly unsure what to say. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “I don’t know. I don’t know who I’m mad at anymore. Maybe myself. But I’m so tired. I’m tired of being angry.”

  “Dad is gone,” she reminded Lillian gently. “Sassy’s Robert is gone. But you two aren’t. You could still have each other.” She paused as her mother seemed to consider the words. Maybe they were getting through. At least Lillian had started to show some real emotion. “It might take time to put the past to rest for good,” she went on. “I get that. But today could be a start. Today we can go back to the party and be there for your sister. It’s one step.” Though she knew that the first one could be the most difficult.

  “It’s too late.” Lillian’s hand started to shake as she wiped away her tears. “I was so horrible to her. All these years.” She stared at Rose, her face crumpling with remorse. “How could she ever forgive me? How can I forgive myself for how I’ve treated her?”

  “Mom…” Rose wrapped her arms around Lillian, pulling her into a hug. “None of that matters now. The important thing is what you do—”

  A loud noise interrupted. A siren?

  She turned in the direction of the noise and watched an ambulance barrel around the corner before turning into the inn’s driveway. It sure seemed to be in a hurry.

  “What’s happened?” Her mother gaped at the flashing lights. “Why is there an ambulance here?”

  “I don’t know.” But someone had obviously called them. “It can’t be good. Come on.” Rose grabbed Lillian’s hand and moved as quickly as she could, given her wedge sandals and her mother’s sleek loafers.

  Nightmares raced through her mind as they traveled along the road’s uneven shoulder. What if one of the children had been hurt swimming?

  Lillian squeezed her hand back. “It’s not Maya or Ollie,” she murmured. “My God, it can’t be Maya or Ollie.”

  Just when Rose opened her mouth to assure her mother it wasn’t the children, Dally’s car drove out onto the highway and sped past them. But it was Ike, not Dally, in the driver’s seat.

  “He’s in an awful hurry.” Lillian held on to her tighter. “Where’s Dally?”

  “I don’t know.” Rose wished her voice would stop wobbling. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

  By the time they reached the driveway, they were both struggling to jog, with Rose half stumbling on the uneven gravel. Fear gripped her as she remembered her aunt’s episode after she’d first returned home from her trip. “What if it’s Sassy? What if—”

  Her heel caught on a larger rock and slipped out from under her, rolling her ankle with a hard crunch in the bone. Pain shot all the way up her leg, forcing her to the ground.

  “Rosie?” Her mother crouched next to her. “Honey…are you okay?”

  “No.” The throbbing had already started on the outside of her ankle and she could feel the instant tightness and swelling. A sharp pain radiated from her ankle and set her teeth on edge. “I don’t think I can walk.”

  “It’s okay.” Lillian jolted to her feet and ran away as fast as her loafers would take her. “You’ll be okay, sweetie! I’ll get you help!”

  Rose helplessly watched her mom disappear, but she couldn’t sit here and do nothing. There was already some other emergency happening. She didn’t need to add to the drama. Again.

  Gagging back nausea, Rose staggered to her good foot and tried to put some weight on the damaged ankle. “Come on,” Rose whispered to herself. She could do this. She could get to the bottom of the hill on a bum ankle. Slowly, she limped along, battling the overwhelming urge to stop and fall to her knees so she could throw up. After a few steps she had to pause and breathe, closing her eyes, shutting out the pain.

  “Rose?”

  At the sound of Colt’s voice she raised her head.

  The man was sprinting toward her. “Your mom said you were hurt?”

  “My ankle.” She eased in a slow, settling breath. No throwing up. She couldn’t throw up all over Colt’s shoes. “I think it might be broken.”

  “We need to get you to the hospital.” Colt easily lifted her into his arms and started off down the hill, moving slowly and carefully. “Maybe they can make room in the ambulance.”

  “No. I refuse to ride in an ambulance when there’s obviously a real emergency. I don’t want anyone to worry about me right now.” She looked into Colt’s eyes, seeing all of the concern and worry he hid there. “Who’s hurt?”

  He hesitated, watching the ground instead of looking back at her.

  “Please tell me.” Rose touched his cheek with her hand, guiding his gaze to hers. “I have to know.”

  He stopped moving briefly, readjusting her as though trying to make her more comfortable. “Sassy collapsed in the woods.”

  She tried to swallow but it felt like someone had jammed their fist into her throat. “Is she—?”

  “She’s stable right now.” His tone held a remarkable calmness. “The paramedics are just getting her into the ambulance. Dahlia and the kids are riding with her. Ike already left to head to the hospital.”

  Rose looked ahead of them. She could see now. The ambulance sat near the pond. They were pushing a gurney inside. Oh, Sassy. “What happened? Why did she collapse?”

  “We don’t know. Maya came running out to find us.” Colt slowed his steps on the last steep part of the hill. “It sounds like she fainted. Your mom is pretty upset. When I ran up here, she was trying to talk to Sassy but the paramedics kept sending her away.”

  Rose took in the scene in front of her. The Cleary family had respectfully gathered near one of the cabins as though wanting to give everyone else space. Graham had started up his Jeep and was waiting next to the ambulance. Mags and Eric were standing outside the ambulance’s open doors with Lillian, who was crying.

  “Sassy! I’m so sorry! This is my fault,” their mother wailed. “I was awful earlier. Just awful!”

  The doors to the ambulance shut with a horrible thud, and Rose couldn’t help but cry. She’d wanted to see her aunt. To kiss her cheek. To tell her everything would be okay.

  “She’ll come through,” Colt murmured. “Ike doesn’t think it’s her heart.”

  Then what was it? She couldn’t bring a voice to the question. What would’ve made her aunt faint? What would’ve given her that dizzy spell in the kitchen after she’d come home from her trip? She wasn’t sure she was ready to know.

  “Oh my God. Rose.” Lillian trudged up to meet them. “I can’t believe—I don’t think she heard me tell her I was sorry. What if she never knows? We’ve lost so many years together.”

  Rose grabbed her mom’s hand again, squeezing it tightly in hers.

  The sirens started up and Colt moved to the side of the driveway, pulling Lillian along with them as the rig rolled past.

  “Sassy,” Lillian yelled again. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!” Her mother followed for a few steps and then hunched over with her hands on her knees. “She didn’t hear me. What if she doesn’t make it? What if I don’t get to see her again?”

  “We can’t think like that.” Colt carried Rose to his truck a few feet away. “I’ll give you two a ride to the hospital.” He opened the door and settled Rose in the passenger’s seat before opening the back door for her mother. “Sassy’s tough. She’s a fighter. She’ll pull through okay.”

  The man climbed into the truck next to Rose with a strength and confidence she wished she could find for herself.

  “Let’s prop your foot here.” Colt patted the console between them. “Try to keep it elevated.”

  Rose shifted her body so she could get her foot up.

  “I’ll try to go slow.” He carefully removed her sandal and gave the outside of her ankle a good look. “Definitely looks broken. But it doesn’t seem displaced.” He started the engine and put the truck into gear. “Looks like you and Sassy will get to be patients together.”

  “No.” Rose crossed
her arms and looked out the window. “I refuse to get treated until I can check on her.” Who cared about an ankle when her aunt might be dying?

  “I don’t understand.” Her mother whimpered in the backseat. “What could’ve happened? Why did Sassy faint? What could be wrong with her?”

  While he drove, Colt relayed the little he knew to Lillian. Rose sat back, focusing on fighting the pain in her ankle, the fear in her heart.

  Eventually silence took over for the rest of the drive, which seemed to take a good five hours instead of twenty minutes. Colt pulled the truck into a spot in the ER parking lot and was opening her door before Rose could move.

  “I can try to walk,” she offered.

  “I don’t mind carrying you.” The curve at the corners of his mouth reminded her of those few seconds before he’d kissed her. That seemed like years ago now.

  “Okay.” Rose wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the seat.

  “Hurry up, you two.” Lillian waved them to the doors. “We have to find her right away. I have to see my sister.” Her mother sped in ahead of them, but Colt seemed to go through the doors extra slowly.

  “We have things to talk about.” His gaze found hers. “When we get Sassy through this. I have a few things to say to you.”

  Her heart held on to the promise. When they got Sassy through this. And they would get her through. All of them together.

  When they walked into the waiting room, Ike was already talking to Lillian, but he stopped when he caught sight of Rose. “I heard we’ve got a broken bone.” He carefully took her bare foot in his hand and examined her ankle. “We should get you back into a room so we can get some X-rays.”

  She didn’t give a damn about her broken bone. “What’s going on with Sassy?” Rose demanded. “We want to see her.”

  “They’re taking her back for a CT scan right now.” Ike smiled a plastic, vague, doctor’s smile that didn’t suit him at all.

  “But why?” Lillian’s voice got weepy again. “What are they looking for?”

  “They want to rule some things out.” He slipped a supportive arm around Lillian and guided her to a nearby chair. “I promise I’ll keep you posted as soon as I know anything. Dahlia and the kids will be out in a few minutes. Ollie needed to find a bathroom.”

  Colt started toward the row of chairs where Lillian sat, but Rose gave him a look silently nodding toward Ike. She had more questions her mother didn’t need to hear.

  Ike was moving toward the doors that led to the exam rooms, but Colt caught him.

  “Please tell me what they’re looking for,” Rose said quietly. Because she was a master at drumming up worst-case scenarios.

  Ike quickly looked around before leading them to a corner. “They’re concerned about a possible tumor. Or a stroke. Those are the biggest worries right now.” His grim expression told her just how worried he was.

  Rose nodded, biting into her lower lip so she wouldn’t sob.

  “I’ll keep you all posted. The second I find out more, I’ll let you know.” Ike squeezed her forearm. “In the meantime, I want you to get that ankle looked at. You have to take care of yourself if you want to take care of Sassy.” The man hurried away and disappeared through the doors.

  The ache in her chest swelled, making it hard to breathe. The sob worked its way out of her, along with the tears.

  “Don’t cry, Rosie.” Colt pressed his lips against her cheek in a tender kiss. “No matter what Sassy has to go through, we’ll all face it together.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Sassy

  I don’t suppose you can keep my door locked.”

  Sassy tried to bat her eyelashes at the dashing young nurse who had wheeled her all over creation for tests since she’d arrived at the hospital. Theo, his name was. He had thick dark hair and a quick smile with lady-killing dimples.

  “Someone might accuse me of imprisonment if I locked your door.” Flashing that charm, the nurse wheeled her gurney into its place in front of a whole bunch of awful-looking machines and gadgets attached to the wall. Add those tubes and wires to the dim lighting and the tiny little window that hardly let in enough light to create any shadows on the floor, and you had a dungeon.

  Lord have mercy, it looked exactly like some Elizabethan torture chamber in here. See? This was why she didn’t do hospitals.

  “I wouldn’t mind being imprisoned if it buys me some time before I have to face my family.” She was only half teasing. Her headache had gone on past, but now knots of tension and worry seemed to have embedded themselves into the very fabric of her stomach, all prickly and sharp.

  She hated this. Hated worrying everyone, hated seeing them all make such a fuss. “I’m not used to it,” she told Theo, smoothing the thin bedcovers over her legs. “I’m not used to having a whole family to answer to.” For years her decisions and struggles and complications had been hers alone, and this whole mess only proved she wasn’t good at sharing them with anyone else.

  “Miss Sassy…” The young man’s impish look scolded her. “Accepting hugs and love from your family doesn’t seem all that difficult.”

  She harrumphed. “It is when you’ve been hiding headaches and dizziness from them for the better part of two months.” Guilt. That’s what had cloaked her heart in its heavy darkness. She wasn’t a liar, but she’d justified keeping things from Rose and Dally and Colt. And Graham too. Sweet, thoughtful Graham. What had he thought when he’d heard her telling the paramedics she’d been having all of these symptoms?

  She knew exactly how she’d feel if it had been her. Betrayed. Hurt. Left out.

  Theo pulled down the rails on the sides of the gurney and locked the wheels into place. “Well, from the sound of things, there are a whole group of them out in that waiting room ready to see you. I heard rumors about nieces and nephews and even a little newborn. If I lock this door, they’ll likely come charging in to break it down anyway.” He leaned over her. “That’s a mess I don’t want to have to clean up.”

  “You’re no help.” She crossed her arms and slumped her shoulders against the pillows. She had no right to pout. She knew that. And yet she couldn’t stop that lower lip of hers from trembling. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see any of them. She was worried about how they would look at her lying in this bed—like she was weak and old and…well…possibly dying?

  All those tests and they still had no results yet. Lying in that tube for the CT scan had been torture—knowing they could see inside her body, that some nameless technician behind the wall was looking at exactly what was wrong with her but wouldn’t tell her until the doctor could come down and explain it all.

  “How about this?” Theo pulled the curtains open a bit more and an actual ray of sunshine landed on the floor a few feet away. “I’ll tell them they have to come visit in small groups. That way it won’t be quite as overwhelming.” The man typed a few things into a tablet that sat on the counter near the sink. “Now who would you like to see in here first?”

  She nearly said Graham, but he happened to have more patience than some of the others who were likely sitting out in that waiting room. “I need my nieces.” They likely weren’t too happy with her right now. “And my sister…if she’s here.” Lillian had been trying to talk to her when the paramedics had loaded Sassy up in the ambulance, but she hadn’t been able to hear much with all the noise.

  “Coming right up.” Theo left her with that charming smile.

  Sassy sat up in the bed and rearranged the pillows. Not much could be done about her hair at this point, but she combed it into place with her fingers as best she could.

  “Sassy? My dear Sassy.” Lillian rushed into the room first, her arms outstretched, her voice almost melodic.

  Her sister had always known how to make a dramatic entrance.

  “I’m sorry.” Lillian grabbed both of her hands. “You have to forgive me. I was being stubborn and single-minded, but when I saw you lying on that gurney…” She shook he
r head and closed her eyes as though she couldn’t continue. “Things are changing,” she said after a long pause. “Starting right now. I’m going to be here for you. Whatever you need. I’ll do anything to help you.”

  So much for doing her best to look healthy and not sickly. Lillian definitely thought she was dying. But still, if this was what it took to bring her sister back to her, she’d gladly accept her sister’s look of pity. “I’m glad you’re here, Lil.”

  “We’re all here.” Dahlia and Magnolia walked into the room together. And Rose…what on earth was she doing in a wheelchair? “What happened to you, darling girl?” Now that her niece had fully rolled herself into the room, she could see quite the complicated wrap on Rose’s right ankle.

  Her niece groaned. “It’s a long story involving wedge sandals and the driveway.” She rolled her eyes. “Minor fracture, according to the doctor, but they’re making me drive around here in this dumb thing.” Her niece pushed herself alongside the bed. “Enough about me though. Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you tell us you were having headaches? I knew you got dizzy that night at dinner, but I didn’t think much of it. You seemed fine…”

  Sassy opened her mouth to spout off the answer she’d formulated—the one she’d convinced herself was true, but the hurt on all three of her niece’s faces stopped her. She’d thought she kept the headaches from them because she wanted to protect them, but that wasn’t it at all.

  “I don’t think I wanted the headaches to be real.” That was the plain truth. “I didn’t want them to mean anything or to be part of a bigger problem. Not now. Not when you’re all here and the inn is reopening and I’m starting this whole new life.” She hadn’t wanted anything to threaten her happiness. “Not telling anyone made them feel less scary, I suppose.”

  Denial allowed her to protect herself from the possibility that everything would be taken from her. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you or want you all to be part of my life.” She made sure to make eye contact with Rose and then Dally and then Mags. And Lillian. She still couldn’t believe her sister was here. Talking with her. “I simply didn’t want to acknowledge that something was truly wrong.”