Chapter 92 Rosemary
Rosemary
Three days before Rosemary McDonnell died, she circled the date in her calendar with a large red marker, capped the pen, and thought, That’s that.
Then she’d collapsed.
By the time she woke the next day, Delilah was already on a plane.
The next time she opened her eyes, Delilah was there in Rosemary’s hospital room with Lorraine and Maureen.
The three of them didn’t know she was awake as she watched from her bed, machines beeping and things whirring and her body aching everywhere.
But all that was just a kerfuffle—nothing could distract her from taking them in one last time.
Deli and Laurie sat in chairs while Mo sat cross-legged on the floor around a small hospital table with cards fanned in their hands.
“UNO!” Laurie pumped her fists in the air in victory as Mo rolled onto her back and Deli threw her cards at her mother. Laurie giggled. “Don’t hate me cuz you ain’t me.”
Deli made a frustrated sound. “You’re cheating, you have to be cheating.”
“Nope. God just loves me.”
Mo said, “I question his taste.”
Rosemary braced for the anger to flare, for the sharp words to cut. Instead, they laughed. Laurie’s laugh, and Mo’s laugh, and Deli’s—her three favorite sounds in the world.
Rosemary smiled as she fell asleep in a room with her happy, laughing girls.
She never woke up again.