Chapter 8
Beth died just before midnight. It broke her in ways that she couldn’t describe, how even at the end, they’d had harsh words.
Even though she couldn’t move all that much and had lost her ability to see her from the medications, Beth told her that she was going to kill her as soon as she got better. It was the last thing she said to her.
Not moving from the chair that was sitting close to the bed, she thought of her two sisters dying from cancer, and it hurt her heart.
It had spread quickly and quietly through their bodies, leaving her alone in the world for the rest of her life.
Holding Beth’s hand, which was as cold as ice, Serenity kissed the back of it and laid it back under the covers.
The staff had been in, of course, when her monitors sounded, but after turning them off in favor of the noise, she was able to sit there and be alone with her until she was ready.
Serenity didn’t know if she’d be ready again.
Crying softly, she thought about her two sisters and the fact that they’d been so unalike even in death.
Helen had only said goodbye to her before taking her last breath, and Beth had said she was going to get better and kill her.
It hurt her heart something terribly when all she wanted to do was to be happy with them again.
“Ms. Jamestown? I’ve called the doctor and let him know what’s happened.” She nodded. “I’ve also called the funeral home for you as well. They said they would be here in an hour if that’s all right with you.”
“Yes, of course. I’ve made arrangements for her funeral while being here all day.
I knew that it was close; she was much like my other sister in that way.
” She told her she’d be there for her if she needed.
“No. I just have to call my mate and let him know. Right now, I want to just sit here and think.”
“Yes, of course.” She went out of the room and closed the door.
As she was getting ready to hold her hand again, she thought of the arrangements that she’d made that weren’t at all like Helen’s had been.
No one would know Beth from around here.
She’d not lived in this area for a long time.
She’d already contacted her doctor in Tennessee, and he was grateful for the heads-up.
The plot by their parents had been hard to get; they wanted to make sure that there was no one else going to need one there, but in the end, they sold it to her for a reasonable price.
There would be a graveside service in a few days, and that would be the end of it.
After the marker was made and ready to be put in, she’d go and see it to make sure that it was right.
Getting up, she made her way to the window.
“You were so selfish all our lives. Even Helen said so when you visited her right before she passed on.” Straightening up her back, she wanted to show the world that she was made of sterner stuff when all she wanted to do was to find herself a corner and hide herself away and cry some more.
“The more I’ve thought about you, the more I’ve come to realize that had you been able to get loose from the restraints, you would have indeed killed me. ”
She’d said it so many times that she was sure that even the staff had heard her.
The staff had been good about keeping records of all the times that she’d said that she was going to kill her; even if she had lived, she would have been in jail.
The police didn’t take too kindly to having people threaten other people.
“I’ve come to so many decisions about things, and I’m going to make you aware of them.
I know you can’t hear me, not that you’d care anyway, but I’ve decided to live here in Ohio so that I can be close to Sherman’s family.
They’ve been so supportive while you’ve been so mean to me, and I’m going to enjoy being around them for the rest of my long life.
I even have a brother now, and I’m so excited to have Ace in my corner.
He and Sherman get along really well, and I know that he loves me.
Another decision that I’ve come to is that I’m going to put your name on the scholarship program that Helen wanted to set up.
It will be the Helen and Beth Foundation for Future Teachers.
You didn’t do well in school, but that doesn’t matter.
You would have hated it, and that’s why I’m doing it. ”
Thinking of how much her sister’s death was hurting her, Serenity let her tears fall.
There was no point in keeping them at bay when she was here alone with Beth.
She’d never cried this much with her parents being killed, and certainly not Helen.
But Beth had been cruel and hateful, and that was why she’d been crying so much.
She loved her very much, but she didn’t like her.
Not at all. She was a person that you wouldn’t depend on if you had something important to do, nor would she have been there had you needed her for support.
Beth had her own agenda, and she didn’t care who she hurt when she was taking care of her own needs over anything you wanted.
“I’m going to go home tonight and make love with Sherman.
He’ll make me feel whole and loved, something that you wouldn’t understand, and I need him.
Then we’ll get married. Or not. I don’t care if he weds me or not.
So long as I can be with him for the rest of my life.
And it will be a good life.” She thought of carrying his child, and she smiled.
“We’ll have plenty of babies, too. Perhaps a dozen of them over our lifetime.
They’ll know love unlike anything that you and I shared.
For as many times as you told me that you hated me, I have begun to believe it.
You were cruel to me to say those things, and I can only hope that someday I can forgive you.
There was no reason for you to say anything like that to me when I was only trying to help you. ”
She turned and looked at the bed where her sister had been lying for the last few weeks.
It hadn’t taken her long to go from being robust to dying, and she thought that it might have been the best thing that could have happened.
No more lingering in pain. Beth was free of it, and that was a good thing.
She’d wish for anyone else to go quickly like her sister had, and that would be the end of it.
“I’m leaving here soon. They’ll pick up your body and prepare you for the service.
I’ll see you at the graveside when I see Helen, but I won’t be sharing anything with you when I do her.
” She thought about how she’d been able to acquire a place next to their parents for Beth, too, and was glad that Beth was on the other side of her parents so that Helen could have some peace and quiet.
“You’ll have your own little space next to our parents. How’s that?”
“I was wondering when you would be coming home.” She was startled by Sherman talking to her, yet was happy too. “I didn’t know if you were going to stay all night or not.”
“Beth is gone. She died at eleven fifty-four. They said that the death certificate would be ready as soon as the day after tomorrow.” He said he was sorry.
“I am as well. I wish I had been able to talk to her civilly, but that wasn’t to be.
She died with her last breath, telling me how much she hated me. ”
“I’m so sorry, honey. I should have been there with you.” She said that she was all right, she’d gotten to talk with Beth like she should have been all along. “You told her off, didn’t you? Good for you. If anyone deserved it, it was her. How are you holding up?”
“I’m waiting on the funeral home to come and pick her up.
Remember, I’m only going to have a graveside service for her because it’s doubtful that anyone around here would have known her.
She’d not lived here since she’d been eighteen.
” He told her that he remembered. “I thought you might. You remember everything I tell you, and I love you for that. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. ”
“And you me. I want you to know that I will love you more tomorrow, too, and then more the next. You are my heart and soul, and I don’t want another day to go by without us being together.
” She told him that she was happy for that.
“I’ll be waiting up for you tonight. Then, in a couple of days, we’ll have her service and move on from there.
Things will be easier because we have each other. ”
“That’s right. And tonight when I get home, if you’d like, I’d like for you to make love to me.
I want to feel you deep inside of me. I want you to make me feel whole again.
I want you to take me to heights that I’ve never been before.
” He said that he wanted the same thing.
“Good. I’m leaving here in a few minutes.
There is nothing more that I can do for Beth, and that’s the way it should be. ”
She didn’t get out of the hospital right away.
She did wait for the funeral home to have them remember that it was only going to be a graveside service.
They said that they remembered and everything would be ready for her in two days.
Nodding and thanking them for their help, she made her way to the nurses’ desk to thank them.
“You guys went above and beyond anything that could have happened for us, and I’m happy to say that you all did me a good deed in helping me cope with her daily.
” They said that it had been their pleasure.
“Thank you again. I’m going home now and will sleep until I wake up.
That might be a while from now, but I deserve it. ”