Chapter 7 #2
“Come on, Martha.” Her father took her in hand again, cupping her elbow. “You go on and rest a spell.”
“Sarah…”
Her anguished whisper had Hannah clutching her hands behind her back, staring at the frail, almost vacant woman who was wandering into the other room.
The last time she’d been home had been two years ago, and her mother had been shaky and needy.
They didn’t speak too often when she was away.
She’d sent her an email or two and called on big occasions.
The limits on their communication had worked for everyone.
She was the daughter who’d lived while Sarah, her mother’s favorite, had died.
When her father had thought she’d follow in his footsteps as a doctor, they’d gotten along better. But he’d barely spoken to her since she’d decided against medical school. Even becoming an accomplished herbalist hadn’t improved his disposition like she’d hoped.
Given his crack about her helping Will, she feared there was nothing she could do to regain his respect.
Maybe seeing her in action in their hometown would help—if her trial run at the ranch was successful.
Hadn’t she included getting along with her father in the mix?
Maybe she’d need to revise that, seeing how it was a dead end.
“Hannah, your mother isn’t feeling too well today,” her father said, walking over to the doorway, his clinical gaze following her path to the couch. “Since you’re back for a while, we should reschedule.”
Reschedule Father’s Day? She fought the urge to say, Yes, Dr. Montgomery. But that would only make his narrow face pucker up with even more displeasure. “Tell me more about her fall. Maybe I can help.”
“She’s under my care, and we’re handling things. Like we’ve always done. Besides, she’s out of sorts because she didn’t sleep well, worrying about you traveling and coming home.”
“Tell Hannah I’ll make another cake, Silas,” her mother called.
“What happened to the cake?” Hannah asked, feeling the first threads of irritation rise.
Her father walked over and opened the door.
“Like I said, your mother’s only out of sorts.
She dropped it when she heard the knock.
You two go on and see Jolene. She and those crazy boys of hers are probably spying out their windows next door, waiting.
Heck, the whole town about made me deaf with all their goings-on this week about you returning to Sanctuary Springs.
I heard you’re staying in Will’s house on the ranch. ”
She could hear the implication a mile away. Oh, how she wished she could say something smart like, Staying with my own parents seemed impossible. “Seems like a good way to find out if Ben and I can coexist.”
Her father lowered his spectacles. “I wouldn’t lay bets there, but I guess it’s better than you staying here. It would be hard on your mother.”
God, he’d actually said it. It was one thing to feel your parents’ scorn, but to be so utterly rejected? That made Hannah’s chest ache. Nothing heals that level of agony.
“When you decide whether you’re going or coming, you need to address all the boxes you left in your old room.”
She fought back from saying, Why don’t I clean them up and get out of your way now?
“Hannah!” her mother called urgently.
She walked to the doorway. Her mother had turned anxiously on the sofa, gripping a pillow in her lap. “Don’t listen to your father. You’re always welcome here. In fact, we’re glad you’re home.”
Her chest tightened, and she could feel a shuddering breath trying to force its way out of her lungs. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll come by and see you soon.”
“Hannah, Jolene told me what you did, helping that poor little girl who was burned in that car accident. You have a gift, and I’m glad you’re sharing it. I wish you could have used it to help our Sarah.”
Her father sputtered in offense behind her, but she only took her mother’s hands in hers. “I wish that too, Mom. With every person I help.”
Her mother smiled softly, like the mother she remembered from her childhood when she and Sarah would come home from school to find she’d made cookies for them as a treat. She wanted to stop time and catch this moment, because she didn’t know when that mother would come around again.
“Stay right here.” She walked over to a side table and brought over a plain paper grocery bag. “I understand you were looking for these.”
She peered inside and gasped. “Mom! You picked up my bag of chips at Pioneer Pantry.”
Her mother patted her hand gently. “Gertie told me you’d called ahead about them when I went to buy cake flour. I remember how you girls loved them. My, how you two used to laugh. I’d stand in the hallway and listen with a smile on my face. Oh, excuse me.”
Hannah watched her rush from the room, tears burning her eyes.
“Look, now you’ve upset your mother.”
She turned around at her father’s chilling voice, hands clenched, and Neil walked over and put his hand on her back in support. But old habits died hard. Memories weren’t her fault. Neither was looking like what Sarah might have resembled if she were still with them.
“Dr. Montgomery, we’re going to take off,” Neil announced gently. “We’ll come back when Mrs. Montgomery is feeling better.”
“You do that,” her father crisply replied with a final disapproving look before seeing them out and shutting the door hard behind them.
Digging in her purse, she pulled out her lavender essential oil, unscrewed the top, and took a big whiff. “That man… He still makes me want to yell and scream and kick until I’m blue in the face. Nothing changes!”
Neil put his arm around her. “I’m sorry it wasn’t the homecoming you were hoping for, lass.”
“It wasn’t like I was expecting much.” She stored her lavender back in her purse. “They’re only my parents. You’re so lucky that yours love you and are so nice.”
“They haven’t grieved their daughter.” He hugged her to his chest. “Your sister is still in the house with them.”
She tensed.
“Not like that,” he clarified. “In memory. I noticed there was only one family photo hanging in the entryway.”
Leaning her head against his solid chest, she nodded.
“We never took another after Sarah died. That photo was our last as a family. My mother refused to put it in storage, like the rest of Sarah’s things.
She said it would be like putting Sarah away.
My father finally gave up since she spiraled down so badly after. ”
Neil led her to the car and reached inside for her thermos. “Drink some tea. Your heart needs it. Then have some of your crisps.”
“I want to eat them again when I don’t feel so sick to my stomach.” God, wasn’t that the saddest thought when she’d been so looking forward to them today? “I can’t believe Mom picked them up for me.”
He leaned against the SUV while she drank. “That’s a good sign.”
Putting her thermos back inside the car along with her chips, she rubbed her arms briskly to shake off her bad mood. “With my mother, I guess, but so much for hauling over Dr. A.J. Cronin’s book The Citadel as a gift for Dad.”
“He’ll like reading that classic on medical ethics when he gets around to opening your present,” Neil assured her like the gentle giant he was. “He’ll also know you were intentional in your choice of picking a book by a famous Scottish doctor.”
She heaved out a sigh. “Neil, we pretty much crashed and burned our first visit out.”
“Lass, your mother wasn’t well. ’Tis the way of it.”
One thing about Neil was that he never gave up hope that something could improve. The trait made him a terrific healing practitioner and human being.
“She hasn’t been well since Sarah died.” Hannah started walking to Jolene’s front porch. “The recent fall notwithstanding.”
Neil let her precede him on the sidewalk. “Maybe, but I’m new to the situation. I felt like your father was hiding something.”
“Certainly not his complete dislike for me. Neil, he’s against Will’s project, which could bode really badly for me when it comes to townspeople coming to my practice—if I stay.”
“It was more than that, aye, but let’s not dwell on it now. You ready for a warmer reception?”
She was already ringing the bell. Maybe Jolene would know if Neil was right about there being something more off than usual with her mother. “You betcha. Wait and see. The Prentice family is the tops.”
Because if she ended up staying here in Sanctuary Springs, she’d have to rediscover all the reasons she’d once loved it.
Of course that was after making peace with the past, and today, she would be starting that journey in a big way, God help her.