Bonnie Winn - Family by Design

“A friend suggested hiring an estate service,” he admitted.

“That might be taking it a tad too impersonal. Do you recall grilling me about who helps with Mom? Now, it’s my turn. Who helps with Chrissy? Who can sort through the house? If that’s you, will it be between appointments and surgeries?”

“And I thought I felt bad being inside the house.”

She laughed, tipping her head back, allowing the laughter to gather and spill like a bright waterfall. “Touché.”

Somehow, his dread had disappeared.

Maddie held out her hand, palm side up, her eyes still dancing. “I’ll need a key.”

“I’m a little nervous,” Maddie admitted, fitting the key in the lock.

“You should be.” Samantha rolled her eyes. “I still can’t believe—”

“Other-may,” Maddie resorted to pig Latin to remind her friend of Lillian’s presence.

“Oh, now you remember.”

“I never forgot.” The key to Fran’s house turned easily and Maddie pushed open the door. “Mom, you like getting out, don’t you?”

Lillian smiled. “I like new places.”

Samantha rolled her eyes again. “And it’ll be new for a month of Sundays.”

Maddie elbowed her friend. “I thought you liked J.C.”

“I didn’t expect you to take on organizing his life.”

Maddie flinched. “Do you think he feels that way? And quit rolling your eyes before they fall out of your head.”

“The only one here out of her head—”

Maddie grasped the handles of her mother’s wheelchair and pushed her inside. “How about some TV, Mom? The cable’s still on, so you can watch a movie or Animal Planet.”

Lillian considered. “Have I seen Animal Planet before?”

She watched it every day. “I think so.” Flipping through the channels, Maddie put the TV on an old movie her mother had seen dozens of times. Fortunately, it was new to her each and every time. Uncapping the thermos of tea she’d brought, Maddie poured some in a cup and placed it on the table next to Lillian.

She caught up to Samantha in the hallway, where she stood, leaning slightly on her cane as she studied family pictures grouped over a console table. “Seems hard to believe they just went to sleep and never woke up.”

“I don’t know J.C. well enough to say this, but I think he feels the same way.”

“As though he might wake up one day and find out it was all just a bad dream.” Samantha shook her head. “That’s how I felt about Andy.” Samantha’s brother had died in a plane crash, ending his young life far too soon.

Maddie linked her arm with Sam’s. “What we’re doing, it’s a good way to give back.”

Sam’s voice thickened. “Yeah.” When she had returned to Rosewood paralyzed from a fall, she’d nearly burned down her parents’ entire home. She succeeded in destroying the kitchen. But friends and neighbors had stepped up, rebuilding it, making it even better than before. And in the process, she had reconnected with her old love and now husband, Bret. Sam cleared her throat. “Where do you want to start?”

“Master bedroom, I think. J.C. insists on hiring someone to move the boxes once they’re packed, so I’d like to retrieve the jewelry for his safety deposit box. Then I thought of recording an inventory.” She held up her cell phone. “I can shoot photos of the big pieces to J.C., let him decide what to keep.”

They entered the carpeted master bedroom, feet sinking pleasantly into the deep pile. The four-poster bed looked as antique as the fireplace it flanked. In the curve of the bay window was a cozy reading area.

“Nice,” Sam murmured.

Maddie walked to the open closet, seeing what J.C. had, instantly understanding why it had been so difficult. Although Maddie hadn’t known Fran, remnants of her personality remained.

“What does he want to do with the clothes?”

“Donate them. But I thought we might find one outfit that we’d tuck away for Chrissy.”

“Wonder if Fran kept her wedding dress,” Samantha mused.

“Oh, Sam! That’s perfect! You old softie, I said you’d turned into a romantic.”

Samantha grinned. “Okay. So we’re both hopeless.”

The doorbell rang. A young man sent by J.C. to deliver packing boxes offered his help. Maddie showed him to the dining room where he could assemble the flat cartons.

“Efficient,” Samantha commented, sitting on the bed, folding clothes. “You’re right. Emptying this room first will make it easier for J.C. The longer we put off clearing Andy’s room, the worse it was.”

Maddie crossed the room to the dresser, then slid open the top drawer. A vintage leather jewelry box sat inside. “I’m guessing Fran inherited her mother’s jewelry. Two generations of mementos for Chrissy.”

“Poor kid. I can’t imagine losing my parents now … but when you’re nine years old?” Samantha smoothed the lines of the dress she was folding. “Still, I can’t help worrying about you. Even though you always act chipper, I know the constant caregiving gets to you. And now this …”

Maddie turned to speak, but Sam cut her off.

“I know, I know. Helping people makes you feel better. But face it, even you have to admit this is a depressing chore.”

The jewelry box still in her hands, Maddie stroked it absently. “If you could have seen his eyes …”

Samantha sighed. “It’s my own fault. I just didn’t expect you to wind up …” she waved her hands around “… here.”

Maddie thought of J.C.’s face, the bleak expression, the unexpected spark of hope. Swallowing, she wished it hadn’t meant so very much to her.

Adam sat on the edge of J.C.’s desk, flipping through the messages on his cell phone.

“Your office must miss you,” J.C. told him drily as he signed a stack of insurance forms.

“Let Didi come to work for me and I’ll stay out of your way.”

J.C. grunted. “Last I heard, she’s still loyal.”

“Yeah. You have the women hooked.”

J.C. wagged his head in disbelief. “A whole harem.”

“What about the patient’s daughter? Maddie?”

Feeling an unwanted burst of protectiveness, J.C. looked up. “What about her?”

Adam flung out upturned hands. “Give.”

J.C. fiddled with his pen for a moment. “She offered to close up Fran’s house.”

The joking demeanor faded. “Wow.”

“That’s what I thought. I was at the house, felt like I was going to lose it and Maddie stopped by.”

“Out of the blue?”

“She was taking her mother out on a walk and spotted me on the porch. We talked about Fran’s things. Maddie said it would be harder the longer I left it.”

“What about the estate people?”

J.C. sighed. “I know you were trying to help, but it sounded so … cold. Maddie’s going to take an inventory, get things packed for storage so I can rent out the house.”

“Good plan. Then if Chrissy wants it later …”

“That’s what we thought.”

“We?”

“Lay off, Adam. Maddie’s just trying to help because she’s grateful that her mother’s improving.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You need to get married, get off the romance radar.”

“Because that worked out so well for you?”

J.C. winced. “There are downsides to having old friends. They know too much.”

“Sorry. You know I get jittery about the marriage thing.”

“Guess you haven’t met the right woman.” J.C. held up one hand before his friend could jump in with an obvious reminder. “And neither have I.”

Adam raised his eyebrows. “Maybe you have, my friend.”

J.C. frowned.

“Maddie sounds like someone worth getting to know.”

“Ah, just what I need in my upside-down life.”