Page 77 of Just What She Needed

Rhett finally took her mother's frail hand between hers. "We're sorry."

"You didn't wake me," Bettina said, eyes still closed. "Don't sleep much anyway." A grimace contorted her features and she gripped Rhett's hands, a deep tortured moan rising from her throat. Mel jumped to her feet.

"You need me to go get a nurse?"

"No, just hang on." After a minute or two, the weak grip on Rhett's hand eased, and Bettina's breathing evened out. "It's not too bad right now."

Rhett looked at her sister in shock. If their mother considered what she'd just gone through as "not too bad," what the hell was it like the rest of the time?

"You leave Patsy alone," Bettina continued as if there had been no interruption. "She begged me to let her call y'all, but I wouldn't let her. I didn't want y'all to see me like this. No point in having y'all go through months of worry."

"But, Mama." Mel dropped into her chair again and leaned close to Bettina's side. "There are all kinds of clinics and treatment centers you could have gone to. I'd have made sure you got there, and—"

"And gone broke for your troubles." The ghost of a smile touched Bettina's lips. "Honey, there wasn't nothing that could be done except drag this out, and there wasn't no need to try. That's why I wouldn't let Patsy tell you. Speaking of Patsy, did she give one of y'all that envelope?"

This was the first Rhett had heard of an envelope, and she looked at Mel in confusion. But her sister just nodded and took their mother's free hand.

"I have it, Mama. What is it?"

"Deed to the house, the title to my car, other papers like that. Plus, I wrote down the way I want things taken care of. I've done boxed up everything in the house. Most of it's just junk that can be throwed away, but there's some things that can be donated if anyone wants 'em. You girls left some stuff there, too. Your names are on those boxes. And Rhett? I want that boy you dated in high school, the one that sold your house, to sell mine, too. And don't y'all spend a dime trying to fix it up. Just let one of the slum lords buy it and turn it into a rental. Nobody decent wants to buy on that side of town anymore. Then y'all just split whatever you get out of it, and from selling my car."

"Okay, Mama," Rhett said through the constriction in her throat. "We'll take care of it."

"I don't have much money in the bank, but what there is I want Lilith to have it. Melanie? I put your name down on the account so you can get to it. I've done paid for my funeral, too. I want it simple, I want it quick, and I want it over. I wrote it down, and I made a copy for my pastor, too, so y'all give it to him. Besides him and y'all and Patsy, I don't want anyone else traipsing back here, hear me?"

"Lilith is going to want to see you," Rhett broke in.

"Don't want her to see me like this." Bettina shook her head.

"Mama, it'll destroy her if she doesn't get to be with you. She's a grown woman. She can handle it."

"Rhett's right," Mel added. "Don't shut her out, or it'll break her heart."

After a moment, their mother sighed. "All right then. She can come. But that's all."

Another grimace, this one more torturous, twisted Bettina's face. Panicked, Rhett searched for a button on the bed that would summon a nurse while Mel jumped to her feet again and leaned over the bed, smoothing their mother's hair.

"What do you need, Mama? What can we do? Where's your morphine pump?"

Bettina shook her head again and made a small, negative sound. It seemed to take forever for the episode to ease, and even then the lines of pain in her face seemed to be carved deeper.

Tears ran unchecked down Rhett's cheeks while Mel sobbed quietly on the other side of the bed. Bettina opened her eyes a slit and looked at her eldest daughter.

"Melanie, don't cry. No need for that." That weak smile touched her lips again. "My tender-hearted girl always trying to cover it up by being tough." Her gaze shifted to Rhett. "And my tough girl always covering it up by being tender-hearted. I probably should have told y'all this a long time ago, but you need to meet yourselves in the middle and stop covering up." She closed her eyes again and sighed. "And Rhett? You need to find a tissue for that eye makeup running down your face or you're going to get mistaken for a rabid 'coon."

There was a sigh and a hiss as the morphine pump finally kicked in, and Bettina's body relaxed.

29

I have this great belief that the magic of the moment can never be recaptured.—Brian May

Each holding a large cup of coffee, Rhett and Mel made their way back to ICU from the hospital's cafeteria. Rhett was also holding a cold can of Diet Coke for Lilith who refused to be pried from her grandmother's side. As they passed through the waiting room, a man approached them.

"Excuse me, but would y'all happen to be Miz Vandergriff's daughters?"

"Yes, we are." Rhett wondered if this was another doctor. He looked to be around thirty-five and had a head full of dark blond hair. Neither his dark blue polo or khaki Dockers sported any type of badge identifying him as a member of the medical staff, and when she noticed he was wearing Topsiders with no socks she was further confused. Wouldn't a doctor wear socks?

The man held out his hand. "I'm Greg Brandywine, pastor at Claiborne First Baptist."