Family Blessings (Cisco Family) by Michaels Fern

Author:Michaels, Fern [Michaels, Fern]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2004-10-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

LORETTA CISCO STEPPED OUT OF THE ELEVATOR OF Larkspur Community Hospital and stood for a moment to view the lobby. For some reason she hadn’t paid attention to the decor when she’d arrived an hour earlier. At that point she’d been excited because she was going to be able to tell Bertha Williamson she could move into her new house the minute she got out of the hospital. Bertha had cried buckets, soaking her shoulder cast, her old hands trembling as she stared at Cisco through her tears. That particular moment made the tragedy almost bearable.

Cisco looked now with appreciation at the decorations in the lobby, compliments of the fifth-grade class of Larkspur Elementary School. Turkeys and Pilgrims were everywhere, as were colorful bronze, gold, and bright red leaves. The windows had been painted with scenes from Plymouth, amateurish but still beautiful. Oh, to be that young again.

As Cisco made her way to the plate-glass doors, she noticed a forlorn figure huddled in one of the blue chairs near the small café manned by volunteers. The young woman had a pile of knitting in her lap.

Cisco trundled over to the young woman. “Hannah! What are you doing here?”

Hannah looked up, a stunned expression on her face. “Cisco!”

We could be a comedy team, Cisco thought. “Is something wrong? What are you doing here, honey?”

“Oh, no. No, nothing’s wrong. I’m waiting for Zack. Did you come to visit someone, Cisco?”

“Bertha Williamson. I wanted to be the first one to tell her she could move into her house the day she gets out of here. Which will be in a few days. Father Drupieski took it upon himself to gather together a small army to help Bertha around the clock until she’s ready to take over herself. Everything is working out so nicely. I had my doubts there for a little while. Is Zack off today, or is he making rounds?” She looks so…miserable. Even the makeup she rarely wears doesn’t look right. She’s lost some weight, too. “Hannah, honey, is something wrong?”

“What could be wrong, Cisco? No. You know me. No patience. Zack has no sense of time,” she finished lamely. Her head jerked upright. “Aren’t the Thanksgiving decorations precious? One of the volunteers told me the fifth-grade class painted them over the weekend. Way back when, Sam, Sara, and I wanted to be part of it, but that private school we were in didn’t do stuff like this. Everyone who enters the lobby smiles. Did you ever see so many turkeys in one place?”

She’s babbling, and she’s so brittle she’s about to snap in two, Cisco thought. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ezra at the front entrance in his brand-new pickup truck. “I haven’t seen much of you lately, Hannah. I wish you, Sam, and Sara would stop by. It gets lonely up there on the hill in Ezra’s plate-glass home. They tell me I can move into my own house over the weekend. I want to make Thanksgiving dinner in my own home.

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