The Best of Me by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The doctor released Ladd Saturday morning, and Josh Ryman’s funeral was Saturday afternoon. Deborah was a wreck. Maggie was quiet, but accepting of what lay ahead.

It was just after 9:00 a.m. when Deborah took off to Blessings to get Ladd. Maggie was puttering around the house, trying to focus on what she needed to do, but she kept going from one task to another without finishing any of them. Finally, she went out on the back porch, sat down in the porch swing, and just cried because she felt like it.

This was it. The period at the end of the sentence that was their marriage, and the end of the story of their life together. Whatever happened from this day forward was all on Maggie, and she was trying not to be bitter.

She didn’t want to be in charge. She didn’t want to make all of the hard decisions. And she wasn’t sure what she and Deborah could actually accomplish. She just wanted her house and garden and to be able to look out across the pasture in the evenings and watch the sunset. She needed to talk to Deborah about the pasture that was going to seed. And then she remembered Ladd had spoken to her months ago about the wisdom of trying to take care of it all on his own.

A thought occurred to her then, but this was not the day to think about it. Maybe in a week or so, when the funeral was behind them and Ladd was feeling better. For now, she was right where she wanted to be, out on her porch, on her own.

***

Unaware of what her mother was dreaming up, Deborah drove with single intent all the way to the hospital. She needed to get Ladd without delay and get him home, settled, with food in the house and everything at his fingertips, because the afternoon belonged to her and her mom.

She was a little bit sick to her stomach, but she knew it was nerves. She dreaded that funeral more than anything she’d ever dreaded in her life. This was her daddy. It wasn’t fair that such a good man would have had to suffer so long, only to have his life come to this end.

She’d cried twice on her way to town, and now her eyes were red-rimmed and slightly swollen. Ladd would see them. And he was going to feel bad that her day with her mom had been interrupted to bring him home. But the truth was this break from what was looming was saving her sanity.

Deborah got out on the run and went straight up to the nurse’s station on his floor to make sure Ladd’s discharge papers were ready. And they were.

“Give me about fifteen minutes to get him into these clothes, and then bring the wheelchair. We’ll be ready to go,” she said.

“Will do,” his nurse said.

Deborah turned away from the desk and headed down the hall to his room. The door was open.

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