Praying for Time by Carlene Thompson

Author:Carlene Thompson [Thompson, Carlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448304233
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2020-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Vanessa lay in bed listening to Queenie breathe in her own bed on the floor where she slept with Dom safely tucked under her chin. The dog’s presence was calming and Vanessa was once again thankful that the crew of Kingdom of Corinna had given her the gift. On her own, Vanessa might not have gotten a dog because of the time she spent away from home, but she’d always wanted one not for protection, but for love.

She’d stayed up later than anyone else. Grace had fallen asleep early and Audrey had taken advantage of Grace’s drowsiness to go to bed before her usual eleven o’clock. Christian had pronounced Grace well, although he told Audrey and Vanessa he’d heard a bit of rattling when she coughed, which would be caused by phlegm in her lungs. He wanted Audrey to keep track of her coughing in case she was developing pneumonia. Audrey had been concerned, but Vanessa was certain her mind was on more than Grace. Probably it had something to do with her long talk with Derek before dinner.

On her way to her bedroom, Vanessa had peeked in Sammy’s door. He lay sprawled in the middle of the double bed, his mouth open. Further down the hall, she’d quietly opened the door to Roxanne’s room. Roxy had rolled into a ball, her hands clenched into fists, the sheet and blanket thrown off her thin body. Vanessa tiptoed to the bed and pulled the blanket up to Roxy’s chin. She’d murmured incomprehensibly then snuggled deeper under the blanket. She’d slept the same way when she was a little girl.

Now in her own bed, Vanessa looked at the Jane Austen novel that lay open on her lap. She couldn’t concentrate. She sank even deeper into the down pillows piled behind her and worried about Libby. She was a delicate girl full of emotion and tenderness. Vanessa also realized how much Libby had loved Zane. Poor, shattered girl, Vanessa thought. She’d gotten Libby’s home landline phone number and her address before she’d left the young woman in the motel room to wait for her friend to take her back to Portland. I’ll call her in a couple of days, Vanessa told herself. I’ll go to Zane’s funeral and I’m sure Christian will want to go, too. We’ll offer all the support we can.

Then there was Roxanne. Was Roxanne all right? She knew Roxy was doing well physically – better than expected – but Grace’s cool reception seemed to have hurt her. True, telling Roxy that Grace had changed during the last eight years was one thing. Confronting the reality was something different, especially when Grace hadn’t really seemed at all glad to see Roxy. Vanessa had received a warmer greeting when she’d arrived for Christmas.

But Grace wasn’t doing well. Vanessa could tell when Christian was trying to downplay a worrisome situation. She didn’t know if Grace’s condition was bad, but clearly she wasn’t doing as well as they’d hoped. The Alzheimer’s seemed worse, she was losing her appetite and she had a rattling cough.

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