Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Leanne stepped into the hospital room as Mary had finished her lunch.

Sarah was clearing away the barely touched meal tray with concern. “You can’t keep skipping meals, ma’am. Your body needs strength.”

“I just can’t eat,” Mary sighed from her reclined position on the bed.

As Sarah turned to leave, she saw Leanne, and her face lit up with relief. “Look who’s here, ma’am!”

Leanne called out softly, “Mary.”

For a fleeting moment, joy sparkled in Mary’s eyes, and she sat up eagerly, but then, for some reason, her spirit seemed to deflate. She turned away, lying back down, and pulled the blanket over herself.

She was shutting the world out.

Sarah continued fussing. “Leanne, please, talk some sense into her. She’s hardly eaten a thing these days.”

Leanne approached the bed and teased the lump under the blankets, “What’s wrong? Don’t

see me, heh? I can leave, you know.”

it to

Mary emerged from her cocoon, her face a picture of distress. “How could I not want to see you? I’m just ashamed.”

Leanne assumed it was about her recent divorce from Curtis and picked up the untouched chicken soup. “It’s not really that serious.”

Sarah hastily rearranged a small table. “I’ll go wash some fruit for you two.”

Once Sarah left the room, Leanne sat beside the bed, feeling the warm bowl in her hands.

She spooned the soup and fed it to Mary, who reluctantly took a sip despite her lack of appetite.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work? Who ratted me out?” Mary guessed immediately. “Was it that little rascal again?”

“You can say that again,” Leanne said, noting Mary’s pallor, worse than when she’d feigned illness before. “Didn’t you promise to tell me if something was wrong?”

“I’m so ashamed,” Mary repeated, her head bowed low. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gone through all this.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault,” Leanne reassured her.

Mary sighed heavily. “It’s all on me.”

1/2

11:28 1

Chapter 144

Leanne kept spoon-feeding her, but soon, Mary couldn’t manage another bite. Setting the bowl aside, she took Leanne’s hand in her wrinkled grasp and sighed deeply.

“When I was at death’s door, all I could think about was you. After you went off to college, you never really came back home. I know you never saw the Richardson family as home. The thought of you out there on your own, so alone, it just ate at me.”

your

She reflected on her life. With its share of hardship and joy and facing her mortality, there was just one thing she couldn’t let go of.

“I wasn’t worried about the others, but you… You’ve always been so tender-hearted. I feared you’d be bullied without anyone to stand up for you. I had nightmares of your crying all alone. It’d wake me up in the middle of the night, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I couldn’t rest in peace without knowing you were well settled.”

“When VectorVista was in trouble, I thought of that harebrained scheme in desperation.”

Leanne was stunned. “You arranged that psychic?”

“Curtis grew up around me and always had a soft spot for teasing you. I saw he had some affection for you, and I figured it’d be a good match if you two could make it. If not, you’d legally get a good sum of money after three years, enough to keep you secure for life…

Tears of remorse began to stream down Mary’s cheeks. “I never intended to throw you into the fire.”

Leanne stared at the slowly cooling bowl of chicken soup, lost in thought.

Mary’s voice was heavy with guilt as she clutched Leanne’s hand. “It’s all my fault…”

11:28

7/2