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“She doesn’t, and who would? I did promise her that I’d never let her end like that. I just didn’t think I’d ever be faced with that choice. But I can’t stand watching what this is doing to her. Are you really sure you can do this?” Whit asked.
“It’s the only way.”
He closed his eyes for a long moment. “I guess it really is the only merciful thing. If the doctor had given me any hope—” He sighed. “I just can’t believe it’s come to this. But I did promise her.”
Athena gave him an encouraging look. “It really is the best thing. But you can’t be here; it will look suspicious. You need to go out of town, be gone when it happens. Didn’t you tell me the final inspection for the foundation’s Richmond project is this week? Why don’t you go there tomorrow?”
“Okay. You’ll do it while I’m gone?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I’ll give her five extra oxy pills. It will be painless. She’ll just go to sleep. Respiratory failure.”
“And you’re sure she won’t suffer?”
“Positive. She’s suffering now. This will end her suffering. This time tomorrow night, she’ll be out of pain.”
“I’ll leave in the morning. Thank you for everything, Athena. You’re the only bright light in this terrible situation.”
She leaned in, and her lips met his, but she quickly pulled away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” Athena said, looking down at her hands.
“Don’t apologize. It’s like we were brought together for a reason. You’re my soul mate.”
She gave him a long look. “I look forward to our story continuing,” she said. “For now, I’m going to check on Sloane. Try and make her comfortable on her last night.”
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ROSEMARY
Rosemary smiled when she saw Emmy’s number on her caller ID. “Sweetheart! How are you?”
“Hi, Gram. I’m fine, but I’m worried about Mom.”
Rosemary wondered if Whit had finally told her what was going on with Sloane and the MRI. “Has something happened?” she asked.
“I haven’t talked to her in over a week. Every time I call, it goes to voicemail. I get texts from her every day saying she’s okay, just really tired, sleeping a lot, but it isn’t like her not to want to talk. I called Whit, and he told me she’s on some new medicine that makes her sleep a lot.”
“She hasn’t returned any of my calls either,” Rosemary told her, beginning to feel an edge of uneasiness.
“Something’s wrong, Gram.” She sighed. “Did you know that they fired Doris?”
“What? Why?”
“Doris called me this morning to tell me. Whit accused her of stealing a piece of Athena’s jewelry.”
“That’s outrageous! Doris would never do that! She’s been with Sloane forever. She must be devastated.”
“She is. That’s not all. She said that Whit and Athena have dinner together every night and are always whispering conspiratorially. I think he’s having an affair with her, and Athena set Doris up to get her out of the house. I’m scared, Gram. I feel helpless being so far away. Please, can you go to the house and see what’s going on?”
Everything Mac had found came flooding back to Rosemary.She was ready to blurt it all out to Emmy but stopped herself. Emmy was three time zones and twenty-three hundred miles away. There was no point in panicking her granddaughter until Rosemary went to the house and saw Sloane for herself.
Keeping her voice even, she said, “Aunt Camille and I will go over first thing in the morning, and I’ll call you as soon as I’ve seen your mother. You can talk to her then.”
She heard Emmy exhale. “Thank you, Gram. Please call me right away, okay?”
“Of course, I will. Everything will be fine. You’ll see.” Rosemary hung up, looking out the window at the darkening sky. There would be rain tonight and more tomorrow; the forecast was calling for severe thunderstorms over the next several days.