Cut (19 page)

The heater flared from the unit under the window and the curtains ruffled out. Jessie picked up her phone and checked the screen. A picture of Carl appeared, like he knew she was thinking about another man. “Yes?” she said, answering the call.

“Are you planning on telling people the wedding is off?” Carl chewed her out.

“I didn't realize that was my job.”

“You're the bride
,”
he said, incredulous.

She wouldn't let him win so easy. “And?”

“
If you won't, my mother will. She's waiting for you to send out something official. We've got relatives with flights and hotels they need to cancel. Can you think of how they are going to feel when they find out they've lost money on travel?”

“I can think of all the money my mother will forfeit out of pocket.”

“Please think about someone other than yourself for a moment. Your family is local. They won't be out the cost of airline tickets and hotel fares.”

“That's not true.”

“Jessie,” he said breathing impatiently. “Let's not do this.”

“You're more worried about your family than how I'm feeling?”

“You're not?”

“They can use their tickets for a vacation. Fresno is a lovely place to visit in December.”

Silence.

“Carl.”

“You can't turn this negative into a positive. It doesn't work that way. A lot of people are going to be upset.”

“They'd be more upset if we divorced a year later.”

Jessie rubbed her hand over her forehead and squeezed her eyes closed. She didn't want to talk to him for a long time, maybe for the rest of her life. She sighed. “Okay, since I handled all of the invitations in the first place, I'll send out an email, but it will be from both of us.”

Carl's deep breath crackled through the phone. “When?”

“Soon. Now.”

“Thank you.”

She clicked the
end call
button before he could get in another word.

The room around her fell silent in the wake of their goodbye. Farewell. See you later. Have a nice life. All those days. Plus the nights. The long weekends and the short ones. The holidays and birthdays mixed in with ordinary days. A hybrid of exceptional moments all squeezed from her life with the hollowest of words ever entered into the human vocabulary.
Goodbye.

A blah feeling overtook her heart that was neither sadness nor joy. Maybe relief. Maybe nothing at all. Either way, she knew that if she felt such deep passion for him, she should be devastated. And she wasn't.

The small box on the nightstand—the one for the diamond—nabbed her attention. For the second time today, she felt a twinge of guilt. At least she had the note. She could see Melanie's handwriting. Jessie opened the box and saw right away it was empty.

Empty!

Jessie got down on the floor. She searched on her hands and knees under the bed and around the nightstand.

The note wasn't anywhere. The note…she paused mid-breath.

The note's gone because someone took it!

Brent.
She glowered. All that stuff he spouted off about control and her situation like that of a rough diamond. What a bunch of lies.

The nerve of him. He'd been in her room. He took her note. The day just kept getting better. Jessie accessed her email on her phone. She opened the folder with the wedding invitation list. The tips of her fingers took over and she pounded the small keypad. She couldn't type the message fast enough. The wedding was off. Let the whole world know. She still controlled her own life.

Family and Friends,

Carl and I have decided to call off the wedding. We regret any inconvenience and cost involved in making the trip out to see us. Carl has taken on the task of returning and paying for any gifts received. After all, he cancelled our wedding. He took a job behind my back and forced me to make a choice about our future that I didn't want to make. We apologize about the informal email announcing this news. We ask that you respect our privacy at this time,

Jessie & Carl

She pressed
send.

The phone blew up a second later, beginning with an unfriendly text from Carl. Then he called. Then he texted again. A slew of irate messages poured in from him. Her friends began to respond. Jessie turned off the phone.

Someone knocked at her door.

Jessie ran over and flung it open. “Mom,” she said.

Leslie stood on the other side holding up her phone. The message on the screen reflected the one Jessie had sent. “When were you going to tell me about this?”

Jessie let her mother into the room. To her face she said, “I'm not getting married.”

“I got that part.” Leslie stepped inside and together they walked over to the chairs. “Your sister is hanging between life and death and you pull this? Please explain this to me, because I don't understand.”

“You know, ever since you showed up at the hospital you've judged me. Nobody seems to remember the fact that you also lied to Melanie all those years ago.”

“I apologized to Melanie and I made peace with myself. You have not. There's a difference.”

“Whatever.”

“Besides, we're not talking about the past. We're talking about today. Tell me why you are calling off your wedding.”

“The answer is all in the email.”

“Oh come on.”

“He took a job in Singapore without my knowledge. He told me during his visit.”

“Why would he take a job in Singapore?”

“It's his dream job.”

“You had to have seen this coming.”

“The job, no. The break-up? If I am honest with myself, maybe.”

“What about all the wedding events? The dress, the bridal showers, and the dragging us all over town to taste cake. That was ‘I'm not sure if I'll go through with this'?”

“I got caught up in the wedding and not the groom.”

“You just now realized this?”

She kept the part about her bachelorette party to herself. “We weren't happy in the way a bride and groom should be.”

It took someone else to show me that.

“I had no idea.”

“I haven't been able to tell you with everything else…” the conviction in her voice waned.

Leslie looked in awe. “No wonder he left so soon after arriving. Are you okay?”

“I'm exhausted, but I'm okay.”

“Do you think there's someone else?”

“I guess anything's possible.”

“I don't like his mother anyway.”

Jessie laughed.

“We'll discuss more of this later. In the meantime, we'll figure out how to deal with the rest of the family. Three of your aunts have already left messages.”

“I'll call them if you want.”

“Later. Not today. Today I have other reasons to talk to you.” Leslie took a seat in the chair and pulled a tissue out of her coat pocket. She blew her nose. “Luke and I had dinner last night.”

Jessie had forgotten all about their dinner. “How did everything go?”

“As well as can be expected. I found Luke to be…sincere.”

Jessie raised an eyebrow. “What did he want to discuss?”

“He wanted to tell me in-person that Melanie has been taken off life-support, she's breathing on her own, and tomorrow there's a chance she'll be moved to the neurology unit.”

A weight lifted off her heart. “Is there any bad news to this?”

“No. There's only good news. Melanie might not be awake and alert, but if she's moved to another department, then it's a step in the right direction. I spent a good amount of time last night researching the topic on the Internet. If she transfers out of the ICU, then I think there's a great chance she'll wake up and come back to us.”

The weight returned to Jessie's heart. She hoped her mother was right. For now, she put her arm around her mother. Her mother's shoulders shook and she sniffled beneath Jessie's embrace.

Leslie parted from Jessie. A stern look filled her face. “There's another issue I want to address. Luke tells me you haven't been in your sister's room. Is that true?”

“True.”

“Where have you been?”

“Around.”

“With whom?”

“No one. I've been at the hospital.”

“But not in Melanie's room.”

“That's right.”

“Where have you been going? You aren't in your room when I stop by. You don't answer your phone.”

“I've been taking a lot of walks. I'm not ready to talk to Melanie.”

“She wasn't ready for someone to slam her head into the ground. I already have one daughter to worry about. I hate what you're going through because of Carl, but you need to be with your sister.”

“I handle these situations best on my own. I always have.”

“One thing you can't handle alone is tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“We're invited to go to Luke's house.”

Hope refreshed her heart. “We get to see the girls.”

“No, I'm afraid not. I wish. I did speak to him about Lydia, Annabelle, and Vivian, and he's not ready for us to see them. They will not be home. This is how Melanie and Luke left things between them and he chooses to honor her choice to keep us out of their daughters' lives. We're not involved and I have to respect his decision.”

“They need to be around family.”

“We're strangers to them, can't you see? Our presence might upset or confuse them. They are too young to understand about their mother or who we are. They've never met us.”

“You'll do nothing else to try and see them?”

“
We
will do nothing else.” Leslie patted Jessie's face. “I have to return some phone calls and then I'll head back to the hospital. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The afternoon became night. Jessie ordered room service. She inhaled the entire meal and placed the tray outside her door. A hot shower smoothed the stress off the day and Jessie looked forward to getting some sleep. She tucked herself in bed and picked up the jewelry box on the nightstand. No diamond. No note. All that Melanie left to her was gone.

Sleep came easy for Jessie. The morning came too soon and she woke up groggy and fatigued. She sat up in her bed. A glaze of heavy mist surrounded the buildings outside her window. The curtains had been left open again. She must have slept through the night. Someone knocked at the door. She got out of bed and put on clothes without urgency.

“You look like you just woke up,” her mother said, walking past Jessie with coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other. “I brought you a pastry. I thought we needed breakfast before we go to Luke's.”

“Luke?” Jessie's memory had abandoned her. “Why are we seeing Luke?”

“Don't you remember? We're going to his house. Shower and eat and then we'll leave.”

First, Jessie needed coffee. She took off the lid and drank a large swallow. “Give me ten minutes. I'll be ready.”

Ten minutes turned into thirty before the mother and daughter exited the hotel. Jessie drove her mother's car, an economy class mid-size with a dent in the driver's side door. She started the car and breathed into her hands while her mother read her directions.

The drive took longer than expected. They rolled up at the gated security, bewildered by the sight of the property. Jessie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the lavish lifestyle of her brother-in-law.

“I'll tell you one thing: Luke's worked hard to get here. I can't believe Melanie lives here,” her mother said with disbelief.

Jessie stared at her mother. The woman next to her looked like the face of forgiveness and “My son-in-law” can do no wrong. Jessie grumbled and straightened.

The security guard opened the gates and let them through. Jessie pressed the button to get the window back up and she stepped on the gas. “Ostentatious, there's another word for it.”

“Jealousy is another.” Leslie smiled wide. “Your sister's done well for herself.”

“I'm not jealous.”

“Melanie picked the wealthiest of the Harrison brothers. The other one, Brent, I'm not sure what his role is in the business. He used to travel the world and sleep in jungles and caves. He's a drifter I think. He hovers at the hospital. I bet he borrows from Luke a lot.”

The image of Brent's house popped into Jessie's mind and she couldn't disagree. “I think you're right.”

“Living a life of constant change is fine in your twenties, but Brent must be close to forty. Now he's leeching off the family business.”

Jessie grumbled and shut off the engine. “Let's not talk about Brent.”

Leslie put her hand on her daughter's wrist. “Before we go inside, I want to talk to you. I don't want you bringing up Melanie's daughters. Don't even ask about them. This is not the time nor the place to try and get Luke to reverse his decision to let us see them. If he changes his mind, we'll go with the flow. Until then, not a word. Do not do anything to jeopardize our chances of one day seeing them. I'm confident he'll let us, at some point, if we don't push the subject. When Melanie wakes up, he'll tell how we helped, not made the situation worse. Let's go in there and be strong for Melanie.”

Jessie nodded. “Okay.”

Without further discussion, Leslie got out of the car.

They approached the house. The doors slid open automatically. Kendra waited on the other side with a bright face and dark red lipstick. “Good morning,” she said.

“I apologize for being late,” Leslie answered, giving Kendra a brief hug.

“No apologies are necessary. Luke and Brent are following up with some work-related items.”

“Brent's here?” Jessie said too fast. She thought of the empty jewelry box in her hotel room and started to grind her teeth.