Bouquet: Sequel to 'In Full Bloom': The Trilogy of the Rose (Volume 3) by B. A. Beers

hall and entered his room.  Seeing the cassette on the nightstand, he moaned.  Things have sure changed in the past few hours, he thought.  His plans for the week were now shot-to-hell.  He needed to call Stacy and inform her of the latest. Picking up his overnight bag, he spent a few moments gathering his things and placing them in the bag.  With the bag zipped up, he picked up the cassette and Sami’s keys off the nightstand.  Grabbing the bag off the bed, he called, “Do you want me to strip the sheets?”
     
    “No, I’ll do it,” Grandma Jo’s voice answered. “Don’t worry about it.”
     
    “Right,” Mark answered, turning to the door and entering the hall.  Hearing the two women talking in Sami’s bedroom, he stepped into the room. 
     
    “Rosemarie?” Linda asked as she picked up the picture of Sami and her twin off the top of the items in the opened, cedar chest by the bed.
     
    “You know about Rosemarie?” Mark asked.
     
    “Yes,” Linda answered softly.  “Sami spoke of her twin.”
     
    “Did Sami’s mother ever talk about her?” Mark asked.
     
    “Never to me,” Linda replied.  “I never brought it up.  Sami told me to not speak of Rosemarie.  All those years, I have wanted to explore the contents of this chest. I didn’t know what was inside.  Now, I see why it was locked.”
     
    “Do you know she has four more chests in her home in the valley?” Mark asked.
     
    “Not until David asked me to help him gather her journals out of the one in her office,” Linda answered.
     
    “You did bring the journals?” Mark asked.
     
    “Yes.  They are in a box in the bed of the truck,” she answered, turning to him.  “I need to know, Dr. Stevens.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “Will she recover?” she asked, wide-eyed. “Will she take AJ from me?”
     
    Whoa , Mark thought, keeping his facial expression in check.  He had not seen this coming.  Seeing tears building in Linda’s eyes, he offered his standard reply to family members, “Only time will tell.”
     
    As the tears started flowing, Linda choked, “It was wrong of me to ask you.”
     
    Mark walked into the room and deposited his bag on the bed.  Stepping round the stilled form of Grandma Jo, he opened his arms to Linda, and she automatically entered his embrace. Speaking softly, Mark offered, “I know this is hard on you.  You are conflicted. Your concern for Sami is deeply emotional. You are disappointed by my answer, but I have to be realistic.  I sense what you wanted to hear and believe me you are not being selfish for wanting it.  My focus is on Sami. . . on mending her broken spirit.  Whatever the future holds will need to be dealt with in time.  Fearing and worrying about the unknown will cause more harm than good. Turn your focus to the present.  Have faith in yourself to be able to cope with the future.”
     
    “I am not that strong,” Linda whispered through her tears.
     
    “Yes, you are,” Mark assured her.  Releasing his hold and looking into her face, he added, “I sense a power in you — a strength of character, of purpose.  To tell you the truth, it baffled me that you have self doubt.”
     
    Looking up at Mark’s serious face, Linda felt stronger.  “I usually am more in control,” she affirmed, reaching for a tissue on the headboard of the bed. Blotting the tears off her face, she added, “It is AJ who ties me up; he is so special to me.  My husband and kids have even accused me of playing favoritism.”
     
    “Is he the youngest?” Mark asked.
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “How many other children?”
     
    “Two boys,” Linda provided.  “Jacob is nine, and Teddy is seven.”
     
    “They know about AJ?”
     
    “Yes, even AJ knows,” she replied.
     
    “It is the ‘she is our Mom’ syndrome,” Mark stated.  “It is very common.  Nothing to worry about.”
     
    “I’m not.  I treat them all the same,” she defended.
     
    Mark shook his head; he knew better.