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“It’s so nice to see you.”
    “It’s wonderful to see you,
darling; it’s been a long time. Too long.”
    Samantha nodded her head in agreement
as she pulled away.
    “Yes, it has.”
    “I wasn’t sure you would
come.”
    “Of course I would.” She
tried to smile, but couldn’t force it. Lying didn’t come
naturally to her.
    Marie arched a brow.
    She would fess up. Starting their
meeting off with a lie was a daunting thought. “The truth is, I
turned around three different times on the way over.”
    Taking Samantha’s hand in hers,
Marie patted it reassuringly. “Yes, but you’re here and
that is all that matters now.”
    Samantha looked at their hands. She
felt dreadfully guilty that she hadn’t made the effort to see
Marie before now. It didn’t matter how painful it might have
been; she should have come and visited or, at the very least, called.
“You’re too kind to me, Marie. After everything—”
    “Stop.” Marie touched the
bed beside her. “Sit. Let me get a closer look at you.”
    Samantha sat next to her on the big
bed.
    “You look just as beautiful as
you did the first day I met you,” Marie said.
    “Thank you, that’s very
kind.” Samantha remembered the day James had taken her to meet
his mom. James had tended the barbeque as Marie had showed her around
her prized rose gardens. As she and James were driving home at the
end of the day she could remember thinking that she would love to
have Marie as a mother-in-law. She had felt an instant closeness to
Marie. Even though she and James had only been dating for three
months, she knew that he was the one. They were compatible in every
way. They thought alike, they had a lot of the same interests, they
liked the same music, and they even appreciated the same type of art.
They were well matched, to say the least.
    She blinked to clear the thoughts. She
couldn’t have been more wrong about a person than she had been
about James. She didn’t want to think about it. It made her
sick to think about the mistake she had made. It had not only cost
her several years of her life but the torment she lived with was
unbearable at times.
    She turned her attention to Marie. “How
are you feeling?”
    “Oh, I have my good days and my
bad days. Today happens to be one of the good days, since you’re
here.” She rested her hand on Samantha’s. “Did
James fill you in on everything?”
    “Yes, he did.”
    “What do you think?”
    Samantha thought for a moment. “I
think you’ll pull through this just fine. It’s amazing
what doctors can do these days.”
    Marie shook her head. “Do you
want to take care of me?”
    “I would love to take care of
you, Marie, but I can’t.”
    “Why?”
    She raised her shoulders. “Because
I have my job at the hospital. I can’t just get up and leave.”
    “Don’t you have any
sick-leave time coming?”
    Samantha shook her head. “I’m
sorry, I don’t.”
    “How about vacation time?”
    “Afraid not.”
    Marie dropped her shoulders and looked
down at her hands, her expression forlorn. “I need you,”
she said in her best pathetic voice. “I can’t get through
this without you. I just don’t know what I’m going to
do.”
    “Don’t say that, Marie. You
don’t need me.” Samantha leaned in. “I know this is
going to be hard but you can make it. You’re strong and you’ve
taken good care of yourself. Besides, you’re not alone. You
have James, who will support you through this.”
    Marie hung her head. “James isn’t
taking this well and it worries me tremendously.”
    Samantha found Marie’s hand, took
it into hers, and squeezed it. She waited until Marie was looking at
her before she spoke. “He’s a strong man. I think you are
underestimating him. We both know what James is capable of.”
    “But you haven’t seen him.”
    No, she hadn’t seen him. When she
had spoken with him, he had obviously been distraught, but not to the
point that she was overly worried about him. “The both