Bowman
Before the ceremony to give the keys to the hospital, there would be a family gathering to honor Tobias. She hadn’t told them about this garden, but she knew they would love it. There was no better way to remember Tobias than by planting flowers for him. He would have loved that.
However, it was in front of John’s tree that Carol pulled the ashes from her pocket. She waited for her mom and aunt to join her. There were no useless bits of information to be shared this time. There were no rare or unique things to tell Katie.
Carol simply bent down, sprinkled the mix of Katie and her daddy into the grass at the base of John’s tree, and whispered, “Welcome home, baby.”
Thirteen
A cloud had hung over Carol’s head from the moment she’d woken up. Her mom and aunt had done everything they could to distract her. They’d brought her breakfast, hovered, chatted, and made jokes. Carol had tried to participate. She’d tried to let them steer her mind from the inevitable destination.
One year ago, she’d pulled the covers over her head and gone back to sleep while her husband went for a morning jog without her. He never came home.
Her mom had told her to focus instead on the perfect time they’d shared the night before. She tried. But in her mind, she heard the phone ring. Heard the stranger’s voice on the other end telling her she needed to get to the hospital because her husband had been in an accident. She pictured herself rushing to pull on clothes and driving faster than the legal limit.
She could see the doctor’s face as she told Carol that Tobias had been hit by a truck. She was reliving that horrible moment when she’d walked into his hospital room and knew, without a doubt, that he was never going to wake up. His soul was already gone. His body was there, being kept alive by tubes, but he was gone.
As soon as she’d sat up in bed, her mom had handed her a cup of coffee and looked at her with obvious concern. Tears had formed in Carol’s eyes and had been there since. She hadn’t broken down though. She had to give herself credit for that.
She’d gotten up, eaten, showered, and dressed without completely coming unglued. The urge was there, but she held herself together. Right up until they arrived at Katie’s House and she recognized the SUV in the driveway. Tobias’s family had gotten there before them.
She paid the driver who’d brought them to the house and then rushed toward the three girls bouncing with excitement as they called out, “Aunt Carol.” Her three nieces embraced her as they rambled about how they had missed her and how cool the house was. Carol hugged them tight, kissing each one’s head until they backed off. The tears she’d managed to control fell as soon as Tobias’s brother, Elijah, wrapped her into a big hug. They’d always been close. From the time she and Tobias had started dating, Elijah had treated her like his sister. Feeling him hug her now made her crack.
Elijah had been the first call she’d made from the hospital. She didn’t know how to tell Mary that her son was in critical condition and she had to get there as fast as she could. Instead, Carol had taken the easier way and called his brother. That was the moment Elijah had become more than a brother and turned into the pillar of strength Carol had leaned on more than once over the last year.
“I gotcha, sis,” he said in her ear.
“I know,” she muttered.
“Let me have my girl,” Mary ordered.
Carol laughed lightly as she pulled from Elijah and hugged her mother-in-law. Mary kissed her cheek several times before leaning back and searching her eyes.
“I’m okay,” Carol said. “How are you?”
“Happy to see you.” She subtly nodded her head toward the two women Elijah had gone to greet. “How’s that going?”
“Good,” Carol said honestly. “We’ve found some common ground.”
“I’m glad.” Putting a hand to Carol’s face, Mary smiled softly. “Been a tough year, but we made it.”
Carol’s eyes filled again. “We made it. Thank you for coming.”
“I wouldn’t miss this,” Mary said. She looked at the sign in the front yard. “She’d like this. I know she would.”
“Yeah, she’d love it.” She pulled from Mary enough to hug Elijah’s wife, Lara. “Good to see you.”
“How you doing?” Lara asked.
Carol let out a slow breath. “It’s going to