myelin sheaths of the nerves, while with Parkinson’s, cells in part of the brain died off.
She understood hers was an autoimmune disorder and that, unlike Parkinson’s, people could be in remission for years, as she had been. She still found it painfully difficult to watch the rapid progression of Pete’s disease over the past three or four years.
“You said you weren’t hungry when we first came in, but I think you need to eat something,” Stella declared. “You stay here. I’ll go get your food and bring it back to you.”
“You don’t have to do that. You should be the one sitting while you have the chance.”
Stella had two very active twin babies who were currently home with her husband, who was a doctor in town.
“Caitlin’s over there. I can have her grab a plate for me,” she protested.
“She looks busy talking to her friends. I don’t mind, honey. It’s my pleasure.”
Oh, it was so hard to let people do things for her. She hated being dependent on others.
What would she do when her MS flared and her condition regressed? She would have to start researching care facilities in the area. She refused to let Olivia or Caitlin care for her.
Her gaze unerringly went to Henry, sitting with a couple of friends, as it had done the moment she walked into the fire station and a hundred times since.
Oh, how she missed him. She had almost texted or called him a dozen times a day, until she remembered she couldn’t anymore, that she had pushed him away.
He shifted his gaze from his conversation to meet hers and she caught her breath at the pain there.
She had done the right thing, she thought, looking away quickly. The only possible thing. Yes, it hurt. She wasn’t sure how she could endure the pain of not having him in her life. But she couldn’t be selfish. She loved him. More than anything, she wanted him to be happy.
She had to think about what was best for him, even when she knew that could never be her.
29
COOPER
Why, again, had he dreaded moving back to Cape Sanctuary?
As Cooper moved through the crowd inside the fire station, greeting old friends as well as people he didn’t know, he was aware of a strange, unfamiliar feeling.
He struggled to place it, until it finally hit him in a rush. He felt like he belonged here.
How had that happened?
He had struggled hard with the decision to return to Cape Sanctuary. This was the place where he had never really fit in, where he had always been aware that people saw his mother and her problems when they looked at him. He had suffered great loss here and had never quite understood Melody’s desire to stay and raise her family in their hometown.
He would come back to visit his sister, but whenever he did, he would be haunted by memories of his mother and the stigma he had felt as a child of the town drunk.
When he made the decision to come back, Cooper had expected to be unhappy but had told himself he could stand it for the sake of Melody and his nephews.
How funny, that he had been so very wrong. He was discovering he was happier here than he had been in a long time.
He had come to appreciate the people here. He enjoyed the casual, relaxed beach vibe. The work was challenging and fulfilling, with something different happening all the time. He hadn’t found it at all staid and boring, as he feared he would after leaving the higher-risk world of military rescues.
Most of all, he absolutely enjoyed the crews he worked with, both the paid paramedics and the volunteer firefighters who filled in the gaps. They had all embraced and accepted him warmly.
He had to wonder if his recollections were completely accurate. Had his filter been skewed? Maybe people hadn’t looked down their noses at him and Melody because their mother was a drunk who couldn’t keep a job. Was it possible that all the actions he had perceived as disdain or unwanted charity had actually been driven by compassion and concern?
He only had to look at how the community had rallied around Pete. The line for people wanting breakfast went out the door and through the parking lot, though it was a half hour past the time they were supposed to be serving, heading into lunchtime.
At this rate, they would run out of food before they ran out of the people wanting to donate