see Aunt Edie, and everyone trooped into the room. She was wearing a hospital gown and had electrodes all over her and was hooked up to a heart monitor. Some sort of IV drip was feeding into a vein in her arm. She looked so small, as if she’d collapsed in on herself.
She gave Jenna a weak smile. “I ruined your party.”
“Our party,” Jenna corrected her, “and you didn’t ruin it.”
“Everyone’s praying for you,” said Mel.
“That’s sweet,” Aunt Edie said.
“I guess you’re going to be here for a while,” Jenna told her, “but I’ll stay with you.”
“Me, too,” said Pete, who’d claimed the spot by her head on the other side of the bed.
“I don’t want you all to make a fuss,” Aunt Edie said. Her voice was barely above a whisper, as if talking was a great effort.
“We’re not,” Jenna said. “We just want to be with you.”
Aunt Edie looked to Sabrina, who was silently crying. “Now, dear, don’t be crying.”
“I don’t want you to die,” Sabrina blurted. Oh, great. The D word.
“We all die at some point. If it’s my time, it’s my time.”
“It’s not your time yet,” Pete informed her.
She smiled up at him but said nothing to that.
“They’ve got you all fixed and you’re good as new,” he continued.
She shut her eyes. “At my age, there’s no such thing.”
“You’re not that old,” Jenna protested.
“I’m not that young, either. I’m edging toward ninety.”
“You’re not there yet,” Jenna pointed out.
Aunt Edie didn’t say anything to that, but her long sigh spoke volumes.
They all stood around, silent and watching, as if simply by looking at her they could make her instantly better.
Just when Jenna thought she’d fallen asleep, she patted Jenna’s hand and said, “You’re so sweet to be here with me.”
“I’m here, too,” put in Winston, who was having to content himself with standing at the foot of the bed.
“So you are,” Aunt Edie said wearily. Her enthusiasm was underwhelming. She turned her attention back to Jenna. “You should all go home.”
“I’m not leaving,” Jenna said.
“Me, either,” said Pete.
“Pete, you are a dear,” Aunt Edie told him.
“Somebody’s got to watch out for you,” he said, as if he were the only one in the room.
But Jenna didn’t take offense. Pete probably felt as helpless as she did, and she didn’t begrudge him a place by her great-aunt’s side.
The nurse came in to shoo them all out. There was a small couch by the window that she told Jenna could be made into a bed if someone wanted to stay the night. For everyone else, it was time to leave.
Jenna thanked her. “I’ll spend the night. Can you take Sabrina and Pete home?” she asked Brody.
“I’m spending the night, too,” Pete insisted.
“I doubt both of us will be able to stay in her room.”
“Then I’ll sleep on a chair in the waiting room,” he said stubbornly.
“I’m sorry, sir. You can’t do that,” the nurse told him. “It’s against hospital rules.”
“Hospital rules be damned,” Pete growled.
“She’s in good hands, Pete,” Brody said. “Let’s go home and get a good night’s rest. We can all come back in the morning. Want me to bring you some things tomorrow?” he asked Jenna.
She nodded. “Sabrina can pack me a bag.” She gave her daughter a hug. “Try to get some sleep.”
Sabrina sniffed and nodded, then let Brody lead her out of the room.
“I guess I’ll go, too,” said Winston.
Jenna just nodded. Good idea. She was ready for him to go. Home. Of course, now with this he’d plant himself in Moonlight Harbor like the dutiful relative he hadn’t been.
With everyone gone, the beeps and sounds of the medical technology felt unnaturally loud. Disembodied voices from the nearby nurses’ station, respectfully soft, invaded the room. A nurse came in and checked Aunt Edie’s heart rate on the screen. Jenna had never felt so alone.
She sat in the chair next to the hospital bed and studied the woman who had given her a new start and been her rock. “Don’t leave, not yet,” she whispered. “Please, God, don’t let her die. Just give us a couple more years.”
Aunt Edie was coming up on her eighty-sixth birthday. Was it wrong to beg for more time with her? Right or wrong, Jenna kept begging.
She slept fitfully on her makeshift sofa bed that night, waking every time a nurse came in to check Aunt Edie. Whenever Aunt Edie stirred, Jenna bolted to her bedside to see if she was all right. By morning she felt like she’d been