River's End (9781426761140) Read online

Sarah returned the greeting in a slightly gruff voice.

  “Everything okay?” Anna stuck the measuring cup into the fresh-smelling coffee, trying not to be too obvious as she studied Sarah’s glum expression.

  Sarah shrugged.

  “Anything you’d like to talk about?”

  “Not really.”

  Anna put the lid back on the can and turned to face Sarah. “I know that you and Lauren are having a tough time,” she said gently. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “You mean besides sending Lauren on another vacation?” Sarah said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

  “I’m sure that sounds good to you.”

  “I don’t see how you can stand her, Grandma.”

  “She’s my daughter.”

  Sarah narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, well, I’m her daughter, but that never seemed to make much difference, not to her.”

  Anna reached out to put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder, looking into her eyes. “I know Lauren has hurt you, Sarah. I’m sure she’s hurt you even more than I realize.”

  Sarah softened slightly. “Yeah, that’s true.”

  “But it will only hurt you more if you continue to let this bitterness control you. It will eat away at you, and eventually it will poison your spirit.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” Sarah asked in a defiant way. “Pretend like she never hurt me, like she didn’t ruin my life, like she didn’t ruin my dad’s life?”

  “No, you can’t pretend things away,” Anna told her. “But you can forgive her.”

  “How?” Sarah demanded. “How can I forgive all that?”

  “With God’s help.”

  “What if Lauren doesn’t deserve to be forgiven?” Sarah stepped away from Anna. “What if she’s not really sorry?”

  “She is sorry—”

  “She might act like that around you. She might be able to make you believe she’s changed. But I’m not falling for it. And even if she is sorry—what difference does that make to me now? It doesn’t undo all the damage she’s done in my life.” Sarah held out her hands in a helpless way. “It might make Lauren feel better if I pretended to forgive her, but it doesn’t change anything for me.”

  Anna took in a slow breath, searching for the right words. “I’m not saying this for Lauren’s sake, Sarah,” she said carefully, “I’m saying it for yours. You need to forgive Lauren, not for pretend, but for real, and you need to do it for yourself.”

  She shook her head negatively. “I don’t want to forgive her. I want her to be accountable for her mistakes. I want her to suffer the way I’ve suffered. God will repay evil for evil, and I want Lauren to get what she deserves. It’s like karma.”

  “Is that what they taught you?”

  “Who?” Sarah scowled.

  “The leaders at the commune . . . is that what they believe?” She kept her voice even and calm—much calmer than she felt. “Did they teach you that God is a cruel taskmaster, that he will punish—?”

  “God does punish,” Sarah insisted. “It’s in the Bible or the Koran or one of those books, Grandma. It’s better to suffer harsh punishment and repent from wickedness than to escape punishment and go to hell.”

  “What about forgiveness?” Anna said quietly. “I know that’s in the Bible. Maybe we could look it up together—”

  “Forgiveness is earned by repentance,” Sarah said stubbornly. “And Lauren has not earned forgiveness. Not from me anyway, not yet.” She shook her head. “I doubt that she ever will.” And without saying another word, Sarah turned and stormed out of the house.

  Anna stood there for several minutes, just trying to wade through Sarah’s confusing tirade of words. All this talk of earning forgiveness, repaying evil for evil . . . what kind of people taught such twisted doctrine? And was it only to keep vulnerable girls like Sarah under their control? At least Sarah was free of all that now. Physically anyway . . . it seemed it was going to take much longer to become spiritually free. But time and love and patience could work wonders. Anna knew this personally. And she had plenty of all three of those for her granddaughter. Now if only she could convince Lauren to do the same. Maybe all three of them could sit down and study the Bible together. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

  “Anna?” Clark’s voice sounded different as he came into the house. “Can you go and stay with Mom?”

  “Sure. What’s—”

  “I’m going to call the hospital. I think it’s her heart.”

  “Oh dear!” Anna rushed past him. “I’ll go right now.” Then she remembered something. “One of our guests—in cabin eight—Dr. Schwartz—should I see if he can be of help?”

  “Good thinking.” Clark was already on the phone as Anna hurried down, nearly running into Lauren who was coming up the exterior stairs. She grabbed Lauren by the hand, quickly explaining. “You get Dr. Schwartz while I go to Hazel,” she said breathlessly. “Hurry!”

  Anna ran to Hazel’s cabin. Not even knocking on the door, she let herself in, finding Hazel still in bed. “How are you, dear?” Anna asked gently, taking in the old woman’s pale countenance.

  Hazel looked at Anna with fearful eyes. “Not so good.”

  “Have you taken the hawthorn?” Anna asked.

  “Hawthorn . . . ?” Hazel seemed confused.

  “Remember the tincture I made? It’s for the heart.”

  She just shook her head. “I . . . I suppose I forgot.”

  So Anna went in search of the little brown bottle. Finding it, she could see it was almost completely full. She quickly stirred a teaspoon full into some water and took it to Hazel, helping her drink it. She had barely finished when Lauren and Dr. Schwartz, wearing only his trousers and undershirt, came bursting in.

  “Where is the patient?” he demanded.

  Hazel’s eyes grew wide. “Who are—?”

  “He’s a doctor,” Anna told her. “And a guest.”

  Already he was by Hazel’s side, taking her pulse and looking closely into her face and asking her questions.

  “Let’s give them some space,” Anna told Lauren.

  Back out in the front room, Anna explained how Hazel hadn’t seemed well for days now. “Clark is calling the hospital.”

  “I didn’t realize it was this bad,” Lauren said.

  Clark came into the cabin now. “The hospital is sending an ambulance to the dock, and I just arranged for Greeley’s son Bobby to get the guys upriver with a stretcher and oxygen. We think it’ll be faster than trying to take the road. The medics will get Mom into our boat and tend to her as I take us down-river where the ambulance will be waiting.” He glanced at the closed bedroom door. “Is she ready?”

  “Dr. Schwartz is with her,” Anna said.

  Clark frowned. “Maybe I’ll run down there to meet Greeley’s boat and make sure ours is gassed up and ready to go.”

  “Good idea.” Anna locked eyes with him. “Everyone is doing everything possible, Clark. She’s in good hands.”

  He nodded quickly. “I know.”

  Anna started gathering some blankets after Clark left. They would need to keep Hazel warm on the river. She turned to Lauren. “Maybe you should go back to make sure everything is going okay for breakfast,” she told her.

  “Yes, I doubt there’s much I can do to help here.” Lauren frowned. “And feel free to go to the hospital with Hazel, Mom. I can handle everything at the inn while you’re gone.”

  Anna made a weak smile. “I know you can. Thanks.”

  “And I’ll be praying for Hazel. And I’ll ask others to as well.”

  “Thanks.”

  Anna tucked the blankets more snugly around Hazel’s shoulders as Clark piloted their boat downriver, like a floating hospital, filled with medics, Dr. Schwartz, and the stretcher. Anna thought Hazel’s coloring looked slightly better, perhaps as a result of the oxygen mask . . . or was it from the hawthorn? Anna would need to tell the hospital doctor about that, just in case it would present a problem with any other medications they m
ight want to give Hazel.

  She held Hazel’s hand, warming the cool fingers in her own. “You’re going to be okay,” she said gently.

  “So much bother,” Hazel labored to say, “for an old lady.”

  Anna smiled down on her. “You are a greatly loved old lady.”

  Hazel closed her eyes, and Anna silently prayed. Hazel might be old, but they were not ready to lose her. Not yet. Especially with the problems brewing between Lauren and Sarah. Anna felt she needed Hazel’s wisdom and strength more than ever now. Please, God, do not take her from us, she prayed. Help everyone to help this dear woman . . . please, heal her . . . make her well. We need her.

  Anna looked up to the front of the boat where Clark was pushing the boat to the fastest speed that was safe on the river. She knew he was feeling the stress of this as much, maybe more, than she was. Besides his son, Marshall, Hazel was Clark’s only living relative. They had always been close. Anna knew that his concerns for his mother would be intense. Please, God!

  Although it had to be one of the fastest trips she’d ever experienced into town, it still seemed like hours before the medics were finally loading Hazel’s stretcher into the back of the ambulance. Clark and Anna ran to the car they kept parked in the side lot of Greeley’s Groceries and were soon on their way.

  “All things considered that wasn’t such a bad trip,” Clark said as he drove through town. “I think it was faster than the road. Not to mention smoother.”

  “I can’t believe that in all these years of running the inn, we never had to do something like that before,” she said.

  “There was the time when the Miller boy broke his arm,” Clark reminded her.

  “Yes, but we didn’t have medics come out.”

  “And no ambulance.”

  “I guess we’ve been fortunate.”

  Clark blew out a loud sigh.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she told him.

  “I hope so.”

  “Everyone is praying for her, Clark.”

  He just nodded.

  By the time they were able to see Hazel, she seemed a little better. Again, Anna remembered the hawthorn, quickly explaining to the doctor attending to her what she’d given Hazel.

  He frowned. “Hawthorn?”

  “It’s an herbal remedy,” she told him. “It’s good for heart and circulation problems.”

  “Oh . . . ?” He wrote something down on his clipboard.

  “I just thought you should be aware.”

  “Yes . . . well . . .” He nodded briskly. “It does appear to be heart. Perhaps angina. Or possibly something more. We’ll be running tests.” He looked at Clark now. “You’re the son?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ll need to fill in the paperwork for insurance and such. At the front desk.” He made a stiff-looking smile. “And there’s a waiting room out there.” Now using an authoritative voice, he called over to the nurse who was standing nearby. It seemed that Clark and Anna were being excused.

  “We’ll be in the waiting room,” Anna told Hazel, pausing to gently squeeze Hazel’s hand. “Just rest and do all you can to get well again, dear. Everyone is praying for you. We need you.”

  The sides of Hazel’s mouth turned up ever so slightly.

  “Don’t try to talk.” Anna released her hand. “Just rest. We’ll see you soon.”

  10

  After a long day at the hospital, Clark and Anna finally felt comfortable about leaving the hospital. Reassured that Hazel’s condition had stabilized and relieved to see her able to take some food at dinnertime, they decided it was probably time for them to return to the inn. Lauren had assured Anna that all was well when they’d spoken by phone earlier, but Anna knew that this was a busy time of year and, that their absence would put more stress on the staff.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Hazel told them as they were saying good-bye. She glanced over at the night-shift doctor who had just examined her. “If I had my way, I’d be going home with you.”

  “We just want to observe you a while longer,” the doctor said kindly. He was an older gentleman with what Anna felt were much nicer bedside manners than the previous physician. “It appears to be stable angina,” he explained. “But we just want to be sure you’re all right and that the angina medication is helping before we release you to go home.”

  Now Anna told him about how she gave Hazel hawthorn earlier. “I did mention this to the other doctor, and I expect it would be out of her system by now . . . but I did want you to know . . . just in case it was a problem with the angina medicine.”

  His eyes lit up. “Yes, hawthorn was just the right treatment,” he said. “In fact it’s much gentler and safer than digitalis.” He peered curiously at Anna. “Are you an herbal healer?”

  “She most certainly is,” Hazel said quickly. “Her grandmother knew a lot of the old herbs and how to use them.”

  “And I had another friend, too.” Now Anna told him about Babette.

  “I knew Babette,” the doctor said. “I met her shortly after I set up my practice in town. Wonderful woman.”

  Anna nodded. “Yes, I still miss her.”

  “You kids go on home,” Hazel told Clark and Anna. “I can tell I’m in good hands now.” She grinned at the doctor.

  Clark leaned down to kiss his mother’s forehead. “I’m so glad to see you feeling better, Mom.”

  “So am I.” Anna nodded.

  “Suddenly I realize that I’m hungry as a bear.” Clark patted his midsection. “And I’m sure they’ve finished dinner at the inn by now.”

  “You take Anna out for a nice dinner,” Hazel insisted. “Enjoy a night out.”

  He grinned. “I think we’ll do just that.”

  Anna had such a sense of relief and hopefulness as they exited the hospital. Despite the long and stressful day, she wasn’t even tired. The chilly fog had completely burned off, and the air outside was now warm and moist, with only a slight breeze coming in off the ocean. A perfect evening.

  “I do feel a bit guilty,” she admitted as they went into the restaurant. “Like we should be back at the inn to help out.”

  “They’ll get by without us,” he assured her. “And this makes up for yesterday’s fiasco.”

  She frowned. “What fiasco?”

  “My unfortunate picnic plan. Remember?”

  “Oh, yes.” She shook her head. “Was that really only yesterday? It seems like so long ago.”

  “A lot’s happened since then.” He smiled as he pulled out a chair for her. “I’m just so glad that Mom is okay.”

  “And even though it was a trying day, I think it was well worth it,” Anna said “to get her to be seen by a doctor.”

  “Although it sounds like your home treatment might’ve worked too.”

  “If she’d been taking it.” Anna put a napkin in her lap. “I have a feeling we’ll have to stay on her when she comes home, Clark. We may need to remind her to keep up with her medications.”

  “I’ll talk to her about that,” he promised. “And now let’s just enjoy this evening.”

  That is exactly what they did, taking their time over dinner, then enjoying a walk down by the docks and finally, slowly making the trip upriver by the light of the moon. “I forgot how beautiful the river is at night,” Anna said as she pulled one of the blankets more snugly around her shoulders and leaned into Clark. “Very romantic.”

  He chuckled. “Guess I’ll have to take you for more moonlit boat trips.”

  “I guess so.” Of course, as she said this, she wondered what the likelihood of that would be. Usually they were busy in the evenings, cleaning up after a meal, preparing for a bonfire session or tending to business. Once again, Anna had to question whether the inn had gotten too big and too busy. Was this really what she’d dreamed of back when they’d started this?

  As soon as Clark docked the boat, Anna could tell that their magical evening was over. “Go ahead and go inside,” he told her. “I still need to ten
d to the boats and get everything ready for morning.”

  She offered to help, but he wouldn’t hear of it. And so she went on up to the house where the lights were still on and Sarah was sitting in the living room with a frustrated expression. “How is she?” she demanded as Anna came inside. She was obviously very worried about Hazel.

  Anna quickly explained about the heart condition. “But she’s stabilized now,” she told Sarah. “And hopefully she’ll get to come home soon.”

  “What made her have a heart problem?” Sarah’s eyes were filled with concern.

  “I don’t know for sure,” Anna admitted.

  “I’ve heard that stress can give people heart attacks,” Sarah said. “Do you think she was stressed out by something here?”

  “Maybe . . . or maybe it’s just her age . . . and being worn out from her travels.” She touched Sarah’s cheek. “I really don’t know. But please don’t worry about her. I’m sure she’s going to be fine now.”

  “I hope I haven’t stressed her out.” Sarah’s brow creased. “I know I haven’t been exactly easy to live with lately.”

  Anna smiled. Did this mean Sarah was trying to move beyond her bitterness toward Lauren? Perhaps these concerns over Hazel could be a wake-up call—a reminder that life is too short to be angry at someone you should love. “I’m sure we’ll all do whatever we can to make Hazel comfortable and at ease when she comes home,” she told Sarah. “And trust me, Hazel is very eager to get back to the inn and her little cabin. She would’ve gladly come home with us tonight if the doctor had allowed it.”

  Now Anna asked about how things had gone at the inn during their absence. “I felt badly for not being here. Did that make it hard on anyone?”

  Sarah shrugged. “Well, it was pretty crazy and busy all day. But I guess we took care of it. I didn’t hear any of the guests complaining.”

  Anna hugged her now. “Thank you, Sarah. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help around here.”

  “I’m glad someone does.”

  Anna wondered what this was in reference to but, worried that it was probably Lauren, decided not to pursue it. “And you know that, just like always, you’ll be paid for your work here,” she told Sarah. “If you like we can keep a portion of it in an account for you like we’ve done with the other kids, in case you want to use it for college.”