Free Bitter Sweet by Lavyrle Spencer Page A

How are you, Maggie?’
    ‘How would you be if four of your dearest old friend rallied round when you put out the call? I’m overwhelmed.’
    Half an hour later, when they’d reminisced and caught up, Lisa said, ‘Listen, Maggie, I had an idea. Do you remember my brother, Gary?’
    ‘Of course. He’s married to Marcy Kreig.’
    ‘Was. They’ve been divorced for over twelve years. Well,
    Gary is getting remarried next week and I’ll be in Door for the wedding. I was thinking, If you could come home, I m sure Tani and Fish could drive ,up, and we could all get together out at Brookie’s house.
    ‘Oh, Lisa, I can’t.’ Disappointment coloured Maggie’s voice. ‘It sounds wonderful, but I’m due to start teaching in less than two weeks.’
    ‘Just a quick trip?’
    I’m afraid it would be too quick, and at the beginning of the term like this.., I’m sorry, Lisa.’
    ‘Oh, shoot. That’s a disappointment.’
    ‘I know. It would have been so much fun.’
    ‘Well, listen.., will you think about it? Even if it’s only for the weekend. It would be so great to get everybody together again.’
    ‘All right,’ Maggie promised. ‘I’ll think about it.’
    She did, on her drive in to the hospital to visit Tammi - about Brookie calling all the girls, and each of them concerned enough to make contact after all these years, and how her own outlook had brightened in so short a time. She thought about the curious rhythms in life, and how the support she’d just been given she would now pass on to another.
    At
7:55
that afternoon she sat flipping the pages of a Good Housekeeping magazine in the family lounge of the intensive care unit of
Washington
University
Hospital
, waiting to be summoned. A television with its volume lowered murmured from its perch on the far wall. In a corner by the window a father and two sons waited for news of a mother who had undergone bypass surgery. From a Formica niche in the wall the smell of strong coffee drifted through the room.
    A nurse entered, thin, pretty, walking briskly in on her silent, white shoes.
    ‘Mrs Stearn?’
    ‘Yes?’ Maggie dropped her magazine and jumped to her feet.
    ‘You can go in and see Tammi now, but only for five minutes.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    Maggie wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her upon entering Tammi’s room. So much machinery. So many tubes and bottles; screens of various sizes bleeping out vital signs; and a thin, gaunt Tammi lying on the bed with a network of IVs threaded into her arms. Her eyes were closed, her hands lying wrist-up, her arms dotted by purple bruises where previous IVs had been. Her apricot-blonde hair, which she’d always kept with meticulous teenage pride and wore in a style much like Katy’s, lay brittle and spiky as a bird’s nest on the pillow.
    Maggie stood beside the bed for some time before Tammi opened her eyes and found her there.
    ‘Hi, little one.’ Maggie leaned close and touched the girl’s cheek. ‘We’ve all been so worried about you.’
    Tammi’s eyes filled with tears and she rolled her face away.
    Maggie brushed back Tammi’s hair from her forehead.
    ‘We’re so happy you’re still alive.’
    ‘But I’m so ashamed.”
    ‘Noooo . . . noooo.’ Cupping Tammi’s face, Maggie gently turned it toward herself. ‘You mustn’t be ashamed. Think ahead, not behind. You’re going to get stronger now, and we’re all going to work together to get you happy.’
    Tammi’s tears continued building and she tried to lift a hand to wipe them away. The hand was shaky, tethered by the IVs, and Maggie gently pushed it down, took a tissue from a nearby box and dried Tammi’s eyes.
    ‘I lost the baby, Maggie.’
    ‘I know, honey, I know.’
    Tammi turned her brimming gaze away while Maggie stayed close, brushing her temple.
    ‘But you’re alive, and it’s your happiness we all care about. We want to see you up and smiling again.’
    ‘Why should anyone care about me?’
    ‘ Because you are