A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [48]
When his mother got quiet, he glanced up at her. “You okay?”
She met his gaze and smiled. “Yes, I’m fine but I feel hungry. Are you ready for soup?”
He chuckled as he stood to his feet. “Yes, just lead the way.”
“And how is she today, Ms. Vickers?”
The nurse glanced over at the well-dressed woman and smiled. “Your sister is fine, Mrs. Sanders. For the most part, she’s having more good days and when she starts hallucinating, we keep her sedated just like you suggested so she won’t harm herself.”
Or spill secrets that are better left untold, Karen thought while walking the long dreary halls of Westminster Nursing Home. She hated coming here but knew she had to do so. Most people in Hattersville remembered the young, vibrant and beautiful Blair Delbert. They would shake their heads sadly upon recalling how Karen’s younger sister at twenty-two was involved in a near-fatal car accident a week before her wedding to the town’s most eligible bachelor, Simon Hayes. She’d lost control of her car and hit a pole. She survived but was left in a coma.
Blair had remained comatose for seven years and then out of the clear blue sky she had emerged into a conscious state. But the brain injury she sustained from the accident had greatly impaired her mental capabilities. Luckily for Karen there were no facilities in Hattersville capable of handling Blair’s care so she’d been moved to Westminster, a facility located in Cleveland. Out of sight and out of mind. It had been close to twenty years now.
Most people, including Wilson and Erica, assumed Blair had eventually died because that was the lie Karen had told them. She’d even arranged a private funeral service ten years ago. To this day, no one knew the ashes in the urn that supposedly belonged to Blair were the remains of someone else—a poor soul who’d died without any family. One day her sister would eventually die and take all those sordid secrets they shared to the grave with her.
Karen stood aside as Ms. Vickers unlocked the door. She had requested that Nurse Vickers, along with Dr. Miller, be the only ones to handle Blair, and since she supplemented their salaries substantially, they always adhered to her wishes.
She walked into the spacious and elegantly furnished room that had few windows, just enough to let the sun come through, and saw Blair sitting in the wheelchair at the table while reading aloud from a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. They had been Blair’s favorite since the time they were children.
Karen shivered. She didn’t want to remember those times but whenever she visited Blair she was forced to do so. “Hello, Blair, you look pretty today.”
And she did. That was another stipulation she’d made to Nurse Vickers and Dr. Miller. She wanted her sister to be well taken care of. After all, she was a Delbert, no matter what state her mind and body were in.
Instead of answering, Blair slowly lifted her head and glanced over at her. She stared at her for a moment as if trying to remember who she was. Karen knew before her sister opened her mouth that this was not going to be a good visit. Every once in a while seeing Karen would trigger bad memories for Blair. They had never been close and Karen had been the pampered one until Blair was born.
“You let him hurt her.”
That single sentence made Karen cringe, although she’d known it was coming. Her sister still blamed her for everything, even for surviving the messy attempt to end her own life.
“And it’s a beautiful day outside, Blair,” she said, ignoring her sister’s outburst. “The sun is shining and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Would you like to go outside today?”
Instead of responding Blair continued to stare as Karen placed her purse on the nightstand and walked over to the fresh flowers. They were picked every morning. Daisies. Some thing else that was Blair’s favorite. Karen then went and sat in the extra chair in the room. Since Blair seemed in a mood to have nothing positive to say, Karen decided to do all the talking.
She could tell Blair