Her Sister's Child

“I can’t take any more.”

“I know.”

“We’ve got to raise K-Katie. It’s what Tina wanted. It’s why W-Wayne brought her here.”

“We will, Mama. We’ll take care of her.” Julia had run out of air, out of strength. She clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle a cry.

“When will you get here?”

Julia bit her bottom lip. “I’ll leave for the airport as soon as I pack a few things. I’ll get the first stand-by seat to Charlotte.”

“Hurry, Julia.”

“I will, Mama. I’ll see you soon.”

“W-Wayne’s going back to Tennessee, but he doesn’t know how long he’ll stay in the c-cabin. He’s giving me his c-cell phone number.”

Big of him. Julia choked back an accusation that Wayne had never been much of a father to Katie. She kept quiet because this time he’d done the right thing. He’d brought Katie to Cora, where she’d be safe and loved. Julia knew that, and, with her last breath, so had Tina.

She put down the phone, pulled her suitcase from the closet shelf and tossed clothes inside. As she was zipping it up, she remembered to grab the prescription her doctor had given her a few months ago. The pills were intended to be a quick, temporary fix. She needed them now more than ever.

A LITTLE AFTER 10:30 p.m. Julia called her mother from the car-rental agency at the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport. When she heard her daughter’s voice, Cora broke into tears again. “Where are you, Julia? Are you almost here?”

“Yes, Mama. I’m at the airport. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“I’ll wait up for you.”

Julia knew it wouldn’t do any good to advise her mother to go to bed, to remind her that she wouldn’t arrive until nearly 2:00 a.m. Cora didn’t sleep well under the best of circumstances and surely her anxiety level was at the breaking point now. “If you want,” she said. “Is Wayne still there?”

“Oh, no. He left. He said he’d t-try to send something for Katie’s support when he found a decent job.”

Gee, thanks, Wayne. “How is Katie?”

Cora sniffled, muffling her answer with the tissue Julia could picture in her hands. “She’s hardly said a word, the p-poor thing. But she’s sleeping now in Tina’s old room.”

Julia ached for all of them but especially for eight year-old Katie. Past resentments that no longer seemed to matter had kept the sisters apart, so Julia had seen her niece only on rare occasions when they all gathered at Cora’s house. She’d always found the girl quiet and respectful. Julia had attributed her demeanor to a creative, intelligent mind. Like a lot of kids, Katie preferred reading and drawing to playing outside. Only now did Julia think that introspective behavior might have signalled a deep emotional problem. Julia would have to watch her carefully.

“Did you tell her I was coming?” she asked Cora.

“Yes, I told her.”

Julia concentrated on how she could help Katie get through this tragedy. In the time she had, she would certainly try, but she wondered how much could really be accomplished in the one month leave of absence she’d arranged from her job at Night Lights Magazine. “I’ll see you soon, Mama.”

“Drive carefully.” Cora sobbed. “You and Katie are all I have now. I couldn’t b-bear it if anything happened to you.”

Cora had managed to turn a simple motherly word of caution into a dire warning. But it was an easy three-hour drive into the mountains with little traffic. “I’ll be careful,” she said.

Two hours after she left Charlotte, Julia watched the landscape change from the flat, straight panorama of central North Carolina to the gently rolling swells of the Blue Ridge foothills. The highway was bordered by trees that in the daylight would show the first splendor of autumn, though now, in the middle of the night, the colors were all blended shades of deep charcoal. Fall had always been Julia’s favorite time of year. She felt sad now thinking that it might never be again.

An hour later, she turned off the main four-lane highway onto the narrow road that wound through the picturesque small town of Glen Springs. Julia’s lights flashed on the wooden placard that announced its name and its population of a rarely fluctuating 3,312 people. The town was quiet, its residents nestled into their flower-decked cottages and charming bed-and-breakfast inns.

She drove down the main street and turned onto Whisper Mountain Road, where Cora’s General Store was located directly across from Whisper Mountain Falls, one of the area’s most popular tourist destinations. After a two-mile winding climb, she turned into Cora’s gravel lot and pulled behind the store to the split log cabin where she’d grown up. Before Julia had even turned off the car, Cora stepped through the screen door onto the wraparound porch and opened her arms.

A FEW HOURS LATER, Cora and Julia sat at the pine table in the kitchen, each with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee. Cora seemed remarkably calm, as if the sleep she’d managed to get had renewed her ability to cope. “Should we check on her again?” Cora asked when she’d taken a sip of coffee.

Relieved by her mother’s improved emotional state, Julia allowed herself to believe she might not have to stay in Glen Springs for as long as she’d thought. “I looked in on her a few minutes ago,” she said. “She’s sleeping. That’s probably the best medicine for her right now.”

“We’ll have to see about school, I suppose,” Cora said.

“Of course. It’s hard to imagine Katie in the same classrooms where Tina and I…” She stopped when the biting pain returned. “Anyway, I’ll bet some of our teachers are still there.”

Cora sighed. “Prob’ly so. Nothing much changes around here.” She looked out the window. “Except the leaves. You can always count on the leaves changing.”

Julia glanced outside. The first twinges of gold and red colored the trees. One good cold snap and riotous color would descend in all its autumn glory. As would the tourists. Right now, Julia didn’t think she could face an onslaught of customers, but life had to go on. Cora still had to survive on the store’s income. And now, thanks to that worthless Wayne, so did Katie.

“We’ll give Katie a few days,” Julia said, returning to the topic of her niece’s schooling. “Let her get used to being here with you. See how she handles Tina’s…” Again, she couldn’t talk about her sister. Was Cora actually coping better than she was?

Cora shook her head. “Look at us. Tiptoeing around Tina’s name as if just saying it will shatter us.”

“I know. We’ve got to stop that. Katie will need to talk about her mother and we’ll have to let her.” She sipped her coffee. “Did you get any more information from Wayne?”

“Just that it happened after he came in for the night. He said everything seemed fine when he got home. Tina was in bed. She must have gotten up after he fell asleep. He didn’t know anything was wrong until he couldn’t find her in the morning and then saw a note telling him to bring Katie to us.”

Julia frowned. She’d always doubted anything that came out of Wayne’s mouth. “Did he mention any signs that Tina was troubled?”

Cora’s shoulders slumped. “You know Tina. She had more highs and lows in her life than these mountains have hills and valleys. I loved her with all my heart, but I couldn’t make her happy. I doubt anyone could’ve. Not even Katie.” She reached across the table and patted Julia’s hand. “She wasn’t my easy girl to raise, Julia. You were. You’ve always been the strong one, the one I could depend on.”

If you only knew. Julia anticipated what her mother was about to say next. Whenever Julia returned home, Cora always strongly suggested that Julia remain on Whisper Mountain for good. But that wasn’t why Julia had gone to college and gotten her journalism degree. She’d studied hard and worked long hours at the store so she could get away from here, from the isolation and the cold and snow.

And to get away from Tina and the bitterness between them that had started one autumn when Julia was a sophomore in college. That resentment had continued to the present day, or at least until the day Tina died. This morning, Julia felt only overwhelming pity for her older sister and, God help her, guilt over the tragic, lonely way her life had ended.

And she hadn’t thought much about Cameron Birch for years. The handsome, charismatic assistant professor who’d taught American Literature during her sophomore year in college had eventually faded from her mind. Cameron, the man who’d opened her eyes to the beauty of the written word. The man she’d adored. The man Tina had set her sights on the moment she discovered her sister idolized him.

Cora stood and carried her mug to the coffee machine. “You want a refill?” Cora’s voice reminded Julia that her mother hadn’t yet begged her to stay.

“No. I’m fine.”

Cora filled her own cup. “What were you thinking about just now? You seemed far away.”

“It’s funny, but I was thinking about Cameron Birch. You remember him?”

“Your college professor?”

Julia nodded.

“Sure. A nice-looking young man. His grandfather lived up the road at the top of Whisper Mountain. Cameron used to visit as a teenager. They’d come into the store for supplies.” She smiled sadly. “Old Josiah’s gone now. Died a while back. I’ll bet you don’t remember your Professor Birch from those days.”

That was almost true. Julia had been a little girl when Josiah Birch used to come into Cora’s with his grandson. Julia had barely noticed the gangly, grinning boy trailing behind the old man from the top of the mountain.