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Devon wrapped her arm around her mom’s shoulders and urged her up the first step. Her mother still wore her work clothes, and had she not cried off her makeup, she’d still look as put together as ever. The elegant, well-to-do wife of a prominent man.
It took four times as long to reach the top of the staircase as normal, but finally they made it, and Devon steered her mother down the hall toward the master suite.
The suite consisted of two adjoining bedrooms, each with a private bath. And now that she was older and wiser—and her eyes had been opened to her father’s behavior—the separate beds made the questions about her father bombard her all over again.
Her mother and father had taken on separate rooms when she and Dara were… around twelve? Fifteen? Her mother had explained that her father’s ridiculously loud snoring kept her awake, but was that actually why they’d started sleeping separately? Had something happened back then? Was that why her mother had made it a summer project to redo the rooms into a two-bedroom master?
Devon felt more than a little numb herself as she walked her mother into the bathroom and urged her to go while she hunted for a nightgown. Thankfully her mother was a creature of habit, and they were in the same drawer as they’d been when Devon lived at home.
Her mother had finished and sat just staring into space. Devon paused in the doorway, gut clenched at the sight of such brokenness. “Come on, Mama. Let’s get you changed.”
Devon had never had the experience of caring for her mother the way her mother had cared for her. But as she removed her mother’s blouse and pulled the nightgown over her head, she remembered when her mother had dressed her as a child, lifting her arms and waiting while she slid the nightgown into place over her little-girl form.
The memory was another gut-wrenching stab to her heart, and Devon watched as her hands shook nearly as badly as her mother’s.
That done, Devon found a cloth and gently washed the smeared makeup from Rayna Jo’s face before tossing it toward the sink. Brushing teeth would’ve been next, but surely missing one night wouldn’t hurt. “Bedtime, Mama,” she said, leading her mother back into the bedroom.
Devon had just pulled the sheet and lightweight blanket up over her mom when a soft knock sounded on the door.
Her mother didn’t move. Didn’t even blink.
“It’s me,” Logan said from the other side.
“Come in,” Devon called.
The door opened and her cousin poked his head into the room, his gaze shifting from Devon to Rayna Jo.
“You’re looking more comfortable, Aunt Ray-Ray,” he said softly, moving into the room. “I brought you water and something to help you sleep.”
Devon watched but her mother didn’t respond. “She hasn’t said a word since the hospital. Is that normal?”
“She’s in shock,” Logan said, seating himself by Rayna Jo’s side.
Logan checked her pulse and studied her for a bit before handing her the glass and urging her to take the meds. Her mother swallowed the tiny pills as ordered, and Logan smoothed her hair back from her face.
“You get some rest, Ray-Ray. I’ll check on you in the morning, okay?”
Her mother shifted in the bed and curled on her side away from them, eyes dry, unseeing.
Logan tilted his head toward the door and Devon followed.
“Those should help her sleep through the night. I’ll leave these here with you,” he said, handing her a small bottle with a dozen or so pills inside. “Put them somewhere out of sight just in case.”
“Just in case?” Devon blinked, and catching on to what he meant by the wording, she sucked in a harsh breath. “Oh.”
“She’ll be fine, Dev. It’s just a precaution. People process things in very different ways, and she needs time to work through this. Call me if you need me.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Logan bent and gave her a quick hug and then headed out of the bedroom.
Devon retraced her steps to the bed far enough to glimpse her mother’s face and saw that her eyes were closed, though tears slipped from beneath her lashes. She didn’t make a sound, wasn’t sobbing. Just silent tears. And that, more than anything, told Devon the depth of her mother’s despair.
Devon moved to the sitting area and sat down, waiting until she heard her mother’s breathing soften and even out. When she was sure Rayna Jo slept, Devon turned on a nightlight and left the bedroom to slowly make her way down the stairs.
Her feet felt heavy, her body weighted as she dragged it along when, in reality, she wanted to crumple on the steps and have a good cry herself.
But she didn’t. Couldn’t.
