“I hope not,” Rory commiserated with her.
“Me, too.”
The short drive didn’t take long. However, her fear escalated when Rachel came outside with her coat on. As she got out of the car, Rachel walked off the porch to meet her.
“Thank you for coming, Jewell.”
Jewell stared at Rachel’s pale face. “Is Ema—”
“Ema is fine. It’s Mag I’m worried about. Yesterday, when Dr. Price came by, he told me that Mag’s heart failure is getting worse. She doesn’t have much time left, and her blood pressure is through the roof because she wanted to talk to you before you left yesterday. I promised her, if she would calm down, you would come see her.”
Jewell blinked back tears at Mag’s grim prognosis. She couldn’t understand why she wanted to cry other than seeing how much pain Rachel was in; she couldn’t stand the old woman.
Jewell reached out to grip Rachel’s hand. “I’ll go talk to her now.”
Rachel gave a heartbreaking sob. “I’ll stay out here, if you don’t mind. I could use a breath of fresh air. Cash took the kids to Tate’s house for Sawyer and him to babysit. Mag doesn’t want them here.”
Jewell couldn’t blame Mag; if she was dying, she wouldn’t want that to be their last memory of her.
She walked inside the house and to Mag’s bedroom. She was sitting up with the help of the electric bed she was on.
“Took you long enough,” Mag snapped. “It’s not like there was no fucking rush other than me dying.”
“You’re too mean to die.”
“The good Lord is calling me home. Won’t be long now.” Mag patted the side of her mattress. “Come here, youngin. You took off yesterday before I could thank you for saving that wild great-grandchild of mine.”
Jewell sat down on the edge of the mattress. “I’m glad I was here.”
Mag narrowed her eyes on her, as if she didn’t believe her. “I also want to apologize for what I said to you yesterday about you not having a kid. I was being an old bitch.”
“You were,” Jewell easily agreed with her.
“You hate me, don’t you?”
Jewell started to deny her, but a wave of Mag’s hand stopped her.
“Don’t lie. I can’t stand a damn liar. And to tell you the truth, I don’t like you much, either.”
Her attitude was making Jewell look forward to the old bat dying.
Mag gave a bark of laughter at the look she couldn’t hide. “I suppose we’re too much alike for either of us to like being around each other.”
“We’re nothing alike,” Jewell disagreed.
“No? I think we’re more alike than you’re wanting to admit. You’re a strong woman who don’t take no sass from no one. You’d sooner kick a man in the balls than let one get anything over on you … And I know what’s it like to lose a child. I’ve lost two.”
Jewell stayed still, even though she wanted to leave the room at the turn of the conversation.
“I knew Cash’s father was dead, and he was buried on the hill beside your house.” Mag laid her head back on her pillow. “Not talking about Cash’s father, though. I raised Joe until he became a man. I’m talking about the two little ones I lost. Lost one from the cholera when he was just six months old. My man and I were living with a carnival back then. He didn’t want to give it up. When I got pregnant with Joe, he brought me back to Treepoint. He was determined not to bury another kid of his. I had Joe then got pregnant eight months after him. We lost Melanie to the whooping cough when she was five. I never talk about the youngins I lost, so I can understand you not wanting to talk about yours.”
Jewell focused on the beeping monitor hooked up to Mag. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m sorry for yours.” Mag’s gnarled, callused hand patted hers. “How old was your youngin?”
“Michael was four,” Jewell managed to strangle out.
“I can tell from your face that you’re still taking it bad.” She patted her hand again. “I didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity. I had Joe running me ragged.”
Jewell glared at her. “I’ve not been wallowing in self-pity.”
“Aren’t ya?” The old woman’s face softened. “Didn’t say I blamed you; just said what kept me going. I couldn’t imagine what I’d be like if it hadn’t been for Joe and then having to raise Cash after his dad died. My man took to the bottle and never came back after Melanie. I know you’re wanting to get out of here, but I wanted to tell you something that kept me strong when there were days I didn’t want to drag myself out of bed. My mama told me, when times get hard—”
Jewell tore her eyes away from the monitor, waiting for the women to finish so she could escape.