“When would you leave?”
“I don’t know yet. In about six or eight weeks. I’d like to start the papers for Rome before I go.” Mother Elizabeth nodded and had tears in her eyes.
“I’m very sad to see you go, and sadder to see you leave the order. But I have a feeling this is the right thing for you. It’s what you love, and they run excellent facilities and teams. Does your sister know?”
“Not yet.” Hattie looked equally serious, but there wasn’t a tremor of doubt in what she said. “If I may, I’ll go to see her this weekend.” The superior nodded.
“You can stay here until you take off for Africa. We’re going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, Mother. I hope I do a good job there.”
“You will. You did before. You have a gift.” There was no reproach in what she said, no bitterness. She came around the desk and hugged her and looked into her eyes. “You’re going to do a wonderful job. We’ll be praying for you.”
Hattie was too moved to speak. When she left the mother superior’s office, there were tears rolling down her cheeks. As she gently closed the door behind her, she had no regrets.
Chapter 16
Norm came in from his office later than usual on Friday evening. He was working on plans for three new clients, for houses he was going to build for them in the spring. He liked two of the architects involved very much, and was struggling with the third one, a bossy woman from New York. He looked tired when he sat down at the kitchen table. He was too tired to make dinner and Melissa made a salad and put two steaks on the grill for them. He told her about the progress they’d made that day. They were all going to be handsome houses, showplaces, and each one very different.
It had snowed a lot in the last few weeks, and the remains of the children’s snowman were still standing. Melissa had been trapped in the house reading on most days.
“Have you heard from your sister lately?” he asked her when they finished dinner. “Is she okay since the retreat?”
“She’s acting weird,” Melissa said, looking faintly annoyed. “I haven’t heard from her much recently. I hope she hasn’t done anything hasty. She’s still impulsive, even at her age. She called me yesterday. She’s going to come up for the day tomorrow, so I’ll catch up on her news.”
“She’s probably still trying to figure out what to do. It’s a big decision.”
Melissa nodded. Hattie had been quiet, but Michaela was calling her regularly, once or twice a week, just to chat. Melissa loved it. They both did. She had said that Marla was back on location, in the wilds of Scotland somewhere, freezing, working on her latest film.
They went to bed early that night, and were both in a deep sleep when the phone rang at two a.m. Melissa answered it because the phone was on her side of the bed, but all she could hear was sobbing. There was no other sound at the other end, just jagged crying and sharp intakes of breath. Melissa was afraid it might be Hattie, having some kind of breakdown over the decisions she was making, or with flashbacks from the rape. She had mentioned having nightmares ever since she spoke to the police.
“Who is this?” Melissa said calmly and clearly, as Norm sat up next to her, looking concerned. He couldn’t hear the sobbing, but the look on Melissa’s face and her voice told him something was wrong. “Who is it? Hattie, is that you?”
A thin voice finally came through the phone. “It’s Michaela. It’s Marla…she…”
“All right, sweetheart, take a breath. Try to be calm and tell me what happened.” Her voice was instantly gentler, and she was relieved that whatever the problem was, it was Marla, not one of the children. Maybe she was sick.
“It’s Marla…she’s still in Scotland, there was a storm. They were night shooting. There was some kind of explosion in the scene. They finished it, and it was too snowy to drive back, so they took a helicopter to get them back to the town where they’re staying. There was a huge gust of wind, and the helicopter flipped over and hit electrical lines. It burst into flame, and crashed…they were all killed…Marla’s dead…oh, Mom, I loved her…she’s dead…how can that happen? Why did they take the helicopter in a storm? All three stars, the director, and the pilot were killed. I have to go and get her. David says he’ll stay with the kids. They want me to identify the body.” She started sobbing again, as Melissa looked at Norm and shook her head and mouthed “Marla.” But he still didn’t know she was dead. He had never met her, but Melissa had raved about her after meeting her in L.A.
“I’ll come with you,” Melissa said immediately. “Do you have a ticket yet?”
“No, I called you first.” She had reached out to her mother for comfort. But she’d had two mothers recently, and now she only had one, and had lost the one she knew best.
“If you can get a flight to Boston or New York, I’ll fly to Scotland with you. We’ll do this together, Michaela. I’m so sorry. She was a fantastic person.”
“Yes, she was.” Michaela had been orphaned twice now, which was more than anyone should have to deal with. Melissa wanted to be there for her. She knew what it felt like to lose the person you loved most. Michaela had David and her children, but Marla had been her mother for thirty-three years.
She barely had time to tell Norm what had happened when Michaela called back ten minutes later and David had called the airline for her. She was on a seven a.m. flight to Kennedy in New York, arriving at three p.m. local time, with the time difference. And they had a five p.m. British Air flight to Edinburgh, landing at six a.m. local time the next day. And he was going to book a car and driver to pick them up and take them to the town outside Edinburgh where Marla was. The producer had been on location with them and was going to meet them. They were going to take care of booking rooms for them at a hotel in Edinburgh. David had booked Melissa’s ticket on the flight to Scotland too, so there would be no confusion about the flight. Michaela handed him the phone, and he spoke to Melissa.
“I’ll pick Michaela up as she comes off her flight at JFK, on the way to baggage claim, we’ll go to British Air together to check in,” Melissa said.
“Thank you, Mel,” David said, and she could hear he’d been crying too. He loved his mother-in-law, despite her quirks and Old Hollywood glamour style. She wasn’t a typical mother, but had been a good friend to him.
Michaela got back on the phone, crying again. “I’ll meet you at JFK,” Melissa repeated. “Can you manage with carry-on? It will be faster. We’ll be tight to check in for the British flight.”
“David asked for VIP service when I get off the flight in New York. They’ll take us to the British Air terminal in one of those carts. The press is going to be all over us in Edinburgh, and when I get back.” Melissa hadn’t thought of that, but they had that burden to carry too. She, David, and her children. “It’s going to be on the news this morning.” Michaela sounded devastated. And as soon as she hung up, Melissa told Norm the full story, or all she knew. “I’m meeting her in New York, and flying to Scotland with her.” She looked at the clock on her bed table. It was two-thirty in the morning. “I have to meet her at three when she lands. I want to be out of here by eight a.m., in case there’s snow on the road, or it snows again. I’d rather get there early than late.”