"Wear?"

"When I go to meet Devin. You know my wardrobe, what would be appropriate? Do you think my summer flowered dress would be good? With my pearls."

Fanny bent over to tie her shoelace that didn't need to be tied. She broke her fingernail in the process. The crazy urge to upend the table and smash everything in sight swept over her. She righted herself and was saved from a reply when she saw that Sallie was asleep in the chair. She couldn't help but wonder if Sallie was confusing her mother's burial dress with her own.

She tiptoed into the house to check Sallie's closet. Her hand flew to her mouth when she saw a sheer flowered dress with a delicate lace collar. She fingered the material: voile. The price tag still hung from the hem of the sleeve. In all the years she'd known Sallie Thornton, she'd never seen her in such a dress.

Fanny leaned against the doorframe, her shoulders shaking. She heard the front door close, and stood straighter.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tyler asked quiedy, his hand on her shoulder.

"If you could work a miracle, I'd appreciate it. How much longer do you think she has?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Thornton. It amazes me that she's as lucid as she is with all the medication she's taking. I think, Mrs. Thornton, you should have the family close by."

Fanny nodded, choking back her tears.

"I've come to love your mother-in-law," Tyler said. "I'm sorry it's under these circumstances."

"Me too. This is tearing me up. I feel so helpless. She's handling it so well. My God, she has everything planned, she's taken care of everything."

"Some people do that. My own father did the same thing to make it easier on my mother and us kids. Sallie-and by the way, she's the one who told me to call her Sallie-is a public figure. I think the whole town will want to come out to pay their respects. She told me how much she loves the Cotton Easter Memorial Church. She told me she used to sing in that church."

"Yes she did. She had a glorious voice. She wants Dusty Springfield to sing at her service. A record. Simon got it for me. I'm trying to do . . . this is my first experience with death. I'm afraid I'm not handling it very weU. I wish ... so many things."

"You're handling it very well, Mrs. Thornton. Everything you're doing and feeling is natural." The young doctor patted her back reassuringly. "Let's go see if Sallie is awake. By the way, Mr. Thornton is sitting on the front steps. I saw him when I came around the back. He looked to me like he was in the need of some comforting."

424 Fern Michaels "He's wary about coming in. He doesn't know about the face-lift and . . . and the other stujff. Sallie wanted it that way. I feel terrible for him, and I don't know what to do."

"I'll talk to her. I think she actually respects my opinion."

"Oh, thank you. I'll go outside and sit with him. Call us when... when it's okay to come in the house. If SaUie isn't comfortable with this, just tell me. I don't want to upset her in any way."

"Hi," Fanny said, sitting down next to Simon. She reached for his hand. "Your mother is sleeping. I stayed with her while Tyler hiked down the mountain. Tyler is going to try and persuade her to .. . receive visitors,"

"My God, Fanny, is that what I am, a visitor?" The pain in his voice was palpable.

"Simon, I think it's the medication your mother is t2iking. She says strange things and acts . . . unlike herself"

"How is it you always know the right thing to say at the right time?"

They sat in comfortable silence, smoking. From time to time they squeezed each other's hand.

An hour later, Tyler beckoned them from the door. With no words needed between the two, Simon helped Fanny to her feet. "Let's go see Mom."

Simon's eyes started to bum when he bent to hug his mother. He worked enthusiasm into his voice. '^You're looking gorgeous as usual. Mom. I don't know how you do it. You don't look a day over twenty-one. Okay, thirty-one," he said when his mother quirked an eyebrow upward.

"It must be this new makeup. It guarantees a dewy complexion. A bloom in your cheeks, but I had to add rouge. I'm seventy-two, Simon. I did like your compliment, though," Sallie said in her new frgiil raspy voice. "Are you staying long?"

"A month or so. Wall Street gets to you after a while. I was thinking of taking the boys on a camping trip to Big Sur in California."

"You had better take Sunny with you. She was a Girl Scout." Sallie made a sound in her throat that was supposed to be laughter.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Simon laughed.

They visited for the better part of the afternoon, reminiscing, talking about the future, and finally about the gaming industry. Sallie dozed ofTsmd on while Fanny and Simon struggled to keep the conversation going, with Tyler poking his head in the door every few minutes to check on his patient.

"I hate to mention this, Fanny, but what does this guy know about Mom's condition? Didn't you say he was interning in plastic surgery?"

"Sallie adores him. At this point that's all that matters. Su Li has been coming up every day to help Sallie take a bath. She's quite frail underneath all those layers of clothing. She's struggling very hard to be positive and upbeat. She never says a word about her condition," Fanny whispered behind her hand.

Sallie woke, her eyes going immediately to Fanny and Simon. She smiled. "I think you should mow the grass, Simon. Chue's been too busy this past week. I like it to look like a velvet carpet."

"Sure, Mom. Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"If I think of something I'll call you. Fanny 2ind I will visit."

"What did you forget to tell me, Sallie?" Fanny asked, leaning closer to her mother-in-law.

Salhe's shaky hands fumbled with the pocket of her skirt. "This letter came the other day from that private detective I hired so long ago ... to find my brother Josh, your mother, and that person Jake you met on the bus. He's been working on this for what seems like forever with no results. He says he might have a lead on my brother, but only dead ends on your mother and Jake. I promised him a sizable bonus if he could find them. Will you promise to follow through when I'm gone?"

Fanny folded the letter and stuffed it in her pocket. "Of course."

"If you find Josh, tell him all about Seth, and teU him how long I've looked for him. He could be dead, but if he is, he might have left a family. If they need anything, Fanny, I'd like it if you'd help them out."

"I'll be more than happy to do that, Sallie."

"If that detective does succeed in finding your mother, you give her a piece of your mind for going off and leaving you like that. You tell her I loved you more than she did. Promise me you'll do that."

Fanny choked back a sob. "I promise, Sallie."

"Simon never mowed a lawn in his life," Sallie said as she struggled with her laughter that left her gasping for breath.

"You're tiring my patient," Tyler said from the doorway. He was carrying a tray with a glass of water and some pills.

"I'm not taking any more pills," Sallie said. "Don't try to sweet-talk me, and don't think you're going to mix them in my orange juice. I don't want to be all drugged up when it's time to go. Throw them away."

426 Fern Michaels "Okay," Tyler S2iid, tossing the colored pills into the wastebasket.

"I like it when you do what I tell you," Sallie said. She was asleep again within seconds.

"Those were just placebos," Tyler said. He and Fanny had moved to the front porch for a breath of air. "I mix the real pills in her mashed potatoes. This is the part I don't like about being a doctor. I think that's why I decided on reconstructive surgery. My second choice would have been dermatolog)'. I can't be objective. Dr. Noble says you never learn to be objective."

Fanny found herself trying to comfort the young doctor when he sat down on the steps next to her. "I guess we have to think in terms of pain and going to a better place. You must know by now that Sal-lie is most. . . anxious to ... to go. There are days when I wonder if she was ever truly happy. She's a very simple person with few wants and desires. All the money and responsibility frightened her. That's why I think she built the sewage treatment and the power plants. I personally think it's a wonderful legacy. Would you look at what he's doing to that lawn!"

Tyler burst out laughing. He was off the steps a moment later, running across the yard. "Let me show you how a real gardener mows the lawn. I worked summers mowing lawns and delivering newspapers for eight years. You're wasting time and energy because you left strips down each mowed section. Now you have to go back and go over them." The young doctor cast a critical eye over the lawn.

"Are you trying to tell me this is a piss-poor job?" Simon said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Why don't we ask for an unbiased opinion from the young Mrs. Thornton," Tyler said. "Is her daughter really . . . you know . . ."

"That girl is one of a kind. Has SaUie suggested ... I can't believe this . . .Just remember something, my eyes are going to be on you if you meet her. I remember what it was like being your age." Simon relinquishejl his hold on the lawn mower. "Let's see you do this lawn in twenty minutes, and remember, I already mowed six strips."

Back on the steps, Simon repeated his conversation to Fanny. "He fell for it."

"See, you think like a man. He's letting you think he fell for it. Actually, he felt sorry for you, and that's why he's doing it. He probably thinks you're an old man and he doesn't want you to have heatstroke. Young f)eople really think like that. I know you're a vir- ile, muscular man, but he only sees your gray hair. To him, you're old."

"And what are you, the female equivalent of virile?*' He winked at her.

"I hope so," Fanny said.

The Coleman jet set down at McCarran International Airport, the lone passenger heaving a sigh of relief when the wheels touched the ground. She closed her sewing basket, securing the hd with a security latch. Like a doctor who was never without his medical bag, Billie was never without her sewing.

"You can deplane now, Mrs. Coleman. There's a limousine waiting for you on the tarmac."

Billie exited the plane, her eyes searching for the Thornton vintage limousine. "Over here, Aunt Billie!" Sunny shouted.

"Darling, you look more gorgeous each time I see you. When is some nice young man going to snatch you up?" Billie said, hugging the young woman. "How's your grandmother?"

"Mom said to tell you she got up this morning and put on the flowered dress and pearls. I took that to mean time is of the essence. Mom called Dad to come up when she saw that flowered dress."

"I worry about your mother," Billie said.

"She worries about you. Is it going okay. Aunt Billie?"

"It goes one day at a time. The absolute worst time is when it's time to go to bed. My thoughts go to Riley and I know I'm never going to hear him say, 'Yo, Mam, where are you?' then I cry myself to sleep. I don't expect it ever to get better. I don't want it to get better. I don't want to forget about my son." Nothing was said about Moss. Sunny understood perfectly.

Sunny struggled for words of comfort. "You know of course that Grandma will take him under her wing, no pun intended, when she gets up there. Devin too."

"Oh, Sunny, thank you for saying that. I never thought of that. It gives me comfort."

Sunny, her eyes wild, said, "Grandma is talking about this like she's taking a trip. Don't be surprised if she says strange things. Everything has a meaning, you just have to figure it out. I haven't been up there for a week, but I call her three times a day. Mom said if I went up. Grandma would view it as hovering. She said it would 428 Fern Michaels be better for me and Billie to stay down here. Birch, Sage, and Bil-lie went up this morning."

"Your mother is going to be so lost. The divorce is scheduled for Friday and now . . . this."

"Mom's okay, but she's not okay if you know what I mean. She's strong, like you. I guess you know she's going away for a month."

"Yes, I know. It will do her good. Who's at the house, Sunny?"

"Dr. Noble and Aunt Bess, Su Li, Chue, and Red Ruby. Uncle Simon has been there for a while. I really don't know if Dad will show up or not. I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm so glad you met me. Sunny."

At the cottage, the greetings were subdued. "How is she, Fanny?" Billie whispered.

"She can barely talk. I know she's in pain, but she won't take anything. She . . . she says she wants to be alert. . . when. .. She's holding on very tighdy. I get the feeling if she . . . if she closes her eyes, it's all over. When I saw the flowered dress this morning I knew that today was the day."

Fanny pointed to Tyler. "Come along, Billie, say hello to Sallie. I want you to meet Tyler."

"Tyler Ford, I'm your future husband," Tyler said, loud enough for SaUie to hear. He extended his hand to Sunny. "Will you marry me?" He winked.

Sunny winked back, then looked the young doctor over, from top to bottom and then from side to side. "So what do you have going for you?"

"Not much. I owe over a hundred thousand dollars to banks for my education. I have three hundred bucks in the bank, one good suit, and a rinky-dink car that hardly ever works. I can throw in a face-lift. Later on, when you get old," he added hastily.

"What about a boob job and a fanny lift?"

"That too."

"When?" Sunny said.

"When what?"

"When do you want to get married?"

"I have a day off in November and one the day after Christmas and not another one till March," Tyler said, following Sunny's cue.

"The day after Christm2is sounds good. The day after is always a letdown. A wedding would perk things right up. I could wear red velvet trimmed in white fur. You okay with that date?"

"Fine. You got a dowry?"

"Nope, but I have more than four hundred bucks in the bank. I won't have to buy any clothes for a year. My car is four years old, but it runs smooth, real smooth. Do I get free prescriptions?"

"Hell yes."

"It's a deal. You can kiss me later. Thanks for looking after my grandmother." She dropped the bantering tone and led him out of the room. "I mean that part."

"I know you do. Sallie said you were wonderful. Besides, it was my pleasure. She's that rare person you call friend." He spoke in a quieter tone. "All that stuff. . . was just for her benefit, right?" he said nervously.

"I committed. Are you saying you don't want to marry me now?"

"No. I didn't say that. I don't even know you."

"I don't know you either, and I'm willing to marry you the day after Christmas."

"You think I'm easy, huh? Just because the day after Christmas is a letdown don't think you can use me and then throw me away like an old . . . shoe, or is that old newspaper?"

"Does it matter? I just promised to cherish you. I'm not big on that obeying part. Well!"

"This family of yours is certainly different. Your brothers sure are big. Are they typical older brothers? You know, protective and all that?" His voice was even more nervous-sounding.

"Are you kidding! They're petrified of me. Don't let on you know that little fact. They still think of me as a bratty kid who could whip their butts with one hand tied behind my back. Now that I'm this ravishing grown-up, they aren't sure if my skills still prevail."

"Modest too, I see."

"Are you saying you don't think I'm ravishing?"

"Good God, no. I think you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen," Tyler said, his face and neck beet red.