Chapter 33

Though not her intention of doing so, Estelle has inadvertently made Nadine feel guilty for not befriending Adele sooner; and she starts to apologize… "Mrs. Wilson; I'm sorry that…" "Now let me finish, child." Estelle lovingly takes Nadine's hands in hers. "No one ever give her a chance…‘til you. You gave her a chance…and you two became friends… really good friends." Estelle begins tearing up. "You the best thing that ever happen to Adele, Nadine. The best thing. And this may sound selfish of me…but I don't want to see that taken away from my grandbaby. I couldn't bear that. She couldn't…" Estelle lets go of Nadine's hands, stands up and wipes away the tears. She takes a moment to get hold of her composure. "So; don't you go giving up hope, Nadine Martin…because you'se got a whole bunch of folk around here who love ya…and we'se depending on you to be around for a long, long time." Estelle walks back to the dishwasher and resumes loading it. "Now…you lookin' a bit tired, child…you go inside and git you some rest." Estelle turns around and finds Nadine endearingly smiling at her. Nadine goes to Estelle, tenderly wraps her arms around her waist and lays the side of her head on her chest. "I love you, Mrs. Wilson…I wish you were my grandmother, too." Estelle gently pats Nadine's head, and speaks to her like she would talk to Adele; with a whole pot of love, and just a pinch of cynicism added to keep her heart from breaking. "Well; don't you go wasting your wishes all willy-nilly now on things you don't need wishin' for. If ya want me to be your grandma…then I'll be your grandma." They look and smile at each other. Estelle slowly spins Nadine around and lightly spanks her on the butt. "Now git goin' and get some rest, girl." Cheryl's out back instinctively swaying on a swing, appearing as if in a trancelike state; totally oblivious to the wintry evening. Ever since Adele commented on how the locket would help Nadine get better, her mind has been inundated with thoughts of her ailing daughter. Random memories, from birth to present, good and bad, have been constantly popping into her head; hindering Cheryl from being aware of what's occurring around her…keeping her unaware that Corrine had sat down on the swing next to hers; and, just like Cheryl, is slowly swaying back and forth. Realizing that her mother isn't about to take notice of her anytime soon, Corrine decides to speak up. "It's kinda cold out here; don't you think?" Cheryl's jolted out of her incognizant state. "Huh? Did you say something, Cory?" Corrine let's out a short, soft laugh. "Wow…I can't even remember the last time you called me Cory, Mom." Cheryl briefly reflects before regretfully conceding, "My God, you're right…it has been a while; hasn't it?" Now Cheryl begins feeling guilty over the distant relationship she's carried on with Corrine over all these years. She looks to her daughter with sincere, apologetic eyes; then tenderly takes hold of and gently squeezes Corrine's hand. "I'm so sorry, Cory, baby. I don't know what happened between us. We used to be so close when you were younger." Corrine looks off to the side and languidly declares, "Yeah…until I was five." Cheryl appears baffled. "Five?" She looks back to her mom and explains, "That's when you had Nadine…and you started giving her all your attention." Derived from habitual bickering stemming from the attempted conversing throughout the years, Cheryl automatically clicks into ‘combative mode'; and defensively starts to rebut, "What are you talking about…I didn't give her…" Corrine curtly cuts her off. "Mom…please; you spent every waking moment with her when she was a baby. And then when we found out she was sick…" she becomes silent; then huffs, "You know what…never mind. I'm going back inside." Corrine stands and starts to walk away, but Cheryl manages to grasp her wrist before she's out of reach and pulls her back; guiding her back into the swing. "Hold on…you do this all the time." "Do what?" Suddenly executing an unsolicited, motherly act, Cheryl gently moves several straggling strands of hair dangling in front of Corrine's face back into place. She affectionately smiles at her daughter; now clearly envisioning that five-year-old little girl in her mind. "Run away, Cory…you run away. You start to talk about what's bothering you…but then you stop and turn tail. You don't stay around long enough to finish the conversation and come to a resolution." "A resolution to what, Mom?" "Your apparent jealousy of your sister." Corrine adamantly avows, "I'm not jealous of Nadine, Mom…" She lowers her head; then humbly admits, "At least…I'm not anymore. I stopped being jealous of Na the first time she got sick." At a loss, Cheryl inquires, "Then what is it?" "I don't know, Mom…" she hedges, "I don't think I'm the one responsible for…" Corrine suddenly becomes silent, and looks back down to the ground; while a stunned Cheryl gawks at her before going back on the defensive. "Wait…are you saying…I'm the cause of this problem between you and me? How? What did I do that…" Corrine loudly snaps, "You stopped loving me, Mom!" Cheryl's immediately taken aback. "What?" Almost sounding resigned, Corrine reiterates, "You stopped…loving me." Shocked and disturbed that her daughter could ever believe that, Cheryl attempts to dismiss that thought from Corrine's mind by assertively assuring her, "Cory, baby; I never stopped loving you. Never." Still unconvinced, Corrine contends, "Yeah; well…you certainly didn't like me." "What are you talking…" "Look, Mom…like I said…I was jealous of Nadine at first. But when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and they told us that she could die from it, I knew she deserved to have all of your attention; I really did." She becomes silent for a brief moment before claiming, "But I don't understand why you hated me so much."