Chapter 63

"Sure…why not." "Good…come on." The moment Corrine and Missy walk her out the back door, Nadine's face lights up from delightful surprise. The yard's adorned with surplus prom decorations and food appropriated by Adele and the gang. Present in attendance; Adele, Sarah, Trish, Janice, Eddie, Hector, Mr. Trudeaux, Mrs. Newman and about thirty-plus other students from their Junior class. A pleasantly stunned Nadine asks, "What's going on?" Adele exuberantly tells her, "It's prom, Nadine." "What?" Mr. Trudeaux explains, "Well; Ms. Wilson strongly believes that you should have been in attendance at the prom. And being how you had failed to come…" He extends his arm out and slowly moves it about to point out, "We have brought the prom to you." This was the first time Nadine noticed Mr. Trudeaux standing there. "Mr. Trudeaux? I can't believe you're here." "And why wouldn't I?" He turns and looks to Adele while smiling. "One would be quite foolish to miss out on one of Ms. Wilson's soirees." Now, Mrs. Newman makes her presence known. "And I'm sure it's going to be a real humdinger of a party." "Oh my God, Mrs. Newman; you're here, too?" "You betcha…I wouldn't miss it for the world." She tenderly takes hold of Nadine's hands. "How are you doing, sweet pea?" Nadine begins to laugh and cry at the same time, "Great…now. I can't believe you all did this for me." Janice informs her, "Actually…it was all Adele's idea." Not being one who looks to take all the credit; Adele quickly admits, "But all of you helped." Trish, responding just as quickly as Adele did, emphasizes, "Yeah…but you made it happen, Adele." Nadine immediately wraps her around Adele; and they hug. "Why did you go through all this trouble for me?" "I figured it wasn't right for you not to go to prom while the rest of us did. I just wanted you to have a prom, Nadine; that's all." Overwhelmed and deeply touched by this amazing gesture, tears slowly begin to trickle from the corners of Nadine's eyes as she endearingly clenches onto Adele and whispers in her ear, "Thank you so much, Adele." The plan was for David and Cheryl to spend the entire weekend in the city; which was specifically devised to give Cheryl a small, and much needed, break away from the emotional turmoil accompanying the last stages of Nadine's illness. Also, it was supposed to provide Nadine with a little break from Cheryl. Nadine loves her mother, and intends on treasuring whatever moments she has left with her before she dies. However, though only done with the best intentions in mind, Cheryl seems to hover over Nadine by constantly checking up on her. Nadine finds this to be smothering at times. But mostly, Nadine's hurt by the painstaking grief her mother's evidently suffering through these days. She can see the hurt seething in Cheryl every time she looks into her mother's eyes. And there are those times, especially at night when the house is quietly still, when Nadine can hear Cheryl sobbing uncontrollably. At first, the proposal was met with great opposition from Cheryl; who couldn't fathom leaving her dying baby girl's side during this time. After much coaxing from David, Corrine, and even Nadine herself; it was Estelle who had finally convinced Cheryl that it would be okay for her to spend one weekend away…to think of it as a sanity break. Estelle admitted to Cheryl that if she could've, she, too, would've taken one or two herself when her beloved Joe was dying. She assured Cheryl that there was no reason to feel guilty about taking a brief moment for herself. Estelle said it would give her the opportunity to clear her head and re-collect her thoughts; placing her in a much better frame of mind, and thus being stronger for Nadine. It took some doing on his part, but David was able to keep Cheryl from returning home their first night away. But late Saturday afternoon, Cheryl was insistent upon going back; and they had checked out of the hotel later that night. As they pull up, the first thing they notice is all the cars parked out in front of their house. When they find a place to park and get out of the car, they can faintly hear what sounds like a party coming from their backyard. Cheryl instantly becomes livid, and rushes towards the house; while David keeps himself calm while walking behind at a leisurely gait.