Chapter 3

Earl never called, not once, the whole way home.

After I signed the discharge papers, I took my mother home to stay with me.

She had actually come to my place once, back in the first year of my marriage.

All she did was swap the wilted mimosa blossoms on the table for the roses I loved, and Earl flew into a rage.

He and I had a huge fight over it, and after that, no matter how much she missed me, she never came again.

She said as long as I was happy, that was enough.

Back then Earl filled my whole world, and I actually let it stand.

From now on, my mother comes first.

I opened the door and froze where I stood.

Doreen's parents were sitting in the living room watching TV, and Earl was beside them, peeling an apple.

He heard the door and stood up. "Your mother's here? Why didn't you say something first?"

I ignored him and led my mother toward the guest room.

Earl followed behind, explaining. "Rita, I didn't know she was coming."

"Doreen's parents' place has a leak. I thought I'd have them stay a few days."

I turned it back on him. "And now that you know, what changes? You going to send them off to a hotel?"

That shut him up.

In his mind, only Doreen's parents would ever count as his in-laws.

Three years married, and every holiday he handpicked gifts to send to the Sullivans.

For my mother, he never had so much as a word of good wishes.

Every New Year's Eve, he went to sit up through the night with the Sullivans.

And every New Year, I went back to my mother's alone.

The first year she still asked me, "How come your husband didn't come with you?"

Later she understood how humiliated I was, and she stopped asking.

Seeing the hard palm mat tossed carelessly out on the balcony, I clenched my fists.

It was from my mother's first visit. I'd told Earl she had a severe herniated disc, and he'd gone with me specially to pick it out.

He was just about to explain something when Cara Sullivan said, slow and unhurried, "Rita, dear, Earl agreed to let us stay a few days. There are plenty of hotels nearby. Have him find a nice one for your mother."

I was about to argue when my mother took my hand. "Rita, you're still weak. Don't waste your anger on people like this. We'll go stay elsewhere."

"But your back—"

"It's just a few days. I'll be fine."

My mother and I went downstairs, Earl trailing behind.

"Rita, it's still thundering out there. Let me drive you to a hotel."

I kept walking without looking back.

As we passed the mimosa tree, a dull crack of thunder split open right above us.

A thick branch snapped and came straight down.

My mother pulled me into her arms in a flash.

The broken branch slammed onto her back. She gave a muffled grunt, and the color drained from her face.

"Mom!" I clawed at the branch on her back like a woman gone mad.

"Don't touch it!" Earl knocked my hands away and lifted the branch off as if it were something precious.

He scooped my mother up to take her to the hospital, but Cara caught his arm.

"Earl, Doreen planted that tree with her own hands. The split's so big. If the rain soaks into it any longer, it really might not survive."

Earl's outstretched arm froze in midair.

He paused two seconds, then, like a man making up his mind, "Rita, I'll call Henry to drive you two to the hospital."

"I'll stay behind first and get the tree grafted back."