Page 134 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
“What’s that?”
“It’s a disease people used to get before we came up with a vaccine. Grown-ups got it and so did kids. A lot of times it hurt them so bad they couldn’t walk.”
“Couldn’t walk?” Sophie echoed, horrified.
“Yep. This lady had it, and she had to be in the hospital. She felt sorry for the kids who were there who had it and couldn’t walk, so she made up this game for them. That was a long time ago, and people are still playing the game.”
“Which just goes to show that good things can come out of bad,” Mia said from her post on the couch.
Arianna knew the purpose behind that statement. Her mother was trying to send her a message.
It was one she didn’t want to receive. Mia was having trouble swallowing food again and they had tests scheduled at the hospital for the following day. She half wished they didn’t have to go.
“It’ll be okay,” Alden assured her later when the two of them were walking Buster.
“You know it won’t.”
He was silent a moment. “Let me rephrase that. You’ll be okay. I’ve got your back.”
He took her hand and they walked on, past the ghosts and skeletons and yards filled with fake tombstones.
The news was, indeed, bad, and Arianna and Mia’s friends came over to try to cheer them up, bearing chocolate. Sunny had also brought a couple of bottles of chocolate wine.
“It goes down easy,” she said to Mia.
Which was more than Arianna could say about the knowledge that the tumor was growing again. It wasn’t right. They’d fought so hard. Her mother had been making such great progress. And now this.
“Movie night. What are we going to watch?” Sunny asked Mia.
“The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” Mia said, and Arianna’s heart gave a painful squeeze.
“Oh, no, Mom. Not that one,” she protested.
“I’ve never seen it,” said Ava.
“It’s an old movie,” Mia said.
“About death,” Arianna added with a scowl.
“No, about hope,” Mia corrected her.
“Crud in the mud,” Arianna muttered, and went to fetch wine glasses.
Molly joined her in the kitchen and put an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll have to suck it up. It was her choice.”
“I can’t do this,” Arianna said in a low voice, and took a couple of angry swipes at the tears cascading down her cheeks.
“So many things we say we can’t do that we have to do anyway,” Molly said sadly. “I’m sorry.”
So was Arianna. She was crying uncontrollably at the end of the movie when an old Mrs. Muir died, releasing her young and beautiful spirit, who then walked off into the heavens with her beloved captain who had haunted her way back when.
“I hate this movie,” she grumbled.
“I love it,” said Mia. “Mrs. Muir gets united with her true love in the end. It makes me happy. Your father was the love of my life and I’m looking forward to being reunited with him.”
There was nothing Arianna could say to that. Her loss would be her mother’s gain. Still, she barely slept that night, turning her pillow into a marsh of tears. How on earth was she going to be able to let go when the time came?
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