Butterfly Summer

The door into the corridor opened and Dr. Luke Strickland strode through it, bristling with purpose. In the weeks since Wallace's diagnosis, Heather had come to greatly appreciate the good doctor's utter devotion to his profession and his deft bedside manner. She couldn't help thinking that the Hamiltons and the Davis Landing Community General Medical Center were blessed to have him, despite the fact that he again wore that carefully blank expression which she had come to dread."Is everyone here?" he asked without preamble. Timothy stopped his pacing long enough to frown. "All but one -- as usual." Tossing out his hands, he demanded of no one in particular, "Where is Melissa?""You didn't seriously expect her to show up, did you?" Jeremy asked mildly.Tim fixed his brother with his intense brown gaze and lifted an eyebrow imperiously. "Today, considering what's at stake, yes."The pair were often at odds, but these days they just couldn't seem to keep from butting heads, whether over Hamilton Media or the family itself, and Heather quickly moved to intervene in her own mild-mannered fashion."I called her cell before I came up in the elevator. No answer. I don't think she's coming.""Well, that's just great," Tim grumbled, folding his arms."It's probably for the best, actually," Heather offered quietly. She glanced at her twin, Chris, expecting and receiving his silent support. "You know Melissa doesn't do hospitals well."In truth, Melissa had been edgy and distant ever since their father's diagnosis. More often than not, she seemed to try to escape her problems rather than face them head on, and that appeared to be the case today. That was an issue that would have to be addressed at another time, though. Heather decided that she would have a private talk with her baby sister as soon as the opportunity presented itself."I suggest we just get on with it," Amy said pragmatically. Her senior by three years, Amy was also Heather's boss at the magazine. Unlike Tim, though, Heather didn't mind yielding authority to an older sibling. Amy was everything that Heather herself was not, a high achiever, self-assured, even forceful, not to mention well-groomed, stylish, graceful. In many ways, she was Timothy's female equivalent, except that she had been blessed with their mother's beauty and was blond and blue-eyed, whereas Tim was dark like their father.Heather, on the other hand, was just...Heather. Mousy, meek and quiet, stuck in the middle, always living too much inside her own head and content to be there.It had always been that way. Even in high school, Heather had been the sister who'd disappeared into the woodwork, while Amy had been elected homecoming queen and most popular. Heather had persecuted herself with envy back in those days. Eventually, however, she'd come to accept that God had a different role for her.As a result she'd managed to avoid jealous feelings for their beautiful blond, but troubled, baby sister. The others considered Melissa overly dramatic and rebellious, which she could be, but Heather sensed a deep well of pain in her, especially lately. Then again, their father's illness had shaken them all.Dr. Strickland led the way from the sitting area into the bedroom of the hospital suite, with Jeremy, Tim and Amy following in that order. Heather and Chris crowded in behind them. Their mother stood at their ailing father's bedside, looking decades younger than her husband of thirty-five years, which just pointed out how very ill he was. Heather went straight to Nora's side and squeezed her hand.During the weeks of her father's hospitalization, Heather had grown even closer to her mother. She supposed it was natural since she and Nora were often the only ones rattling around the house these days, especially after Vera Mae, their housekeeper and cook of many years, went home for the evening. The longer Wallace was ill, the more Melissa seemed to stay away. The other four HamJames, Arlene is the author of 'Butterfly Summer', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373812707 and ISBN 0373812701.