The Summer Wind by Mary Alice Monroe Page B

linen pants. Mamaw smiled with encouragement when their gazes met.
    A voice rang out from across the room. “Lord, you had us so worried! I was fixing to have a heart attack myself!”
    Dora saw Mamaw’s eyes roll before she turned her head inthe other direction to see her mother hurrying to her bedside. Winifred Smythe wore a sparkly white top that clung to her ample curves over black stretch pants, like snow on a mountaintop.
    “Mama?”
    Winifred rushed to Dora’s side. Her once blond hair was now mostly gray and worn in the utilitarian bob and bangs style that Cal referred to as “the helmet.” Under her blue eyes, a string of pearls graced her neck and dangled from her ears in delicate drops.
    “Yes, it’s me, darling. I’m here!” she said, clutching Dora’s hand.
    “When did you get here?”
    “I dropped everything and drove straight here the moment Cal called. Bless his heart, he was so upset about you, he forgot to tell me what hospital he’d taken you to.”
    Dora tried to imagine Cal being that worried about her.
    “Honey, you gave us such a scare,” Winifred continued, squeezing her hand. “When I got to thinking my baby girl had a heart attack. I cried all the way from Charlotte. I am a wreck!”
    Mamaw spoke up. “Don’t get your knickers in a knot, Winnie. We don’t know it was a heart attack.”
    “Well, of course it was,” Winifred replied dismissively. She released Dora’s hand with a pat. “A mild one, I’m sure . . .” she added to Dora in a consoling tone.
    Cal stepped closer to the other side of her bed. Dora shifted her head on the pillow to focus on his face. Deep circles darkened his eyes and his usually neatly combed hair was disheveled. His expression was worry filled, even penitent.
    “Dora,” he said in a low, broken voice. “I never meant foranything like this to happen. When I saw you hit the floor . . .” He shook his head in misery.
    Winifred clucked her tongue in sympathy.
    “I . . . I was thinking . . .” He hesitated. “Maybe we should talk about this whole divorce thing a little more. Maybe we’re moving too quickly.”
    Dora heard her mother suck in her breath.
    Mamaw suddenly appeared at his right. “Cal, you look exhausted. You went through a scare and haven’t left Dora’s side. The doctor isn’t going to be in for a while. Why don’t you take a minute to go down to the cafeteria for some coffee. Winnie and I are both here. We’ll call you if the doctor comes.”
    Cal looked at Dora and she nodded in agreement.
    “Okay,” he said. “I could use a minute. I’ll be back soon.”
    No sooner had the door closed behind him than Winifred clasped Dora’s hand again and squeezed it with enthusiasm.
    “Did you hear that, honey?” she said with a gush. Her eyes gleamed. “Cal doesn’t want a divorce!”
    Dora looked back with apathy. She didn’t feel the same giddy rush her mother did. She didn’t feel much at all. It was as though all the pent-up emotion that had roiled inside of her had expelled itself through whatever had happened to her in the house.
    “He didn’t say that, Mama,” she said impassively. “At least not exactly.”
    Winifred waved her hand. “He’s opened the door and you should rush back in. It’s time to mend those fences.”
    Dora’s head was swimming in her mother’s overuse of mixed metaphors. Winifred loved pat sayings and used them excessively.
    When Dora didn’t reply, Winifred said with shock, “You don’t want a divorce, do you?”
    “And why not?” Mamaw asked her in an imperious tone.
    Winifred turned to face Mamaw with a pinched expression. No love was lost between the two women, and the last thing Dora needed now was a showdown. She’d always felt that her mother unfairly blamed Mamaw for Parker’s faults. Mamaw had done all she could to support Winifred during her marriage to Parker and throughout the divorce. After all, Mamaw had introduced the couple, and they’d been so young when