While My Sister Sleeps (38 page)

Molly's eyes filled with joy, sadness, tears. Drawing her close, Kathryn smiled. Here was a glimpse of the future, a tangible gift that she would see in her daughter's pleasure every day of the week. Robin wouldn't just like this. She would
love
it.

And so would Kathryn.

MOLLY
stayed in the den for a time. Some of Robin's friends in the other rooms were tearful, but she couldn't get a grip on her emotions. Kathryn stayed with her until Charlie returned from talking with the realtor.

“No promises,” he said, “but she knows her job. She'll do the math and come up with a fair offer for Terrance Field. If anyone can make this happen, Dorie will. She's a persuasive woman.”

Molly felt overwhelmed. “So much happening.” “Some say life is a roller coaster. I see it as riding a wave. You're out there on your board and everything is calm—” “Excuse me,” she broke in. “You never surfed.” “I did,” he insisted, all innocence. “Well, I tried. I was never particularly good at it, but I did get the drift. You're out there in a huge ocean, straddling that board. The water is smooth, but deceptive. You know the waves are moving, and you watch and wait, and suddenly you feel that little shift underneath. You stand up. You totter, but regain your balance, then give yourself to something far bigger than you are. You have no control
. You're just along for the ride, swept downwater so fast it takes your breath. Then it's done. Smooth water again.”

Molly still wasn't sure he had ever surfed, but the analogy cleared her mind. The ocean, like the earth, was soothing.

She hugged him. “I love you.” His arms returned the words. When she pulled back, she took a deep breath. “I… am going outside,” she said, hitching her chin toward the door that led from the den to the backyard.

“Want company?”

She shook her head and kissed his cheek. Then she let herself out. She didn't have to go far. Her parents owned acres here, too, but the lawn itself wasn't big. The grass had grown over scars left by the swing set; but she saw the swings now, backed by the large sugar maple they had tapped as kids. She remembered Robin stirring the pitiful little bit of sap they had collected as it boiled into syrup. Robin couldn't have been more than ten, Chris seven, Molly five. Molly was always the first to taste the sweet, thick stuff—licking it off the large wooden spoon that her sister offered to her with pride.

And the swing? Robin pushing her in the little bucket before she was old enough for the big kid swing. Robin holding her legs while she crossed the monkey bars. Robin with her arms out at the bottom of the slide, waiting to catch her.

Syrup, swings, and slides. Vases, hair clips, sweaters. Self-confidence. A house. Robin had loved her. Realizing that, Molly was humbled.

Needing to be where she felt the strongest, she took her keys from her pocket.

“Where you going?” came a quiet voice from behind.

Without turning, she smiled. David. “I need a little grounding,” she said.

“Rephrase, please?”

She turned. “I haven't been to the greenhouse today. I'm sure everything's fine; other people watered. But I need my plants.”

“Can I drive you there?”

She held up her keys. “Got my own car.”

But he shook his head, quick and sure. “You shouldn't be alone.”

She wouldn't be alone. Her plants would be there. So would her cats.

Then again, if the greenhouse was what kept her sane, David needed to see it.

ALL
was quiet. Sunday hours had ended, and the staff had closed up. Unlocking a side door, Molly led David inside. The air was cooler now. In another few weeks, dawn would find frost on the panes. It would melt with the sun, but return thicker as the days grew shorter and the air crisped. But the changes went well beyond fading leaves and harvested fruit. With the end of one season came the promise of another.

Like her father on his wave, Molly was along for the ride.

Slow things down
, a frightened little voice cried. So she pulled a bag from the supply corner and dug her hands inside. She didn't speak, simply worked her fingers through the cool earth. No matter what the future held, whether Molly took over Snow Hill or decided to do something else entirely, there would always be this.

Finally feeling better, she looked up. “Too much, too fast. I needed this.” When she pulled out her hands, every nail was
lined with dirt. “If you were hoping for pretty, you're in for a disappointment.”

“I'm not disappointed.”

Nor was Molly. David's temperament worked here. She sensed it the minute they arrived. Nothing at all about him changed the aura of the place.

Encouraged, she brushed off her hands and showed him around. Her aphelandra was bright with yellow flowers, her catharanthus with pink and white. Moving on, she gestured to a vivid orange bloom. “Hibiscus,” she said. “With controlled air and lots of love, we'll keep it blooming for another month or so.” She showed him her cactus garden, positioned for the greatest sun. And, of course, her shade plants. “My babies,” she said with a fond smile.

A thunk came, followed by a plaintive meow and the scurry of paws as furry bodies flew past. Returning to the corner, Molly found her bag on its side in a spray of spilled dirt. One cat remained. It was Cyrus, an arthritic Maine coon that must have figured he couldn't move fast enough to try to escape. Carrying him to a bench, Molly settled him on her lap and stroked the soft spot between his ears. An old man, he had lived at the nursery since she was a teenager. She wouldn't have him much longer. But he was a sweet thing and, suddenly, making him comfortable mattered. He could do with less space, was even docile enough in his dotage to tolerate a small, skittish cat. The cottage might work really well.

Her
cottage. Once the sorrow of the next few days passed, once Robin's things were home with Kathryn—where they were meant to be—Molly would feel the excitement. She would unpack her own things, rearrange furniture, even make some of the improvements Terrance Field had planned. Knowing
that memories of Robin would always be there gave her a deep sense of warmth.

A new sound interrupted her thoughts. David had found a broom and was cleaning up the spilled dirt.

Touched, she said a fast, “You don't need to do that.”

He simply smiled and continued to sweep.

1. How would you characterize the relationship among Robin, Molly, and Chris? Does Chris play a different role because he is a son? How does the Snow family compare to yours?

2. How is Molly transformed during the week after Robin's heart attack? What does Molly discover about herself and about the range of emotions she and her sister evoked in each other?

3. What is at the root of Kathryn's controlling behavior? How did her past, including her experience with her own parents and her art teacher, influence her personality? Who has more power in the marriage: Kathryn or Charlie?

4. Discuss Snow Hill and what it means to Molly's family. What makes the Snows good at nurturing plants but not as good at nurturing one another? What kinds of healing does Molly experience through her work at Snow Hill?

5. What do Charlie's religious beliefs say about him and about the differences between him and the other members of his family?

6. As parents, what family memories do Chris and Erin create for their daughter, Chloe? How does their approach to parenting compare to Charlie and Kathryn's?

7. How does Alexis's illness shape the novel's storyline? What parallels exist between her situation and Kathryn's state of denial?

8. How much is Nick entitled to know, as a reporter and as a friend of Robin's? Is Robin entitled to less privacy because she is a public figure, with a wide circle of fans who are concerned about her?

9. What determines whether Liz will be a threat to Chris's marriage? How is Liz's role in the novel different from Peter's? How much does the past matter in a marriage, especially events that took place before the wedding?

10. What was it like to read Robin's journal after hearing so much about her? Captured in her own words, how does her life compare to other people's impressions of her?

11. What does Kathryn have to do in order to let go? What does it take to help her see the truth about her circumstances—and Robin's?

12. How is Marjorie's family affected by her dementia? What do the connections among Marjorie, Kathryn, and Molly show us about mothers and daughters? What traits, emotional and otherwise, are passed from one generation to the next in
While My Sister Sleeps?

13. Why is David willing to look out for Alexis? What makes him such a caring teacher? What makes him such a tough opponent against Nick?

14. Ultimately, what legacy does Robin leave for her family? What intangible gifts does Molly inherit from her sister?

15. Discuss the medical issues raised by Robin's story. Is it unethical to keep a child from knowing the identity of his or her biological parents? How would you have handled the end-of-life-care questions raised by Robin's heart attack?

16. How do secrets affect the characters in
While My Sister Sleeps
and in Barbara Delinsky's other novels? When is it best to let a secret remain hidden? When is it best to reveal the truth?