Bouquet: Sequel to 'In Full Bloom': The Trilogy of the Rose (Volume 3) by B. A. Beers Page B

table.
     
    Moving to the table, Mark sat and sighed deeply. “Let’s start with what is right with her,” he suggested.
     
    “Right?” David asked.
     
    “Yes,” Mark said, watching the others settle down around the table.  “I feel the negativity around us.  If I can sense it, so can she.  I know that I am the biggest cause of it.  We need to change that right this minute.”
     
    “I don’t think I could do it.  I am too worried,” Grandma Jo stated, coming around from the kitchen with mugs and the coffee pot in her hands.
     
    “You can,” Mark offered as she placed the items down on the table.  “Switch your worry to hope.  Her body is unresponsive, but she hears us.  She is only lost. We need to help her find her way back.”
     
    “I see your point, Dr.  Stevens, but why is she lost?” Linda asked.  “What brought about this current episode?  David informed me she was normal.”
     
    “Normal?” Mark asked, eyeing David.
     
    “I didn’t say normal,” David quickly defended himself.  “I said she was recovering.”
     
    “True, he did say that.  I assumed she was acting more normal,” Linda admitted.
     
    “Normal is a very subjective word.  Granted, her behavior has been, at times, acceptable or normal over the past few days, but one word, action or discovery will send her into her altered state,” Mark informed them.
     
    “You have seen that side, I take it?” Linda asked.
     
    “Yes,” Mark answered, rolling his eyes.
     
    “Not her best side,” Linda remarked.
     
    “I agree,” Mark affirmed.
     
    “Her current state?” Linda reminded him.
     
    “You can thank Gus for it,” Mark answered.
     
    “Wait,” Gus stated.
     
    “I didn’t intend for it to sound negative,” Mark assured him.  “The minute she set eyes on him, it brought what I call her ‘Mrs. Carter’ personality to the forefront.”
     
    “AJ?” Linda asked.
     
    Mark looked at her strangely.  “AJ?” he questioned.
     
    “Yes, Adam James, her son.  We call him AJ,” Linda informed him.
     
    Mark nodded.  “Her first question to Gus was if he had told me,” he added. 
     
    “The quote/unquote ‘Mrs. Carter’ side of her knows about AJ,” Linda said, bringing up her hands to signal the quote marks in the air before her.
     
    “Tell me the story.  Why and how do you have her son?” Mark asked.
     
    “I will, but please answer a question for me,” Linda requested.
     
    “If I can,” Mark replied.
     
    “Your presence.  How did you get in the door? She rarely lets me in.  I have known her my entire life.  I have been trying for years to get her help.  She bars all attempts,” Linda informed him.
     
    “She called me,” Mark answered.
     
    “Impossible,” Linda stressed.
     
    “The package,” Grandma Jo offered.
     
    Mark saw Linda’s eyes glaze over.  “Oh, my God,” she cried.  “It was real?  From their honeymoon?  I had forgotten about it,” she said.  “Were there letters and photos?”
     
    “Yes,” Mark answered, frowning at Grandma Jo.
     
    “What is that expression for?  She asked,” Grandma Jo stated.
     
    “Dr.  Stevens, I only want what is best for Sami. Please allow me to join your support team,” Linda requested.  “I am the only ‘family’ she has.  It is the reason that I have AJ.  I am only his guardian.  I didn’t adopt him.  He is and will always be Sami’s son.”
     
    “Continue,” Mark directed, without accepting or rejecting her offer.
     
    Linda sighed deeply.  “I will never forget that night.  When my father received the call from Gus, he contacted me.  He knew that Sami would need me.  The news was tough to handle.  I cried all the way up the mountain. . . for June, for JW, but mostly for Sami.  By the way, David, you look a great deal like JW.  I almost had a heart attack when you drove up to the house this morning.  JW even drove a black, Ford pickup truck. Anyway, Sami’s survival was nothing