Hand-Me-Down Love Read Online Free Page A

her as much as I can. I know you’ve already done a lot here,
and I’m asking if you can sort of take over for me when I’m out.”
    “ You’ve got
it,” Jada said. “I’d do anything to help you and Meredith.”
    “ I’m also
giving you a raise. Your work on the Internet has brought in a lot of
new and repeat customers. Not to mention the extra responsibilities
you’ve had lately. I appreciate it more than I can say. I hope
extra compensation will tell you how much I rely on you.”
    Jada smiled at
her. Marla noticed Jada had one of her hand-made, vintage-style clips
in her shiny brown hair. “Thanks, Marla. I appreciate it.” Jada
walked toward the back of the shop. “I’m going to see how
Derrick’s coming on that new armoire we got. It was pretty
beat-up.”
    After Jada
left, Marla called Sean. She let him know that she would be able to
take Meredith to her chemo and radiation appointments after he went
back to work.
    “ I know you’d
rather do it,” Marla told Sean. “But I thought you might need to
go back to the bank, and I wanted to help out.”
    “ I guess I do
need to get back,” Sean said. “I don’t really want to, but
we’ve got to have an income and Meredith seems okay right now.
Thanks for doing that.”
    Marla spent the
next three weeks visiting Meredith every afternoon for several hours,
getting her sister anything she needed. Meredith seemed to be
recovering from the surgery with no complications. On the fourth
week, Meredith started daily radiation sessions and chemo three times
a week. The radiation stopped after three weeks, but the chemo
continued. Meredith was very nauseated and weak from the treatment
and that would be the pattern for the next three months. Meredith
wore a special cooling cap during the chemo that protected her hair
follicles and saved her hair. In the end, the oncologist said the
tumor had shrunk some, but that Meredith needed a break from the
treatments. He recommended they keep an eye on the tumor and decide
on further treatment later.
    Meredith was
very tired all the time. She didn’t seem to bounce back after the
chemo stopped like Marla thought she would. She was thinner than
Marla had ever seen her, even when she went on a crash diet before
her wedding. “That was dumb,” she told Marla later. “I thought
I was going to faint during the ceremony.”
    Sean took
Meredith to the doctor three weeks after stopping the chemo and
radiation. The doctor ordered a CT scan. The news wasn’t good. What
was left of the tumor had a stranglehold on Meredith’s brain. They
would try chemo and radiation again.
    It was a
nightmare, much worse than the first time. Meredith was violently ill
all of the time. Finally, she said enough. Enough of the chemo and
radiation. It wasn’t working anyway. She would take her chances at
home.
    By that time,
Cynthia had moved back to the family home in Bay Point to be near
Meredith. Bob stayed in Mobile during the week and came home to Bay
Point every weekend. They spent as much time as they could with
Meredith and helped out whenever possible. Cynthia cooked meals for
Sean once a week and made several soups for Meredith to eat during
the week. Soup was the only thing Meredith wanted to eat. It was the
only thing she could keep down.
    They set up a
schedule. Cynthia stayed with Meredith every morning until noon.
Marla stayed with her the rest of the day until Sean got home. “How
is she today?” Marla asked her mother at the changing of the shift.
And then one day, about a week in to the new schedule, Cynthia said,
“I think she’s better! I can hardly believe it. She wanted a
sandwich with her soup and she got up for a little while. She wanted
to sit on the patio.” Cynthia had tears in her eyes. She gave Marla
a hug.
    Meredith got
stronger every day. She got up after Sean left for work and walked
with Cynthia around her neighborhood’s oak-lined streets. She went
further every day. After about three weeks she told Cynthia