“Pray for him at home, Myrtle. Just pray for him.” After assuring Myrtle that Randy was in good hands, and that he would be all right, and that now, finally, he would get the kind of help he needed, a trembling Grace hung up the phone. She had been leaning against the wall, and now she sank into a kitchen chair. For a long time she stared at the floor, her mind rerunning her conversation with the counselor, trying to recall every word he had said to her about post-traumatic stress, and he had said a lot. But had he mentioned suicide? Perhaps he had, but she couldn’t remember.

Suicide! Randy must have been in a hole so dark and deep he could not climb out. Ending it all must have seemed the only way. Who was she to judge Randy? That was best left to powers greater than herself. How did it feel, she wondered, that moment when the decision was made and one took pills, or sat in a car in a closed garage with the engine running, or slit one’s wrists? Did one regret the choice, want to stop the process, or did a person simply feel relief to end what must be total misery? Enough!

Only yesterday, Bob had said, “You’re involved in too many things. You’re going in a million directions and you look exhausted. You worry about the Banks family. You’ve tried and tried to help that boy, Randy, and now this business with Zachary is draining you. He’s Hannah’s family. Let her handle it.

“On top of this, you’re running over to Mars Hill several times a week to see Lurina. Didn’t you just tell me that Lurina’s busier and happier than she ever was in that old rattletrap of a house of hers? She plays bingo every evening, and she went in a bus with a group of ladies to Roses in Weaverville and to lunch at the Chinese restaurant. Moving to Mars Hill Retirement Community was the best thing that ever happened to Lurina.

“You’ve got to slow down, Grace. You must start saying no, taking care of yourself. If you visit with Lurina once a week, and you bring her back here for dinner one evening a week, that’s enough.”

Grace had argued that that was not enough, that Lurina was like a mother to her, that she loved her and wanted to see her.

“And who looked after Mike when he had eye surgery? He stayed with you ladies, and you worried about him. Where was Amelia?”

“She was there, but she’s got Miriam and Sadie now, and she was getting ready for her trip to Santa Fe. It didn’t take much for me to keep an eye on Mike. If I made lunch for myself, why wouldn’t I offer him a sandwich? Mike was no trouble. He was easy.”