“Um, so do you,” she said. “Look, for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be living at home. If there’s somewhere you want to go, you know, like, to live in Atlanta or something, now is the time you should give it some thought.”

“You want to know what’s funny?”

“God knows, I could use a laugh. What’s funny?”

“I’ve spent the last eight or so years, ever since I graduated from college, complaining about being stuck on the island. Why couldn’t I have Archie? And now that I can probably have him or move to anywhere that strikes my fancy, I want to stick around and see where this thing with Ted might lead. Besides, who would take care of the bees?”

“Oh, the irony of it all!” Leslie said with a lot of drama. “I think the bees could take care of themselves.”

We ate our pizza, moaning about how delicious it was, and there wasn’t so much as a piece of crust left. On the way back to the hospital we picked up a sub sandwich for Momma. When we arrived back to the family waiting area in the hospital, there was an old pirate sitting there reading a People magazine with a very large bouquet of flowers resting on the seat next to him, probably intended for his wench. I wondered who in the world he could be.

“Suzanne!” Leslie said.

I nearly fainted. This was Suzanne?

Suzanne Velour was in the building! She jumped up from her chair and hugged Leslie so hard, I could hear her vertebrae crunch.

“Leslie! Oh, my dear girl! I’m so glad to see you!”

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Leslie said.

“I took the first plane I could get,” Suzanne said and then turned to me. “Holly?”

“Yes. That’s me,” I said and giggled.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so happy to meet you!” Suzanne said.

I thought, You know what? Okay, she’s a little peculiar, but she’s very nice.

“Tell me about the queen. What’s the story?”

We told her all we knew, and her concern for Momma was real.

“So, this is not the cure. It’s just a treatment of this episode,” she said.

“Yes,” Leslie said. “At least that is how I understood it.”

“Well, then,” she said. “That settles it.”

“That settles what?” I said.

“I’m staying with her until the bitter end. That’s what.”

Leslie and I just looked at each other and then back to Suzanne in disbelief.