Perfect Piece

  Copyright © 2009 by Rebeca Seitz

  All rights reserved.

  Printed in the United States of America

  978-0-8054-4693-7

  Published by B&H Publishing Group,

  Nashville, Tennessee

  Dewey Decimal Classification: F

  Subject Heading: SCRAPBOOKING—FICTION / MOOD DISORDERS—FICTION / HUSBAND AND WIFE—FICTION

  Scripture references are taken from the New International Version (niv), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-one

  Twenty -two

  Twenty-three

  Twenty-four

  Twenty-five

  Twenty-six

  Twenty-seven

  Epilogue

  As always, this book is dedicated to Charlie, beside whom I will spend all the days of my life.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing this series has been such a crazy journey and I can’t believe it’s come to a close! Thank you, dear reader, for taking time out of your day to spend a few hours in Stars Hill with the Sinclairs. I have loved hearing from many of you and hope you continue to e-mail me with your thoughts and life stories.

  I’ve thanked my family in previous novels and it bears repeating—I could not be me without them.

  Ultimately, though, the biggest acknowledgment for the creation of these stories should go to God. If you do not know Him, if you’ve never met His Son, Jesus Christ, trust me, you’re missing out on the most amazing life you could ever imagine. This story that He has written for my life is so much more incredible than anything I could have come up with! It is not perfect. It is not always happy. I don’t think the ultimate goal is to be happy this side of heaven. That seems too selfish for a reason to exist. No, far more important than my happiness—which is as fleeting and fickle as the weather—is this secure knowledge that I am loved for no reason other than that I exist as His daughter. I cannot earn more love. I cannot lose love. I can only accept and bask in His love. That provides utter freedom to fully delve into every moment, whether sad or glad, good or bad. I love experiencing life in all its fullness, feeling and breathing the spectrum of existence.

  If you know His love, then I look forward to seeing you in heaven. If you do not, why not learn about it right now? Forget what you think you know about Christians—it’s not about us or our feeble attempts at reflecting Him. It’s about Him. It’s about His love for you. And what you’re going to do about it. Talk to Him.

  One

  Meg scooted back on the bleacher seat until her backside dipped into space. She stretched her arms along the seat behind and rested her shoulder blades against its cool metal. The May sun shone down, its brilliant glare penetrating her dark sunglasses and lasering through her eyes to increase the staccato pounding in her temples.

  “Come on, Tiffany! Watch the ball!” Sheila Regan’s voice bored into Meg from the top row.

  Tandy leaned into Meg’s space. “Sheesh, somebody tell that woman they’re eight, for goodness sake.”

  “She spent the past month with Tiffany practicing in their backyard.” Meg laid her head back until it met the bleacher’s ridged metal surface. A tiny amount of tension eased off. “I’m pretty sure she sees this as a commentary on her mothering skills.”

  “I just love sports moms.”

  Meg smiled and enjoyed the cool spring breeze as it danced across her face. If Sheila would hush, and the kids in the dugout nearby would stop cheering for five minutes, she might be able to get rid of this headache. She prayed Tiffany would strike out and the players nearby would take the field.

  “Tiffany! That wasn’t even over the plate!”

  Meg considered the penalties for sports-mom homicide. Depending on the jury members, she might get off with community service.

  That could put her working with kids at the softball field.

  She sat up and watched Tiffany’s bat whiff over home plate a split second after the ball hit James’s mitt. She might holler out encouragement to her son—if her head didn’t feel like a schizo jackhammer had replaced the gray matter. As it was, she joined the other parents in clapping as the inning came to an end and the teams switched positions.

  “You sure are quiet today, Meg.” Tandy shifted little Clayton on her lap.

  Meg glanced over at the sleeping baby, envying his ability to block out the noise of the ball field. From the corner of her eye, she saw Suzanne get up to take her new dog, Daisy, for a walk between innings. “My head’s killing me.”

  “Did you take that migraine medicine they gave you?”

  “Yeah.” She took a drink of ice cold water, but barely felt it on her tongue. Weird. “It isn’t doing much to stop the pain.”

  “If you want to go, I can wait until James is finished and bring him home for you.”

  Meg considered the offer while she watched the kids gather around Daisy but knew she couldn’t take her sister up on it. Jamison, Clay, and Darin weren’t due back from their camping trip until late tonight. If she left, James would have no parent here to cheer him on.

  Not that she felt like cheering, but still. “Thanks, but I better stay.”

  Tandy’s raised eyebrow spoke more doubt in Meg’s ability to make sound decisions than words ever could.

  Meg tamped down the spark of irritation that flared. She should be grateful for a sister who cared that her head felt like an overripe grape about to split its skin. Why this sudden anger?

  For weeks now emotions had coursed through her faster than a Southern woman changed lipsticks. Meg no sooner got a hold on one to try and figure out its reason than another would come slapping itself across her psyche.

  She rubbed her head. If this stupid pounding would stop, she would be able to think straight and figure it all out. There had to be a reason for the headaches. She took another sip of water, this time feeling frozen glory snake its way down her throat. It wasn’t a dehydration headache. She drank more water than rappers drank Crystal. It wasn’t a lack of vitamins, unless Centrum’s vitamins for women were somehow missing the vitamin part. Since no one had announced a recall, she doubted the vitamins were the culprit.

  Couldn’t be lack of sleep. She slept more these days, almost, than Clayton.

  Suzanne and Daisy returned to their seats.

  Too much sleep? Did too many hours of shut-eye cause migraine headaches?

  She made a mental note to check out the possibility as James stepped into the batter-up box and took a practice swing. He looked so much like his dad. Same dark hair, same knees, same elbows, same hands. If she hadn’t given birth to him, she’d think he was a clone.

  A cracking sound cut across the air and she cut her eyes to the current batter, who dropped his bat and took off for first base like a cow escaping slaughter. James jumped up and down, cheering his friend on to second while half a dozen eight-year-old girls and boys scrambled around the infield trying to get the ball into a glove. Laughter bubbled up Meg’s throat and crossed her lips.
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  “They are adorable, aren’t they?”

  Tandy nodded. “That they are.”

  James stepped up to the plate for his turn at bat. Meg worried for a millisecond, then decided Jamison’s hours of practice in their backyard had prepared their son as much as possible.

  The pitching machine punched a ball in James’s direction, and he screwed his face up, tucked his chin … and swung.

  The line drive sailed between first base and second. James had tagged first base and rounded toward second before the ball came to a complete stop. His teammate pushed on toward home while James’s little legs pumped him toward third.

  “Yay! Go, James, go!” Meg stood, ignoring the dizziness that swept through her brain. She would not sit silently while her eldest child scored a home run.

  By the time James flew past third base, the second baseman finally got a hold on the ball, and Meg saw the boy’s eyes focused on home plate.

  “Run, honey!” Meg leaned over the seat in front of her even while pain exploded behind her left eye, willing James on to home, praying that second baseman couldn’t throw a ball any better than Tiffany. “Run!” Bright starbursts clouded the vision in one eye, but she closed it and kept an eye on James. “Almost there!”

  With a mighty leap, James crossed the final two feet and stomped onto home plate.

  Meg raised a fist over her head and opened her mouth to yell congratulations through the drumbeats in her mind.

  She felt the blackness a moment before it overcame her.

  Both eyes went dark, her ears closed to the sound of parents clapping for her child, and one last beat in her brain sent her crashing to the bleachers.

  Two

  Tandy spared one glance to the boxy white ambulance roaring from the ball field. Hitching her diaper bag further up on her shoulder, she covered Clayton’s ears to the ambulance’s sirens and ran for her new minivan, yelling to James to follow her.

  The looks on the faces of those EMT workers as they worked on Meg had Tandy’s heart in her throat. They told her to hurry. To call family.

  She buckled Clayton in, murmuring words of a reassurance she didn’t feel, then flew around the van to her own side. James stood waiting at the passenger door, his shoes still covered in a fresh coating of dust from his home run.

  “It’s going to be okay, sweetie. Jump in.” She buckled him into his seat, gave him a quick squeeze, and jumped into her own seat.

  Thank God for OnStar. She punched the button for the in-vehicle communications system and swung the van out of the parking lot. Her voice shook as she said, “Dial Clay Cell.” The OnStar voice came back, steady as always: “Dialing.” Tandy sucked in a deep breath, as deep as possible given that her lungs felt like someone had duct-taped them into a corset.

  Meg. Nothing could be wrong with Meg. Nothing serious. Meg, the rock. Meg, the constant in their lives. Meg, the one who stepped into Momma’s shoes and mothered them all.

  Meg.

  “Hello?”

  “Clay! Honey, it’s me.”

  “Tandy, what’s wrong? You sound frantic.”

  “Something’s wrong with Meg. I have James here in the car with me.” He needed to know she couldn’t say everything. Couldn’t tell him how fear nearly paralyzed her, how she didn’t know if Meg would still be alive when she got—

  No, Meg would be fine. Meg had to be fine.

  “The doctors came in their truck and took her to the hospital so she could get there easier than if we took her.” There. Simple terms that shouldn’t scare James anymore than he already was. “They said the rest of us might want to come, too.”

  Static crackled over the van’s stereo speakers for a few seconds. “Are you there, Clay?”

  “I’m here. I’ll make some calls and meet you at the hospital.”

  Tandy exhaled and thanked God again, this time for a husband who knew better than to freak out an eight-year old by demanding details on why his mother just collapsed at a ballpark.

  “I love you.” She swallowed tears away and checked on James via the rearview mirror. He stared out his window, his face devoid of color.

  “Love you, too. Drive safe.”

  “Will do.”

  Tandy disconnected, then realized she hadn’t pushed the button to activate the hazard lights. In rural areas like this, hazards were all you needed to let everyone know there was an emergency. She turned them on and drove through a red light. No sense in anyone else getting hurt during this mad scenario.

  “Aunt Tandy?” James’s little voice sounded tinny.

  She forced cheer into her tone. “Yes, sweetie?”

  “Is Mommy going to die?”

  Oh, God. She sent the cry heavenward, then drew a deep breath. No. He wouldn’t do that to them. He had Momma. That was enough.

  “No, sweet boy. Mommy will be fine. She just has a boo-boo that the doctors need to take care of.” And I’ll read my Bible every day and pray for two hours every morning if You make that true.

  Images of Momma lying so serene in a casket, her body puffed up from drugs that didn’t succeed in their fight against the cancer that had invaded her cells, ran through Tandy’s mind. She blinked and focused on the road before her.

  Meg is not Momma. Meg will be fine. Just fine.

  She careened into the hospital parking lot and parked in the first available space. As quickly as possible, she unbuckled Clayton and James, then headed toward the big sign declaring Emergency. A million butterflies hammered in her stomach and she swallowed.

  Corinne Stewart sat behind the reception glass, just as she had for years. She stood as Tandy approached. “They’re with her now, Tandy. I just went back there and checked.”

  “Is she … ?” Tandy couldn’t finish the sentence.

  Corinne’s face filled with compassion. “Oh, honey, I don’t know anything yet. But I’ll tell you just as soon as I do. Have you called the sisters?”

  The whole town had always referred to them that way, as if one couldn’t exist apart from the others. Sometimes it changed to the Sinclair sisters, but always they were known by their relationship with one another.

  One more reason Meg could not die.

  “I called Clay. He’s getting everybody else.” She stood there. What to do now? She couldn’t go barging into the ER with a baby on one hip and James clinging for dear life to her free hand. No telling what he might see … Besides, she had to make sure James had a strong, sure presence right now.

  Where was Jamison? When was he going to get here?

  The glass double doors whooshed open, and she turned around to see who had set off the sensor. Jamison’s face was as white as the tile on which she stood.

  “Tandy?” Jagged rocks tumbled over themselves in his voice.

  She glanced down at James, hoping Jamison would pull himself together for his son’s sake. “I don’t know anything yet.”

  James broke free of her grasp and ran. “Daddy!” He threw his little arms around his father. “Something’s wrong with Mommy!” His muffled voice sounded so lost Tandy felt another part of her heart breaking.

  “It’s okay, son.” Jamison patted James’s head, then knelt down to the boy’s level. “I’m going to go find out what’s wrong with Mommy while you and Aunt Tandy go find me a Coke, okay? Can you do that for me?”

  James swiped at the tears running down his cheeks and nodded.

  “Good.” Jamison pushed him gently back toward Tandy. “Y’all run on ahead and I’ll catch back up with you out here.”

  James again took Tandy’s hand, watching until Jamison disappeared behind the ER doors. Tandy knew Corinne wouldn’t have let anyone stop him, even if someone had tried. And, in Stars Hill she doubted anyone would have tried.

  The outside doors slid open again and Tandy looked up to see Clay, Kendra, Darin, Joy, Scott, and Daddy enter the hospital. Each looked at her with hope in their eyes, but all she could do was shake her head. “We don’t know anything yet.”

  “What happen
ed?” Joy’s hands were sheathed in plastic gloves whose fingertips were the shade of an overripe orange.

  Tandy dropped her gaze to James, then looked up again with a small shake of her head. “What’s on your hands?”

  Joy got the message: No rehashing in front of James. She looked down. “Ugh.” She peeled off the gloves. “I was in the middle of a hair color when Clay called. I’ll bet this stuff is all over my steering wheel.” She balled the gloves up and looked around for a trash can.

  “Hey, Clay? James here has a mission from his daddy to find a Coke. Think you could help him find a vending machine?”

  “Absolutely.” Clay puffed up his chest. “We men are up to the task, right, James?”

  James nodded and transferred his death grip from Tandy to Clay.

  Tandy waited until they were out of earshot, then motioned the family into the waiting room. She told them all that had happened at the ballpark, making sure to mention that Meg had been having another headache.

  Kendra worried the bright red bracelets on her wrist. “I thought Dr. Brown was putting her through some tests to figure out the headaches.”

  Joy nodded. “He was. Meg kept rescheduling. First James was sick, then it was something with Savannah. Her appointment for an MRI is next week.”

  “An MRI? What for?”

  Joy raised her hands. “I don’t know. She asked the same thing, and Dr. Brown told her he wanted a look inside her head.”

  “Well, I guess he’ll get it now.” Tandy hesitated, not wanting to speak her next thought aloud. But she needed someone to tell her how ludicrous it was. “You don’t think she could have a tumor or something, do you?”

  She waited for someone to tell her the stupidity of that idea. No one did.

  Daddy cleared his throat. “Let’s not fancy ourselves doctors. We’ll know soon enough what’s going on and we’ll deal with the reality we’re given. In the meantime, I think we better have a chat with the Great Physician, don’t y’all?”