been a disappointment to her mother. Sheâd dropped out of medical school after her second year and trained as a nurse-practitioner, instead. Virginia had said little, but Lorraine knew her mother regretted that decision. She liked to think sheâd made up for it when she met Gary, who sold medical supplies to Group Wellness, where Lorraine worked.
The fact that sheâd become a lapsed Catholic had distressed her mother, as well, but Lorraine had never identified with the church the way Virginia had. She attended a nondenominational Christian church, but her mother would have preferred she remain Catholic.
âIâm so sorry, Mom,â she whispered, knowing sheâd let her mother down in countless other ways.
When sheâd finished her emotional journey through the house, Lorraine had taken a hot shower and changed into a nightgown, one sheâd bought Virginia the previous Christmas. After giving the matter some thought, sheâd chosen to sleep in her motherâs room, rather than her own. When she was frightened as a child, sheâd always climbed into her motherâs bed. Lorraine was frightened now, afraid of the future, afraid to be without Virginia, without family.
As she lay there sleepless, she gathered her memoriesaround her, finding consolation in the happiness theyâd experienced. Day-to-day life had been full of shared pleasures, like cooking elaborate meals together, watching the classic movies they both loved, exchanging favorite books. Virginia also worked for several church-sponsored charities, and Lorraine sometimes spent an evening helping her pack up boxes of food for needy families, or stuffing envelopes. Her mother had been a wonderful woman, and Lorraine was proud of her. Sheâd been devout in her faith, hardworking, kindhearted. Smart, but generous, too.
After an hour or so, Lorraine gave up even trying to sleep. She sat up and reached for the framed photograph of her parents, which rested on the nightstand. The picture showed Virginia as young and beautiful, wearing a full, ankle-length dress with a wreath of wildflowers on her head. Her long straight hair fell nearly to her waist. She held a small bouquet of wildflowers in one hand; with the other hand she clasped her husbandâs. Her eyes had been bright with happiness as she smiled directly into the camera.
The Thomas Dancy in the picture was tall and bearded, and wore his hair tied in a ponytail. He gazed at his bride with an identical look of love and promise. Anyone who saw the photograph could tell that the two of them had been deeply in love.
As recently as last weekend, when theyâd been discussing Lorraineâs wedding plans, sheâd teased her mother about the photo, calling her parents âflower children.â Virginia had been good-natured about it and merely said, âThat was a long time ago.â
Sadly this photograph was the only one Lorraine had of her parents together. Everything else had been destroyed in a fire when she was in grade school. Lorraine remembered the fire, not realizing until years later all that sheâdlost. Her parentsâ photographs and letters, her fatherâs medalsâ¦
Lorraine knew that Virginia OâMalley had met Thomas Dancy her freshman year in college and theyâd quickly fallen in love. The war in Vietnam had separated them when her father volunteered for the army in 1970. Heâd survived the war and come home a hero. It was a year later, during a routine physical, that something unusual had shown up in his blood work. That something had turned out to be leukemia. Within six months, Thomas was dead and Virginia was a young widow with a child.
Virginiaâs parents had helped financially for many years, but both of Lorraineâs maternal grandparents had died in the early eighties. Her fatherâs relatives were unknown to her. Her mother had one younger brother, but heâd gotten involved with drugs and