Clara is discharged from the hospital the next morning. Caleb and I bring her to Vaughn estate. Big house on the edge of town where he grew up.
A hospice nurse is already there setting up the bedroom. Medical equipment, oxygen tank, hospital bed. Clara walks through the front door. Stops and looks around.
"Last time I'll see this house," she says quietly.
"Don't talk like that," Caleb says.
"It's true. I'm not leaving here again. Not alive anyway."
The Nurse helps Clara upstairs. Caleb and I follow. Master bedroom transformed. Hospital bed replacing four-poster. Monitors, medications on nightstand. It looks like a hospital room.
Clara sits on the bed. Thin, pale. She looks so small.
"I'd like to speak with Lena. Alone."
Caleb looks at me. "You don't have to…"
"It's okay. I'll sta
