Part Two

Three months later…

Jasper parked his car and strolled up to the back door of the house where Katie and Jim were living, tapping briefly on the door before letting himself in. They had settled into the routine of a Saturday night together each week and Katie insisted on doing all the cooking. She was singing as she prepared the meal when he entered.

“How was your week?” she asked, breaking off her song mid-line.

“Busy enough to keep me out of trouble,” he answered, smiling. “How was yours?”

She returned the smile. “Great. The new job is a much better fit than the first one I had here. And it turns out that one of my new co-workers has a son the same age as Jim and at the same school, so we can share pick-up duties.”

“So long as the two of them get along, that’s probably a good thing.”

“Oh, they’d already made friends long before I started there,” she answered. “And they’re both keen to play whatever sport is offered to them.”

Jasper nodded. “I’m glad he seems to be settling in. Where is he, by the way?”

“He went off on his bike, somewhere,” she replied. “He’ll be back soon; he knows not to stay out late.”

“Well, it’s good that we can have a word while he’s not here.” His expression turned more serious. “I think I’ve had a small breakthrough on your sister’s whereabouts, but if I’m right, it’s not good news.”

Katie set down her spoon. “What does that mean?”

“I was down in Sleepyside the other day,” he explained carefully, “and stopped into the library. While I was there, I mentioned to the librarian that I’d been searching for someone from a Dutch family–”

“You were looking for my sister in the Sleepyside library?” she interrupted, incredulous.

He shook his head. “Sorry; I didn’t express that well. I was there looking for some trace of where your husband’s uncle might have gone – which I didn’t find – and then had a conversation at cross-purposes with the librarian. But the upshot is that she gave me the name of someone who they refer questions to about the Dutch families of the area and, thinking that I had nothing to lose, I asked the lady if she knew anyone called Vanderheiden or Marsden.”

“And did she?”

“She knew a Vanderheiden family, and mentioned two sisters called Betje and Katje.” His brow creased. “Betje apparently married someone called Wilhelm, whose surname she couldn’t remember, and they moved to the Netherlands.”

Katie sighed. “So far away. Okay, I guess I’ll have to write a letter to her, too. Not that writing to Win’s uncle has helped at all.”

Again, he shook his head. “If Mrs. Vanderpoel is taking about the same Betje, it won’t do any good.”

Katie pursed her lips. “She’s dead, isn’t she? That’s why she’s never contacted me.”

He nodded. “Mrs. Vanderpoel believes so. Apparently, their car went into a canal and they drowned – she, her husband and their little daughter.”

“When did this happen, did she know?” Katie asked, with tears pooling in her eyes.

He shrugged. “She doesn’t remember, exactly. Ten years or more, she thought.”

She nodded and wiped the tears from her face. Then she turned back to the stove, though whether to attend to the pot there, or just to regain her composure Jasper couldn’t tell.

“She’d like to meet you, if you’re willing,” he continued. “She says she remembers you as a little girl, though she doesn’t expect you to remember her. Apparently, your grandmother was a dear friend of hers.”

“I’d like that,” Katie answered. “In fact, I’d like that very much, and as soon as you can arrange it.”

“Tomorrow afternoon, if you like.” He smiled when she spun on the spot, an enquiring look on her face. “I told her I’d wait until tonight to tell you in person, so she invited us for tomorrow afternoon. She thinks she might have a photo of them somewhere and she’s going to search it out.”

This time, Katie couldn’t hold back the tears. “That would be wonderful,” she told him, before she fled the room.

Jasper stood looking after her for a moment then decided to stay in the kitchen and hope that he’d know what to do if anything needed to be done before she returned.

The next afternoon, he guided the car along a long driveway through the woods. Katie, in the front passenger seat, fidgeted nervously. Jim, in the back seat, wore the same closed expression that Jasper had seen on him a number of times before. Jim, it seemed, had opinions that he didn’t want known.

“Oh!” Katie cried, as the yellow brick house came into view. “I remember being here. When I was very little, I think. My grandmother brought me here and there was a plump, smiling lady, and she gave me cookies and was very kind.”

The door of the house opened and out came a plump, smiling lady to greet them.

“Katje!” she cried, as Katie got out of the car. “How wonderful to see you. And is this your son?”

Jasper stood back and let them have a few moments. Katie was crying, again, and saying that she remembered. Jim was polite, but looked uncomfortable.

“Come inside, all of you,” their hostess urged. “We have so much to talk about. And I’ve just brought some windmill cookies out of the oven.”

They soon settled in the warm, fragrant kitchen, where Katie delighted in pointing out everything she had seen before.

“Now, tell me all you know about my sister,” Katie begged, once drinks had been served and cookies tasted. “How did you even know that she’d died, if it happened in the Netherlands?”

“I didn’t hear until some time afterwards,” the older lady explained. “You see, your grandmother was a dear friend of mine, and after she passed, I still kept in touch with your sister. I would have written to you, too, dear, if I’d known where you were.”

Katie shook her head. “I moved around a lot in those next few years. I was away at college when she went and her sister just threw everything out before I’d even gotten home for the funeral. I had nothing but what I’d taken with me – which wasn’t very much. And, of course, I had to drop out, because I didn’t have the money to keep studying. And then, of course, I married Win, so my name was different.”

“I’m not blaming you, dear. But I do wish I’d done better at keeping up with your grandmother. I didn’t make it to the funeral because I didn’t hear until the day after it happened.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Now, if I remember rightly, your sister married only a few weeks after Marta died.”

Katie nodded. “I didn’t think she should. It was only eight days after the funeral and it didn’t seem right to me. It’s what we argued about. In the end, I didn’t go to the wedding. And I never saw, or heard from her again.”

Mrs. Vanderpoel made a sympathetic noise. “She was probably very busy moving. And if you didn’t leave her your address…”

Katie shook her head. “Aunt Gerda had it, but knowing her, she probably threw it out. Or maybe she’d died by the time Betje wanted to ask. She only lived another year or so after my grandmother.”

The older lady nodded. “So, I received a card from your sister after she settled in her husband’s home town, and a letter or card every so often after that. The last one she sent gave their new address when they moved to The Hague and included a photograph. Here it is.”

A soft, sad smile spread across Katie’s face. She passed the photo to Jim, who had been silently watching and listening. He frowned at it for a moment, then passed it back to their hostess.

“You can keep it,” Mrs. Vanderpoel offered. “The next thing that I heard was the news of the accident, and I only got that by chance, really. The librarian in Sleepyside knows that I’m well-acquainted with all the Dutch families in the area. So, when someone brought her a Dutch newspaper clipping, she thought of me.”

“Where did the clipping come from?” Katie wondered.

“Oh dear, I seem to have left out an important part of the story,” Mrs. Vanderpoel fretted. “After they married, Betje and her husband lived here in Sleepyside for a few months, while they were preparing to leave – or deciding whether to leave, more like it. Their neighbours at the time were a family called Devlin. Later, Mr. Devlin travelled to Europe on business and, while he was in The Hague, came across the newspaper. He could read just enough to think it might be about his friends, so he brought it home with him, and took it to the library. The librarian called me, and I read it for him.” Her eyes clouded. “There couldn’t be any mistake. The article gave all three of their names and mentioned that they’d lived in New York for a time.”

Katie frowned as she thought about the story she’d been told. “I wonder why they came to live here?” she commented, at last. “It seems a bit of a strange coincidence.”

Mrs. Vanderpoel’s eyes widened. “In what way?”

“Well, the only connection I have to Sleepyside is that my husband’s uncle lives here,” she replied. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d never have even heard of Sleepyside.”

“Your mother was born here,” the older lady pointed out. “And your mother’s parents lived here most of their lives, right up until just before your sister was born.”

“They did? I had no idea.” Katie frowned. “In fact, I have no idea about most things. It’s just so terribly tragic to have lost both my parents and my sister and her family in automobile crashes.”

“Land sakes, child! What gave you that idea?” Mrs. Vanderpoel cried out, thoroughly startled.

Her face drained of colour. “I’ve always been told…”

“Would you like Jim and I to step outside for a minute?” Jasper asked, rising from his seat.

Jim shook his head. “I want to stay right here.”

“This sounds like rather an adult discussion,” Jasper explained, “and a private one. It might be easier on your mother if you let her hear it first, and then tell you later.”

Katie shook her head. “Thank you, Jasper, but I’d rather Jim stayed. And I don’t mind if you stay, either. In fact, I think I’d prefer it.” She cast him a watery smile. “You’ve been open enough with me to let me in on some of your family secrets; there’s no reason why you can’t be let in on mine.”

He nodded and sat down again.

“I take it, then, my parents didn’t die in a crash,” Katie continued. “So, what really happened to them?”

The older lady reached over and took her hand. “I don’t know what happened to your father, or whether he’s alive or dead. I don’t know that I’ve ever met him. But your mother… well, she was murdered by her boyfriend’s wife.”

Katie gasped. “That’s terrible! But I don’t understand about my father. How could you have not met him, when you were friends with his mother?”

Mrs. Vanderpoel shook her head slowly. “I was friends with your mother’s mother. Bernhard and Marta Vanderheiden were your maternal grandparents. Your mother never married. I know who Betje’s father was – he’s alive and well and living in Sleepyside and his wife has no idea she ever existed. But I don’t know who your father was. Marta was never sure, and your mother never said.”

Katie shook her head. “That’s not what my birth certificate says. My mother was Annemarie Jansen and my father was Dirk Vanderheiden.”

“Well, that was very naughty of your mother,” the older lady replied. “Jansen was Marta’s maiden name and Dirk was the name she’d picked out for a son when she was expecting your mother.”

“You mean, my mother falsified my birth record?” Katie drew a shaky breath. “This is not what I thought I was going to hear today.”

“It must be a terrible shock,” their hostess agreed. “The past is sometimes a very bitter place to visit.”

But Katie shook her head. “I don’t actually remember my mother, so it’s not like you’re tarnishing her memory. And I don’t think that my grandmother ever actually lied to me about whose mother she was – I just assumed, going on what I read on my birth certificate. Besides, I think it’s much better to know the truth.”

“I am so very sorry to have to tell you all this bad news.” Mrs. Vanderpoel squeezed her hand one more time and let go. “I’m sure you will have more questions later, when you’ve had time to think, and I want you to know that you’re welcome to come back any time and I’ll do my best to answer them.”

“Thank you,” Katie answered. She drew a breath. “Okay, so there’s a dead end on my side of the family. But maybe there’s still a chance on Jim’s father’s side – if we can figure out where his uncle went.”

“Perhaps you knew him, Mrs. Vanderpoel,” Jasper suggested. “His house isn’t terribly far from here, but he doesn’t seem to live there any more.”

“What name, dear?”

“James Frayne,” Katie told her. “His wife’s name was Nell, but she died some years ago. They lived in a house called Ten Acres. I tried sending him a letter, but he didn’t answer, so we came and had a look but the house seems to be abandoned.”

The older lady shook her head. “Oh, no. It’s not abandoned. Mr. Frayne lives there still.”

“Then he doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Katie deduced. “So that’s that. No family, on any side.”

“I wouldn’t take it personally, child,” Mrs. Vanderpoel told her. “From what I hear, since his wife died, Mr. Frayne hasn’t wanted anything to do with anyone. And I would be happy to count you as family.”

Impulsively, Katie hugged their hostess. “Thank you. I’d like that very much.”

Eight months later…

Weekly dinners had turned into twice-weekly, then to every second night. Somewhere along the way, they had morphed into nearly every night. On this particular evening, Jasper hesitated at the back door. One year ago, tonight, he had resolved to set his affairs in order and then kill himself. A chance encounter had altered his path and he couldn’t help feeling grateful for that – but there was no one he could tell.

“Are you coming inside?” Jim asked.

How long had he been standing there watching?

Jasper smiled and shook off his thoughts. “You bet.”

He greeted Katie and the three of them settled down to chat in the kitchen while she finished preparing the meal. After they’d eaten, Jim excused himself and went to his room to finish his homework.

“You’re a bit quiet this evening,” Katie commented, as they did the dishes together.

He nodded. “I’ve been thinking about how much my life has changed. Do you know, it was a year ago today that I first walked into that diner in Rochester?”

“How do you even remember that?” she wondered, laughing.

“It’s in my calendar. I had an appointment with the lawyer, and then I went to the house and then I went and sat in that diner for two hours, drinking endless cups of coffee, while I decided what I was going to do.” He smiled. “And then somewhere along the way, I decided not to implement that plan.”

“You chose to rescue me from my bad decisions. At great personal cost.”

“Cost?” He shook his head. “What cost? I don’t think that decision cost me anything of any particular value. And when I consider how much I’ve gained… well, there’s no comparison.”

She shook her head. “You upended your whole life.”

“It needed upending,” he answered. “You and Jim gave me purpose when I didn’t have any. I’m grateful for what you both did for me.”

“That sounds completely upside down.” She rinsed the last pot, set it to drain and turned to dry her hands. “When I think how much our lives have changed…”

“It was a fortuitous meeting, on both sides,” he concluded.

She turned to him and he saw tears brimming in her eyes. “I’m glad you stayed, Jasper. I know you intended to just come to the rescue and walk away afterwards, but I’m so glad you didn’t.”

He nodded. “I’m glad, too. More than you’ll ever know.”

Partway through the next day, Jasper received a telephone call from Katie.

“I know this is a lot to ask, and I’ll understand if you’ve got other plans,” she began, sounding nervous, “but could you come with me to an appointment, please? In about an hour?”

“So long as it’s not more than an hour’s travel from where I am, certainly.”

“No. Nothing like that far.” She audibly gulped. “It’s the local doctor’s. I had some tests. He called just now and asked me to come in.”

Jasper’s heart dropped in his chest. “Of course. Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”

“I’m at work,” she answered. “And you don’t need to–”

“You’re worried,” he interrupted. “You don’t need any added stress. I’ll pick you up.”

“Okay.” She took a breath. “Okay.”

They set a time and ended the call.

For a long moment, Jasper sat staring at the phone, filled with foreboding. He shook his head.

“Don’t borrow trouble,” he told himself, aloud. “You’ll know soon enough.”

He checked the time and found something to do to keep his mind occupied until it was time to leave. Then, he poured all of his concentration into each task: driving to Katie’s work, going inside to collect her, driving to the doctor’s office and finding a parking space. While they were together, he kept the conversation light and undemanding.

Entering the waiting room together, they fell silent.

The receptionist looked up and smiled. “Take a seat, Mrs. Frayne. The doctor will be just a few minutes.”

Katie returned the smile for the briefest moment and sat down.

“I usually have to wait half an hour,” she murmured. “I don’t think I want to know what he’s going to say. It can’t be good if he’s going to see me quickly.”

“I’ll be here waiting for you,” he promised.

Katie shook her head. “Come in with me. Please.”

“If that’s what you want.”

She nodded.

They fell silent once more. After a minute or two, the door opened and the previous patient emerged to speak to the receptionist. Then, the doctor stepped out and smiled at Katie.

“Mrs. Frayne?”

She stood up and crossed the waiting room, head held high. Jasper followed, a couple of steps behind. Katie performed the introductions and the doctor began to speak.

“I have your test results, Mrs. Frayne, and there are some anomalies in them,” he explained. “I’d like to refer you to a specialist.”

She grabbed Jasper’s hand and gripped it hard enough to hurt. “What sort of specialist? Is it cancer?”

The doctor shook his head. “I don’t think so. Your liver is not functioning as well as it should–”

“I’m not an alcoholic!” she burst in. “I’ve never been a big drinker.”

“I’m not saying that you are,” the doctor soothed. “This looks to me like something quite different, but I really want a specialist to make the specific diagnosis and to decide whether there are treatments which could help you.”

“I can’t afford…”

“Yes, you can,” Jasper told her. “I’ll see to it.”

She took a breath and nodded. “Okay. I’ll see the specialist.”

The doctor smiled. “Good. I’ll make the referral. And in the meantime, there are some things you should avoid…”

Jasper pulled out his notebook and wrote down the doctor’s instructions for Katie. She appeared dazed by the whole situation and he thought she would probably not remember much that had been said.

“Do you need to go back to work?” he asked, once they had left the building and were headed back to the car.

She shook her head. “Except that my car is there.”

“Well, let’s go and pick it up.”

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as they drove, deciding in the end that she was probably capable of driving and that he didn’t need to worry so much.

“I’ll follow you home, if that’s okay,” he told her, when they reached her car. “If I copy out the list of things the doctor said, we can put it up on the fridge to help you remember.”

She seemed startled, but made no comment. Instead, she got into her car and led the way back to her home.

Once they’d both parked, Jasper followed her up to the back door. She fumbled with the key, but got it unlocked and stepped inside. The next thing he knew, she was in his arms, sobbing against his chest. He held her as she cried, whispering gentle words into her hair.

At last, she pulled back and wiped her face.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he answered. “It’s perfectly all right.”

She shook her head, but he was not quite sure why. “What am I going to tell Jim?” she wondered. “How is he going to cope, if it’s as bad as I think it’s going to be?”

“You know I’m here for both of you,” he reminded her. “Whatever you need, I will be here to help. Just tell me what you want me to say to Jim, if he asks.”

She took a calming breath. “Okay. I think, for now, I’m just going to tell him that I need to see the doctor, but we don’t really know yet whether I’m actually sick.”

Jasper nodded. She didn’t look sick and hadn’t mentioned feeling unwell. In fact, he hadn’t noticed anything that would have caused her to seek medical intervention in the first place.

“In that case, this list of precautions is just that – precautions.” He pulled out the notebook. “Do you want me to write it out, or will you do it yourself?”

“I will.” She shook her head over the list. “I don’t remember him saying half of this. I’m very glad you were there, Jasper.”

“Anything you need,” he promised. “Whatever you need, you’ve got it.”

A month later…

“Can we talk?” Jim asked, as Jasper arrived at the house one evening.

“Sure.” He stood still a moment, but decided that the temperature was dropping too quickly to stay outside. “Come and sit in the car.”

Jim got into the front passenger seat and Jasper took the driver’s seat.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Mom’s in bed,” Jim told him. “She says she’s going to get up and cook, but I don’t think she is.”

“Okay, then. We’ll have to do the cooking ourselves. That’s not a problem.” He paused a moment. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Jim nodded. “She’s not going to get better, is she?”

Jasper hesitated. He hadn’t been privy to the specialist’s opinion, only to the excerpts that Katie had chosen to share. But the news certainly hadn’t been good.

“I don’t know, Jim,” he admitted. “She didn’t tell me everything.”

“She thinks I don’t remember about her being sick before,” Jim continued. “When I was four, she got a disease that affected her liver and she lost the baby. I remember talking about it with Dad. He told me not to talk to Mom about it because it would upset her, and I never have, but I remember it happening.” He shivered. “For a while, I thought she would never be happy or normal again. And now the disease is back, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know that either,” Jasper told him. “Maybe. Or maybe the disease she had before did some damage. Or maybe this is a separate thing altogether.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s killing her.”

Jasper shook his head. “We don’t know that. It’s not what she told me, and I know it’s not what she told you, either.”

Jim scowled. “I hate it when people lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you, Jim.”

He cast Jasper a sideways look. “I wasn’t talking about you.”

“We don’t know that your mother is lying, either.”

“She’s not telling the whole truth.”

Jasper thought about that for a moment. “Maybe not, but most people don’t. Not because they’re hiding things,” he hurried to clarify, on seeing the outrage on Jim’s face. “Just because the details don’t matter that much, or they’re not interesting, or because they don’t need to be said. If your mother asks you what you did at school, do you tell her how many times you went to the bathroom?”

“No.”

“Then, why should she tell you every little thing? She’s given you the outline and sometimes we just have to trust people that they’ve told us enough.”

Jim sat and thought about that for a moment.

“What’s going to happen to me if she dies?” he whispered, at last.

Again, Jasper paused. “That’s a very good question, and one that I think I will put to her sometime soon. Can you trust me to do that when you’re not there?”

Jim nodded.

“Thanks, Jim. I’ll take care of that as soon as I can.” He opened the door. “Now, we’d better get in that kitchen and get cooking. We don’t want your mother going hungry.”

Two days later, Jasper sat down with Katie after dinner to have a serious conversation. One look from Jasper had sent Jim hurrying off to his room.

“Are the two of you conspiring about something?” she asked, with a glance at her son’s retreating back.

Jasper shrugged. “He asked me a certain question and I promised I’d take it up with you for him.”

Katie stilled and she looked down at the table. Jasper could see the dark circles under her eyes and knew that whatever she was going through, it was taking a toll on her.

“Jim wants to know what will happen to him if you can’t look after him,” he explained.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Do you have a will?”

She shook her head. “I never had anything to leave!”

“What about the custody of your son? Katie, he’s only twelve. If something happens to you in the next six years, what’s going to happen to him? We’ve already established that he’s got no other close relatives.”

She looked up at the ceiling. “I know. And I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m going to make you an appointment with a lawyer,” he told her. “You think about what you want to do and he’ll draw up a will for you, and whatever other custody documents he thinks are necessary. I’ll pay for it.”

She whispered a word of thanks, then sat looking at him for a few moments.

“You’re the closest friend I have,” she told him, after a pause. “Would you be willing… if I can’t…”

He nodded. “Yes. But I think you should ask Jim if that’s okay, first.”

“I’ll do that.” Her relieved smile turned bittersweet. “I thought, for a while, that maybe… you and I…”

Again, he nodded. “I thought so, for a while, too. But I realised that’s not what you need.”

“I’m sorry.”

He smiled. “I’m not. I’m happy with how things are.”

She reached over and took his hand. “You’re a good friend, Jasper. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

He just smiled.

Two months later…

Snow crunched underfoot as Jasper approached the back door of the house. Heather Delanoy greeted him at the door with a finger to her lips.

“How is the patient?” he whispered.

“Impatient would be a better way of putting it,” she whispered back. “She’s just gotten off to sleep.”

He nodded and sat down at the table, where Heather had just set a cup of coffee for him.

“Jim?”

“At my place. Bryce is supposed to be helping him with his homework, but I’d be amazed if they’re not actually playing some sort of game.”

Jasper smiled. In his opinion, that was unlikely to do either of them much harm. “I’ll go and pick him up in a little while and then you can get home. Thank you so much for staying with Katie for the day.”

She shook her head. “It’s no trouble. I hope her attitude is a good sign and that she’s on the mend. I didn’t think a cold would knock her about like this, but with her other health troubles, it must have just been too much.”

He nodded. They had all been worried about Katie for the last few days. Her health had seemed so good, right up until a sniffle had suddenly turned into something far more serious.

“What time do you want me here tomorrow?” Heather asked a moment later.

Jasper shook his head. “I’ve got no plans for tomorrow. I can stay all day.” He thought for a moment. “But if you want to drop in, I can give you a call when she’s awake. I think she probably appreciates some female company.”

Heather nodded. “That would be nice. And don’t worry about Jim. I’ll drop him home a bit later.”

“Thanks.” Jasper smiled. “I think it does him good to spend time with Bryce. It keeps his mind off things that he can’t control.”

“I’m just glad that you’re here for him,” Heather countered. “You make him feel safe, Jasper. And that’s the main thing he needs, right now.”

He didn’t know what to say in response, but her words warmed him.

The shadow passed and, as the weather warmed, Katie returned to her usual self. When school let out for summer, Jim went on camping trips with school friends and roamed the neighbourhood on foot and on bicycle. In June, he had his thirteenth birthday and Katie beamed with pride at her new teenager.

At the end of summer, Bryce Delanoy went off to college and Jim settled down to a new school year. The months passed.

One bleak January morning, Jasper’s phone rang at half-past five, wakening him from a deep sleep. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, then sprang out of bed to answer it.

“Can you come right now? I’m at the hospital.”

“Jim? Is that you?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to need more information than that,” he told Jim, slowly. “Which hospital? And what part of it?”

“Please, just come here.”

“I don’t know where you are, Jim. I’ll come to you, but you need to tell me exactly where you are.” A long silence ensued. “Jim? Are you there?”

“Yeah. Um, I think I’m in the emergency room. We came in an ambulance. I don’t know which hospital this is. Wait. I’ll ask someone.”

Jasper waited impatiently, and eventually Jim came back with the answer.

“Okay. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he promised.

“Thanks,” Jim answered, and put down the phone.

Jasper strode into the emergency room and looked around wildly. He couldn’t see Jim anywhere. He walked over to the desk and waited for the nurse to be free, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. At last, she looked up at him.

“Yes?”

“Patient by the name of Katje Frayne?” he asked. “Have I got the right hospital?”

She checked her records. “She’s gone up to the intensive care ward.”

He gulped. “Her young teenage son was with her. Do you know where he is?”

“I’m here.”

He spun on his heels. “Jim!” As an afterthought, he tossed a “Thank you for your help,” over his shoulder to the nurse.

“They say I can’t be in there right now,” Jim explained. “So I came back here to see if I could find you.”

“What happened?”

Jim shrugged. “I don’t really know. She seemed okay when I went to bed. But then I heard her sort of groaning in the night and I went in and she seemed really sick, so I called the ambulance and they brought us here.”

“You did the right thing,” Jasper told him.

“There were questions that I didn’t know the answers to.”

“We’ll sort it all out,” he soothed. “I’ll take care of everything.”

Jim’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I think she’s going to die.”

“I hope not,” Jasper answered. “But you know that she’s made solid plans for you, if the worst happens.”

“Only because you made her do it,” the teenager replied, in a grim voice. “She wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t tell her to.”

Jasper made a helpless gesture. “What am I supposed to say to that, Jim?”

The teenager shrugged. “What do we do now?”

“I go and see if I can find someone who knows what’s going on, who we can talk to.” He showed Jim a sheaf of papers. “This will be the answers to at least some of those questions, and then I’ll start on finding answers to the rest.”

“And after that?”

“One thing at a time, Jim.” He laid a hand on Jim’s shoulder. “Now is not the time to be looking too far ahead.”

By daybreak, Jasper had sorted out everything that could be sorted. He had a few brief words with Katie, who drifted in and out of sleep – or perhaps consciousness. And he also had a word with the doctor, whose expression told the whole story. Jasper didn’t actually need to hear about infections, organ failure and pain management to know that Katie didn’t stand a chance.

Jim settled at his mother’s bedside as soon as they allowed him to and refused to leave. One look at that stubborn face and Jasper decided not to bother trying.

“I’m going to make some calls,” Jasper explained to Jim, once nine o’clock rolled around. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

Jim shook his head, not understanding. “Calls?”

“To tell people where we are,” Jasper explained. “Mrs. Delanoy. Mrs. Vanderpoel. Your mother’s work.”

Jim frowned. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

“I’d better call her work first. They’ll be wondering where she is.”

He kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier and hurried off to make the call. That done, he started on the personal ones.

“Heather? It’s Jasper.”

She gasped. “What’s wrong? Katie?”

“She’s in the hospital and it’s not looking good,” he answered. “Jim’s sitting with her now.”

“What can I do?”

He blew out a breath. “For now? Nothing. We just need to wait and see what happens.”

“I see. Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

He thanked her and they ended their call.

Jasper closed his eyes for a moment to gather strength for the next call. But he needn’t have bothered. In fact, the call itself gave him strength to keep going.

“I’m calling to let you know that Katie is very sick, in hospital,” he explained to Mrs. Vanderpoel, only a minute or two later.

“Dear, dear,” that lady replied. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“I’m afraid it’s not looking very good,” he continued.

“You don’t have to explain,” she answered, gently. “I quite understood what you meant.” Before he had gathered a reply she went on, “Just look after yourself and Jim. And if you have a chance, give Katje my love.”

“Thank you. I will.”

With that duty done, Jasper walked slowly back to Katie’s bedside and the long wait while her life hung in the balance.

She slipped quietly away, a little after midnight, with Jim holding one hand and Jasper holding the other. They stayed like that for a moment, then Jim stumbled back. Jasper moved around to the other side of the bed and put an arm around Jim’s shoulder, feeling it shake as the teenager began to cry.

He felt tears on his own face, too. Tears for Katie, gone so young. Tears for Jim, alone in the world with no family to protect him. And tears for himself, for the keen loss of someone who had come to mean the world to him. Jasper embraced the pain and let himself cry.

After the funeral, Jasper took Jim down to Sleepyside, to stay with Mrs. Vanderpoel for a few days. Both of them relished the chance to sit in her warm, cosy kitchen and be looked after. They listened to her stories, ate numerous cookies, and felt comforted.

Jim spent hours each day tramping through the woods around her home and observing the wild animals he found there. He came back hungry, to the delight of their hostess, whose main desire seemed to be to feed him up.

“I like to see a young man have a hearty appetite,” she observed, on their last morning, just after Jim had gone back outside. “And I’m glad to see that Jim is keeping himself busy.”

Jasper nodded. “I think it will be good for him to get back to school. But I didn’t want it to be too soon. I thought he needed this time to adjust.”

She cast him a sharp look. “Are you going to keep him in the same place?”

Again, Jasper nodded. “I don’t want to make too many changes at once. I’m aiming to keep his life as stable as possible, and to involve him in all the decisions I make.”

A soft sigh escaped her lips. “And if something happens to you?”

He smiled. “I am a planner. I have plans for everything.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“I want to bring him here regularly, too,” he went on. “And not just to eat you out of house and home.”

“As if I would be worried about that!”

“You hold a part of his history,” Jasper explained. “I think he needs people who do, and you’re the only one I know of who knew any of his family.”

She turned thoughtful. “I wonder where you could find someone for his father’s side of the family? If that old rascal, James Frayne, doesn’t want to talk to the boy, it might be good if you could find someone else.”

Jasper nodded, thinking. “The trouble is, I have no idea where to start looking. I found you by chance, after all.”

She smiled, and patted his hand. “Just keep your eyes open. Perhaps someone will turn up.”

Continue to part three.

---

Back to Janice’s Alternates Page.