No. You have every right to forget.
The little voice nagging in her mind made her straighten her back in determination. The voice was right. Hattie Foster had never been a mother to her. Mothers were supposed to love their children. Mothers were supposed to nurture and support, to offer strength and compassion. Something Hattie had never done.
Rachel breezed into the kitchen and began pulling items from the refrigerator. She wasn’t going to feel guilty for not mourning her mother. She would plan Hattie’s funeral, bid her a bittersweet farewell. Maybe she’d even have something nice written on the headstone.
Hattie Foster, mother of Carrie and Rachel.
Tears stung her eyes as she thought about her mother’s tombstone. She didn’t feel grief over Hattie’s death, but another emotion filled her chest. Pity. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she stood motionless in front of the marble kitchen counter.
“Rachel?”
For the first time in weeks, Travis’s warm voice didn’t offer comfort. “God, I pity her so much,” she whispered between anguished sobs.
In a second, he crossed the room and took her into his embrace. She almost jumped at the feel of his bare, damp chest. Noticed he wore only a towel and remembered he’d been in the shower. But she couldn’t take the time to appreciate his exquisite form, not right now.
“It’s okay,” he murmured, stroking her hair.
She pressed her face against his chest. “She was so troubled, Travis. The disease destroyed her, made her incapable of taking care of anyone, especially herself.”
“I know, baby.”
Rachel continued to cry. She cried for her mother, for all the pain and humiliation she’d suffered. She cried for Carrie, and the desperation she must have felt to take her own life. And then she pulled back, wiping her wet face and swallowing hard.
“We need to go to the hospital to talk to those surgeons,” she said, her voice firm. “Otherwise I’ll never be able to let go of the past.”
Travis nodded, and the compassion she saw in his eyes melted away her pain. “Let me get dressed.”
Two hours later, Rachel walked out the automatic front doors of Chicago General, feeling like the world had just crumbled around her. Her feet were like heavy weights as she trudged across the parking lot toward Travis’s SUV.
She couldn’t believe it was over. It was truly over.
As if reading her thoughts, Travis trailed after her and said, “It’s not over, Rachel.”
She stopped in front of the vehicle and shot him a hopeless look. “How can you say that? You were in there too.”
“Rachel.” He reached out to her, but she shrugged off his hand.
“You heard the man. Brad Frederick never laid eyes on Carrie in his life. He couldn’t help us. And Barry Forrester…” She took a breath. “The man is dead. He can’t help us either. It’s over. We’ll never know why Carrie…” Her voice trailed off.
When she looked at Travis, she saw steely determination in his smoky gaze. “It’s not over. We have one final lead to go on.”
Hope bloomed in her chest. “What lead?”
“Virginia Forrester, Barry’s widow.”
She shook her head. “What can she tell us? She doesn’t work at the hospital.”
“She might know something. If her husband was spending time with a teenage girl, she’d know.”
Rachel hesitated. “What if Carrie was having an affair with the man? If his wife was aware of it, she might be furious if we show up and open old wounds. I doubt she would be hospitable to us.”
“We have to try. Come on, get in the car.”
With a nod, she slid into the passenger seat and waited for Travis to join her in the car. She didn’t know what Forrester’s widow could offer, but Travis was right, they had to try. She couldn’t live her life wondering why her sister had taken her own life. She just couldn’t.
The car ride across town was a silent one, and Rachel wondered if Travis was as desperate to continue this investigation as she was. He seemed determined, but was it because he wanted to solve a case, or because he didn’t want their time together to end?
She chewed on her lower lip as the car whizzed across the residential streets of the suburbs. As much as she wanted to learn the truth, she had to admit, she was also apprehensive about solving the mystery. Would Travis want them to go their separate ways? The thought crushed her heart, nearly bringing her to tears again. She couldn’t say goodbye to Travis.
Because she loved him.
The realization hit her with the speed of a jet plane, sucking all the breath from her body and making her head spin like a Merry-Go-Round.