Same Day, Afternoon

Rosehill Church



“Ben, how’re you holding up?” Dr. Andrew Marriott asked as he extended his hand. “I know how difficult this must be for you and your family.”

“I think I’m still in shock, Andrew,” Ben Harper replied quietly. “I’m just numb. None of these seems like it can possible.”

“I think all of us feel that way.”

“I just don’t understand any of this. None of it makes any sense.” Ben nervously fingered one of the flowers in the arrangement by his mother’s casket. “I know… I know Maggie could be a difficult woman. You were married to her, Andrew; you should know that as well as I do. She managed to make me angry more times than I can count, but…but…who could possibly want to see her dead? Who would do something like this to her?”

“I don’t know, Ben.” Andrew came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder. “You know your mother had her fair share of enemies. Back in her younger days she didn’t exactly hang around with the most upstanding of people.”

Ben raked his fingers through his hair as he tried to make sense of it all.

“The police are going to get to the bottom of this. Meg was an important and influential member of this community. She was our former first lady and she still held a seat on the hospital board.” Andrew gave Ben’s shoulder a firm squeeze. “They’re not going to stop until they find out who did this. None of us are.”

As Ben stood silently, looking down at his mother’s casket, he nodded. However, it was not only a nod of agreement with Andrew’s assertions, but a vow – a promise – to his mother that come hell or high water he’d find out who did this to her himself and he’d damn well make sure that they’d pay for it.





Rosehill Inn, Joy's Room



“Don’t look at me like that,” Chaz said as Joy Donovan slowly pulled away from him. “It’s not like I made it sound.”

“You… you said you killed your mother,” she stammered, repeating nearly verbatim what he’d just revealed to her. “How is that supposed to sound? How am I supposed to take that? I mean… I mean, we don’t really know each other and….”

“Look, when I was born, my mother died. She died giving birth to me. So, in a sense, I killed my mother.” He paused and looked away from her, trying to hide a feeling of guilt and shame that he’d always felt had been forced upon him.

“Oh, Chaz,” Joy sighed, now understanding what he’d meant, as she moved back closer to him. “It’s not your fault your mother died. Sometimes those things…just happen. No one can blame you for that.”

“I know that, logically, and my father has never come right out and said that he blames me for her dying, but….” He stopped to take a long, deep breath. “Ever since I was a little boy and found out what happened to my real mother, I’ve blamed myself. I know it’s not logical, but I feel like every time my father looks at me he sees this reminder of what he lost when I was born.”

“I lost my father when I was just a little girl,” Joy confessed, her own mind becoming flooded with troubled memories of the past. “It was a fire. I was so young I didn’t completely understand what was going on. I… I thought he’d gone away somewhere because of me. He was my whole world and he was gone. I loved him so much.” She hesitated for a moment, choking back tears. “Now… now I can barely even remember him. Hell, I barely even remember the bulk of my childhood before me, Mom, and my brother moved to Europe.” She wiped aware her tears and looked up at Chaz. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Well, I have steps,” he explained. “I’ve got an older step-sister that Dad adopted when he was married to her mother and I’ve got and another older step-sister and brother he adopted when he married Mom – I mean my step-mother. Really, she’s the only mother I’ve ever known. She adopted me, too.”

“Yeah, my step-father did that with me and my brother,” Joy nodded. “And then I’ve got a little half-brother Mom had with my step-father. But then my stepfather died a few years ago. Now the man she’s married to – he’s a real jerk. What the hell she sees in him, I’ll never know.”

“My step-mom’s always been great – well, as great as she could be. I was kinda the black sheep, always getting into trouble. I was the one who never really fit in. My oldest sister lives up in Canada. She was already grown and married before I was born, so I grew up with my step-mom’s kids. Somehow, I just never quite measured up to the perfect twosome.” A long pause. “But, well, enough of that….”

“You’re telling me!” Joy jumped up out of bed when she realized what time it was. “If I don’t get moving, I’m gonna miss that funeral and then I’m not going to have much of a story and I’m gonna blow my shot!” In a flurry, she began rushing around the room, attempting to throw herself together before being stuck with an idea. “Hey, why don’t you go to the funeral with me.”

“Me? I… I don’t even know these people.”

“I don’t either,” she laughed, “I’m just covering a story. Besides, a little backup wouldn’t hurt.”

“O-okay,” he caved. “Just what I came to Rosehill to do – crash a funeral.”





Rosehill Church



“Vanessa,” came the familiar voice from behind her.
As Vanessa Sterling turned around, her hand flew up to her chest and she felt the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “Eddie! Oh, dear lord, Eddie!” She ran into his arms. “It’s been years. How did you… how did you know?”

“I talked to Cal,” Edouard Aleata explained, wrapping his arms around Van in comfort. “She told me what happened. I know it’s been a long time since Meg and I were married, but I couldn’t stay away. I had to come.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you did,” Van sniffled back her tears. “So…you’ve talked to Cal? Please tell me she’s coming. I know there’s been bad blood between her and her mother for years, but she’d never forgive herself if she missed her own mother’s funeral.”

“I wish I could tell you she was coming, Van, but I can’t. I tried to talk her into it, but she just seemed so ambivalent.”

“I spoke with Rick yesterday,” she explained as she took Eddie’s hand and led him over to Meg’s casket. “I promised me that he was doing everything he could to convince Cal to come, but there’s still so much resentment there after everything Meg did to keep them apart all those years ago.” Van paused and looked up at Eddie. “Did you know that Cal never once let Meg see Will or Sarah? Meg never got a chance to lay eyes on her only grandson.”

“I tried many times to tell Cal how much she’d end up regretting that decision, but you know how stubborn she can be.”

“Well, I hope that stubbornness and resentment don’t eat away at her,” Van sighed with a shake of her head. “I know what Meg did in the past was horrible and I understand how she and Rick had to get away from Rosehill to escape from her meddling and interference. I can even partly understand why they’d want to shield the kids from her influence. Meg could care about her own children almost to the point of obsession, let alone her grandchildren. But I know that if Cal doesn’t put all that aside and come for her mother’s funeral, that’ll be something that she’ll never have a chance to take back. This is going to be her last chance to see her mother and set things right.” She paused and looked over at the framed photograph of her sister that was positioned next to the casket. “If she throws that chance away, one day she’s going to realize what a mistake she made and she’s never going to forgive herself.”