Page 116 of 15 Summers Later

Cullen. She had to tell Cullen.

She sobbed again, burying her face in her hands.

She didn’t hear the bathroom door open and was only vaguely aware when her sister entered, when Madi knelt on the cold tile of the bathroom and wrapped her arms around her.

Her brave, amazing sister held her, rocked her for a long time as Ava rested her head against Madi’s shoulder and wept, huge, wrenching sobs that seemed to well up from the depths of her soul.

Later, when she had cleaned up as best she could and changed into a fresh, soft nightgown provided by Nicki, Ava clutched at the small comfort her sister had offered so generously, holding it to her heart.

“You can stay here tonight,” Madi said when they both emerged from the bathroom. “You’ll sleep in my room. I’ll call Grandma and let her know what’s going on.”

She nodded, feeling listless, wrung out.

“Ava, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have...yelled at you.”

She shook her head forcefully. “This isn’t your fault, Madi. Don’t think that. It... I think it started last night.”

She pressed trembling fingers to her mouth to hold back the sob there. “I had some spotting and my back has been hurting since then. And today, I’ve been crampy on and off all day.”

“I’ve had patients describe it as the worst menstrual cramps of their lives.” Nicole’s eyes were drenched with compassion.

“Yes. That’s what it feels like.” She looked at the other woman. “Do you think I need to go to the ER?”

Nicole squeezed her arm. “Not unless you bleed heavily for several hours and it won’t stop.”

“Is there a way to reach Cullen?” Madi asked.

Ava closed her eyes, fighting sobs all over again as she felt keenly how her husband would grieve this loss as well. “No. They have a satellite phone, but he said it stopped working and they have to get another one. He’s supposed to be coming down tomorrow. I will...will wait to tell him then.”

She wiped at her eyes with the tissue Madi provided. The joy they both had felt about the pregnancy had been a tensile thread knotting her together with Cullen in the midst of their painful separation. Now that thread had been cut, how would her marriage possibly survive?

She didn’t know which hurt worse. The aching cramps in her womb or the fearful, anxious pain in her heart.

32

I embrace the uncertainty of the future with open arms, knowing that the power to shape our destiny lies within us.

—Ghost Lakeby Ava Howell Brooks

Madison

After more than an hour of weeping on and off, Ava fell into an exhausted sleep on Madi’s bed, curled into a fetal position with her hands still clutched tightly around her abdomen.

Feeling helpless and filled with sorrow, Madi watched the last rays of the sun, striped by the window blinds, play over her sister’s lovely features, now ravaged by grief.

She found it grossly unfair that Ava had to suffer one more loss, after everything she had already endured.

She wanted Ava to know only joy and light and love.

With the natural instinct dogs seemed to have, compelling them to provide comfort when needed, Mabel was curled up in the small of Ava’s back, offering heat and comfort.

When the elderly schnauzer mix had jumped onto the bed as Ava had been crying, Madi had moved to take her off, intending to push her out of the room and close the door to keep her away.

Ava, her sister who feared dogs because of that long-ago vicious attack at Ghost Lake, had shaken her head and held a hand out to the dog.

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