Stories from the Lady Jessop

“Are you sure you’re OK?” Terry asked.  Sandra had just ordered her third martini. “Two olives,” she called over her shoulder to the server on her way back to the bar.  “I’m not used to seeing you drink this much,” Terry said. “What’s going on?” Sandra couldn’t hold it in any longer. She had never kept a secret from Terry for so long. She put her head down on the table and began to weep.  Terry looked around before leaning over to comfort her friend. They had drawn some attention. “What happened?” she asked.  “It’s Parker,” Terry confessed. “He’s a felon.”  “What are you talking about?” Terry asked.  “Last week he told me he embezzled a quarter million dollars from the place he works.”  “What!?” Terry took a sip of her drink. “I knew he was up to something. Even with all that over time a first year accountant can’t make enough money to afford that car he was driving around.”  “The first thing I said when he told me was he needs to get rid of the c...

  “Where’s Mommy?” She had asked the question about 20 times. Every single time Terry answered back patiently “She’s at the hospital with the baby.”  They were sitting in the living room. Shannon and Hannah had gone back to bed after the paramedics came. But Terry and Olivia, the oldest and now the youngest, stayed up and waited. An hour earlier they all watched with fascination as Mom stood in the hallway holding their lifeless baby sister, while Dad called for an ambulance.  Dad said he would call with any news but Terry knew there would be no changes. She knew from Mom’s screams that the baby was gone.  She tried not to think about what she was really feeling. There were four sisters already and Terry did most of the work. Like what happened after Hannah and Olivia were born, Mom fell into a depression. She would keep it together enough to take care of the baby but the rest of the kids went ignored. Terry had potty trained Olivia while Mom was pregnant so there wo...