Montpelier Tomorrow
MaryLee MacDonald, 2014
All Things That Matter Press
307 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780990715818
Summary
After the deaths of her parents, Colleen Gallagher, a kindergarten teacher with three grown kids, is finally free to help out during the birth of her daughter’s second child. She’s at her daughter’s house when her son-in-law returns from the doctor with news that he has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Colleen, widowed when her own children were young, fears that fate is about to strike another blow at her family.
The sick man’s hapless father and ditzy, shopaholic mother provide comic relief by spoiling the grandchildren. Believing there’s no real hope, they urge him to go on a respirator, the only way to permanently "save his life." When the sick man gathers his family for a surprise announcement, Colleen is stunned to learn that he wants to give the respirator a try.
He leaves it to his wife to make the final decision. Colleen’s daughter thinks she has months before her husband can’t breathe on his own, but the sick man is worse off than anyone realizes. When he tries to lure his wife into a Jacuzzi for a romantic evening, the combined effects of hot water and a full stomach stop his breathing. Only then does Colleen’s daughter decide she can’t endorse the respirator plan.
Her husband holds the respirator decision against her and begins to play the dying-man card, thus beginning a series of "lasts." To fulfill his wish to go somewhere snowy for his last Christmas, Colleen arranges a trip to Vermont, where she anticipates a reunion with a handsome young carpenter, her almost-lover and long-time friend. Colleen secretly has the hots for him, but in Vermont, it’s Colleen’s daughter who attracts his attention. A relationship develops between them, and Colleen’s daughter leans on this new man for support.
The powerful cocktail of love, duty, obligation, exhaustion, and frustration make it hard for Colleen to remember why she’d ever left her life in Illinois. The grandkids keep her awake. The dying man isn’t noble. Her daughter resents her presence. She’s going broke, but feels compelled to stay. After a blow-up between the two women, an uneasy truce is soon broken. Colleen admits defeat and announces her intention to leave. She can’t save her daughter or her daughter’s marriage. She must save herself.
While Colleen's daughter and family depart for Disney World, a getaway paid for by the sick man’s parents, Colleen is left to finish her daughter’s "to do" list. A phone call summons Colleen to the hospital, but it is not the "dying man" who’s in danger.