A week turns into weeks. Weeks evolve into a month. In the blink of an eye a month has passed since Patsy's return to Poplar. Her friends continually voice concern over her state of well-being. All assume that it is related to her state of grief. The more they try to draw her out, the further from them she retreats. She in uncharacteristically quiet. She doesn't quip cheeky remarks, at the dinner table. She refuses to socialize with her fellow nurse's. She is barely able to utter a couple of words to Delia. The pain consumes her, and she refuses to share her plight with anyone. She throws herself deeper, and deeper into her work.

One night when she returns home from a particularly difficult day she finds sister Julienne waiting on the stairs for her. She glances at her watch, and realizes that it is well after midnight. She holds tightly to her bag, and attempts to avoid sister Julienne's glance. Sister Julienne is in her nightly attire.

"Have a seat," she says quietly.

Patsy slips the hat off her head.

"Nurse Mount I am greatly concerned about you."

"This is how I deal with things. I need to continue my work."
"You are barely sleeping. You run out of here without eating breakfast. You can't keep doing this."

"I am fine."

"You are quite clearly not fine."

"I will be. I just need some more time," Patsy pleads.

"Nurse Mount I do not take you for a weak individual."

"Thank you."

"That is why I am so concerned about you. It is very obvious to me that you are not okay."

"Can we discuss this later? I am very tired."

"I imagine that you are, but this cannot wait."
"Please," Patsy pleads.

"I want to make myself very clear. I will not allow this to continue. I feel personally responsible for the health, and well-being of all of the people under this roof. I will not allow you to work yourself into a state of exhaustion, and a deeper state of depression. I am taking you off the roster tomorrow."

"But…"

"That is a final decision. You may be living in denial, but I am not. I do not know the details of what went on while you were away, but to say the least you have returned changed. It is not healthy to continue on the path that you are on. You can't sleep a couple hours a night, and skip meals, and expect to be running on a full tank."

"Is my work suffering?"

"No. That is not the point that I am trying to make here."

"Can I please go to bed?"

"I need five more minutes of your time. Let's go into my office."

"Fine," she submits begrudgingly.

As Patsy enters sister Julienne's office, the door is closed behind her. She finds that one of the chairs has been turned away from the desk. Sister Julienne extends her hand.

"Have a seat, please," she insists.

"If you are going to lecture me, it is not necessary. I will do better…"

Sister Julienne cuts her off, "Patsy, I am not here to lecture you. Do you think that I am a foolish woman?"

"No, ma'am," she squints trying to understand where Sister Julienne is coming from, "I appreciate your skill, and experience."

"I do not need to know all of the details of your absence."

"You previously mentioned that."

"At some point others are going to ask for them," she adds.

"What makes you say that?"

"Some details are impossible to ignore."

Patsy furrows her brow, "I'm not sure what you're referring to," she answers as her heart races.

"Stop, Nurse Mount. It is very apparent to me that you are hiding something. I find that my observational skills make it painstakingly obvious to me what you are trying to hide."
Her heart skips a beat. For a moment she wonders if the scrupulous nun is bluffing. She swallows hard, and fails to muster a response.

Sister Julienne momentarily turns her back on Patsy. She reaches into a cabinet, and removes an object. She turns to face the nurse, and places the object on the desk. Patsy suddenly feels claustrophobic as she stares at the Pinard Horn.

"When I said that you could come to me about anything I meant that. I had hoped you would come to me."

"I wouldn't know where to begin," Patsy answers, "I'll be honest, it is all I can do most days to muster up the strength to make it to the end of the day. I find it incredibly difficult to…" she trails off.

"I'm listening."

"I have gotten myself into quite a disastrous mess. I don't know what to do. I am terrified. I kept hoping that this was all some sort of misconception on my part. On the other hand, I acted so carelessly, I am not sure how I really expected any other outcome. I kept hoping that I was wrong. I guess denial is a river that rans rather deeply," she trails off as tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

"This doesn't go away," Sister Julienne points out

"I am well aware of that."

"What do you plan to do?"

"I can't do this. I wouldn't even begin to know how to do this on my own."

"You are not alone," Sister Julienne reminds her, as she takes a seat next to her.

"Shortly after I arrived my father grew even sicker. He quickly slipped into a state of unconsciousness, which he never returned from. I was angry. I was hurt, and I didn't know what to do. One evening we received an unexpected visitor. It was the son of one of my father's former business associates. He had heard my father had fallen ill, and he came to lend support. I was in a particularly poor state of mind that evening. I hadn't been sleeping much at all. When he arrived I felt incredibly relieved, and overwhelmed all at the same time. He lent some source of familiarity, and comfort to the day. We sat down and had dinner. Dinner turned into drinks. Somehow we ended up polishing off a bottle of forty year old scotch. I pride myself on being a reasonable, level-headed human being. My poor judgement on that particular evening is particularly upsetting. I had hoped that my lack of good judgement would be a brief indiscretion that I would soon forget about. After a couple of days he had to return home. I didn't even know how to begin to explain any of this to myself, or anyone else. I have been so afraid to admit any of this to even myself, because it feels as if it is happening to someone else. I have worked so hard to get where I am. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to explain to anyone what a fool I have been. I know that this will only hurt the people that I care about the most. That is the last thing that I want," the tears stream down her face steadily, now.