Feeling my legs give out, I leaned against the wall to hold myself up. A sinking feeling came over me as I thought about what Grace had just done. “Grace . . . I don’t have that kind of money. I’d never be able to pay him back and I can’t accept this. I won’t accept it. Tell your grandfather, while I certainly appreciate the offer, it’s too much for me to take.”
Grace looked down at the floor as she said, “It’s a wedding present.”
“What? A wedding present for who?”
Grace’s eyes met mine. “Us.”
My eyes widened as my stomach clenched. “Us?”
Before I could ask any more questions, Emily came walking up with a huge smile on her face. “Noah! Isn’t it amazing? Dad took the house off the market and gave it to you. I can’t believe it! When the lawyers delivered the documents this morning, I broke down in tears. I’ve already started making the plans to have Mom transferred home instead of the Christopher House. She’s going to be over the moon to know she’ll be home, Noah. She’s going to be home!”
Emily threw herself into my arms as she sobbed. “She’s going to be able to die at home in her own bed with us surrounding her, Noah. Our prayers were answered.”
Closing my eyes, I counted to ten before I opened them and looked directly at Grace. “By the Grace of God, Emily, our prayers were answered.”
Grace smiled as tears built up in her eyes. I didn’t know when I would get the chance to talk to her about this whole marriage thing. All I knew was she made my dying mother’s wishes come true and she managed to make my sister believe my father had a shred of decency.
“I promise, Grace. I’m doing fine.”
Grace had been back in College Station for two weeks. She wasn’t able to come to Austin last weekend due to a paper she had to write. The weekend before that, she had a cold and didn’t dare come near my mother or me for fear of getting either one of us sick.
“Noah, I can hear it in your voice. You’re tired. Have you slept at all?” Grace asked.
Pushing my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh and said, “It’s hard to sleep, Grace. I keep checking on her and as soon as I do fall asleep, Emily calls and wakes me up.”
“Noah, I’m telling you right now, you need to rest in order to take care of your mother.”
Glancing over at the bottle of Ativan, I nodded my head. “I’m going to check on Mom now and then head to bed. The hospice nurse is coming for the night. I think she saw how tired I was and she offered to come back and stay the whole night.”
Hearing Grace let out a sigh of relief, I smiled. “Please don’t worry about me, baby. I’m fine. You know, Grace, we still need to talk about what you told your grandfather. You know I can’t accept that.”
A few moments of silence filled the line. “I know. We’ll talk when I come this weekend.”
Closing my eyes, I let out a breath. “I wish you were here.”
Clearing her throat, I knew Grace was attempting to keep herself from crying before she spoke.
“I should be there with you.”
Opening my eyes, I cursed to myself. Just when Grace and I were finally back together . . . we were being kept apart by life. “I miss you.”
“Noah, I miss you too.”
“You and me, together forever.”
Grace let a small sob out as she barely said, “Forever.”
Feeling like I was about to lose it and beg her to come to me, I took in a deep breath. “I’m going to try and get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Grace cleared her throat. “Okay. Give Lisa a hug and kiss for me, and tell her I’ll see her in a few days.”
Closing my eyes, I said, “Will do. Bye, Grace. I love you.”
“Bye, Noah. I love you the most.”
Smiling, I pulled the phone away and hit End. Dropping my phone onto the chair, I quickly walked over to the bottle of pills and took one. I needed sleep desperately.
Hearing a light knock on the door, I grabbed the pills, opened the side drawer on the side table and tossed them into the drawer.
Turning, I said, “Come on in.”
Angela, the young hospice nurse, gave me a polite smile and said, “I gave your mom some pain medicine and I’m pretty sure she is out for the night. I’m going to put a movie on, would you like to join me?”
The way she was looking at me had me giving her an awkward smile. “You know, I’m exhausted. I think I’m going to hop in the shower and get some sleep while mom is sleeping.”
