34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Juliet
I ’m starting to really hate being back in the hospital.
“I wish I had better news to share, but I think this was expected,” Dr. Wilson tells me out in the hallway.
I drag my fingers through my hair, my eyes stinging as reality hits me like a train. “I know he was slowly deteriorating over these last few months, but this seems sudden.”
Dr. Wilson gives me a sympathetic look as she places her hand on my shoulder. “You did a good job looking after him, Juliet. You made him as comfortable as possible and extended his life even beyond his initial prognosis. I’m afraid this is the end of the road. ”
A lump forms in my throat as I shake my head. “How long?”
Dr. Wilson sighs as she takes her hand away. “Maybe a little more than a week. His body is giving up on him. His organs will fail soon.”
I know what all this means medically. I went to school. I read all the books and have seen things for myself with my own eyes.
But it’s just hard to picture Frank dying soon.
He was walking around. And talking. And smiling.
Now, he’s laid up in a hospital bed with not much time left.
“Would you like to tell his son or should I?”
“I’ll tell him,” I reply, my stomach sinking. This is the worst part of being in the medical field.
This is the part that has made me consider quitting multiple times.
“If you need anything, let me know,” Dr. Wilson tells me before walking off to check on other patients .
I close my eyes for a few seconds, dreading what’s going to come next. How can I properly tell a son that his father is about to die?
“Damn it…” I whisper, rapidly blinking my eyes to keep my tears at bay.
After taking a few deep breaths, I step into Frank’s hospital room where Piper is reading him a story from one of the books she got as a present and Leo is watching from a chair in the corner of the room.
All of the kids were outside when Frank collapsed, and we had the parents watch them and occupy them while an ambulance came to take Frank to the hospital.
Piper, as naturally nosy as she is, slipped inside the house when the other parents weren’t looking and saw the paramedics wheeling Frank to the ambulance.
She pitched a fit until I agreed she could come to the hospital with us .
Safe to say, the party ended early.
“Leo,” I say quietly, motioning for him to join me out in the hallway.
Leo frowns and follows me out, letting me lead him a few feet down the hall so that Piper and Frank can’t hear us. “What is it? It’s bad, isn’t it?”
I turn to him and take his hands, doubting that it’ll even help. Maybe I’m doing it for my comfort too. “Frank doesn’t have long, Leo. His body has gone through so much over the years…I don’t think he can handle it any longer.”
Leo clenches his jaw as his eyes drop to the floor. He inhales shakily through his nose, his expression unreadable.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell him. “We knew this day was coming eventually, but…”
“It’s finally here,” Leo finishes, his shoulders dropping. “Damn it, Dad.”
I frown as he pulls his hands away and rubs them over his face. “I think he has around a week or so left, but we can take him back home. He doesn’t have to stay here.”
Leo folds his arms behind his head, tension woven into every feature on his face. “I logged into his bank account today and found some things.”
I tilt my head. “What kind of things? ”
“Donations to local charities. A recurring monthly charge to one of the local florists.”
My eyes widen. “Wait…”
Leo nods as he lowers his arms. “He’s the one who has been putting flowers on your mom’s grave.”
My heart aches so heavily that I lose my breath. He has been doing that for years . “He didn’t say anything. Ever.”
Leo lets out a quiet laugh as he shakes his head. “Yeah, he didn’t say anything about investing half a million dollars in my business either.”
All I can do is stare at him in shock. There’s no way.
“He bought shares of my company right at the start, Juju,” Leo tells me, pain lacing his voice. “I thought he didn’t believe in me. I thought he didn’t even care enough to check in on me, but he was one of the first people who supported me.”
Maybe I don’t know Frank as well as I thought. I know he has gotten better over the years, but maybe he wasn’t as bad as I thought at the start.
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t say anything. ”
“Pride,” Leo mutters. “I thought his damn pride would kill him. Not this. Not cancer.”
His voice wavers, and my heart cracks.
I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around him. For a second, he just stands there. Then his arms come around me, pulling me tightly against his chest. He lowers his forehead to the top of my head and lets out a shaky breath.
“I’m so mad at him,” he admits quietly. “But I’m also not. I just…don’t understand.”
My hands slide up his back as I hold him closer, my own eyes burning with tears that are hard to fight off. I need to be strong for him right now.
He doesn’t have any siblings. His mom isn’t here. When his dad passes, he’ll be the only one left of his family.
“I know,” I say. “I’m sure he had his reasons. You should talk to him.”
Leo holds onto me tighter, and I know the thought of that scares him because it’ll be one of the last conversations that he’ll have with his dad .
“I don’t want him to stay here for long. He hates being in hospitals.”
I nod. He had to spend a lot of time here when his wife got sick and eventually died.
“I can talk to a nurse and see when we can get him out of here,” I tell him, releasing him as he draws back from me.
Even when he straightens up, he looks deflated. Everything in me wants to strip his pain away from him, but there’s nothing that I can do about this. It goes beyond my ability to heal. Beyond everyone’s.
It’s just a matter of time now, and that’s torturous.
Leo takes a deep breath before heading back to the room with me. He stops in the doorway and sighs, a bittersweet look forming on his face.
I squeeze in next to him to see Piper holding Frank’s hand as she sits on the bed next to him.
Frank looks pale and exhausted, but he still gives her a weak smile as he gazes up at her. He loves her like family.
In fact, the people in this room are the only family that I have left. There’s no one else .
And the worst part about it all is that no one but me knows that we’re all actually family.
Frank is holding his granddaughter's hand right now and doesn’t know it. Leo is smiling at his daughter and doesn’t know it.
But I do because I haven’t told them the truth.
I’m running out of time to tell Frank. Can I really let him die without him knowing that the little girl he adores spending time with is his granddaughter?
“She’s really going to miss him,” Leo says quietly.
Salt in the wound.
“I’m going to find the nurse,” I tell him before stepping away, my chest growing tight as guilt sours in my stomach.
I shouldn’t have waited so long to tell them, but there has never felt like a right time. Not with Leo probably leaving soon. Not with Frank and Piper both going through health issues.
Even right now feels like horrible timing.
But eventually I’ll have to say something, and given Frank’s condition, it’ll have to be soon.
Really soon.