Chapter 28
The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.
—Audrey Hepburn
Grayson flew home to Vermont Tuesday night and called Emma as he drove from the airport in Burlington to his aunt and uncle’s home by the lake, where he’d spend the night.
In the morning, he would meet with doctors at the University of Vermont Cancer Center to see about getting it done so he could get back to Emma as soon as possible.
He missed her like he hadn’t seen her in a year rather than a couple of hours.
“How was the flight?” she asked.
“Bumpy the whole way. I hope that isn’t a metaphor.”
“I read through the info they sent you about the bone marrow harvest.”
“And?”
“It sounds awful.”
“They say it doesn’t hurt at all until afterward. I’ll be out cold. I won’t feel a thing.”
“Have you talked to your siblings?”
“Just by text. They’re being supportive, even if I’m sure some of them don’t think I ought to have to go through this to save him. They’d never say so now that it’s happening.”
“It’s the right thing to do. You’re not capable of letting someone die, even someone who’s hurt you the way he has, if there’s something you can do about it.”
“I wish I was more of an asshole,” he said with a sigh. “That would be easier.”
“I love you just the way you are.”
“I miss you like crazy, and I just left you a little while ago.”
“I miss you, too, and so does Simone. She was out of sorts tonight after you left—or maybe I was and she picked up on it.”
“A few days, and I’ll be back. I’ve got some work to get done while I’m up here, so I’ll be all yours when I get back.”
“All mine. I love the sound of that.”
“Me, too. Thanks for the best weekend.” They’d had dinner at Ray’s on Sunday and spent the last day of Simone’s winter break playing tourist in the city.
In addition to visiting the top of the Empire State Building, they’d watched the ice skaters at Rockefeller Plaza and went to see the movie Sing, which Simone had loved.
“It was the best weekend ever.”
“Yes, it was.” It’d been nice to feel like a family for a few days, and he was counting the minutes until he could be with them again.
“Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?”
“I hope so. I need to catch up on my sleep while I can. My girlfriend has been messing with my sleep lately.”
“Right,” she said, laughing. “It’s all my fault.”
“You can’t keep your hands off me.”
“I admit it.”
“I seem to have the same problem where you’re concerned.”
“That’s one problem we don’t need to solve.”
Laughing at her witty reply, Grayson pulled into the driveway at the lake house and cut the engine. “I’m at the house. Talk to you in the morning?”
“Call me after the appointment.”
“You’ll be at work.”
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
“Try to get some sleep.”
“You, too. I love you, Emma.”
“I love you, too.”
He ended the call with her and sat in the darkness, staring at the vastness of Lake Champlain, feeling more unsettled than he had in a long time at the prospect of having to do this huge thing for his father.
His phone rang, and he saw his mother’s number on the caller ID.
He hadn’t talked to her since finding out he was a match.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Grayson… Are you still in the city?”
“No, I’m in Burlington. I flew home tonight.”
“You’re not really going to do this, are you?”
“Yes,” he said with a sigh, “I really am, and I don’t want to fight about it.”
“I’m so sorry he’s put you in this position.”
“He’s sick, Mom. He didn’t set out to corner me into doing something for him. It’s a medical procedure. I’ll do it and be done with it. I’ll hope it works and that he regains his health. That’ll be the end of it for me.”
“Do you have to see him?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I really hope not.”
“Look, Mom, I know you’re understandably wound up about this, but I don’t want you to worry. It’s a two-hour procedure for me, and that’s that. I’ll go on with my life without having to feel guilty that I let someone die when I could’ve done something about it.”
“I’ve been reading about it, and you’ll need to take it easy for a week afterward. You should come home. I’ll look after you.”
“Thanks, but I’m going back to New York as soon as I can.”
After a long pause, she said, “Okay, then.”
“I’ll let you know what’s going on after the meeting tomorrow.”
“I’ll speak to you then. Grayson…”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good man, a better man than he’ll ever be. Even though I wish you didn’t have to do this, I admire you for being willing.”
“Thanks, Mom. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Sleep well.”
After ending the call, Grayson got out of the car and retrieved his suitcase from the trunk.
At the front door, he punched in his aunt and uncle’s anniversary and gained admission to the house.
He’d talked to his uncle earlier, and Linc had told him to make himself at home at the lake house for however long he needed to be in Burlington.
Grayson empathized with his mom in this situation.
In her shoes, he’d feel the same way about a child of his doing something to save the life of the parent who’d abandoned him.
She had every good reason to be upset, but that wouldn’t stop him from doing the right thing and then getting back to Emma as soon as he could.
Emma flew to Burlington on Friday morning.
She’d timed her arrival to coincide with Grayson’s procedure so she could be there when it was over.
He’d called her early that morning, and she could tell he was nervous, even if he tried to hide that from her by repeatedly telling her it was no big deal and she shouldn’t worry about him.
Her dad had been happy to stay with Simone for the weekend, and they had a list of plans that would keep them busy.
Over the last year, Ray had been sharing his love of cooking with Simone, teaching her the basics and gradually introducing new concepts.
In his retirement, he’d taken some cooking classes, and Simone loved spending time with him in the kitchen.
This weekend, they were planning to make pasta from scratch, and they were trying out the new bread maker Emma and Simone had gotten him for Christmas.
The two of them shared a very special bond, and it was one that Emma couldn’t and wouldn’t break by moving her daughter away from her dad.
She owed Linc Abbott a phone call and would take care of that after she got Grayson through today’s procedure.
The ninety-minute flight seemed to take forever, and by the time the wheels touched down in Burlington, Emma was more than ready to get off the plane.
She grabbed a cab and arrived at the University of Vermont Cancer Center just after ten.
If he’d gone in at eight as planned, he ought to be in recovery soon.
Upon entering the surgical waiting room, she stopped short at the sight of Hannah Coleman, who looked up from her magazine, seeming equally surprised to see Emma. Dragging her suitcase behind her, Emma took the seat next to Hannah’s. “Have you heard anything?”
“Not yet. Any time now.” After a long pause, Hannah said, “It’s good of you to come.”
“I love him,” Emma said without taking even a second to contemplate whether she should say that to his mother. It was the truth. Why not say so?
“He’s one of the best men I know.”
“I agree. What he’s doing today is further proof of that.”
“I… I’m sorry if I’ve given you the impression that I don’t like you. That’s not true. I have… at times… projected my past experiences on to people who don’t deserve it.”
“I understand completely. I’ve done the same at times by suspecting that all men are like the bad one I had the misfortune of knowing when I was younger. Gray is the first man I’ve dated since my daughter’s father.” Emma watched as her meaning registered with Hannah.
“We have more in common than I thought,” Hannah said.
“Yes, we do, including our love for Grayson. Like you, I want the best for him, and if we can figure out the logistics, I want to try to make him happy.”
“You do make him happy. I’ve never seen him so gone over any woman the way he is with you.”
Emma smiled at her. “The feeling is entirely mutual.”
“That’s good,” Hannah said with a sigh. “He certainly deserves to be happy after everything he’s done for others from the time he was far too young for the responsibility that was put on him.”
“On that we agree.”
A short time later, a nurse came into the waiting room. “Family of Grayson Coleman?”
Hannah jumped up, but Emma hung back, intending to take her cues from Hannah.
“Are you coming?” Hannah asked, waiting for Emma before she followed the nurse.
“Yes,” Emma said, elated to have had this unexpected chance to talk to Gray’s mother and clear the air with her. “I’m coming.”
Grayson came awake in a brightly lit room, and for a minute, he couldn’t figure out where he was. At the sight of a nurse looking down at him, the story came flooding back to him. His father. Bone marrow. Surgery.
“How’re you feeling?” the nurse asked.
“Fine.” That much was true, and they’d told him to expect to feel fine until the pain block wore off.
Then he would be achy and sore and probably fatigued for a few days before he bounced back.
No biggie, he’d thought then, and now he was glad it was over.
He was eager to get back to New York, to be with Emma and Simone and to figure out a way to be with them all the time. “It went well?”
“The doctor said it was textbook. He’ll be in to talk to you shortly. You have some visitors. You feel up to seeing them?”
“Yeah, sure.” His mom had told him she’d be coming. Izzy or Noah must’ve come with her.
“I’ll go get them.”
Grayson thought his eyes were deceiving him when his mom walked in with Emma. “Where’d you come from?” He held out the hand that wasn’t tethered to IVs and monitors.
She took his hand and bent over the bed to kiss him. “All the way from New York.”
“You’ve been keeping secrets from me.”
“Only the good kind.”