Chapter 9
Dinner was subdued, and all of the beautiful endorphins I’d gotten from my moments with Phoenix and my nap were gone.
One thing that was particularly obvious was that their fathers and mother were fighting.
Oh not that they were fighting with Rosalind.
She actually seemed to be the only one not fighting, but their fathers were fighting and Rosalind was sometimes joining in and sometimes keeping her back to everyone, singing to herself in the kitchen.
Eric slammed down his soda onto the table as we ate the pretty good barbecue shrimp. I’d never had it before, and I particularly liked the buttery taste that I hadn’t expected. Not that I was particularly interested in food right that second.
He glared at Kit. “We need to go. End of story. Safety comes before anything else. We’re rich. Very, very rich. What more do we need in this life? I need Rosalind and the kids to be fine. That’s what I need. What do you need? More wins in court?”
Kit slammed his hand down. “Fuck you for saying that to me. Fine. You want to leave here? We’ll leave. We’ll go back to New York and put guards on them. Like we should have done years ago.”
My guys were tense but clearly not afraid because Julian looked up. “Alatheia can’t go back to New York. Not until her family is dealt with.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t follow that I have to be the reason for anything happening or not happening.”
“It does.” Phoenix shook his head. “It absolutely does.”
Rosalind sighed. “We’re not going anywhere. The kids need the doctors here. Frankly, after this, I might too. We’re staying.”
All of them stared at her. Wow. She had just… told them how it was going to be. Eric stood and walked from the room, Rosalind’s gaze chasing him, but she made no moves to follow him.
The front door opened, and we all turned to look.
For a second I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Being wheeled inside in a wheelchair was Dina.
I wasn’t alone in jumping to my feet. The woman who pushed her was new to me; she was an older woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She gave the room a kind smile.
Dina waved her very frail looking arm. “Hello, darlings.”
“Mom.” Stephen walked around the table. “We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow. We would have met you at the airport.”
She smiled at him when she took his hand. “Why waste a day when what I want is to be here?”
“Granny.” Jules rushed to her side. “What’s going on? Why are you in this wheelchair?”
We were all around her then, but I hung back. They were her family. Dina sighed loudly. I looked around. Eric came back into the room.
“How was the flight, Mom?” He kissed her on the cheek. “You must be exhausted. Come in. Are you hungry?
It was clear to me what had to be clear to my guys—their parents were not as surprised by how Dina looked as they were. But the “how long had they known she wasn’t okay” discussion could happen another time. The Lents did like their secrets.
“I know, my darlings. This is a shock, but I asked them not to tell you while Alatheia was missing unless there was no other choice. Oh, there you are, Alatheia, come here.”
I didn’t hesitate, taking her hand. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m obviously not. But don’t feel sad or sorry. I won’t have any of that. I am here to be with my family for as long as I can be and that’s all there is to it.”
Jeremy stood with his hands crossed over his chest. “What’s wrong with you, Granny? What’s happening?”
“I’m dying, my darling.”
He turned around and stared at Eric. “How could you allow this?”
Eric blinked rapidly. “How could I allow it?”
Shock hit each of my guys at once. Jeremy almost seemed to vibrate.
He was shouting now. “We live in New York City. Most of the time. We’re very wealthy. You’re a doctor. Don’t you know people who can fix this?”
“Oh, Jeremy.” Rosalind took two steps toward him and stopped. She visibly swallowed.
Dina squeezed Jer’s arm. “I know it’s a shock. Yes, Eric did everything he could. This started a few years ago. I battled it then. It stopped. There was no need for you or your brothers to know about. Now the cancer is back. And I’m afraid there’s little to nothing to do about it now.”
Jeremy took a couple of audible breaths before he did what his father had done and tore out of the room. I wanted to talk to Dina, but Jeremy needed me right then. I chased after him into the backyard where he stood with his head down.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen Jer cry before. Without a word I wrapped my arms around him, and he put his head on my shoulder. He was silent in his sobs, and it was heartbreaking. I wanted to cry too, but I wouldn’t. Not then. This wasn’t about me. This was about Jeremy and his brothers.
He squeezed me tightly. “She has always been there for us. Always. When they vanished because they were having their own freakouts about life, she never did. Even before that, we were perfect to her instead of these pale substitutes for our fathers.”
I ran my hand through his blond hair. “You are not pale substitutes for your fathers. No one would think that ever. Not ever. But, yes, she is incredible. Just gives and gives. This is absolutely awful. I don’t have words. I love you.” The words came out in a flood of emotion.
And I loved her. Even after so little time with her, I loved her. Maybe the first person to ever be nice to me who had no reason to be. She picked me up before she met me, and it was because of her that I was even here right now.
He shook some more and then eventually lifted his head, wiping his eyes. “Well, I think we’re not leaving.”
I laughed. “I guess not.” I put out my hand. “Come on. Let’s go back in. I guarantee she’s worrying about you.”
He nodded and wiped his eyes. “I am going to hate that you saw me like this.”
“Maybe not. Maybe you’ll realize that I love you, and you’re a human who just found his beloved granny is dying.”
He touched my cheek. “She brought you to us.”
“She was the first person.” I caught my breath and stopped talking.
Jer raised his eyebrows. “Princess?”
“She was the first person to be nice to me for no reason at all. There was absolutely no reason Dina Lent had to take me on, give me journals, and introduce me to her family. She started all of this before she even met me. When she heard how my aunt was speaking about me she just went ahead and did this.” By the time I finished speaking, one tear had dropped from my eye.
“Anyway, she’s not dead so let’s not act like she is. ”
I wrapped my arm around his waist, and we walked in together. Inside, Dina was no longer in the hallway and everyone had dispersed except Phoenix. Maybe they had gone with Dina wherever she was staying.
“Hey, I just wanted to tell you I’m meeting up with Sam and then I’m going to Group because I feel a little shaky. I’m sure it’s normal to feel this way with this news, but it’s making me nervous as hell.”
I hugged him. “Okay. See you later?”
“Yeah, I’m going to work on getting more phone numbers when I get home, so I might be late to bed, but I’ll be there.”
Jer nodded toward the end of the hall. “Her room is down here.”
At least they didn’t need to worry about getting her up and down stairs.
“Hold on.” Eric stood in the shadows of the hallway and strode toward us.
Jeremy braced himself. I saw it in the way he held his shoulders.
He had hollered at Eric; he wasn’t expecting this to go well.
Next to me, Phoenix stiffened too. Eric wasn’t coming for him, but he was ready for it as though it was happening to him.
But when he reached Jeremy, Eric didn’t yell, he hugged him. Tightly. Jeremy was so stiff in his embrace that it was actually awkward to see. But after a second he hugged Eric back.
“I would do anything to save her. She was through with her cancer treatments the last time she had it before she even told me about it. I don’t understand it either but it’s the way my mother is.
You know your granny. She’s stubborn. This time it was too late for much and she wouldn’t even let me do what I could.
” He kissed Jer’s cheek. “And I love you for the fact that you can express yourself. I know I let you down a lot. But I’ve loved you every day of your life, since I knew you were coming.
” He stopped. “This is going to be the worst thing. Just the worst. When my fathers died…” Whatever Eric was going to say he didn’t finish. “You’re going to be okay.”
Jeremy didn’t speak for a second. “Thank you.”
“Go see her. Bring Alatheia. She is worried about both of you.” He stepped back.
“Come on, Phoenix. I’ll drive you.” He wiped at his eyes as he walked toward Phoenix and smiled at me.
“Have I told you how proud of you I am?” Eric put his arm around Phoenix.
They were biologically father and son. I could see it right then so clearly.
The shape of their faces, the slope of their noses.
“Wow. You’re all kinds of mushy.” Phoenix laughed as they walked out.
Jer put out his hand in the way that he did when he wanted me to take it, so I did. I stared at him. “You okay?”
“No. Are you?”
I shook my head. “Let’s go see your granny.”
Slightly down the hallway was her bedroom.
It had red painted walls. I smiled at the sight.
Everywhere she went she painted her walls red.
It was like her signature. I loved it. They had medical machines in the room ready for her.
I didn’t know what all of them were, but it was a bit of a makeshift hospital situation.
They did have the clinic nearby, but I guessed she wasn’t going to it.
She lay in bed, the woman who had brought her in fussing over her while her grandsons and sons sat around the bed. Julian had her hand. Rosalind sat next to Kit and smiled at me when I came in. I smiled back. She was really trying with me. I took off my knitted cap.
“Phoenix went to a Group meeting,” Jeremy told everyone.
Stephen nodded. “Thanks for telling us.