Chapter 15
Nash
The day is brighter. Grandpa is getting stronger every day and has moved on to eating full meals. It’s put some good color back into his face.
Mary looks like she’s finally gotten a hint of sleep, the doctor hovers less, and Grandpa hasn’t mentioned money since his near-death experience. Instead, he’s been regaling me with stories of my father as a boy. A boy he loved to take to board meetings, even with his mischievous leanings.
He tells one particular story of Dad hiding in a cabinet at the office and scaring one of the board members when they opened the door to get something.
Grandpa laughs heartily as he tells it but then stops abruptly when he glances at his bedroom door.
Kevin stands in the doorway, looking disapproving. I still haven’t had a chance to corner him and ask why he pulled that fire alarm. I’d love to get into it right now, but I don’t want to add any stress for Grandpa.
Kevin’s disapproving look has been frozen in place after years of practice. I don’t think he’s capable of looking any other way.
“Nash, you’re exhausting Alexander! I knew we couldn’t trust you here with him. You’ll manage to kill him if you can.”
I squelch my initial urge to blast a retort back at him. Instead, I shake my head, pat Grandpa’s hand, and say, “Have a nice visit.”
I make it to the door before he calls to me, “Bring Magnolia for cards later.”
Kevin splutters and protests, and I wonder if I could manage to never see him again.
The equation working in my head doesn’t add up, because as long as there’s money involved, Kevin will be involved.
I slip out the door after propping it open.
James and Jackie are standing in the hall. Kevin and Judith’s kids.
“Nash.” James tips his chin up at me. He’s somewhere in his mid-twenties and on his third start-up. The other two didn’t work out.
Jackie says, “Hello.”
I’m still not sure how they feel about Grandpa making it. Still not sure what their feelings are toward me for that matter.
“Are you in time-out here in the hall?” I ask.
James’s jaw twitches. “Something like that. It’s a family lunch day.”
I glance down the wide stairwell. “Where’s Harper?” Harper is my favorite cousin. She’s Kevin and Judith’s youngest and seems like she might turn out all right. She has plans for her life, and they don’t include waiting on Grandpa to die.
Jackie answers me, “She’s running errands with mom.”
I nod. “Tell them hello for me.”
“We will.”
I’m hesitant to leave Grandpa with Kevin, but I know that’s the petty part of me talking.
So, I force my feet to carry me downstairs. I’ve already been to work, as I needed to check on things at the building. I should call Magnolia to ask if she can come to Grandpa’s this afternoon. I’ve been trying to give her some breathing space, but Grandpa won’t hear of it.
Or maybe I’ll stop by her place and ask her in person. That sounds like a lot more fun.
There’s an extra pep in my step as I reach the bottom of the stairs.
The doctor is just walking into the entryway, and he greets me with a smile.
“Thanks for coming again, Dr. Charles.”
“I’m glad to be here under these circumstances. What a recovery!” He shakes his head, as though he doesn’t know how to describe what’s happened. “I’ve never seen anything like it. How is he this morning?”
I chuckle. “He’s already back at it, talking business and making plans to go visit his place in Pine Ridge.”
The doctor smiles. “Okay, well, I’m counting on you to help hold him off.
I know he likes to stay busy, but this is nothing short of a miraculous recovery.
He can’t be traveling anywhere. We can’t do anything to upset him or cause a shock.
It could send him right back to where he was.
It’s something that isn’t talked about in the medical world—how much stress affects your health. So, I’m counting on you.”
I tap my fingers against my leg. “So you’re saying I shouldn’t tell him that I introduced him to a fake fiancée?”
The doctor’s eyes go wide. “No, I wouldn’t tell him that. What do you mean by ‘a fake fiancée’?”
I take a step closer to him and lower my voice. “Mary thought he was about to pass, and she called to tell me that he was asking to meet my fiancée before he died. So, I brought someone to meet him.”
Dr. Charles looks surprised for the first time. “So, you brought someone who wasn’t your fiancée?”
“She was available and willing to grant a dying wish,” I try to explain.
The doctor looks skeptical. But he just doesn’t understand.
How do you explain Magnolia and how she lights up a room? She was the perfect person to introduce to my grandfather—his own miracle. But now I have to figure out how to tell him we don’t actually get to keep her in the family. He’s going to be devastated.
“He loves her,” I say.
The doctor shakes his head. “I’m not quite sure what you were thinking there, but I suggest not telling your grandfather. Especially since he seems to have recovered just after meeting her. We’re going to have to tread lightly here.”
I nod solemnly. Because what else can I do?
I thought about telling him the truth this morning, but now the doctor is thinking it wouldn’t be a good idea either.
Dr. Charles walks past me, toward the stairs. “Maybe you should just marry her anyway. She sounds like a nice woman, trying to grant a last wish.”
I snort. “I guess that would be one way to solve this.”
He laughs as he walks up the stairs.
Marry Magnolia. It’s not as though it’s the scariest idea that’s ever crossed my mind. In fact, it doesn’t fill me with trepidation like I thought it would.
I walk into the large kitchen and pull out my phone to call my mom.
She answers right away. “Hi, sweetie. How are you?” The concern in her voice is evident, even over the phone.
“Grandpa is going to pull through.”
“Well, that’s good. But I’m not surprised.”
“You’re not?”
“Of course not. He’s too mean to go peacefully in bed.”
I laugh loudly at that.
Unfortunately, my mom has a long, complicated history with my grandfather that dates back to her marrying my dad.
She wasn’t ambitious enough for Grandpa at the time.
She was from a small town, raised on a ranch, and she was perfectly happy to continue that lifestyle.
My dad not only fell in love with her, but he also came alive, working on a ranch.
And that was how they raised me. Hard, rewarding physical labor, with the importance of family and community.
Money was way down on the list of priorities.
Money was simply a tool, not the end goal. It’s a philosophy I try to keep.
“Did he end up having surgery? Is that what turned things around for him?” Mom asks.
“Well, not exactly,” I say, not sure how to tell her that it was a person.
“Did they try a new medication?”
“Actually, he had one last request—to meet my fiancée.”
Mom snorts. “And the thought of meeting her scared him into living?”
Mom never liked Jane, and she made it no secret that she thought Jane was a money-grabbing person.
It’s the only thing my mother and grandfather ever agreed on.
They were both united in their distrust of my fiancée, and it was a harsh lesson learned: that I should pay attention to the people who love me, because their concerns were valid.
Grandpa’s was based purely on how quickly an engagement had come about.
He’d never even met her. My mom had met her and didn’t like her.
I like to think that I’m able to see through people, but I guess when emotions are involved, my judgment gets cloudy.
“I didn’t bring Jane to meet him,” I tell her. “I brought a stranger.”
There’s an awkward silence before Mom says, “What? A stranger?” Mom knows the truth about Jane breaking up with me. She was pretty blunt about the whole ordeal. She had told me, ‘better to find out what kind of person they are before you start a family together.’ She was right about that.
“Yeah, it’s as bad as it sounds. I met a woman when I was leaving the building after the fire alarm went off—remember, I told you about that?”
“You told me about the fire alarm going off, but you didn’t tell me about meeting a woman,” Mom says with a laugh.
“We ran into each other when we were coming down the stairs, and we ended up having a paperwork mix-up. I accidentally took some of her boss’s papers home with me, and her boss fired her for not keeping track of them.
Anyway, I found out she was fired, and Mary called me to tell me that Grandpa was about to pass.
His last request was to meet my fiancée.
I kind of panicked, and I asked Magnolia to pretend to be my fiancée just to grant Grandpa’s last wish. ”
Mom snorts. “This’ll be good. Please, tell me more.”
“Well, Magnolia came and met him, and she was actually very kind and considerate about everything we were going through. She pretended to be my fiancée. The problem is, Grandpa woke up the next morning asking for her. His blood pressure was normal, and his heart rate was healthy. It’s almost like he snapped back to how he used to be.
He’s angry that we’re not letting him run around town right now.
All he wants is for me to move Magnolia into the house with him. ”
I don’t hear anything for a minute, and I think Mom is stunned into silence. But then I hear gasping in the background.
“Are you laughing?” I ask her.
There’s more chortling—because if there’s anything I know about my mom, it’s that she does love a good laugh.
“You brought a stranger and introduced her to your grandfather, and she gave him the will to live?”
When she puts it like that, it is a little bit funny.
“I told you he was an ornery old man,” Mom says. “But I’m glad he’s doing better. And I think I’d like to meet this stranger—because at least I know your grandfather cares about who you end up with, so I have a feeling the stranger’s actually nice.”
“Mom, don’t get any ideas. We don’t know hardly anything about her.”