34. Ava
Chapter 34
Ava
“Ava!” Mum’s voice screeches up the stairs. She sounds out of breath.
“What is it?”
I rush out of the bathroom, my towel clutched around me. I was up late again last night. I haven’t been able to sleep well since Jet texted me two days ago. It’s like he stirred up all my emotions. Telling me to cancel the movie. Playing with me. Again.
“Ava.” Her eyes are wide and glassy. “It’s Gramps, darling. He—”
“No.” I shake my head. “No.”
He never called me back. It’s the longest we haven’t spoken. I was too busy hating Jet to notice.
“He collapsed and was taken to hospital. Pack a bag. I don’t know how bad it is.”
My heart falls to my feet as I sprint to my room. I throw some clothes on, dragging my wet hair into a knot on top of my head. I rip the closet doors open and pull out the silver suitcase Jet bought me, tossing my things in.
“We need to book a flight… We need to get a cab!”
I race downstairs with my suitcase. Mum’s in the hallway, throwing things into her purse.
“It’s all sorted, darling.”
I glance toward the front window with bleary eyes, spotting a sleek black town car outside with the trunk open.
Mum stuffs her phone charger into her purse. “Mitch—”
“Tell him thank you,” I cry as I pull my suitcase to the front door and wrench it open.
Mum rushes behind me and the driver takes our cases. We fall into the back seat as he gets in and starts to drive. My heart hammers as I pray we get to LAX airport fast. Get back to London fast. Get back to Gramps.
Please let him be okay.
“He was lucky,” the female doctor says as we stand outside Gramps’ private room. “His friend got him here in time. His insulin levels had dropped dangerously low.”
“He said he hadn’t been sleeping as well. I should have known something was wrong.”
Mum wraps an arm around me and hugs me to her side. “You didn’t know, Darling.”
“I should have been here,” I sniff.
“Now that we’ve diagnosed him, we’ll be able to talk through management options going forward. Lots of people live very full, active lives with Type 2 Diabetes. I’ll be back later to check on him.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Mum gives her a watery smile.
“Wait,” I call before she leaves. “You said his friend brought him in?”
“Yes. Mr. Grant. You just missed him. He’s been here ever since.”
“He’s been here the whole time?”
“He has.” The doctor smiles and leaves.
I look back at Gramps, peacefully sleeping in his bed. My heart clenches with gratitude for Magnus. For being here for Gramps when I wasn’t.
“I need to go and see him later. To thank him.”
“That sounds like a good idea, darling.” Mum’s gaze skitters around the immaculate hospital corridor. “He’s done a lot.”
She’s right. Gramps has been brought to the best private hospital in the whole area. No way could we afford to have him brought here.
“He’s waking up! ”
I rush into the room as Gramps opens his eyes, blinking slowly. I go straight to the side of his bed and take his hand in mine.
“Gramps,” I sob.
“Ava.” His old eyes twinkle as they focus on me. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
I laugh through my tears and lean in to hug him. His whiskers graze my cheek as I soak in the familiar warmth of his embrace.
“You gave us a fright, Gramps. The doctor said Magnus found you collapsed in the kitchen.”
“I can’t remember, love.” Gramps rubs my back, and his attention moves over my shoulder. “Zena?”
“Hi William,” Mum says softly, coming over to the side of the bed. “It’s good to see you.”
Gramps’ eyes widen and bounce between the two of us and he smiles. “Well, aren’t I the lucky one? Two beautiful women rushing across the Atlantic for me.”
“I should have come sooner. I’ve missed you.” I perch on the side of his bed and clasp his hand in mine.
“You’re living your life, Ava. I don’t want you worrying about an old man like me.”
“Stop.” I shake my head with a smile, rubbing my thumb over the back of his palm as Mum sits in the seat beside his bed. “I’m always going to worry about you. And I’ll be staying awhile. We’ve got a hotel nearby.”
“We have,” Mum confirms. “For as long as you need us, we’ll be here.”
“I’ll be fine. ”
I’m about to argue with him when his next words make a lump form in my throat.
“I’m so proud of you, love. You wrote your story. Just like you said you were going to. And you’ve got a movie deal.”
“I know,” I whisper.
“Are you happy?” He places his warm, calloused hand over the back of mine, encasing it beneath both of his. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
I nod, unable to find any words.
Gramps smiles at me with pure, unbridled happiness. He looks content. I can’t ruin that. Especially when he’s healing. He’s right. This is what I wanted. I planned I might share my story with the world when I began writing it. I was opening up to that possibility. Maybe I need to forget about how I got here and just accept that I am. Not that I’ll ever thank Jet for taking my decision away from me.
The selfish bastard can still rot in hell for all I care.
“You’ve been wearing sunscreen, haven’t you?”
I reassure Margaret for the third time that I’ve been taking care of myself in LA. This is her way of showing she cares. This and insisting when I arrived that I came straight inside with my shoes on even though she’d just mopped the front hallway.
Mum and I stayed with Gramps until he got tired, then I dropped her at the hotel so she could rest and call Mitch. I headed straight to Rochwell house. I gambled, assuming Magnus wouldn’t be at work when the doctor told me we’d just missed him at the hospital.
“And how are you ?” Margaret assesses me.
“I’m good.”
She folds her arms, seeing right through my fake bright smile. “Did he think with his penis?”
“What?” I can’t help but laugh at the way she says it so matter-of-factly.
“Jet.” She sucks in a breath. “I didn’t have him down as a cheater, and I’m usually a good judge of character. But I figured whatever it is, it’s his fault.”
“What makes you think the two of us even—?”
Margaret gives me a pointed look. “Nothing happens in this house without me knowing about it.”
“Oh, right.” I bite my lower lip. God, I hope she never heard us.
“Well, now that you’re back here, you can—”
“Ava?” Magnus appears, walking across the entryway with his arms wide.
I give him a big hug.
“I thought I heard your voice. Have you come straight from the hospital? ”
“Yeah. I dropped Mum at the hotel, she’s checking us both in.”
“Good. My driver is yours for as long as you need him. He’ll take you from the hospital to the hotel, and anywhere else you need to go.”
“Thank you. You don’t have to. You’ve done so much already.”
A phone starts ringing from the direction of Magnus’s office.
“It’ll be work. Come through, Ava. I’ll only be a minute.
Margaret tells me she’ll fix us a drink, so I follow Magnus into his office.
My gaze tracks outside, across the gardens, to the pool house. It seems strange seeing it again. I spent so many hours writing in there, hiding away. Alone. In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago, not a few months.
I sink into a soft armchair beside his desk as I wait for him to finish his call. The frame on his desk has a picture of June inside it, and I look at him in question.
He nods encouragingly, so I lift it and study the photograph inside. She’s beautiful, her eyes glimmering, her lips parted, like she’s laughing at something the photographer is saying.
But it’s the little blue-eyed boy with dark hair in her arms that grabs my attention.
A little boy with a smile so wide and radiant that it’s almost splitting his face in two.
“Doesn’t look like him, does it?” Magnus chuckles as he drops his phone onto the desk.
“I’ve never seen him smile,” I murmur, looking from his face to the blue wing walker plane they’re standing in front of.
“They’re rare. But they exist.” Magnus sinks into the seat at his desk and looks at the frame in my hands. “June was a spitfire. Kept me on my toes. Never a dull moment.”
“She’s beautiful. Is this the plane in your office? The one she wing-walked on?”
“That’s the one.” His eyes take on a mistiness. “She was pregnant with Jet the day she went up on it. We didn’t know. Not that it would have stopped her. She thought flying was the safest thing in the world.” He clears his throat, and I brush away the apology in his eyes.
Flying is safe most of the time. Unless you’re my father or his pilot.
“She loved to watch birds. Said she wished she had wings and could fly like them at a second’s notice. Her favorite were blue tits. Tiny little things. But she loved them. We had some nest in the gardens one summer. They have their young in June.”
“You named the plane June’s Blue.” I grin at the photograph. “I get it now.”
“Yep,” Magnus chuckles. “Her favorite giant blue bird, that one. We named it that day, after we found out she was expecting. Seemed fitting. ”
“It’s perfect.” I place the frame back onto the desk carefully, angling it exactly the way I found it so that Magnus can see it as he works.
“Whatever my son did to hurt you, I’m sorry. I brought him up to be a good man… We both did.”
His gaze tracks back to June’s glowing image, and my heart aches.
“It wasn’t his fault. We just weren’t right for each other.” The words come easily this time, eased along by the softening of Magnus’s tense brow as I say them. “I think he’s happier now. I saw him with Francesca, and they seemed… They looked good together.”
“Perception, Ava,” he says softly. “That’s what he wants the world to think. He’s always been a great businessman, putting the airline before all else.”
“I don’t know, I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”
I hate that I sound pathetic, like a fool pining for something that wasn’t real.
“I know all my son’s faces,” Magnus says, leaning back in his chair. “I’ve seen them for thirty-three years. Only one person has ever brought a new one to him. And that’s you.”
I try to hide the small, strangled sound in my throat as I blink rapidly and rise to my feet.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for Gramps,” I whisper. “I should get back to the hospital.”